just bought my "new" used, previously (and somewhat currently) wrecked, salvaged, 05 prius!

hell of a title eh?

so anyways i bought this thing without even looking at it...i over paid, and it ended up to be a low optioned model so i'm having buyers remorse. it's a 2005, has basic stuff and smart key. no sunroof, no navigation, no backup camera, cloth seats.

it's an '05, it's salvage...blew the passenger dash bag, and the steering wheel bag. also locked the front seat belts, bent the R lower control arm, bent the R strut, inner tie rod, fender, bumper, broke the windshield, etc...

realistically a pretty straightforward a easy fix.

here are some pics of it when i bought it:

 

here it is this evening. i bought it tuesday afternoon, got it home wednesday morning. so far i've replaced the control arm, strut, axle, inner tie rod, and windshield. i've also gotten a new wheel, but the tire is crap so i need a new tire. popped out the dent in the bumper cover (well for the most part) and got the crap off of it.

i still need to source front seat belts (tan). and i'm waiting on the paint guy to give me a price on painting the new fender. and my battery charger is working on the battery aspect.

oh and it has 83k miles.

 

i paid $5230 for the car, $140 for windshield installed, $75/ea for control arm, strut, and axle, $25 for fender, $100 for fender painting, $75 for wheel. i have about 10hrs into it so far. i could have gotten one cheaper in worse condition but i have a lot of projects and little time, and i needed something that could seat 5 and hold cargo and get good mpg...i've driven prius's before and enjoy them so i decided that was the winner. so i have $5795 in to it so far...which is dangerously close to going over budget, as i only barrowed $6000 to get it on the road, i have emissions ($35?), tags ($130?), front seat belts ($200 max?), and tires ($300?) still to deal with $665.. puts me $460 over budget....we'll see what happens though.

also not to kill your hopes or anything but i've been dealing with salvage vehicles for quite a long time, and the salvage aspect cuts book by 30-60% depending on the vehicle. the average '04-'05 salvaged (repaired) prius is bringing around 6500-8000. realistically i should have waited and got one for around 2500 but i would have been spending a lot more time on body work...would have stayed under budget though.

the wife has an '06 nissan titan i'm working on, the owner ran into a house... smashed the front, the roof, and all down the passenger side. so far i've cut off the old unibody from the firewall forward and welded on new ones, and gotten fenders, bumper, headlights, etc... for it. i need to finish the roof repairs so i can get a windshield in it but it's a real PIA to get a decent pull on it, my clamps keep slipping off, going to need to weld a pull point on to it and haven't had the time.

 

very correct. also if you get hit by one they hurt like hell. i've been disconnecting my vehicles airbags for about 10yrs now....i hate them with a passion. those of you who don't agree...thats your choice. but i personally do not like them. i've gotten hit by them 2 times and both times i would have been less injured of a big bag of air hadn't smashed me in the face. (one was at 15mph...air bag burned my arms and almost broke my finger), the other was at 65mph, rear hit and they should have never gone off due to that fact but...did anyways.

 

essentially yes. but the computer still gets pissy when components are missing. the fact that the companys decided to blow apart the dash of most new cars in the event of a wreck seems like a joke to me. i'll be glueing the dash holes and air bag holes back together for now. i hope to buy a wrecked prius (badly wrecked) with nav, backup cam, etc... that i can swap over to this one..and have a nice collection of spare parts.

 

still waiting on the fender (supposed to be ready tomorrow supposedly), and still need a drivers seat belt and it'll be "done".....having a hell of a time finding the seatbelt (except on ebay but 100$?) edit* just bought one on ebay for $75 shipped.

 

got the fender back today. my seat belt won't be here till next thursday though. still need to put the inner fender liner back in but a bunch of the clips were broken so need to run to the dealer and get some of the clips, and need to get a tire for the new rim still.

 

i ended up finding some chevy door clips in my tool box and used those...lol. seat belt will be here tomorrow and then i just need to take it through inspection and get plates....can't wait.