Need advice on buying 2010 Toyota Prius,100K miles

To tell you all that I ended up buying both, Prius and Taurus Police Interceptor. One is going to a grandson who just got his license
Thank you, everyone, for good advice.

 

I don't know about other areas in other states, but in my area, (I live in NW Suburbs of Chicago), so many townships/county's;
50 cities within 40 miles range from my area. After xx years, municipal offices retiring their vehicles. Sometimes they need to spend current FY approved budgets in order to get the new budget. (They almost have to get rid of the old cars in order to get the new budget approved for the new cars on following FY even if the cars that are still in perfect condition ** This is another subject for debate).

So, most of the municipals put up their retiring cars on auction. However, this isn't like the regular auction where you have to bid on the car at the site. Rather, each municipal list the items (all their retiring cars, furniture, tools, etc (whatever the items they can list) themselves and send it to the local auction house. Then, the auction house lists items on their online auction site for about 2 weeks. (sort of like eBay). The cars they list usually starts at $500.00 - $1500.00 with no reserve or some with reserve. From there, the price goes up++

So, individual like me can look through and if I like what I see, I bid on the item. No limit as how many items you can bid. If you want them all listing and able to bid the highest price at the end of the auction, you can win them all. (same process as you are bidding on eBay). If I am bidding on large price tag items like a car, I can make an appointment directly with the Municipal office and check out the item, test drive, etc... If I am happened to win the item, I pay the final price + 10% commission to the auction house; they send me the 'paid' receipts. I take the paid receipt to municipal where items located and pick up my items. In a nutshell, this is how the process goes.

Prius & another car (Police Interceptor) both had 25+ bids. I have been buying a lot of items from the auction, so I have an idea how much it will go for. I also have my max price in mind when I bid on the item, so if the item that I am interested in going far more than my max, I won't get into the bidding war. Because we have so many townships, the cars (nice cars) comes up on auction quite often, I don't have to chase the car.

I used to buy only brand new cars, paying the sticker price. But, since I found out about these municipal retiring cars, I don't buy a new car anymore. The municipal cars are well maintained and also they have to disclose "the true description of its condition". Last year, I bought 2006 Taurus 70K miles for $2200.00, used all year long and list it on same auction site. Sold for $2600.00.

Anyway, thank you all for your time and post your comments/advice. The Prius is perfect 'as is', but I have to find the auto painting service to paint the police interceptor. My grandson says not to paint, but I want to paint before I gave it to him, so it doesn't look like a police car. I hope paint job doesn't cost as much as what I've paid for the car. LOL

 

Hehe...

 

It is a black body/white door typical police car; 4 doors are white and the decals removed by them, but the image of the decal still shows (lettering/logo), etc.

Yeah, my grandson wants to drive the car ' as is'. The most teenager would think it is cool, but not to me. LOL