Comparison with other PHEVs?

Not sure about California but around here pickin's are sparse.

 

We have an '18 Honda Clarity PHEV. We "upgraded" from a '13 Ford C-MAX Energi, which is also a PHEV. There's a lot more EV range in the Clarity vs the C-MAX, and it is a liquid cooled battery which is a plus for battery life, (which was bad in the C-MAX as it was air cooled), and prone to degradation not covered under warranty. But My Ford Mobile app had/has so many features that I miss....

 

I test drove a Clarity PHEV a few years ago and felt it was nicer than a Prius Prime. It had more power, more EV range, more luxurious with the Touring trim, more interior space, but a small gas tank. The Prime had better mpg, hatch, bigger gas tank. But good luck finding a new Clarity since there's less than 30 in the whole US. Plus it's been discontinued.

Check these other PHEVs for more selection: RAV4 Prime, Escape PHEV, Ioniq PHEV, Niro PHEV.

 

At this point, I'd consider getting a used car to hold me over until the 2023 PP comes out. It's supposed to be a new generation, and will no doubt have longer range and better tech (we can hope). Currently, I don't think the PP has any direct competitors. The Ionic plug-in comes close, but with a 60hp electric motor (vs 90 in the PP), not really.

 

The used car market is so overpriced right now, that you would be best served [financially] buying a new PHEV and taking all rebates, tax credits, etc and then selling it / trading it if you want to end up in a 2023 PP. The offers will easily offset the depreciation and you might actually "make" money on the deal.
Very unlikely to do that with a used car purchase in the current environment.

Check for all local and utility rebates that might apply to a PHEV purchase along with manufacturer incentives and see what is available to you.

 

As mentioned by previous contributers, you have many PHEV options - 32. For me, what is the insurance company paying? Then what can you buy? Because of the current inflated used/new car market, say they give you $25K today (whereas 6 months ago it may have been $20K). If you can wait and your transportation needs are satisfied, I'd pocket the $25K and wait for this current market to cool down, if it does. I would not be surprised if the current inflated trend is the new norm because car manufacturers have found they can make more profit. PHEV Models Currently Available in the US – EVAdoption

 

I was looking recently but only semi-seriously. The PP has a lot going for it, but the decrease in trunk space from the Gen3 was a deal-breaker for me (Tideland pointed out I can get a cargo box for those occasional big trips, but I'm still leery -- the Gen3 is the perfect size for us and it's hard to go down). If you're happy with the cargo space and size of the PP, I think it's hard to do any better...

I looked at the Rav4 Prime and the Ford Escape PHEV, which are more zero-compromise: the batteries are cleverly placed below so you get a lot of workable cargo room. The Escape drove fine, fairly similar to my Prius (bit higher, bit squishier ride, tiny bit more power). And so did the Rav4 (in both cases testing the regular hybrid as the PHEVs aren't in stock to test). The Escape's a bit cheaper and the waiting lists (at least in Ontario) are a bit shorter. I'm leaning slightly toward the Escape PHEV, in part because to get some of the nifty options on the Rav4 Prime it becomes very expensive (in Canada they don't even let you pick a fun colour unless you get an XSE).

A lot of the others I wrote off without even looking at them in person: I'm leery of their approach of slapping an electric motor into a regular car/SUV and calling it a PHEV. A number of them have conventional multi-speed transmissions, and I know the eCVT/power-split device that Toyota and Ford use is nigh indestructible, while conventional transmissions can be troublesome, and I don't know how they'll hold up to suddenly having a torquey electric motor slapped in there. And while the point of a PHEV is to get ~90% of our driving electrified, many of the other offerings have lousy gas mileage when you do run out of EV range (e.g. the Volvo and Audi offerings appear to be standard Otto-cycle engines). Or, they had the same issue of less cargo space than the Gen3 Prius (Ioniq, Kia Niro).

The Ioniq is perhaps the closest direct competitor to the PP, so if you're happy with your cargo space it may be worth looking at.

