Sealing The Deal Tomorrow

Hi All,

First post. I've been enjoying your posts. Thanks for all the insights. Anyway, I'm having a pre-purchase inspection at a Toyota dealer on a 2015 Prius tomorrow. When I inspected the car at the non-Toyota dealership I'm buying from, everything looked great. No body work, all the electronics look good, oil in the engine was pristine . . . but I still don't know what I should expect with regard to the main Prius battery. When I set up an appointment for the inspection, I told the attendant that I wanted the inspection mainly for them to check the main battery. The attendant asked me, "For what?" He said there's nothing to check. If it's not working, then there's a check engine light, according to him. I expected that they could run some kind of diagnostic on it. Car has 80k miles on it and a good service history. Should I just take it on faith that the main battery is most likely in good shape or is there anything the Toyota dealer can check with regard to its health? Thanks for any insight.

 

Thanks Pri3C. That's good info. Since I don't have an OBD2 yet, I was kind of hoping the dealer would perform a similar check with their dealership equipment. Perhaps that's wishful thinking. Anyway, one of the Toyota salespersons told me that if a hybrid battery has problems and it's not the original owner of the car, then the 100,000 mile/10 year warranty is not applicable--unless the owner bought a Toyota Certified Used Vehicle (TCUV). I wasn't sure if that were true or not. According to the Carfax service history of the car I'm likely going to buy tomorrow, the history complies with Toyota's maintenance log requirements. I don't want to pay an extra $1000 for a TCUV car to keep the original warranty intact, but maybe I don't really have to. Thanks for the congrats. I'm stoked on the car. Hoping it checks out tomorrow.

 

Thanks for excellent info everybody. I haven't bought the car yet. I thought $14,000 for a 2015 Prius 3 with a very good maintenance record and single owner vehicle was a decent deal, but a friend of mine thinks that's too much. Anybody else have an opinion on that? I do think the car needs new tires. I appreciate any thoughts on that price. Thanks.

 

The Toyota owners site tip was great. Glad I found out that site exists. I'm going through the vehicle's history there. Everything looked good on the Carfax history, but I want to compare that with what Toyota has to say. Great advice. Thanks again.

 

Thanks again for all the replies. I got a little irrationally exuberant over the car and have gone back to the drawing board. I need to find a Prius more suited to my budget, particularly with a looming Depression on the horizon.

 

At first they were asking $14, 900 and I offered $14,000. They accepted. I set up a pre-purchase vehicle inspection for the next day and slept on it. I woke up and had price bidder's remorse. I backed out of the deal and started looking for a car in the $7000 range instead. That proved futile. So I rolled the dice, called them back a week later, and offered them $12,500. They eventually accepted that offer (called me back). So I went with it. 2015, pearl white, excellent maintenance history, as-is Prius Persona 81,000 miles @ $12,500. I don't know exactly if that's a good, fair, or bad deal, but I had to end the bleeding paying for a rental car. Toyota dealer pre-purchase vehicle inspection ($164) found the brakes, tires, and car in good condition (no codes found in the hybrid battery history--something like that). That's the story. I'm loving the car and looking forward to the gas mileage and camping possibilities.

 

Thanks! Buying a car at the price you want is difficult. It's kind of like buying a stock at the best price. You might have a "best" price in mind, but getting the stock at that price is easier said than done. Same goes with used car shopping. I just accept that it's an imprecise form of juggling time constraints, price ranges, and bent personalities (including your own). Thankfully, it's a fairly rare chore in most people's lives. This forum has been an invaluable resource and made the car buying process much less stressful. Thanks again everyone.

 

I'd throw up some pics, but my internet connection is dicey. I'll try to get some up when my connection is little more stable.

 

Thanks Jimbo. That's good news. Yeah, he was lying. He lied about the car I viewed as well. Carfax showed no accidents or damage, but the back bumper wasn't attached correctly to the wheel well. Carfaxes are frequently inaccurate about damage. There was overspray in the wheel well. The left side rear panel wasn't flush and kept popping out of place along the panel seam. The body repair techs didn't bother to reattach it properly. Salesman said, "the panels are known for doing that with this car . . . " The body repair didn't look bad, but I walked on that one. Too many sensitive electronics in a Prius for me to overlook an obviously repaired rear bumper/side panel. I also know that dealers look for damaged vehicles with clean Carfaxes at the auctions. You have to inspect for damage before you buy, regardless of a pristine Carfax.