Did my father pay too much for a certified prius?

Yeah, I tried. Maybe in 6-10 years they'll make a better decision

That was it! It doesn't cover the small battery. I'm definitely going to check that out. I totally agree with that. Unless it's "fully covered", then it most likely isn't. We have full cover with our car insurance anyways too.

I'll look up what gap insurance is, I've never heard of that. But we do have our car fully covered, and our insurance has been pretty great with us before. I'm just not sure they would cover the whole loan, maybe just the price of the car.

 

That's what I assume. We haven't bought a car from a dealership for at least 10 years. So that's probably what would happen. We'd end up owing about 4-6k more to the dealership.

 

Unfortunately lease was not an option, and things kind of turned for the worst. The state is AZ. We went to a few other dealerships and they even offered an identical 2015 for 14,000 flat at 9% (which is what our credit union offered), and it included gap insurance and all other other bits and bobs.

We talked to our insurance and our bank and they both said that they could not offer gap insurance as the car is more than 2 years old, and that we would probably get maximum 17,000 if the car was totaled (we have full coverage). So either we get gap insurance or we may end up owing 7,000 and have no car on top of it (even if it isn't our fault).

We tried going back to the dealer to see if there's anyway to get gap insurance from them , or to return the vehicle, but the salesman that "helped" my family said there's nothing they can do. They can return $300 to us in a check if that makes us feel better, but there's nothing that can be done anymore as the deal has already gone through with their bank.

Now my parents are feeling even worse than before. Which is really a bummer. They've never had good luck with big dealerships and buying a car on credit. Hopefully third times the charm. They are probably going to try and find a lawyer and see if there's anyway to return the vehicle. I'm not sure if anything can be done, but I think at the very least they've learned their lesson.

P.S. The warranty on the car is from date of manufacture, so even though they kept telling us the car has 100k drive train and the extended warranty is 6 years, it actually isn't. The car would have 55k drive train (or 3 years), and the extended warranty would only last for 3 years, even though my parents would automatically owe 2,000 to the bank for it. :/

P.S.S. On a slightly positive note, the car seems almost brand new. It drives very nicely, and look good. Still has that new car smell. But my parent's don't even want to look at it, much less touch it. If they would've been able to buy it with straight cash, I feel like this car may have been an acceptable, even if they overpaid. Who knows how long it'll stay in this condition though.

My 04 with 200k miles, with about 1,000 to tune it up, would probably drive somewhat close to this new one.

I really really appreciate all the helpful information you guys have been giving. It's been very helpful to get a clearer picture of what is going on in this situation. If my parent's end up having to bite the bullet and just deal with this mistake. Then hopefully it will serve as the last time they go through this. I know I've learned a lot about what not to do, from experience, and what I should do instead, from your advice.

Thank you again!

 

That makes more sense. Sorry, it's been a few days since we went to the dealership. However, I don't remember any mention of the word registration.

However, I do know they kept saying the car comes with 100k drive train or 7 years (I think 7), the day my parents bought it. I kept asking the dealer if that means the warranty lasts until the car has 145k miles, or 7 years from today. And he kept saying "Yes, there's nothing to worry about. It's well covered."

I left before my father was offered the extended warranty, so I can't really say more than I've been told on that part.

 

That's probably the case. But they want to try anything they can. This is way to much money to just "accept" their situation without trying every option. But yeah, my father made the mistake of going to the dealership, desperate for a car, all while being distracted with other life matters. Hopefully it doesn't happen again, regardless of the outcome.

Lol, well now we know.

The price on the tag said $17,800. After talking to the salesman, they started tacking on prices for the new tires, the alarm system, the tinted windows, the edge protectors, etc. and the car ended up around $19,000-$20,000. That doesn't include taxes, registration, plate, title, etc. Our insurance said if there happened to be a crash, they would cover the price of the car, and only the car for it's market value, which happened to be somewhere around $14,000-16,000. So they said the max we would probably get offered (as a rough estimate), if the car was totaled, would be $17,000, less as time goes on (from our insurance as we have full coverage). Meaning that the rest of the loan is still up to my parents. Which is still a few thousand, but that price that's left over is still subject to the interest. And my parent's rarely have that much money to pay off all at once.

My parents will still owe around $4000-5000 for the rest of the stuff that shot up the price of the car + title, registration, etc. and that will still increase due to interest. On top of which they will be left without a car. (This is all in the case of an unlucky situation that the car does get totaled since they are not able to get the gap insurance anymore).

Again, I can't really say too much specifics as I wasn't there when my father was talking to the financial representative (finalizing paperwork and doing all the signing), so my prices may be slightly off. But that's pretty much the gist. I hope that made a little more sense.

P.S. The other dealer I mentioned that offered a 2015 for $14,000 flat, included title, registration, tinted windows, new tires, alarm, and all the other bits and bobs that this current dealership didn't tell us they'd charge for until after my father had already given them his credit info.