Is there anything I need to be aware of before buying a used Prius?

It's a no name but all of the work was done at two large Toyota dealers. The battery and all maintenance for years was done at one of the largest Toyota dealers in the Chicago area and the transaxle was done at a different Toyota dealer closer to the independent dealer.

I'll check that the VIN matches. The sales guy is the only guy, the owner, at the small dealer, it's just him 4 hours a day 5 days a week, he's 65 said he likes doing it but doesn't want to to it 60 hours a week anymore. He's been there 43 years. Seems like a very honest guy but that's no reason to trust him, but I was hesitant so I came home to verify some things. Toyota owner website backs up everything he said, and the paperwork he showed me. He showed me the title, which shows it had 7 miles when purchased new.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Thanks for all the help. Bought the Prius for 5k! Seems great so far, very happy. I believe it's a Prius V going by the options lists I've seen. It has Navigation, Bluetooth, JBL stereo, foglamps, HID headlamps, homelink, SE/SS, so I assume that means it also has the extra airbags and stability control. It's the Tideland Pearl color, kind of a green/gray with the beige cloth interior. Nice looking car.

So since it has the top option package is the car called a Prius V, or referred to that as the V?

 

He's a small dealer, only 15 spots or so for used cars. He said he likes to drive the hybrids and electric cars for a bit before he sells them because he likes them, and this one when the transaxle went out, well, he had driven it for two weeks and then the time in the shop, and gas has fallen quite a bit here in the Chicago area the last few months with another round the last month. Some spots are $2.50 a gallon here. Which might have put a little slowdown in the hybrid market here.

He said his expenses amount to about $300 per month per car if he has 15 cars on the lot, more if he has less than 15. He already had 5k into the car and said he could likely get $6k if he waited but every month costs him about $300 between rent and expenses. He actually showed me the auction invoice for the car, he paid just under $3300 for it, then he was charged $1400 from Toyota for the used transaxle install. Throw in the tow to the Toyota dealer and transport from the auction and he's just about 5k. He said all that after I had talked him down and we talked a lot about his business. I had offered to set up a website for him, he doesn't have one. I said something simple, just a static page hosted by GoDaddy or likewise would only cost him about $10 per month, with the phone number, address, and built in Google Maps link. He wouldn't even need to update inventory, he uses Craigslist. He smiled kindly like I was a fool and explained that he's 65, works 4 hours 5 days a week, only has a maximum of 15 cars on the lot and isn't looking to grow his business. That's when he got into the expenses, which kind of explained a bit more of why he wanted to move the car at that price. He said if he has a car that is there over 2 months most of the time he will take it to an auction unless he's sure it will sell soon.

He has a beautiful Harley there he's had 9 months and has had no calls for at all. It's the only motorcycle there. He's a little frustrated with no calls on that. I think he said it was a 2012 with 9k on it.

My uncle was a small little car dealer for almost 45 years and this guy knew of him, he's been there 43, so I think maybe he was a little more talkative with me than he might be with some customers, or he's just a naturally honest guy. Anyway, I feel like I got a nice deal on what appears to be a very nice car. I can't believe how clean it is. Paint looks great, interior is almost mint other than the floor carpet in the drivers seat, great tread left on the tires. No coolant stains in the engine compartment. Vin's match. Service history shows it passed emissions in April, and in the last 7k miles or less it's had the timing belt, front brakes, cabin air filter, air filter, transaxle, and hybrid battery replaced. Plus the rear brakes were adjusted and I think the 12 volt battery was replaced 2 years ago so hopefully that has a bit more life, I think someone here said about every 5 years on average they've replaced their 12 volt battery?

He had some interesting things to say about hybrids. He said he's sold 5-6 Prius' in the last few years and enjoys driving them, that's why he was driving this one for a short while, which was to my benefit because if he had just sold it right away the transaxle would have gone out on me or whoever bought it instead of on the dealer. He said he recently had a Nissan Leaf and that it's got a real nice ride, but he wasn't a fan of plugging it in and the limited range. He said he's read before that the Prius' have only had about 6% or so of all the cars sold in the U.S. had the battery's replaced, which is around what I read a month ago when I first started looking into them. He said he's read that the hybrid Honda Civics have had closer to 80% of the battery packs replaced on the 10 year old models, I don't know if that's true but everything else he said seemed checked out. I have never looked at the Civic Hybrids. And he said he sees tons of lemon law Hyundai hybrids at the auto auction every week, that the Hyundai dealers get first crack at the first 20-25 Hyundai's offered each week and it's all the hybrids they are buying up. And on a non-hybrid note he is not fond of Chrysler Sebrings. lol. Had a lot of swear words for those.