I'm worried that my son may be trying to overinvest in a car. Short backstory: A few years ago I bought my daughter a 2007 Prius as she headed off to college. The car was used as an "auction runner" by a local dealership and was immaculately maintained, and I got it for a steal because it already had just over 400,000 miles on it. $2200 and they threw on new tires and free oil and filter maintenance for 18 months. The EV battery had been replaced the year previously and only had 30k miles on it when I purchased the car. A few years later, my daughter was still driving it, and it was still running like a top at 490,000 miles when a small tree limb fell on it (parked), denting the roof, smashing the windshield, and wrecking the front hood and fender. Rather than mess with it and risk increased insurance costs, my daughter simply walked away from it and bought herself a new Prius. Now, here's where the question comes in. My daughter and my 16-year-old son were talking, and my daughter offered to GIVE the damaged Prius to my son. We already know that the pillars and frame aren't bent and that the car is entirely fixable, but I'm leery about sinking money into a car that has nearly a half million miles on it (120k on current EV battery, but otherwise most parts are original). My son located a local auto dismantler that is parting out an '06 (it's even the right color) and has ALL of the parts he needs, and we're estimating that it will take about $1200 in parts to fix it. I've got a good friend who does body work and offered to swap the body parts for free as long as it's just bolting and unbolting. My son is willing to live with the relatively minor dent in the roof. At a half million miles, how much more use can we realistically expect to get out of this car? Is it worth sinking another $1200 into a nearly half-million mile Gen2 Prius that looks and runs great? I'd hate to see my son sink his time and money into this car just to have it die on him 5,000 miles later. Are there any common failure points we should check before sinking money into the body repairs?
welcome! common belief is 180,000 miles. in practice, it depends on how you define it. things can start to fail well before that, but overall, many do that and more without major repairs. maybe you got a magic car, i would fix it and get on with business, the risk is only slightly greater than when you bought it at 400,000 miles.
Hybrid battery is replaced. If the engine isn’t burning much oil, normal maintenance is kept up (including transaxle oil change) there shouldn’t likely be anything major failing in near future. Small problems can come to any car at any time. I would just pretty much do the normal check that you do when checking a used car. Although you would probably know if it had problems. And if it’s good repair it.
When talking about cars, "have it die" is a very flexible phrase. It's unlikely to rust out and fall apart anytime soon, but there are any number of major and expensive things that could fail at half a million miles. Having been the recipient of a couple gifted high mileage cars from family members, I can say things will definitely need to be fixed, but it's up to you and your son to figure out how much time and money you're willing to spend to fix them. Since you're easily at double the originally estimated life of the car, there's not much information to draw on to determine what will fail and when.
I've thought about that a bit, but the difference between 400k miles and 500k miles is still 100,000 miles, and I really never intended for her to drive it as long as she did. When I bought it, I was thinking that it was a good cheap starter car for a college student that could be kept fueled on a college student's budget. I had no idea that she'd put another 100k miles on it. I have all of the original maintenance records and it has NEVER had any kind of serious mechanical failure. While that sounds like a good thing at first, it also means that nearly every part on the car is approaching a half million miles...other than bulbs, fluids and other maintenance items, nothing has really been replaced. Magic car indeed...
and the dealership probably sold it thinking, we have been way too fortunate with this car. let's unload it before something bad happens.
I would spend the 1200 worst comes to worse if the car does die I would honestly sell it to the state as long as the car wont pass smog which in most cases if you have a check engine light is on it wont pass. I know if you are NOT low income they will give it to you for 1000 if you are low income they will give you 1500 just have to sit on it for a month or 2, but worth it. And also if everything is ok on the car and the EV battery does die, I see you live in California in the bay area I have a guy that will come to you and install a hybrid battery (refurbished) for $500.00 Miles to me doesnt matter to me as long as the vehicle has been maintained, just keep an eye on oil levels since toyota's tend to burn oil as they get older.
Don't spend 1200 on bodywork. You should be able to get a hood and fender for $300 if it is just a bolt on affair. Frankly if it was me I would just fix the windshield and drive it with the dents and all, or hammer them out myself, and only carry liability insurance on it. And yes you are correct, everything else on the car is wearing out and your bills will be much higher in the future. He's 16 years old, I'm sure he can live with a few dents as long as they aren't a safety issue.
Windshield is understandable but why would you fix dented bodywork for a 16 years old? (says the father with a 16 yo prius driver)
Lol. Probably. The dealership took it in as a trade with 150k on it and just kept it for their own use. I got my hands on the car by a bit of luck (I'm a baseball coach, the dealership managers kid was on my team, and we struck up a conversation one day about me looking for a cheap car), but he did admit that it had been parked for a while because they were no longer comfortable driving it to dealer auctions in Reno and Los Angeles. They pointedly told me that it was a great "around town" car, but that it would probably be a bad idea to commute it. Since the university was only 10 miles from my house, it was the perfect solution. So, yeah, they were getting a bit worried about it too.
Normally I'd agree, but the hood dent is significant enough that the hood won't close and latch properly. The fender also kinked enough that it pulled away from the A pillar along the door. The frame underneath is good, but the fender and hood really are toast. The tree limb got a pretty solid hit on it. I'm not looking to do anything fancy with it. Wrecking yard fenders and no paint work...we're looking to do this as "quick and dirty" as we can.
There's a bit more to it than just the hood and fender. The $1200 includes the hood, one hinge, fender, front glass, new headlights (one was broken by the impact), inverter coolant pump (busted by the headlight as it was slammed downward) and a new wiper motor unit.
fix the critical stuff, then hand your boy a rubber mallet and let him learn sheet metal skills on the fender and hood.
THE question is: Can you get a BETTER (safer/lower CPM/whatever) vehicle for the $1200 in work this one needs? Answer: No.
I have 340,000 on my 2006 (now 11.5 years old). At 310,000 I had to finally replace my hybrid battery, but found a place in Utah that offered a 3-year unlimited warranty on it. My MPG went from 42 to 47 MPG after the battery change. Otherwise, I haven't had a single repair other than an electric water pump recall. I've been thru 7 sets of tires. I keep getting a catalytic converter light, but the car doesn't run bad so I just keep resetting that with my code breaker. Speaking of damage... I've had a Geneva Truck rock put a hole thru my hood (it now has duct tape over the hole), and had a Walmart driver run into my back bumper (i claimed the insurance then used fiber glass sheets from the hardward store to patch that up). The car looks like it's worth $1500 now, but it run so great... and with the 47 MPG, I'll drive this into the ground before I give up this awesome car. Now if we could get TOYOTA to make the headlamps better and easier to access, I'd give the car a 10. I keep burning through bulbs and I have to dedicate an afternoon to change just one of them.
I like to spend 10-15 cents a mile. The car already exists, so it effectively costs you zero. If you spend $1200 on it, and get 8-12,000 miles out of it before something major happens, you.re ahead.
