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how to value our Prius?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by SuzyGS, Nov 14, 2023.

  1. SuzyGS

    SuzyGS Member

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    all,

    Wondering if anyone has ideas about how to either value my used Prius or whether to just junk it.

    My daughter's 2008 Prius was once a hot topic on this forum because of lots of dashboard lights shortly after purchasing in 2017. It was finally solved after we changed out the air filter (I know, crazy, right?). Anyway, she drove the car trouble-free for about six more years and we don't know how to solve a new problem that involves multiple dash lights, so we are going to sell it for whatever we can get. A mechanic says he suspects the generator is going bad, and he suspects it may even have affected the health of the main battery (which has only about 65K miles on it as it was replaced at just under 100K miles). He wasn't sure of either, but posited that whatever it was, it would probably cost more than the car is worth, or almost what it's worth. We bought a Camry hybrid from him to replace it. My daughter was having to disconnect and reconnect the small Prius battery each time she drove it the week before we replaced it, otherwise it wouldn't allow itself to be driven.

    We know we can sell it to a junkyard but it seems a shame because it drives so well even now, has almost new tires and nice leatherette seats with a perfect interior (exterior is decent, too). Is it possible it would have value to anyone besides a junk yard? We tried online Carmax, but they would have to inspect the car before making an offer due to the dash lights (don't blame them). Any ideas would be SO appreciated.

    upload_2023-11-14_12-19-32.png
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    You can start with a value from kbb.com
     
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Great car... There's likely no generator problem... If you lived near me I'd give you at least $3K for it and I'd put a lithium upgrade pack in it: https://projectlithium.com/?ref=9qLPw and do any maintenance and repair work it needed, which is likely not much and the car would be worth $6K easy out here on the west coast.
     
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  4. SuzyGS

    SuzyGS Member

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    I appreciate your reply. Too bad we're so far apart - the car is in Birmingham, Alabama, though. I would love for it to go to somebody who would fix it, instead of junking it.
     
  5. SuzyGS

    SuzyGS Member

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    Thanks! I didn't think I could get an accurate value without really knowing for sure what's causing those lights...
     
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Well you can't really You're in the southeast United States I have family in mountain Brook Alabama I used to be in Birmingham very regularly when my mother was alive in the southeast if the car was in good shape and it was running I'm not sure about the disconnecting the battery every time whether what could be going on generator not likely I don't see the mileage here but something very strange could be something to do with the HV battery bus bars and nuts that sort of thing just hard to say but that's where you're at I just bought a car just like yours from Florida here in North Carolina where I live for $700 It looks about the same as your daughter's car and that seems to be pretty normal down here I buy them from towing lots and everything and to be tough trying to find somebody who wants to fix it unless they're into these cars and all of that they're really not going for 6K down here unless they're in really good shape and for that kind of mileage you'll be looking at about 140 150 160 somewhere in there thousand I do see them here. But they're few and far between and that kind of condition A lot of these cars have that crappy tan velor interior that's just a horrible nastiness magnet.
     
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  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Does this car have fog lights? H i d lights? The leather interior matches the door panels in the center console lid Is any of that peeling or destroyed? I'd be interested in the car probably depending upon its condition but if I have to come from North Carolina to get it I'd probably be looking to pay what the towing yard is going to pay for it..
     
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  8. SuzyGS

    SuzyGS Member

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    Yes, the car has leatherette charcoal (or black) seats which are in perfect condition. Nothing in the interior is peeling or destroyed. The whole interior seems almost like new and doesn't smell bad, either. The VIN is JTDKB20U083349297; would that help you know the answers about the lights? I do know that the original sticker showed it has stability control, which might have been an option. Here are more exterior photos; maybe you can get a glimpse of the interior from the close-up: passenger side with license plate cut off.jpg front.jpg insde and dash partial view.jpg
     
    #8 SuzyGS, Nov 14, 2023
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2023
  9. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    It look like it's a Prius Prius with leather interior I don't see fog lights etc which is great far as I'm concerned looks like halogen headlights which is great nothing to fix overall the car looks in really good shape I don't know if anything's been painted or dealt with or anything like that but the car looks pretty straight generally sitting down in Alabama other than the heat everything on the car should be in pretty good shape but doesn't look like the sun is baked the paint so maybe it was painted at some point because of the minor who knows what but Prius is do well and low speed collisions backing up into gas pump poles and all that sort of thing doesn't hurt him a bit a lot of times people get them painted on insurance claims and whatnot especially down in that part of the country. So if you're lucky and something very not much is wrong like corroded bus bars and nuts or a battery that's leaking HV energy to the frame of the car or is no longer isolated can light you up like a Christmas tree and what have you It's a tough sale down there because everybody's vying for new cars if you will It's like a disease. But if you could get that sorted like if it needed a rebuilt battery and you got that sorted out and put in there and the car worked and was good to go Yes you could get $5,000 for it He might have to sit on it for a couple weeks but it would probably go quick if you could say that there were no lights on the dash in the car was driving The color is good the interior is good and that's seven parts of the 10 you're looking in this type of car everybody's going to have to have a battery at some point. To get the money you'll have to provide the car to somebody with the battery and no lights on to get the 5500 or so books or people are going to lowball you at near a thousand and may or may not fix it they may strip it and put the parts on their car was hard to imagine but he'd be surprised some people.
     
