Anybody buy a certified prius?

Opinions....even educated opinions will vary. You didn't mention a price, and you didn't disclose your location so it's hard to say. There are a lot of moving parts in buying a used car, but generally speaking if you buy a G2 at a stealership, and it's a CPO car....you can "expect" to get a very well maintained and documented 5-6 year old car. Whether the car meets your expectations or not will vary wildly on things like your gullibility, geography, the integrity of both the former and current owners of the car, Toyota engineering, your expectations, and a dash or two of luck.
It's not going to be a new car!
What you're "probably" looking for is dependability...and judging by the mileage there is a good chance you'll get that. One moderately good thing about shopping "CPO" (Certified Pre-used) is that there's a non-zero chance that the dealer has done a few minutes worth of research on the car, and it really may have been owned by a little old lady who drove it to the Whole Foods store on Sunday to shop for her shade grown, fair-trade certified organic coffee.
However....(comma!!!!)
She may have had a grandson who thinks "Fast and Furious" was a documentary and could teach Vin Diesel a few things about "real" street racing....and his antics may or may NOT have been "captured" in the documentation of the car that you're wanting to add to your stable.
So.....
Do you feel lucky?

The good news about buying CPO is that you're (probably) getting a passing attempt at a certification, and it might even include something close to a warranty----although you may want to read any documentation REEEEEAL carefully before you sign your life away.....
Just sayin...
The bad news is that you're paying top dollar for a product that may or may not live up to your expectations.

OK...
so....
If you live in a CARB state you may get some additional warranty benefits for the hybrid and/or emissions components of your car, and let's face it.....you're not buying a Camaro.
Priuses are fairly cheap to operate...and generally speaking they're driven by fairly sedate drivers..........siblings notwithstanding.

Chances are?
You're getting a fairly good car.
You're probably just paying a little more for it.

The good news is that......since it's a Prius, it will pay you back some.


Good Luck!!!!

 

The Prius that my wife and I own was bought under the Certified Program through Toyota.

It was by no means perfect and I did do some repairs after purchase. Most but not all of the repairs were covered by the warranty that came with the car.

Refer to the following link for detailed information that is provided by Toyota which explains what a "certified Toyota" represents and also what warranty is offered.

Certification

 

If you read around the Web, you'll see that it really varies by dealership. Some take the "certification" process seriously and others will just slap it on there. The advantage of course is that you have some warranty to protect you.

Even on the high end, I once read on some forum about a CPO Porsche that should have had tires that met Porsche spec but had any old tire on there. When the buyer noticed he contacted Porsche who made the dealer replace them with tires that met Porsche specs. It was supposed to be something that was checked during certification.

 

I bought my '04 in 2009 as CPO with 48500 miles on it. The biggest repair expense I've had with it was having the rotors resurfaced because they were pitted with excessive rust (lack of use because of regen). Winters here in MI feature lots of road salt that contributes to rust.

I bought the extended warranty for just over $2000. I had the engine water pump replaced under warranty, but nothing else has broken in the 61k miles I've driven it. Warranty is now both expired and beyond 60k mileage limit. Dealer netted >$1800 on that 'feature'.

 

We bought a 2008 in 2009 as a CPO that was also a rental car. I had a lot of miss givings but it turned out great! See my post on the "100,000 mile club" last Friday July 26. My only failure was a $2 parking light bulb. So, it turned out great for me. But anything can happen. Good luck with your decision.

 

I bought a 2007 in November of 2007 with 3600K on it here in Albuquerque. No problems with the car until recently. We had to replace the water pump and I used my local Prius garage. I'd forgotten that the car was certified and now the PS ecu has failed and that caused me to remember. Looking at the certified info on the Toyota site I found that water pump(s) are covered.
So my question is
Has anyone with a Certified PRius had covered repairs not done by Toyota? Were you able to get reimbursed and what was the process?
Unfortunately, the PS ECU is not covered by the Certified Warranty but we bought an extended warranty (not Toyota) and I'm exploring now whether it will cover this repair. I'm hopeful, but time will tell.

The warranty for the certified Prius goes through 2014 which is longer then regular new car warranty though what it covers is limited.

Ed K

 

My 2007 was a certified when I bought it. 40K mileage over 4 years, highest spec so no issues.

 

I purchased an '09 in May with 77000 miles,and just brought it in for a "free" oil change.
I had only put 2000 miles on it. I was told the serpentine belt was dry and cracked, the transmission fluid was black and needed to be changed and that the rear brakes needed to be adjusted and cleaned.
I was surprised that those items were not attended to before it was sold as Certified.

 

My wife purchase an 07 Certified with 66,000 miles a little over 2.5 years ago. It now has 90,000 and hasn't been in for other than service. I did have her change the transaxle oil at 72,000 miles. Great car!

 

Sounds like typical Stealership routine...I'd get a second opinion on all of those.
Serpentine belt - if you don't have rubber flaking off the belt, it's probably fine
ATF - should be pink. If it's black either someone replaced with wrong fluid; the car's been run REALLY hard; or they're lying
Rear brakes - should have been checked and cleaned as part of certification. If they weren't, then this service may be necessary.

 

MJ,
Thanks, I really labored about having those items serviced and went ahead and did them now, rather than worrying about until 100,000 miles. I've had a belt snap once in a Subaru and it wasn't a fun experience