Found a 2005 Prius with 61,000 miles for sale

Run as fast as you can. It's 13 years old.

 

I paid $7600 (plus taxes and fees) to a Toyota dealer for my 2009 Prius with 105,000 miles last year. Don't know if 44,000 less miles balances out 4 years older in your case.

Since it's been well maintained, it's likely to last longer. But age alone can also cause problems. I'd get it thoroughly inspected by a Toyora dealer first and negotiate the price down.

 

61,000 miles; very suspect. I am apt to believe, 61,000 miles from the donor combo meter that was installed on this car when the original combo meter went out a few years back at 161,000 miles. 61,000 miles is hard to believe, unless it was grandma only going to the grocery store and church; I would want to see registeration for the past 12/13 years in grandma's name.

Maybe this is one of the many cleaned up water damaged cars from Texas or
Maintenance on the Prius is absurdly simple and cheap! Who performed the maintenance and what parts were used?

Kelly Blue Book say they are asking too much for the car. But it is ultimately, determined by the market.
I plugged in 2005, White, package 2, 61,000 miles, 83616 zip code (Boise, Idaho).
$6984 - Excellent Condition
$6549 - Very Good Condition

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Are you able to DIY a lot of repairs? If yes, maybe buy, only if they will take $4,500, or lower. A new HV battery will cost $2200+.

The HV Battery will go out sometime in the near future. A 100% NEW, OEM replacement, from a Toytoa dealer that sells online, and will allow you to do a will-call pick-up, will set you back a minimum of $2200. Expensive yes. But this will give you 8-10+ years of trouble free operation, from the HV Battery aspect: $2200/8years=$275/year=$0.75/day, $2200/10years=$220/year=$0.60/day. Other parts might fail, but you could rest assured that the HV Battery will likely NOT be the cause of a break down; many original HV Batteries seem to easily last 8-10+ years. That battery is 12/13 years old, and if the 61,000 miles is true, driven infrequently, which is bad for both the HV and 12V batteries.

Going for a module swap, or "rebuilt" HV Battery, will be cheaper in the very short run, but cost you a lot in time, stress, towing, and ultimately more in the long run.

 

You're correct that a new traction battery will be needed soon. If there was a new one already, it probably would have been advertised.

Is it possible to get a new OEM Toyota traction battery for around $2200? That would be the lowest I've seen referenced here.

 

A few dealers are starting to discount for under $2000 these days.

 

Register the VIN at http://www.toyota.com/owners and see the dealer service history and recall status.

 

Do you have any real life examples of new OEM under $2k (not rebuilt)? There have been sightings of lower dealer prices, but in a misleading pricing format. Those included a hefty shipping cost which would have removed the savings. In these cases, the shipping costs were unavoidable and would be applied even if you were to pick up the battery in person.

 

Do we have actual statistics that this car will need a traction battery soon? It's my understanding that the vast majority of gen 1 and gen 2's still have there original batteries. I am not sure that members on this board that come looking for solutions to a failed battery are evidence of widespread battery failure. I would love to see some data since I am contemplating buying another gen 2

 

In the spring of '16, I bought an 06 with only 44k miles so even less use than the OP. It already had a failed/repaired battery which was chalked up to lack of use (4,800mi/yr) and the heat down here. I repaired the pack but still rarely drove it (5k miles over the next 12 or so months) before it failed again so I got a new Toyota battery which was in the cards all along. Now, it's driven daily.

YMMV. It's just a matter of time but regular use and cooler climates help.

 

$1993.28, Olathe Toyota, Olathe, KS Battery - Toyota (G9510-47031)
$2210.73, Camelback Toyota, Phoenix, AZ 2007 Toyota Prius Parts - Camelback Toyota Parts - Genuine OEM Parts - Free Shipping
$2200.80, San Bernardino Toyota, San Bernardino, CA 2007 Toyota Prius Parts - Toyota of San Bernardino Online Parts Store
$2663.74, Carson Toyota, Carson, CA 2007 Toyota Prius Parts - Carson Toyota/Scion/Lexus Ultimate OEM Parts

No dealer will ship, due to costs.
Not all dealers will sell to a retail walk-in Over-The-Counter person. You have to call and see if the dealers parts department will.

 

To the best of my knowledge, the only publicly-available and continually updated statistics are on True Delta and here. From those 2 sources, it seems Gen 2 batteries tend to fail at rates of less than 1% before the car hits 10 years and/or 100,000 miles, and then between 3% and 15% after that, with the failure rate increasing primarily with age, although excessive heat, insufficient use, and regular use on mountainous terrain have been suggested to increase wear rate and aftermarket systems like the Prolong intelligent chargers & dischargers have been suggested to to decrease wear. I would expect an exponential increase in battery failures at some point when the Prius is between 15-20 years old, but thus far that has yet to be seen, as the cars just aren't old enough. At this point, while the odds are still good that even the oldest Gen 2 Prii will be fine for a few more years, I'd recommend 2008-2009 late Gen 2 models as having the longest to go before traction batteries are likely to be a concern.

Some of the common signs a battery is failing are: the battery charge level graphic on the Energy screen of the multi-function display will "bounce" from full to empty repeatedly in a span of a few minutes, the battery level will drain quickly overnight or within a couple minutes of starting the car, the battery fan is running constantly or excessively, and noticeably lower fuel economy.

 

You're correct that it's difficult to get good, hard stats in this area. To me, a significant factor is whether the car is on the market or not.

A low mileage, 12 year old Prius being driven daily by the original owner? I'm guessing the odds are still good that the battery will last longer.

The same low mileage, 12 year old Prius being put up for sale? I'm guessing the odds are much lower that the battery will last much longer. I think that the majority of Prius owners would consider the ideal time to trade in or sell their car would be "shortly" before the traction battery begins to go.

 

Way too high for a 2005 which is going to plummet in value over the next couple years ownership once the miles go up.

I am seeing 2015s for about that price (well, with about 2.5X the miles).

 

You're probably correct. But it's also worth mentioning that someone who knows the overall odds can get a good deal on a higher-mileage Prius and have it last several more years. Basically, a used car buyer can take advantage of the ignorance of some original owners who think cars still only last 100,000 miles.