Driving a wrecked Prius - Forever!

The son of a friend of mine rolled his ~2008 Prius in the median when he fell asleep at the wheel. I don't know how he did it but it landed on the roof without putting a scratch on either side or front or back. The car is in great shape other than part of the roof about 6" too low. It slightly bent the tops of the right side doors and broke out the glass on those two doors. The windshield and hatch are still in perfect condition. It was easily totaled by the insurance company due to the extent of the roof damage. The front and back and driver's side and interior are all pristine. Everything still works and it drives like it was new. None of the airbags exploded. My ultra-poor bike racing son wants it! I'm sure it is still a much safer car than most cars he'd drive. Why not?

 

The insurance company only offered the owner $50 for it. He can afford that! Insurance will be cheap because it will be only liability insurance. My son drives a Subaru Outback with very high miles that has a bad rear main oil leak. The Prius will be a great improvement. He's a career counselor at a high school when he's not racing bikes. He has income - just not very much.

From a brief web search, it looks like the title will be removed and after a lights and safety and emissions inspection it will be given a Salvage Title. We'll look forward to a few visits to the DMV to sort it out.

Since I posted this I've had email contact with the owner who is out of town for a couple of weeks. We'll be test driving it today. It has been sitting a couple of months so it will be interesting to get it started.

JC91006 - This is the same Prius that we've had emails about salvaging a few parts from it.
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I'll follow this sidetrack! What the book probably doesn't mention is how dangerous it is. My son has lost two teammates to bike accidents in 8 years, crashed so hard that he broke a collarbone into 8 pieces a few years ago, and broke his collarbone twice and rib once in three separate crashes this year. He's decided to specialize in individual long distance endurance events because they are safer. He has lots of pro cyclist friends. He's not in it for the money!

 

Both were hit by cars during training rides. None in actual competition though they've had very serious injuries.

 

Yes, I'll post pictures! We test drove it today. When we first looked at it, the 12V battery was completely dead. A quick jump from my 2010 Prius and it started immediately as if it had been driven yesterday. It showed 5 bars on the HV battery display and the engine ran as you'd expect any Prius to run. It was flawless. We pulled it out and swapped the plates from my own Prius and took it for a 20-mile spin. (I live in northern Wyoming. Seeing a cop where we were was extremely unlikely.) Everything works. It drives smooth and straight and the owner said he'd had the frame checked because he was considering having it half-fixed. The brake regen works, cruise control, abs, etc. It reported 42 mpg on the 20 mile run.

Some rain is always going to leak into the car. From what I've read online, most states only require a safety inspection and an emissions inspection. This car will end up in North Carolina. I'm sure it will pass any emissions inspection.

The bad points are 1.) more wear on the center console than expected, 2.) I'm not positive that the right side doors can ever close correctly, and 3.) the tops of both right door frames are bent inward a little bit which means they can never have glass in them. We'll buy 1/4" Lexan tomorrow and see if we can make acceptable windows for it. I did that once many years ago and was impressed that it was indistinguishable from glass window without close inspection.

We'll start it again in the morning to see if the 12V battery will hold a charge. If not, that will be replaced immediately. We'll replace the right mirror then live with it for a few days to see if we can shake out more flaws. My son has 10 days to make a decision. At this point it is likely that he'll buy it.

 

I agree. None of the airbags went off in the rollover so it is still a very safe car for most types of accidents.