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  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    There are some Spanish guys in t-town Tuscaloosa We lived on Pinehurst I might could get their names and numbers for you and if you have the time well I guess the car doesn't run? You could get it to them that could diagnose it I know another guy that's mobile I think he's in vestavia hills He might could come by and take a look at it tell you the real deal and see if it's something you want to fool with I mean if you could spend $1,000 on a battery or rebuilt refurbished whatever that worked and got you to the lights off then you could sell the car for almost top dollar so you'd make $4,000 and spend $1,000 might be worthwhile then again maybe not just depends on what you want to do.
     
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  11. MCCOHENS

    MCCOHENS Member

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    Put it up for sale on this forum, facebook and craigslist. Set the price for 1K or best offer, your choice. In 2 weeks sell to the highest offer.
    Without knowing the specific codes but knowing it can be driven once the computer is reset makes it hard to advise anything else. But if I saw pics of a car that nice and a 1k/BO price I would check it out.
     
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  12. highmilesgarage

    highmilesgarage Active Member

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    post it in Facebook Marketplace for $3000 OBO (or best offer) It's really up to you what's your final price. Buyers will typically lowball, bring their own scanner and probably take it. If it doesn't sell for a week then lower it.
     
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  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Exactly because the people that are in the know will show up or they won't at this age and model it's a real crap shoot in the Birmingham mountain Brook vestavia hills area but in other parts of the state not so much and some people may travel to come take a look others may not further up north and North Carolina in places might fare a tad better but not a lot these things are dropping like flies in my area now people are looking at 2013's and up and that's okay with me please go buy those leave my generation twos alone they're old and crappy and ugly that's what I tell everybody No you want something way newer than that Go get a 2015 exactly. I don't ever try to tell people to go find a generation too in my area because I'll probably want to strip it for parts please go buy a generation 3 absolutely we'll see you on the list in short order
     
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  14. JahT

    JahT Member

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    Your paint is very nice. I am looking to finally sell mine but the paint isn't as nice as that. Don't junk it, these cars have many more lives to lead.
     
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  15. ColoradoCrow

    ColoradoCrow Active Member

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    I am not in the market but even with all those issues I would pay $2k for it. Camper is right. $2200 with a new lithium pack and it will go another 8 years.... The paint is amazing and headlights for its age.
    WOW.
     
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  16. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Doesn't the front bumper cover have some marks on it on the driver side not being overly picky I was just saying these cars always look good in pictures and when you're there live and you see whatever nothing bad with this car looks like all the panels are straight the bumper covers are on it has halogen headlights that are original that can clean up when needed and put new bulbs in and be fine for the rest of its life but people in Alabama and Georgia are not going to pay $2,000 for it just because it's on the marketplace because of all those lights and what have you and even not putting the $2,200 in the project lithium battery just I threw a local built battery for 750 bucks in one of my cars and it's working like a champ stays in the green quite a long time and does everything we ask it to here in the southeast unlike I say I bought the car for 700 bucks lady parked it after it went dark one time so I did have to fix the CM monitor display issue and put this battery in it and of course a 12 volt and now the car is pretty much flawless and operation and that's pretty normal here I've got a few more to look at this week but I'm getting too many cars and I have tried to sell a few and it's a real hard sell people come and really kick tires that don't know anything about these cars and think they're going to go home and put a starter in it that sort of thing I can get real time consuming talking and meeting with people who have no clue.
     
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  17. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I don't understand why so many people keep talking about putting in a new battery when the HV battery was replaced by a new OEM in 2016.
     
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  18. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I'm pretty much talking about the 12 volt battery because it's been sitting. I don't do anything with a hybrid battery till I put a 12 volt battery in a vehicle Make sure everything is clean and looking good and attempt to start I always do that before I even start looking where the hybrid battery goes in the car most of the time I've walked up the generation 2 some of them have been sitting for longer than the people can remember a year or better I get a 12 volt in that thing I look over everything attempt to boot the car up usually the lights all light up on the dash like it's supposed to and the car starts right up or it goes to cranking and it's out of gas or so on and so forth If it doesn't start I turn it off and then I check my fuel and spark on a generation too you can get the spark plugs out without removing the wiper tray so seeing gas on plug one or two is real easy and smell. But most of these generation twos I've walked up to that are completely dead sitting in parking spaces or in yards I put a 12 volt in dump a little gas in the tank to dilute the old mess that's in the tank and usually they start right up I let them sit there and idle till the car cuts off like it does and then I pull it in gear and drive it around the block with no tags on it a couple times or whatever then pull it back in the person's yard or in front of their house and we wind up talking about whatever for 20 or 30 minutes and the car is off and then if I'm leaving with the car I've usually brought a license tag with me and another car is following me back to my house this is going on about seven times here same scenario. I've not had one of these toad to my place yet.
     
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  19. ColoradoCrow

    ColoradoCrow Active Member

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  20. ToyotaGal

    ToyotaGal Member

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    I think you are right. its just the 12 v battery. They last 3 to 5 years and when they go they do funky things. I recently had to replace mine after 2.5 years. It would only charge to 60 percent and if I accidentally left something on over night the dash would light up. The key would not eject ect..

    Your daughter drove the car for 6 years trouble free time to test the battery. A very cheap fix.
     
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  21. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    So it might be smart to add a 12V And see what youve got if all good itll bring 3K in Al in right area
     
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