Buying a used 2015?

My friend is low-income (on disability) and qualifies for a program where if he trades his '99 Corolla for a plug in hybrid, he'll get $9000 for free towards a down payment. He's not a DIY kinda person. We're in a CARB state so I'm assuming 150k warranty on batteries if they're transferable. The sense I get with used Prii is that they are fairly reliable, but when something goes wrong, it's expensive which probably wouldn't work for a low-income person. For example, I've read here that when the head gasket goes, the whole engine has to be replaced. Or if the battery goes after it's out of warranty, that's very pricey unless you do it yourself.

Do I have the right sense so I can advise my friend? Is the PiP more or less reliable than a '15 Prius? I would think bigger battery in the PiP would make it less likely to need replacing, but then again it'd be more expensive to replace. A regular Prius would get him $2k less from the program, but would cost less, I'm assuming.

 

Appreciate the response. Thanks for the heads-up about tax, but it won't affect him with his disability situation. I did mention that a regular prii would give him $2k less.

Thanks for the detailed info. Around 5-6,000 miles a year. 20 years

 

12v isn't super expensive and he does drive pretty frequently. The problem with a '15 Corolla is it has a little modern marvel called a CVT, unlike the reliable eCVT in Prii. Toyota has been slowly putting out service campaigns for their CVTs for a while, trying to fix a hardware problem with software, and not putting out a proper recall. Though they did put out a recall for the 2019 CVT in some Corollas. I told my friend he should look at a Camry with a proper automatic, but he wants a smaller car.

what do you mean by hope for another 9k after 10?