2004 Prius and Warranty has run out

I would keep driving it, and start making car payments to a savings account each month. (If you can afford to fuel a lesser MPG car, you can afford to put the same amount in savings) If, as I suspect, nothing major happens until 200,000 miles +, you will have enough stored away to handle it.

Spend $100 now for a transaxle (transmission) fluid change, then at 120,000 miles do it again, and change the spark plugs.

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/docu...MS0011/pdf/01omsour/2004/schedmai/04w1smt.pdf

If you are still on the original 12 battery, accept that it is on borrowed time. Some day it will cost you $200 to replace it. How are the tires?

 

Check with the dealer exactly what type of car you could get for an even trade. A true (everything properly covered) 10 year 100,000 miles warranty on a $9000 used car sounds a bit too good to be true to me.

Be sure to read the fine print. My dealer gave me a 3 year warranty on my S/H prius, but when I read the details it only covered repairs up to $1000 and all services had to be done by that particular dealership (at totally rip off prices). I basically could have torn up that warranty as it was useless to me.

 

Totally agree with Jimbo's advice. Keep up the maintenance and drive your Prius for many more trouble-free years.

Besides, why would you trade a car that you know and trust for somebody else's used car with an unknown history?

The "fine print" of most warranties generally exclude the failures that are most likely to occur. They sound good but are, in reality, of little value.

 

You have one of the most reliable and economical cars ever built. There's maybe $600 worth of work that you might need to have done in the next couple years: transaxle fluid change, engine water pump, and 12V battery. It is impossible to tell how long the engine water pump will last, but once you notice a leak you can usually let it go for a paycheck or two as long as you monitor the coolant level. It should last you until 100,000 miles without any major problems (engine, transmission, inverter, hv battery)

 

Join a local group,
Learn basic maintenance,
Tell the dealer to take a hike, save the money for future costs

Keep the car
Start saving for a new one in 5 - 10 years

 

Do Not trade in that car! The dealer *will* make a profit on the deal, which means you *will* come out with less value than you have now.

Do what the others wrote: keep driving it. Have routine maintenance done (just the things shown in the Scheduled Maintenance Guide or at this website Toyota Parts and Service , not what some dealer wants to sell you) and save up, either for major repairs that may never come, or for your next car.

Mine is almost exactly the same age and mileage as yours. At our rate it might be another 10 or 15 years before they need replacement.