Deciding between a 2009 and 2005

With a 2009 model available at the same price, just forget about the 2005. It's really between the Civic and the 2009. Forget about building credit. There will be plenty of other opportunities to build credit. You can also easily build credit without paying anything so why pay interest when you don't have to? For example, buying a brand new Prius after you get a job with a 0% loan. So ignore building credit.

The Civic is your safest and best financial option in terms of repair history. Whether you should get the Civic depends on your relationship with your mother. What are the chances she asks for the full amount of the car a year later? If something major breaks the next day that she did not disclose to you, will you have to ask her to help pay for it because you have no money?

 

Don't buy a salvaged or rebuilt title car. When dealers say fender bender, it's their way of saying it's salvaged

 

Civic is probably your best best as long as it is not a Civic Hybrid.
Noone should buy a Civic Hybrid.

Check the actual value of the car through kbb.com.
Include the appropriate trim level and features.
Then you can see if you are getting a good deal.

 

Unless your grad school major is Automotive Technology, I'd throw out a wider net to cover Non-hybrids.

Priuses are really great and dependable cars, and if you live in a CARB state (TX isn't) there are warranty extensions but most of the cars that this would apply to are > $7,000.
Even almost two decades later, Priuses drivers tend to have more dealer horror stories since there is this myth that hybrids require more expensive upkeep than typical small, front-wheel drive, egg-shaped, four-door cars out there.

A $7,000 Prius is about 3/4 of the way through its design life-cycle, whereas you can get an ugly Corolla or Civic that was driven by a pensioner (and perhaps not ragged out by somebody who's seen all of the F&F movies too many times) that might be a little more dependable....NOT because they're inherently more dependable but because they had a slightly lower buy-in cost.
This means they're be slightly more to the left of their dependability arc.

Either way, start shopping for a dependable independent mechanic THAT YOU CAN TRUST, and investigate the possibility of buying $100 worth of tools and watching some DIY videos.

Priuses are 90-percent small, front-wheel drive, egg-shaped, four-door cars which means that 90-percent of the maintenance and repairs are very simple...IF YOU ARE INFORMED.

If not?
Then you could be of the multi-thousand dollar repair bill horror stories that we read about in the forum.

Good Luck!

 

welcome!
agree the civic is your best bet, if you don't have several thousand for repairs. the '05 could be costly, and the '09 sounds too cheap. all the best!

 

very low miles old Prius has a good chance of needing a hybrid battery
And that's a $$$$$ surprise jackpot that would not surprise any longtime
Lurker here unlike your moms honda.

Like Etc says go buy the Honda.

You've made your location a secret too bad a local reputable Prius dealer has a 2009 with a new hybrid battery with 65000 miles for $6500 in Tampa

Tampahybrids.com

 

In NJ a car's title can be gifted to a family member saving the 7% sales tax. My vote is to keep the Honda in the family.

Have you looked at your credit score through discovercard.com or creditkarma.com? If you need to build credit apply for a credit card and only use it if you can afford to pay the entire bill.

Money isn't free and the price for the teaser loan rate is built into the purchase price. For those who haven't noticed, interest rates are rising so don't count on seeing 0% loans next year.

Best wishes whichever car you choose.

 

JimN is right in how to build or rebuild credit. You can also go to a credit card forum at MyFico that gives good advice for that kind of thing.

According to Edmunds, which has the most accurate used car price tool, $7000 is too much for either your mom's Civic or a 2005 Prius, unless they have a lot of extra features. For base models and the miles you gave for each car, the Civic is worth $4739 from a private party and the Prius is worth $5702 from a dealer. I'd either expand your search to other cars or see if you can get your mom to drop the price a lot.