Buying Advice

welcome to priuschat! i have no advice, but i wish you all the best.

i mean, if you're gonna put 100k a year on her, i expect you can fix anything, so the salvage would be fine.

 

Go for: Clean tittle, No accident records, Ask for Carfax(dealer's expense), Maintenance Records; Hi-res Photos before going,

 

Never buy a salvaged vehicle regardless of the car. Always go for a clean title with as few owners as possible.

Paying that much money for a 10 year old prius may not be a good idea. I don't think the hybrid battery will last much longer if it is still the original. I would suggest getting a newer prius if it is in your budget, otherwise you may want to consider a regular gasoline car such as a corolla.

 

Your income presumably depends upon having a reliable vehicle. Neither of the choices you suggested would be on the top of my list of reliable vehicles. A vehicle with a salvage title is an especially large risk. You have no idea whether the vehicle was competently repaired nor do you know what shortcuts were taken.

Have several thousand $s available as a repair fund if you decide to buy either of those cars.

 

Out of all responses so far, I think Patrick Wong nailed it. I too would not take a risk on either of the two vehicles you mentioned. If I were to buy either one, I would definitely have quite a few thousand put back for unseen repairs further down the road.

100K a year is a lot of miles. If it were me, and I was going to drive that much, I would start with something BRAND NEW, not something that is already used and abused.

Best of luck to you and welcome to Prius Chat!

 

The salvage is worth maybe $2500. I wouldn't expect a car with 100,000 miles on it to reliably last another 1 or 2 years putting 100,000 miles on it every year.

Buy a leftover 2015. It may cost 4x as much (maybe not) but should last more than 4x as long.

 

A/C Repair 1 to 2K
Transaxle Repair/Replacement 3 to 4K
Traction Battery Repair/Replacement 1K to 3K
Inverter Repair/Replacement $1K to 2.5K

Prius is not cheap to repair

2K repair fund might not be enough for the age of Prius you are looking at.

You might consider a regular gasser like a Camry, Corolla, Scion, etc.
YMMV

If you must go salvage route, contact Autobeyours (Google it). They are in Indiana and are well respected here on Prius Chat.

 

"full bar battery": that means nothing. You can make the battery of any Prius show 8 green bars on the MFD, simply by shifting into D, pressing the brake pedal with your left foot to hold the car stationary, and flooring the accelerator pedal a few minutes. This is called "force charging" the battery. That technique is not advisable for routine use as this potentially will overheat the transaxle, not to mention the battery itself.

I agree with the suggestion to look at autobeyours.com considering your limited purchase budget.

 

Do you have a vehicle now? If you do, and if I were you, was planning on not working for a period of time, I would put the money you have in savings and drive what you have. then IF it dies during the time you are not working, you have some money to go buy a replacement. And that replacement, or if you don't currently have a vehicle, I would recommend something like a Toyota Yaris or Scion xA/xD... They're solidly reliable and pretty inexpensive, and there's nothing fancy to possibly break on you. Save the Prius for when you have an income coming in and can be ready for emergencies.

Good luck in your decision and journey!

 

0% financing on a leftover '15? by the time you run out of cash, you'll be working and able to make payments. plus, you won't have any repair downtime.

otoh, financially, a non hybrid might work better, especially if gas stays low for awhile.