I have a 2004 Prius with 225k on it. It has been a great car with few problems but always big money problems when they do happen. The past 6 months - new tires in December 2016, new 12v January 2017, and new front brake pads and rotors March 2017 which brings us to the current issue - Toyota service says the hydro pump booster needs to be replaced - OUCH $2570 plus tax. I know it would be great to have a crystal ball but do I sink this much more money into a car that probably is only worth that much if it was running properly? Just looking for opinions for fellow Prius owners - thanks!
At it's current mileage, if you are not a DIY person, it's best to just sell it. It will start getting more and more needed repairs and it'll cost you a fortune if you bring it out to the dealer.
If you are talking about the brake actuator pump, that is covered under an extended warranty until Dec 2017. In general if you are going to rely upon Toyota dealer service you are going to be paying four digit amounts way in excess of the car's market value...and that seems like a silly thing to do unless you have a deep emotional tie to the car.
My dad had two simple rules for this: 1) When monthly repairs start costing about as much as a new car payment. 2) When potential repair costs will put you far underwater if your car gets totalled, i.e., if you pay $2,570 and then if some jerk totals your car you would only get $1500 (or less) from the insurance company. I've added a third rule - if the cost of the repair is within 20% or so of what it would cost you to buy the same make and model in better condition, it's time to let it go.
I've always found that it's never one thing with a car like this....this will be the tip of the iceberg. Sell it on to a DIY person that can tackle that job for far less and get yourself something that's not going to break you.
+1. If you aren't a DIYer, then a high mileage car will be expensive to maintain. If you are trying to maintain a vehicle from this millennium, every expense will be an expensive 4-digit repair. The days of fixing the car with some duct tape and bubble-gum MacGyver style is long gone. If you can wield a laptop with the make's specialized software (Techstream for Toyota) and a DMM with oscilloscope then you can fix anything in a car today. You don't really need anything more than a $20 socket wrench kit and screwdriver nowadays. It's plug and play modules and computers for the most part. Notice that this is ANY newer vehicle. A GenII Prius falls in this category because it was made post 1999, not because it is a Prius.
My opinion: Current street value < $0.02 If you do not DIY then you cannot afford to "save money" by driving a car with lunar mileage since you will always be at the tender mercies of dealership service departments. Also.....and this isn't a personal critique, just an observation......replacing items like tires, brake pads, wiper blades, etc aren't really repairs but rather fall into "maintenance" which have to be performed on all cars from time to time. You do not have to be an ACE certified mechanic to own a car that has over 100,000 miles on it, but you should be familiar with and track all of the maintenance items in the service schedule, and be familiar enough with the car to order these maintenance items performed by a competent (preferably independent, given Toyota's track record!) mechanic. Otherwise you might be just as well served driving newer cars with less than 100,000 miles on the odometer, since most modern cars only require very light maintenance up to that point and the penalty for skipping maintenance items like engine air filter replacements, brake clean and inspects, or oil volume checks will be largely paid by the cars next owners. So....having said all of that, the answer to your question is as follows: Financial experts tend to agree that repairs up to the full hull (trade-in) value of the car can be wise through the life cycle of the car. This presumes a working knowledge of things like the maintenance schedule, and obvious first steps (reading codes, internet research, etc.) If one presumes a life expectancy of about 15 years or about 250,000 miles, then your car is just about through it's normal life expectancy, and you might be well served by selling it off as a project car to somebody who has more tools and more of an incentive to swing wrenches for themselves rather than paying the work done. Of course.....Toyota will never reveal what they consider to be their estimation of the cars life expectancy, but I think that you will find common concurrence with MY guestimation of 15/250,000. As always.......YMMV! Good Luck!
I replaced my AC system for $3000 and my battery two days ago for $2200. It was stupid, but I don't think there could be many more things that could go wrong with the car in the next couple years. Also, Prii sell for higher in my area, so I'm gonna pay more for repairs.
