Moving back to FL, looking to Sell my Prius with HOV stickers

Was watching the news last night and saw a piece on cars with HOV stickers. A dealer was quoting a premium of up to 4k for a car with these stickers. I have no idea if this is true or not but this is what came out of the dealers mouth when he was flapping his gums

Ken

 

I would NEVER pay a $4,000 premium just so I can drive by myself in the carpool lane for another 4 years. Cheaper, and more environmental friendly to take a bus.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(H2OSkier @ Mar 27 2007, 07:31 AM) [snapback]412917[/snapback]</div>

They were talking about this on the radio yesterday as well. (KFOG/7am-ish). I only heard the news item, not the public responses, but wow! Steve, you should check out all your options before putting the car up for sale. Those stickers are obviously a valuable add-on.

 

That is a sweet looking car! Black when clean is the slickest. The golden I have does better when dirty but never looks that slick... You tint makes me want to tint my windows too!

 

I was in Las Vegas this past week-end, and saw a Prius with Nevada plates, and California HOV stckers. I could see if the guy spends a lot of time in LA, but how do you get California stickers with Nevada plates?, unless he just moved to Nevada, and just left them on. Wierd.

 

The ironic thing is that the stickers on the pictured car are placed in the wrong spot.

 

I am in the same boat. Moving this summer and will be selling my 2004, package 7, with 60k miles. I think the time is right to sell. With gas at $3.25, 45-50 mpg looks good. And I personally think the stickers are priceless. On average, my commute is 45-60 minutes less everyday. 200 hours a year that I am not in traffic is worth more than $4000, at least to me.

 

I think you could do a search for private sales of similar Prii with same model/package/mileage and then ask the high end or a little more. When you sell, make sure you advertise that this car has the HOV stickers. You've got people looking for a good, used Prius because gas is going up and you've got people looking for a car with HOV stickers now that there aren't any more. I think you'll find it easier to sell the car and easier to get a good price for it.

I really doubt the $4,000 premium the dealer was quoting. That may be what *he's* asking and he may not be getting it.

Still, the stickers do make your car worth more than a similar car.

Will you be buying another Prius when you get to Florida?

 

For the record, $4000 is not unrealistic. Since we moved to Lake Tahoe, we sold our 2004 Pkg 9 with HOV stickers. We got a nearly $3K above KBB private seller excellent. I would say our car was better than good but not quite excellent. Our buyer had just got a new job and was facing a significant commute (both gas and time issues). By selling, we were able to upgrade to a 2007 with little out of pocket cost. The buyer called us to say how happy he was with the car. Win-win for everyone.

 

We used Craigslist. It's free and we found a buyer within the first week of the listing. Had about a dozen calls but only had one come to look. Took a test drive and he bought so it was a great seller experience.

 

I've used ebay twice.

The first time I got double what I paid. (Bought 1960 Cadillac sedan de ville for $1500, sold three years later for $3,000)

The second time I tried both eBay and autotrader and couldn't sell my Saturn SC2 coupe. 9 years, 49,000 miles. My sister bought it for her son and loves the car.

I think if I tried it again I'd go with Craigslist.