First time Prius owner!

If you have friends east of you in Reno, Nevada area you could put on an aftermarket Cat for $130 and 02 sensor for $50 and resell the car out of state and get most of your money back.

But yeah, in California you have to have OEM $2k type replacement, though some people outside of California will sell you there's for $1200.

 

That is a huge bummer. I wish there was some way to deal with thieves like that. Unfortunately repairs in CA will cost more than the car is worth. And you don't know the extent of what it needs.

I don't know if selling, scrapping, or parting the car out would help recover some of your costs. It isn't easy to bring this up now, but do you have (or know someone who uses) a decent mechanic that can do a pre-purchase inspection for you?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

They will do a visual inspection of the 2 cats and it has to have the Toyota codes listed on the 2 cats. Please the pictures.
No numbers..... fail.

You can cover the cats with anything you want to camouflage them there well aware of that and that will cause a failed inspection also.

California is the strictest carb state followed by Massachusetts apparently.

 

In California the seller is supposed to provide a smog certificate to legally sell the car. Did you buy this car from a Craigslist post?

 

The cat is stolen so much in California lately I don't know of any smog shop that doesn't check the cats on a Prius. If the car actually has the low mileage you say it has and a new FACTORY battery you could get most of your money back in parts. Scammers tend to swap out the Board that has the odometer reading though.

 

<——- Also a first time Prius owner, but it’s a 2020 Prime. I kind of went from zero to nothing in a day, lol.

 

So what is the relationship between her getting ripped off and you buying a brand new Prius? Your in the wrong forum by the way, there is a Prius prime forum.


Sorry, missed it. "First time Prius owner". I'm guessing your ownership experiences are going to be very different.

 

Actually I'm a bit confused over the visual inspection. The OP had a smog check done and I didn't see a write up anywhere on the report for a missing cat.??

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Yes. The cat is the same for all years between 2004 and 2009.

 

Good luck.

In Ca cats are extremely dear I doubt you will find one in a bone yard those guys know exactly whats pricey on a car. Not to mention how many prowlers have gone looking on G2 chassis's. Don't bother calling you have to go look. Plus if its still on the car most are sitting on hubs in the dirt but I wouldn't go under there.

I have been in a bunch of junkyards in my area and G2's are picked clean. But make sure you ask the guy at the counter if he knows of any.