Prius Dilemma

You should still be covered, though 100k isn't far away now.

I'd keep it. The potential cost of a new battery later isn't much more than the guaranteed loss of selling now. And there are other battery options.

 

250,000 miles is not unheard of, if you set aside one penny a mile, you can buy a battery when you need it.

1) ebay has used batteries for $750 and up, all the labor and expertise would by yours. Toyota Prius 2011 -inverter in Other | eBay
2) remanufactured batteries exist for $1700, they install. Dorman Hybrid Drive Batteries
3) New Toyota batteries are about $2500 plus Dealer labor of $1000

 

you should be able to get $12000 with no problem

 

What mythical, maintenance-free car would you be replacing it with?

I would keep it and just keep some money set aside as an emergency fund. Even if you sell it for what you owe, your new car will probably cost more, get worse mileage, and it'll still have expensive parts that will need replaced if you keep it long enough. Everyone worries about a Prius' battery dying, but its probably less likely than the automatic transmission in another car needing replaced.

 

welcome! if you weren't upside down, i would consider selling it. as it is, i would see what you get for offers. once you're comfortable with replacement battery costs, see how they measure up to what you will lose on the sale. all the best.

 

The chances are very good that your Prius will give many more years of inexpensive and relatively trouble free service.

If it was normal times, I would say to keep it unless your needs have changed so much that it won't meet your needs (rare situation but possible)

Right now, with gas prices having just dropped is about the worst possible time to sell a Prius as most buyers only think of the fuel cost savings of the Prius and assume that gas prices will continue to stay the same or follow the most recent trend. They also fail to recognize that there are numerous other things that make a Prius a very good car to own for the long term.

If for some reason you do decide the Prius not for you, the best time to sell it is when gas prices are high.

 

The new batteries are much cheaper than they used to be. There is a You Tube video on rebuilding them if you only have a few bad cells and that is way cheaper than replacing the whole thing. If its just a few cells once they are replaced you can often get several more years out of them.

 

Have you ever heard of buy low/sell high?
What you're trying to do is exactly the opposite of that.....and it will produce the opposite result.

This sounds to me like one of two situations:
1. You really are worried about the battery, and you're trying to dump the car before you have to replace it,
2. You want to dump the car and get another one, and you're using the battery as an excuse.

If I woke up in your shoes, I'd be thankful that weren't $4,000 underwater in a Camaro or a truck, and I'd start dumping extra money into the payment BEFORE trying to buy another car.
If you've made any passing attempt to take care of this car then it will probably last you another 50-100,000 miles before you have to do anything to it that's not on the maintenance schedule.....and the car will still be getting 40-50mpg for those 50,000-100,000 miles.
While it's true that the savings aren't as sexy when gas is hovering at $2.10 a gallon, I promise you that those savings will add up. Even at $1.50 a gallon, I still don't like to waste gas and I remember just as many people driving across town to save $0.05 a gallon then as now.

If you're going to keep trying to sell this car, do so privately.
It's nice to have somebody like USAA in your corner when you sell the car, and also when you buy a car, but sometimes when you try to do both at once you wind up losing a little on the trade-in only to make up for it by losing a little more on the buy.

You see.....dealers really are into the buy-low/sell-high thing, and they might buy and sell dozens of cars a month, or even hundreds at the "high volume/low price" places.
That means that they're better at it than you are.

One last thing.
How often do you check your oil?

Priuses are very easy to maintain, but they also have itty-bitty oil sumps, and some people confuse a 10,000 mile oil change interval (OCI) with a 10,000 mile Oil Check Interval, which means that your car may have already run tens of thousands of cumulative miles rather short on oil.

If you're one of the "gas and go" people then you pretty much need to get out of this car and get into another one and take the loss because the battery might not be nearly your biggest problem.
Just remember that whatever car you buy next is also going to require maintenance, and you're going to be even further underwater then than you are now.

It's a harsh cycle.

Best of Luck!

 

Friend, keep the car. It's among the most reliable on the road. Remember, unlike other cars, there's no starter to go bad, or alternator, or belts. Brakes rarely need service, and of course you're saving on gas. Unlikely the battery will go at 100,000 miles. 150,000-200,000 or more is the norm. Any car at 150,000+ miles will need repairs of several thousand dollars. If you're looking to save money, and your car's in good condition, keep what you have, treat it well, and it should serve you a good long time. Good luck.