A family member has a 2010 Toyota Prius and there are some major repairs needed; some might not be needed but: 1. Clock Spring on steering wheel ($850) - probably not a must 2. Water Pump ($525) - a must per mechanic 3. General service (filters/oil etc - $225) 4. ABS Actuator (Most expensive - $2700) The car has a lot of miles 240,000; I don't know the exact car history and not sure if the battery/engine has ever been replaced - so there is the fear and risk of that; These repairs all add up to $4300+; add another $75 for alignment and $150 for a detail \[it's VERY DIRTY\]; I'm wondering if it's worth shelling out all this cash to fix-up this car and get it into really good condition, or if I should just try to get rid of it by only fixing the water pump or fixing nothing I'm on the fence because what if I fix all this and then the battery goes bad the next day? On the other hand, these cars are worth $10k in good condition even with this many miles, but probably these prices will drop in the future, so wondering what this group thinks -really not sure what to do. If selling is the route, I wonder how much to price it for given these problems.
With original/unknown battery & engine, it is probably worth $7-8k once fixed, assuming a clean title and a good interior/exterior condition. Some 250k mile Prii with showroom cleanliness, documented hybrid battery replacements, and documented engine rebuilds will fetch $10-12k - but not many. If you sell it as is, you may only get $4k for it. So I guess the question for you is, can you get a better vehicle for ~$8,000-10,000? Or are you willing to buy brand new? If not, I'd probably fix the Prius. A new car financed for 5 years is going to cost you about $500/month or $6,000/year. You should expect to average less than $3,000/year in maintenance & repairs on a 2010 Prius (though you certainly might spend more than that in any one particularly bad year)
I'll pretty much cut that bill in half but still it's a 2010 it'll have to be lower than that but then again my 2010 has not had an engine replacement my 13 has go figure the 10 may even have more miles now than the 13
2014+ rings & pistons are better, but 2010-2014 aren't bad (especially with 5,000 mile oil change intervals). Gen 2 Prii (and 2000s Corollas, Matrices, etc) also had a number of people sludge up their oil rings and start burning oil a bit earlier than typical for Toyotas. But the vast majority last just fine...
2010 to partway through model year 2014 the engines have low-tension springs that have proven "problematic". The cut-off VIN is in the attached:
If these things are broken then each is needed. Especially the abs actuator. That one is dangerous. If this is a question of selling or repair, I would sell. A lot depends on the family member's financial position. And their need for reliability and minimum downtime. It is easy to get sucked into one repair at a time thinking it is better short term. At 240k you are looking at an engine and a hv battery at anytime. At a dealer those two are over $10,000 combined. The prices you are getting above are dealer equivalent prices in most areas. You should try Hybrid Pit for all the repairs.
I wouldn’t buy it for a daily driver, but if you can get it for 4 and sell for 10, flip it and split the profits with your family member
Yeah everyone on Reddit said the prices are high, but the thing is in in Los Angeles and I'm guessing that's why the prices are much higher
You mean buy all the repairs for 4? Or buy the car for 4 fix and flip? The car is free And paid for already, it was a family transfer,.trying to figure out now to pay to fix or what. The issue is I can't work on the car, don't have a garage and sold tools a long time ago
Well you can save a lot of money on a couple things, the clockspring can be bought for $10 and works perfect from ebay and also the water pump like $120 Aftermarket but they work like OEM. Do the work yourself and save even more. Then you can get a lifetime alignment with all the money you save from Firestone.
I personally don’t trust aftermarket water pumps. But some people have good luck with them. I will be purchasing one of the $10 eBay Clock springs myself.
if you're getting it for free, pay the 4 and sell it if you can. on top of a potential battery, and even more likely is a blown head gasket
What about paying for the water pump and alignment and then selling as is? It'll be drivable then but the abs actuator isn't completely gone yet and the clock spring is not a must, abs lights aren't on, only thing is the steering wheel controls don't work so we can't reset the oil maintenance message
Might as well throw some sealer in the coolant, clear the codes, fix the clockspring, detail it and sell it on Craigslist to some struggling single mom with two kids. Meet in the Home Depot parking lot and keep the title in your relatives' name so they can't trace it to you when the brakes fail.
i did not realize that everything on your list wasn't needing repair currently. certainly, you can sell it in any condition you feel comfortable with.
Losing ABS and power assist does not mean your brakes will fail and you'll go careening completely out of control. It just means the brakes might not engage at the top of the pedal stroke like you're used to, the brake pedal will be harder to push, and you'll be able to lock up the brakes if you push too hard. If you combine this with following too closely and/or distracted driving, you certainly will increase the chance of a minor collision. I wouldn't call the condition "unsafe" - just less safe since two (at one time optional) safety features will no longer be working. So I just checked my 2010's oil level right before changing it at 5,000 miles and it was almost exactly in the middle of the dipstick range. So only slight oil consumption with 196,xxx miles on the odometer - not bad enough to need to add anything between oil changes. I run 5,000 mile oil change intervals and the cheapest top tier gasoline I can find (usually Costco or AmPm).
