Your Opinions/Advice Please

I'm not sure what sound shield is. It sounds like the same thing dealers sold several years ago called undercoating. If it is then it's just another car dealer rip off. Not only was in useless but it got all over everything under your car making it dificult to work on some componants and it added quit a bit of weight. Toyota went to a lot of pains to make the Prius as light as possible so I don't think it's a good idea to add weight.

GSA who rents cars to government agencies likes to replace them at 5 to 7 years or aprox 60 to 90 thousand mile intervals, whichever comes first. But that's for average cars, and the Prius isn't average. If I put on as many miles as you do and if the resale value stays up as high as it has been I think I might look at a 3 or 4 year interval.

I think the "sweet spot" dependes on what kind of car, where you live, rather you trade it in or sell it yourself and a whole bunch of other factors. Not the least of which is how you feel about the car, do you want to keep it or do want another one?

 

While I'm waiting on my '06 Barcelona Red to come in, I'm still daily-driving my highly reliable:
1983 Toyota Land Crusier - 200,600 miles.
1992 Mazda MPV - 125,000 miles.

The car I had before those two, a 1978 Toyota Celica, had 150,000 miles on it when I sold it, and I never had to make any major repairs, only routine maintenance, a water pump, and a thermostat. Still had the original clutch...

 

I agree that these cars are reliable well over 100,000, but I think he was talking about trying to recoup the best resale value for the number of miles on the car. I do think it's true that there's a physiological barrier between buying a used car with 99,000 miles and 100,000 on it.

I also have a Toyota with almost 200,000, but I'm sure it's not worth much to anyone besides me...

 

"Sound shield" must be a dealer add-on. ALL DEALER ADD-ONS ARE RIP-OFFS!

Before you assume that you have to trade in your car in order to get that company reimbursement on mileage, do the math to see if the reimbursements are really enough to compensate for the cost of buying a new car every so-many years. Depending on the figures, you might be better off keeping the car, saving the new-car cost, and giving up the mileage reimbursement.

The Prius is the coolest car in the universe, but I expect the next major model revision (2008???) to have significant advances, and to be even cooler. So I plan on trading in as soon as the next major model revision of the Prius comes out.

(I expect the Prius to remain Toyota's showcase for its newest technology in efficiency and pollution-reduction, and I base my plan on that.)

The "trade-in sweet spot" is a matter of controversy. There are strong arguments for keeping a car until it falls apart: you eventually have to put money into repairs, and your trade-in value is nil, but you take the hit on depriciation only once.

My father used to say, Trade in a car while it still has significant trade-in value. But as above, you probably pay more in the long run because every time you drive a new car off the lot you lose a bucket of money.

Some say, trade in at the end of the warranty, because you never have to worry about paying for repairs.

I say: trade in when you become unhappy with your old car and can afford a new one.

The most economical transportation is always a late-model used car, because someone else took the depreciation hit. You say you "need" a new car in order to qualify for the mileage reimbursement, but I bet a used car would save you far more money than the company will ever pay you in mileage.

 

daniel is right, most dealer added options can be done much cheaper elsewhere. to give you a hint, i did the fab protection and paint sealer except my sister (who works at the Ford dealership) did it for me at her cost. was just over $150 and that included an aftercare kit that cost $80. so their "cost" was about $70.

the service was same basic service that Toyota was charging like $350 for i think. and i dont think they provided an aftercare kit. (what i got didnt include the kit, she just threw it in)