newbie, looking for a primer on purchasing "pre-owned" Prius

Hi All! What a wonderful resource this board is for Prius owners. I recently took on a new job where I'll be commuting from Orange County to Burbank during the week. I currently drive a Lexus GS400, and average about 22 mpg on the freeway the past 2 weeks.

I found a used 2006 Prius locally. The used car dealership is asking $12,500 for it. It is a pretty barebones model, cloth interior, no navigation, but it does have a backup camera. I love the smart key/push button start feature. It has 2 of the four carpool stickers, and the salesperson states that they will get me verification from the DMV that this is a valid HOV sticker vehicle, and that I can send in my $8 to transfer and get new stickers in my name when I purchase the car. The salesperson claims it was just their auto detailer messed up the carpool stickers on accident, which is why there are two missing and the two that are on there are kind chewed up on the top edges.

I test drove it yesterday, it was my first time driving a Prius. Coming from my 300hp luxury car, it's quite a difference! But the ride was smooth, and I'm not a lead foot anyway so it would work for me. The salesperson claims that it was a one owner vehicle, no accidents and will have a clean title and clean carfax. The one thing that may be a bother is that it has 96k miles on it, so just about at the end of the hybrid battery warranty.

Can you offer me some advice? What other things should I look out for about this car? Is there a way to take it to the stealership and have them check out the battery before it goes over warranty? Any luck getting broken batteries replaced just out of warranty?

tia,

kk5

 

OK, I did use the Search function more and found some of my answers. My question is still, what is the probability that the traction battery may fail immediately after it passes the 100k mile mark, and is it true that in California the warranty is until 150,000 miles (Calif Emmisions state?) on the hybrid battery? Is there any way to tell if the battery is going to be bad, before it goes bad?

I also called the local dealership and asked about timing belt, apparently the Prius uses a timing chain which does not need to be replaced at this mileage, unlike other cars.

yay!

Any other things I need to look out for in a 2006 Prius?

 

Thanks for the reply YW. My current situation is unique in that although I make enough money to get all the options and fewer miles, I think there may be more value in getting the higher mileage, lower cost vehicle. I'm certainly not a Lexus snob, and before I was looking at the Prius my original plan was to purchase a $3000 beater car like an old Altima or Civic and enjoy the better gas mileage until I run it into the ground. I figured I can live with the road noise and non-luxury aspect of that plan.

But then I saw the Prius and thought, hey it's a better ride than the Altima and better gas mileage, plus now I can use the HOV lane by myself? Oh yes. And then on priuschat I read about how some are getting 300,000 miles on their vehicles? So I thought that owning a Prius would be a better choice for my situation.

Because the alternative was to say to myself, screw the gas mileage, if I have to drive that far and I'm making more money now, why not get another luxury car and at least enjoy the drive. But I'm not ready to do that

I am concerned a lot about the battery warranty though because some places say 100k miles, and others say that here in California we get 150k miles.