Advice on buying 2009 Salvage Prius with only 29mpg ave over 200 miles

Remember that salvage cars have no warranty. I'd walk away unless you can do your own work and are willing to pony up the money for replacement parts in case there's anything wrong.

 

I have seen so many posts here reporting various problems with salvage Prius that I think no one should buy a salvage Prius unless he is well equipped and experienced in rebuilding salvage cars.

 

Bluebook or NADA values are for clean titled, non-wrecked vehicles. What's a salvaged 09 worth? Well, that's a whole new kettle of fish......

Find out what the damage was, the extent of repairs, and let us know. If it's like most auctions, you most likely won't be able to find out.

 

I would not buy a salvage Prius under any circumstances. Too many expensive things could be compromised.

 

You tell us everything including the nationality of the guy selling it. Everything except what damage it has to make it a salvage.

Based on this please don't buy this car.

 

To buy a salvage vehicle, condition has to be perfect. I looked at one for a friend the other day, a Ford Focus with front end damage. The rebuilder put on the wrong A/C compressor, so the pulleys don't like up quite right, spraying black serpentine gunk on the hood. I think they literally used bailing wire to hold up one corner of the bumper. Most times, a shoddy job is easy to spot.

Bottom line, if it does look right or feel right, it isn't right. If everything seems tight, solid, and straight, take it through the automatic car wash and get the full undercarriage treatment. If it passes that test without an electrical malfunction, then it is roadworthy.

AutoBeYours does very high quality Prius salvage rebuilds. I can be done, and done well.

 

a few months ago I added to my collection a fully loaded 2004 prius with 40K miles for $9500, it had a clean title but the driver had ran over a rock or block of ice which dented the gas tank. I had it inspected by toyota who examined everything and drove it around, they then put it on a lift, the technician put in the report to replace the gas tank but told me in secret that it was fine especially considering the Prius has a rubber bladder tank inside the steel gas tank and nothing was leaking. Another problem I had was one of the arms of the headlight level sensor had snapped so the HIDs are pointed down in their lowest setting, its too cold to fix it myself (under $300 for a new part) so I'm just currently using it as my daytime vehicle, if I have a lot of night driving to do I use a my 2005 Prius.

The lesson to take from this is I bought a car for $6,000 below the kbb private party value with a clean title and almost perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition, so there is no way you should even consider the Prius you're looking at for $10,000, I would offer him $6000 as a starting point and don't pay a penny over $7000.

Another thing to consider is how longs its been sitting, a damaged salvage car may have had its 12V battery drained sitting in a junkyard or insurance company lot, and so it may be damaged and in need of replacement. If so, the poor mpg could be explained by a bad 12V battery, which you could replace yourself for around $140. I believe I've read that the battery has a date of manufacture stamped on it, it is located in the cabin compartment trunk just ahead of the passenger side taillight. You can easily access it w/o tools, whether you can see the manufacture date without tools is something I cannot answer. But if the battery appears to be original than that is very good news as anyone on priuschat will tell you the 12V battery is always prime suspect #1 whenever you get poor mpg or other electrical problems (yes tires and air filter are also important for mpg). If the battery appears to be replaced recently then you are back at square one and fishing expeditions can get very expensive, but a $85-$100 pre-vehicle inspection never hurts.

One thing the dealer cannot see is if the airbags were ever deployed. Crooked salvage places and shady repair shops can reinstall the old ones and use a resistor to trick the vehicle computers into thinking that it has functional airbags and thus prevent any warning lights from appearing, these resistors are so small they can be concealed anywhere so it is almost impossible to know until you get into an accident. Small cars are built much better than large vehicles, but I still wouldn't want to get into a major accident in a Prius w/o the airbags, especially considering the car you are looking at has had previous accidents and so some of the structure may not be as strong as it should be.

 

Doesn't having a salvage title mean the vehicle was considered totaled?

I'd want to see photos of what the claim's adjuster saw, verification of what the damage really entailed.
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Salvage title == insurance company write-off. There are shades of salvage title, however. Maryland I think is the most descriptive, having categories for <75% damage, >75%, recovered stolen, rebuilt salvage, and non-rebuildable.

Going into the ditch means that there could be bad wheel bearing(s) or transaxle physical damage, which could also explain the low MPG.

 

Well, the national system, NMVTIS, (which is, I believe, maintained by a company contracted by AAMVA) has many different brands, multiple instances of the same brand and each can have a percentage of damage.

But I think most states simply have brands without percentages or have different requirements for a each brand.

Here's an old AAMVA document (January 2009, so it might not be up-to-date) listing the different brands by state:
http://www.aamva.org/aamva/DocumentDisplay.aspx?id={011C2350-71BD-4D75-AD72-EAE7C63A6A5C}

 

my opinion is that why would the insurance co total the car if its still has any value, ebay seems to be a place were people dump garbage that they dont want to sell local,not all of them but a good part, , the car has no resale value,i would never purchase a salvage in fear of what could be wrong,your choice, i would walk away

 

Thanks, that's an interesting read. I laughed when there is nothing listed for New Mexico. Just one more indication that we aren't part of the US.

A total-loss car is not garbage. Prii with deployed airbags sell for thousands of dollars at insurance auctions. After stripping several thousands of dollars worth of components, there is hundreds of dollars worth of scrap aluminum and steel. Or it can be made roadworthy again, and sold at a discount. Salvage cars must pass a safety inspection in most states (even here in third world NM) to be registered. I personally have two "make 1 good one out of two bad ones" projects going right now, and they will be daily drivers for me, my wife, and soon, my kids.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to afford brand new cars, or go to a dealership and pay top dollar for brand new parts. That's why these markets exist, and IMHO, it is one of the greenest businesses out there.

 

I think when you buy a salvage Prius, you have to consider who did the repair. Steve @ Autobeyours.com sells salvage Prius and has an excellent reputation. He also gives every car he fixes a 12 month/12,000 warranty. He also specializes in salvage repair. There are other dealers who specialize in Prius salvage repair as well. I would not have any problem buying from a specialist who offers a warranty but, I would be leary about buying from an individual with no warranty.

When you buy salvage you have to be ready to take a gamble. You may win, you may lose. If you win, no problem, If you lose, big headache with no recourse. Its a personal decision that only you can make. You have to keep in mind that resale on a salvage is terrible so plan on keeping the vehicle for a long time.

There could be several reasons for the mpg hit but, its most likely due to short trips and startups by people looking/test driving the car. The best thing to do is warm up the car, reset the MFD and drive around to see what kind of mpg it gets. You should be able to tell in about ten minutes what kind of mileage it will get (ballpark figure).

 

IMO this doesn't sound like enough damage to total the car. What did the insurance co. see that wasn't fixed?

 

Insurance companies will total a car when the value is exceeded by the damage. It is usually some percentage of either kbb or local values listed in the classified. The % is usually around 75 %. Given that the resale value is high on the Prius, that will tell you what damage has been done. Substantial is one word that comes to mind.

Now if this were a 16 year old Subaru AND you have pictures of before it was fixed as I did, then it's entirely possible the damage was indeed "minor" since the value of a 16 year old Subaru is very low in the eyes of the insurance company.

Walk away fast. There is nothing to be gained here. If you do end up buying it, be prepared to own it for life.