Did my father pay too much for a certified prius?

My father was recommended a Toyota salesmen that goes to a church my family frequently visits. He said he would help us since he appreciates the work my father does for our churches. He seemed genuine, but only the numbers really count in the end.

He got us a certified 2013 Prius 3 with 44,000 miles. He quoted my dad $17,800 with 5% APR over 72 months.

The total after taxes with interest after the 6 years he would be paying $24,400. So about $310 a month.

My father was only able to put $1,500 down and we traded in our old rickety minivan (Is now a saftey hazard, thus why we were looking for a new car) for another $1000 credit.

He never expected to buy a car from a dealership as we are not the most well off family, but if they work hard, they could probably manage the payments. But it seems they are having trouble sleeping tonight thinking of how much money they have to pay now.

Was this a good price? Or should he return it? (He bought it today, so he has a few days to return it).

Extra details that may be important:

About 8 years ago my parents filed for bankruptcy, and the dealer made a point that 5% APR is very good considering that detail. He said APR would normally be 11%.

The Prius was the newest looking out of all the used in the lot (no scratches and the interior looks brand new).

It has tinted windows and new tires. (They said they wouldn't charge us for these, but Idk).

Thank you very much in advance for any and all advice here! I really want to make sure they aren't paying more than it's worth, especially since they are having a hard time swallowing this purchase.

 

They can afford it, if they work a little harder. But they are just worried they got an overpriced car, and maybe they should've gotten a used model like my 04 Gen 2.

My parents got a $29 extra warranty with the car ($2000 over the 6 years), that has bumper to bumper repairs covered. So that's on top of it all. I realize that prius have premiums for repairs. I've been doing all the repairs myself on my 04 for that very reason. But that's expected I guess. With the way my family drives, we save a few grand a year on gas with each prius we own. We drive about 30k miles a year per car.

I was looking around and it seems there are better priced cars, but we were also told that list prices in other dealers don't mention a few grand in hidden prices.

 

Yeah, that's where they got the loan from. They were pre-approved for 10% APR from our local credit union, which is why they assumed they were getting a good deal at 5% APR after some "calls" the dealer made. Their credit is now slowly coming back up, but it's still not ideal I guess.

Yeah, apparently they quoted us $17,800 for the certified car, but I had to leave early and couldn't see the financial portion, and in the end my dad came home saying the final total after taxes and interest would be $24k over the next 6 years (about $310 a month).

He also decided to add their bumper to bumper protection for $29 which, I'm not sure if it's a good deal or not. But it keeps him at ease for the time being.

They are pretty sure they can make the payments, they are just not sure it's justified on this purchase. As in, maybe they could have gotten a better deal elsewhere just paying the higher interest, but a more appropriate price on the car itself.

 

I should also mention, the reason my parents are looking for a car is that we had two cars, and three drivers that always need to go to different places. We had my own 04 prius that I bought about 3 years ago. And our 2002 KIA minivan which is no longer good. The minivan is pretty much done so we really need at least one more car, and my parents don't have much more than 3-4k to buy one if they didn't want to finance. So they were hoping that through financing they could get a slightly better car and just pay it slowly rather than throwing everything all at once for a worse car.

They think they can make the payments, but they want to know they aren't overpaying for the car.

I paid 5.5k cash for mine 3 years ago through CL (not a great deal, but not terrible at the time).

 

Yeah, it's a shame. This guy apparently "helped" many of my father's coworkers, and many many other people from our church in the area. And if he "helped" them the same way he "helped" us, then he's making a good living off people who hoped they could trust him.

Granted, this guy was highly recommended by so many people, that my father felt he could place his trust in him. But sales are sales, that's the business.

Yeah, we talked about it afterwards and we came to the conclusion that he shouldn't of had mentioned his bankruptcy, that we had the minivan to trade in, or that we had 1.5k as a down payment. :/

They are pretty dead set on a prius as we have had an excellent experience with my own (04 Gen 2). But if they are going that route, I just don't want them to get scammed.

I'll talk to them about returning it. Today has been rough for everyone with all of this going through our minds.

 

They are pretty desperate at the moment haha. But I'm not sure if desperate enough to overpay for a car. I personally would like for them to get no less than a Gen 3 with around 50k miles (if they are buying from a dealer), but they don't need all the shiny bobs of the level 3 model. We never use my own cars GPS, we just use our phones for that.

Is the price you paid including interest, or did you pay it in full? If we had paid the car in full + tax, but without interest, it would have landed around $20,500 I think.

 

I really appreciate everyone's advice!

I completely agree with what you all are saying. I talked to them and explained what I've learned and found some other options online for them to look at. But I guess,in the end, they decided they want to keep it.

I can't really say that I completely understand their financial situation, as they are my parents, and they would rather not share most of those details with me. But after talking to our accountant, they decided that it was their best option to just pay this car off over time. Almost like a rental (with the extra warranty it should stay pristine for at least the 6 years they are paying it off).

I guess the only upside I can see is that after battling with very worn down van for the last 5 years, they can finally get some relief from repairs for the foreseeable future. The "friendly" salesman offered us his employee discount for anything we needed from the dealership/mechanics, so I'm going to make sure and take FULL advantage of that. From tires, to every quart of oil.

Personally, I don't think it was the right move to keep it. As many of you mentioned, a cheaper car now, and some saving later, they could've saved much more money on a better vehicle. But, there's nothing I can do about it. So I'll try to enjoy and help them take care of the car as best I can.

However, I'll definitely keep all your great advice into consideration when I decide to upgrade my own Prius for something newer. It's just beginning to show some age at 13 years old and 200k miles (which is impressive considering how most cars decay).

Thank you again everyone!

 

Haha, if only

Yeah, I totally understand. I wish I would've said something when we were there. My parents went to the dealer just to look, and ended up buying the first car they were shown. I didn't even have time to check elsewhere.

I had checked elsewhere for prices on Prius V, as that was the car they were interested at first. But then they showed us a V in "meh" condition and they preferred the nicer looking yet older Prius we were shown at first. I really should've said something at the time, but they were really desperate for a car, and when they told them "Of course we can finance a car for you. So long at it's certified." Then they felt they had no other choice.

We usually like to buy most parts/fluids from Toyota (unless they are overpriced like the Odometer screen I had to replace on my car). I bought oil the same day for my own prius and 4 quarts cost me $12. So it's not too bad.

I assume they did. I didn't ask much, as I generally don't about that stuff. But apparently their credit is still pretty bad since they had an issue where my mother forgot to make a $10 recently and it once again tanked their credit after building it back up after so many years.

I should definitely do that. They said it's bumper to bumper protection until the car is paid off. They said it includes any repairs and maintenance except tires, oil change, and something else that's done often (can't remember). But I'll look into it, because after 6 years the warranty ends up totaling $2,000.

Thank you very much