Would you buy a used prius with an accident history?

First, that's a great price. Second, getting most any body panel painted and a dent removed will cost close to 1000.00.
Hope that helps,
Tony Renier
Green Bay, WI, USA

 

I had some one hit my Passenger front fender, $1550 no structural/performance issues. It can be done.

 

This past Monday my wife's parked Prius was hit in on the rear bumper by a lady who was trying to park and didn't turn sharply enough.
$921.00+ for a bumper cover and paint.
After repair next week it will be as good as new.

 

I bought mine with an accident reported that included airbag deployment. I have had the car 19 months now and there is not one thing that I can tell that effects the performance or the integrity of the car.

In the old days, we never really knew if the car was involved in an accident. Sometimes too much knowledge is TMI! Judge the car by the total; price, appearance, mechanical records, and your gut.

Good luck!

 

Here's what I can tell you fact...and opinion.
I own a Honda Fit...but it was new and in a VERY minor rear end accident. No Airbags deployed and the damage was very cosmetic to the rear bumper. Just to have it professionally removed, resurfaced and repainted it approached $1000. So if you are talking any type of painting or bodywork, it doesn't necessarily have to be a lot of damage for the cost to reach $1000.
That is what I can offer as "fact" based on recent experience.

My opinion?
If I'm buying used? How important is the "savings" to you? I'm always misanthropic when it comes to automobile purchases. The car might be absolutely fine, restored to absolutely perfect standards...but there is really no way to know this.

I'm kind of suprised because I thought officially certified Toyota used cars couldn't have an accident reported?

But it's all risk vs. reward, as it is with any used car purchase. Again, personally I'm misanthropic and tend to think if it seems too good to be true...it probably isn't true. So to me the risk (You know it's been in wreck) vs. Reward (Good Entry Purchase Price for the year and Mileage) wouldn't be worth it.

I could tell you all the usuals, like be sure to get it checked out...
But bottom line it's going to be up to you. Keep in mind, while your buy in, might be cheaper because of a reported wreck, your resale is instantly less because of that same reported wreck...you discovered it, and it will follow the vehicle.

 

personally, i wouldn't buy a car that has been in an accident: unless there are pictures of the accident showing how minor it was or a repair report from the body shop. there really no way (as far as i know) to visually see frame damage since it's covered up by body pieces.

carfax is extremely unreliable. I have seen A LOT of cars that have obviously been in accidents that have clean carfaxes. even when a car has clean carfax, i always go through the car thoroughly to make sure it has not been in an accident.

my dad's SUV was involved in an accident that cost $6000 to repair and both airbags deployed. the police was present at the accident scene and it was reported to the insurance company. 2 years after the accident, the SUV still has a clean carfax not showing anything about the accident.

toyota does not certify cars that have been in accidents. also, "toyota certified' cars are only sold in toyota dealerships: FAQ

some used car dealerships are very sneaky and put "certified" on their cars: which usually means that it is "certified" by the used car lot and has nothing to do with toyota. it'll sometimes have an "extended warranty": which often is a lousy 3rd party warranty company that never pays.

i'd recommend walking away.

 

:welcome::cheer2::welcome:

 

Okay guys.. Here's my take.

First of all, a "certified used car" is totally pointless. I know for a fact that toyota dealerships regularly certify cars even if they don't meet all of the criteria. The reason? It helps sell the car, and if the customer ends up having a problem later, they will just use the certification warranty to pay for it. Since it costs about $500 to get a car certified, they will not want to waste that money if it fails to pass. So certified, or not certified is no guarantee of anything. It is just marketing speak.

Second thing. You need to ask yourself why a wrecked car is bad. Truth is, the only reason it would be bad is if it was not repaired properly. So in my opinion, a well-repaired car is just as good as one that was never wrecked. The trick is being able to tell if the car was repaired properly. Some places to crappy work. Some times all they care about is making the car "look" good again, leaving all kinds of internal problems. A good Prius mechanic can tell the difference

Here are some good ways to determine what happened to a car, especially a Prius.

• Check each body panel for a VIN sticker. There should be one under the hood, on each door, and on the hatchback. They are kind of hidden, but you can find them. If any of those VIN stickers are missing, that means that body part has either been replaced, or repainted.
• Look under the hood. Look for any parts that have a barcode sticker on them for the part numbers. From the factory, none of those pieces would have the sticker. But when ordered as a replacement part, they come with a sticker. So you can get an idea of how many parts were replaced by looking at that.

Another important thing to do is make sure when you turn the car on that the check-engine, ABS, SRS, etc... all those lights should come on for a moment and go back out. If you don't see them, somebody may have removed the bulb to hide a problem.

I bought a 2008 Prius that was "certified" and upon closer inspection, I found all of the body panels on the drivers side had been replaced, as well as most of the parts on the drivers-side under the hood. According to toyota, this car would never have passed certification. However, I was able to determine the car was repaired very well and the unibody had not been messed with, and the price was good so I bought it.

 

I took my used car into a autobody place. They know what to look for as far as painted/damage/replaced parts. The prius is worse that a tin can. I've leaned on mine an dented in the body. Several report thin paint if you buff it too hard. With that, a strong wind could have dented it. lol
Don't depend on certify anything. Get the extended warranty and make sure you know what it does and does not cover. Get the alignment checked. If it was hit hard enough it may not align well and thus poor mpg and tire wear. It's a good price. I would try and talk lower since most people will not buy a known damaged car. I talked mine down another $1k and the damage was just to the drivers fender. Look at the headlights for oxidation on one or the other.

 

CarFax is the biggest scam foisted on the US autobuying public ever. It makes everyone scared to death to buy a car that's ever been in a minor accident. It's primary purpose is provide the dealers with an excuse to lowball the price of trade-ins! A car that hasn't been in an accident is the exception today, more than the rule. And most of them are very minor fender-benders. Anything that involves filler and painting a body panel is going to cost $1000 or more.

Play the dealer at their own game - say "I don't know - the car's been in an accident" and offer them $2000 less - make car-buying fun again!

 

If I were going to buy a salvaged Prius, I'd get one from AutoBeYours. Their Prius experts and do it all the time. It's great.

 

I'd forget about the extended warranty (if the car qualifies) as it isn't going to cover anything that was damaged in the collision.

 

NO!!

 

I don't know. My prius was in an accident six months after we got it. Was repaired by an auto body shop and Toyota dealer (We were rear-ended) and has been great since. Everything was replaced with OEM parts. Of course, I have no intention of selling the car, unless for scrap..... Unless Toyota actually means all those emails I keep getting about wanting used Prius.....