A used Prius is a hot commodity these days per USA Today

I keep hearing this, but I've seen used Prii sitting at dealerships. Yes, marked up above MSRP for a new one. But they just sit. Drive by a week later and they're still there. You go in the dealership to put a deposit down on a new one and the sales people try to sell them to you, but of course they can't. Who in the world would pay well above new vehicle MSRP for a used vehicle?

I think it's all a marketing sham.

 

It's insane. There are a couple of non-Toyota dealerships around here that are obviously seeking out 2007's and marking them up to as high as $30K. I certainly hope people will not be willing to buy them at those prices or they will just continue to do it.

 

But that's how it works. If you have something in demand and people are willing to pay the price you're asking, you keep selling at that price. That's the market price. Selling it for less would be pretty insane.

Are the buyers insane? Well, people have been commuting downtown one person per car in SUVs and Hummers for years and years as we've been told that gasoline was getting scarce and their cars were polluting the air. That was insane. And now those same people have had a change of heart and have decided they must get rid of their SUVs and Hummers immediately because they're paying more for gas this summer than last.

I don't see any reason for them to have suddenly gotten smarter. They've just switched their insanity to a new location. The Hummer salesman used to get that insane business, now the used-Prius salesman is getting that business. I'm not in the market for either, so their insanity doesn't really affect me--and it takes a little pressure off the new Prius market. So it seems to me everybody's happy, and the environment is a little better.

 

Depends on where you live....
Here in the SE, you can't find a USED Prius anywhere.

 

The world is a circus. There are plenty of fools around who don't behave in a rational manner and end up paying more than if they had applied a little common sense.

Keith

 

They're not so much fools, they just put a different value on it than other people do, which allows them to pay more. Their value comes in cutting gas costs and gaining status (and probably dump the low-status car they bought back when it had more status). They can't get one any other way except waiting, and time is money, so who's to say what constitutes overpaying right now?

Ideally, they're not taking food out of their kids' mouths to get the money to do this. There are worse things that people spend lots of money on than used Priuses, and people spend that money all the time.

I don't see any reason to get upset about people spending more to buy a Prius, used or new. It has to increase the value of mine. Mine seems to have increased in value as soon as I drove it off the lot, and I consider that a good thing.

 

Well, for what it's worth, I plan on putting this to the test in about a month and a half. I have a 2006 which should have about 60k miles on it by then, and I plan on asking about the same price as a new one. I do have the advantage of having the California carpool lane (HOV) stickers, which they say adds about $5,000 to the value of the car here in the Los Angeles/OC area. For those of you who don't live around here, they stopped giving those stickers out in 2006, so the situation is somewhat unique compared to other states.

I've got a 2008 on order which I'm told should be here for me in another 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 months. Since I work out of my house, the carpool stickers will be much more valuable to someone who commutes every day than they are to me. If it works as planned, I'll basically have driven my car for two years...for free! I am still questioning whether I can really pull this off...but all signs seem to indicate that I can.

This is not without precedent by the way. In the 1970's, GM made a Camarro that was just impossible to get, and the demand was super high. Dealers were selling the used car for more than the new ones...and they were selling!

 

From everything I've read on PC, it sounds like you could do better than current MSRP with those HOV stickers.

 

My dealer currently has 8 used Pri's in their inventory, but only one of them is truly "used". It's a 2005 for $24K. The remaining seven are all 2008 model year with mileage ranging from 1 (yes 1) mile up to a whopping 274 miles. The 08s are listed between $29K and $35K.

Sounds like a relatively dishonest way for the dealer to charge a higher price for some of their new cars. Hope some people on the wait list see this and get ticked off enough to not buy there.

 

Mauibound - I did the exact same thing a few months ago. Sold my 2007 with 31K miles and the CA HOV stickers, and turned around and bought a new zero-mile 2008. This was just before prices went crazy, so I did have to come up with about a grand out of pocket (for sales tax, basically) - but all things considered I think I made out pretty well and now have the color I want (Magnetic Grey). Given the current market, you should be able to do even better than I did!

Good luck!