Anyway, hope that helps. As for me, I'm still mulling about in analysis paralysis mode, and hoping that some Gen5 Prius news will come out, perhaps Toyota will manage to pull the same no-compromise trick for the 5th gen PP that they did for the Rav4 Prime and then waiting for that will become the obvious choice.

 

Sorry to read about the accident. I hope you get substantial payment for your totaled PRIME. As for the replacement car, I do think a lease is a good option in the current seller's market, but that is only if you can find a reasonably priced lease. A lease contract has more flexible ways to extract payment from the lessee than purchase. You have to read small prints very carefully so that you don't end up with unexpected fees. IIRC reading in your other post, your annual mileage is low so the 10K mile limit should not be a problem. My golden rule for the lease program is combined payments, that is down payment, a total of regular payments, any fees associated with the lease when you return the car, should not exceed 1/3 of the MSRP for a 3-year lease. For example, if the car has $30K MSRP, then the total payments of everything should be less than $10K. In essence, when you lease, you are paying for the depriciation. If you are paying more than 1/3 of the original value of the car, then it is too high.

I have seen fantastic lease deals on Ioniq, Leaf, Clarity in the past, but I don't know if those lease programs even exist now. Toyota-backed leases especially on Prime tend to be higher cost than purchase.

Another possibility is to check the repairability of the Prime that is going to be totaled. The insurance calls it "totaled" because it cost more to repair it than pay off the fair market value of the vehicle. Sometimes, the damaged car can be repaired for far less than what the insurance company estimates. This is usually ture for older cars with mostly cosmetic damages, but it may be worth checking in your case. I once had an older car with a full coverage driven by my son. He had an accident and caused mostly cosmetic body damages. My insurance company called it "totaled", but the car was still drivable and certainly the cosmetic body damages were repairable. I ended up buying back the "totaled" car from the insurance company and fixing it cheaply. Reregistered it as previously totaled and repaired car. In the end, I got a perfectly drivable car fixed for much less than the insurance pay-off check I received. But before you do, you may want to make sure your state allows re-titling the car previously called totaled. As I remember reading an article that said some states do not allow this.

 

No. 1/3 rule is for 3 years closed-end lease. A 3-year lease is the most popular term of the lease. You may find 2 years or 4 years lease, but I have never seen a 1-year lease. Usually, a lease shorter or longer ends up paying more for the depreciation.

Yeah, try to get more at least fair market replacement value for the year make and mileage. You can find the number easily on any of car sites like Cars.com, KBB, Edmunds, etc.

 

I strongly suspect leasing will be equally hampered by the very same primary problem as buying: supply shortage. You can't lease a car they don't have, any easier than you can buy it.

And when you do find one available, it seems likely that if the leasing agents expect the current automobile supply shortage to be resolved three years from now, with a corresponding drop in selling prices, they will price that into the lease.

 

This article might answer your questions. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/one-year-car-lease

I have never done anything other than 3 years closed-end lease, but I did get out of one lease term early to get into another because our car needs were changed before the end of the term with the arrival of additional family members. So, it can be done, but you usually end up paying more if you do not fulfill the lease term. I have never heard of a used car lease, but it might exist if you look hard. But a lease contract is much more complex than simply buying a used car, I would think you really need to read a small print before signing. Good luck.

 

maiki - put the vin or license into Carvana, Shift, Vroom and get price estimates for them to buy it, if it wasn't wrecked. That should give you more data points to prove to the insurance company what the current fair market value is.

 

That's strange. I sold my 10-month-old 2020 PP LE with 4000miles to Carvana last year. They paid at least $2k higher than any dealer's offer for trade-in. I have read many others claiming Carvana giving the top $ for their used PP. Of course, Carvana's price is trade-in value so it would be lower than the fair market value. What you need is the local price of the car of your make, model, and condition for purchase not for sale. Have you tried Cars.com, KBB, Edmunds?