Buying used from non-Toyota dealer

I would sugest walk away, price is good but the battery thing I am not so sure and the weird engine noise who knows. My sugestion is to walk away from this one also. Mybe the technicall guys can imput also. On the other hand if battery is bad or going bad you can buy a rebuilt one for $1000 dollars or used for less. If you want you can negotiate that with the seller.
I still sugest to keep looking but its up to you.

 

Since it sounds like you are not a DIYer and will have to rely upon dealer service, I think you should keep looking.

 

The odo bothers me. The loud engine bothers me. The traction battery bothers me. The idiot lights bother me. Since the car pulls to one side it is either an alignment or a frame issue. That bothers me. IMO this guy is trying to sell a piece of junk. Run, don't walk, away.

Register the VIN of every used Prius you are looking at on Toyota Owners Official Web Site: Service Coupons, Owner's Manuals, Service Scheduling And More to see the dealer service history.

 

A Prius with that many miles logged could have a major failure at any moment: traction battery, inverter, transaxle, not to mention A/C, MFD, etc. Any of those repairs will cost four-digits at your Toyota dealer.

Again, since you are not a DIYer and probably are going to rely upon Toyota dealer service (which is quite costly), you should look for a car similar to the one that you had decided not to purchase (i.e., 55K miles or less, 2007 or newer).

 

The car at the BMW dealer sounds better because it has a much lower odometer reading and probably still has a short time period left on the hybrid system warranty which is 8 years/100K miles whichever comes first. That will give you a chance to get a warranty repair if there is something wrong with the inverter, traction battery, or associated ECUs that a casual test drive does not reveal.

You've driven enough Prius by now. Do you feel that you know the car well enough to find any problems that the BMW tech may have overlooked? Does the BMW dealer offer any warranty?

If your answers to the above two questions are both "no" then you may decide it is worth it to pay your local Toyota dealer for an inspection.

 

Patrick is right try to look at that one. 10k is a very good price. Have it checked out and see if you can strike a deal.

 

This is a reasonable approach. You can start wherever you want regarding your offer price, as the dealer can always say "no".

 

I understand your need to get the best price that you can get.

As to paying the asking price or not, that will depend upon the relative scarcity of the car in question in your locale. If you find that the asking price is reasonable compared to metrics provided by KBB and Edmunds, then you may not be able to negotiate a large discount beyond that. But it doesn't hurt to try.

You'll know your offering price is too low when you've made an offer, the salesman says no, and allows you to walk out the door without making a counteroffer.

 

The repairs/maintenance that you listed probably exceeded the car's actual need for service, but if the services were done correctly, I have no objection to the list. That implies that the prior owner was willing to make the $$ investment to keep the car in top condition which is normally good news.

What about the tires, did you notice how much tread remains? 10/32" is the tread depth of a new tire; 2/32" is where the wear bars appear and is the legal limit at which the tires must be replaced. (4/32" is safe limit for rainy terrain; 6/32" for snowy terrain.)

One check that you should make is to look for VIN stickers on the hood, front fenders, hatch, bumpers and all doors. If you don't find a sticker then you know the body part in question had been repainted or even replaced, which implies some sort of accident damage. That may explain unusual road noise that you hear.

It would be unusual to see two pink/purple bars in normal driving unless you were running the air conditioner compressor or climbing mountainous terrain.

It is normal for the inverter to make a humming sound associated with deceleration.

More important is that your subjective view of the car is that the ride was not smooth. This might point to bad struts/shocks, the need for front wheel alignment, accident damage affecting the suspension which was not fully repaired, etc. This is why it is helpful that you are gathering experience driving several Prius.

 

Higher mileage that looks and drives better.

You haven't listed your location in your profile, but need to consider the possibility that the vehicle may have been located in an adverse area at some point in its life, for example an area that uses lots of salt to combat winter snow on the roads.

 

OK

Not very serious. My main concern would be whether regular engine oil/oil filter changes were done.

 

So suppose that the inspection reveals that the engine coolant pump bearing is seeping and the serpentine belt is cracked and needs to be replaced along with engine coolant drain and replace. You already know the Toyota dealer price is $500.

Then the 100K mile service is coming up, and the two unusual activities there are engine coolant replacement (which is already covered above) and inverter coolant replacement. Suppose you can get the Toyota dealer to do the latter for $150.

Finally you will have paid $150 for the inspection itself.

At 120K miles the iridium spark plugs need to be replaced (perhaps $200), as well as the inspection performed at 30K mile intervals.

Would you be inclined to go ahead with the purchase of the car given the above?