Buying a used Prius - Problems with undercarriage rust?

Since your from the northwest, you should have quite a selection of Prius autos from your region. Why deal with a car with obvious issues.

 

Personally, I bought all of my cars closed to new and completely rustproofed them.

I'd not knwn what rusted cars were, until I bought an older car like this. It was nothing but trouble.

Cars rust from the inside out. The exterior is carefully primed, painted and often waxed to protect the finish. Water and grime that lands on the outside either runs off, evaporated or is cleaned by the owner by him or herself or taken to a carwash.

Very few owners wash the underbody or the inside of the rocker, doors and quarter panel recesses. Just leaves and dust accumulating from the fron cowl flows down and builds up in the panels in the area in front of the front doors. Moist decaying leaves hold moisture and salt. When the rust penetrates the outside paint, the cancer has already metastasized.

Even if you wash the salt off the underbody, residue still accumulates at the seams. If the water is completely dry before the next freeze, the corrosion actually works into the cracks and widens them as the water freezes. It is the same freeze-thaw cycle that ruins bricks, concrete and even wears the hardest adamantine rock to dust and dirt.

So, I'd not walk, but I'd run away.

 

That's the reason why it's cheaper than any other.

Corroded bolts means that they are often frozen.

Rust to a steel car is like termites to a house. The car might have been expertly detailed or even repainted to make it look good. Unless every speck of rust has beeb removed, like Chip Foose does in "Overhaulin.'" rust underneath any paint or body filler will "rise from the dead" like a zombie.

Trust your mechanic who told you what's there.

 

Go find a rust free Prius from down south and do the rustproofing Mike suggested. Don't waste your money on a Chevy gonna rust in 3 years piece-o-shit. If you don't want to spend the bucks on the rustproofing materials then soak the crap out of all metal, not plastic or rubber, parts on the bottom side of a already rusted Prius and it will preserve it for many years. That is what many up north do to slow down rusting. I do that to our winter vehicle's and I live in Minnesota.

Mike

Mobile on my SGH-i717

 

Lived in Michigan (salt state) my whole life and NEVER had a problem with rusty undercarriages, beyond what would be normal for driving in snow, rain, sleet, etc....

Just sold a 2002 vehicle thats delivery date was 2001 with 170,000 miles and not a speck of rust on it. The undercarriage and frame (it was a body over frame SUV) looked great and it was a GM product!

Key is, if you find rust, treating it right away. A lot of people sand it, prime it and put POR15 on it (google it). Others swear by ziebart rustproofing, and Ive read some where people spray the undercarriage with WD40 to repel rust.