Pre-owned Prius learning curve

I have just started shopping, mostly Craigs list, for a pre-owned Prius, to urgently replace my '93 Accord which has two oil leaks and a torn axel boot, almost $2000.

I've been looking at different years, it looks like with patience i can find a 2006 or 2007 in my price range ($20,000 or below); WITH HOV stickers, that is essential, i drive on my job and have a long commute, in California/Los Angeles. I'm looking to stay under 45,000 miles and would like to get a lot lower.

Yesterday i looked at my first one, a 2006 with 65,000 miles, too many miles, but i wanted to get started and that was the only one available yesterday. It had a sunroof. It wasn't all that, one thing that bothered me was that it had only one HOV sticker, all the ones i see around town have three, and this one was wrinkled and buckled up. The guy was selling it for his father who is ill and showed me paperwork showing they had ordered the additional stickers--last April? maybe the car had to be painted after an accident and the original stickers removed? The guy denied any accidents.

Anyway, tonight i looked at my second one, an immaculate 2005 with 28,000 miles, very tempting because it looks brand new, but it doesn't have the same standard features as the 2006, features that are very cool. A back up camera is something i've wanted for a long time for example, and with that narrow little back window, it seems very important to me.

What i am trying to learn now is, what are the different standard features on the different year models? I looked on Google and was not able to find, for example, the back up camera mentioned when i looked up standard features for 2006 yet i've been told that is standard at least in the US.

In fact, i couldn't find it under optional features either. Is the day/night mirror adjustment (inside mirror) standard in 2006? I would like to find out what the differences are between the different years for what comes standard on them but was not successful using Google. I see there is a knowledge base on these forums and would appreciate any advice on what search terms to use, to find out more.

Any kinds of pointers or direction for shopping for a pre-owned Prius would be appreciated. I'm excited about getting one. Thanks

 

Thanks for all the very helpful information!

As of today, i've looked/test driven 5 Priuses. Three had HOV stickers, two did not. The two that didn't were both at car dealers; the three that did were private parties. They were all in the same price range. One was a 2005, two were '06 and one was '07. I'm trying to keep these things straight in my mind.

The '05 was very impressive. It was an "option 1," that's what the man said, so it lacked features such as smart key/keyless ignition and back up camera, that was the downside. The up side was, it was immaculate and felt new, and it had HOV stickers. they would take $19000 for it. The first one i looked at was the 06 with 65,000 miles, the sunroof, and only the one HOV sticker which was a bit wrinkled. The guy did show me paperwork which i didn't read that closely, but he said it was papers showing their request to DMV for another sticker, and a copy of their check, dated 4/08. The car did not have the same new immaculate feel as the 05, though there was no obvious damage or dirt or blemishes. Something about the paint didn't look right to me though. He was asking $18,000 and said he could come down from there. But i need a lower miles car, aside from the other oddities.

I looked at an 06 with 33,000 miles and HOV stickers, the guy worked for a BMW dealer but was showing me the car at his home and said he didn't know much about Priuses, and couldn't be very clear about what features the car had. I think it had package 2. He was asking $19,000.

Today i looked at an 07 at a Toyota dealer that had 14,000 miles on it and they were asking $17,880 for it. It had package 2. On paper it sounded good, but i liked the feel of the immaculate 05 better. This prius was from Costco, "through Toyota." I didn't really understand this but they got three silver 07 Priuses from Costco and were in a hurry to sell them.

Last, i looked at an 07 at an Acura dealership with 28,000 miles and Package 4, they were asking $17,880. It was a lease car, leased by a private pargty in 2/07. Both i and my daughter liked the feel of it better than all the others, except i did like the 05 still, but we definitely liked the feel of this car. It felt new. My only hesitation, i guess, is the lack of HOV stickers. The HOV stickers on the 05 are worth a lot to me, A LOT. Quality of life--time NOT spent in gridlock. To me, it's huge. So I'm not sure. I am still looking for more options, but the Package 4 is attractive. thanks to the information linked to this thread, i was able to find out details about the package that otherwise would be pretty vague.

The brochure says Package 4 has anti-theft. What is that? An alarm that you arm with the smart key thing? It says Package 4 has autodimming mirror with Homelink transceiver. What is Homelink? I think i heard that it has to do with a garage door opener, is that right? What would this have to do with an autodimming mirror? Is the car with Homelink ready for me to hook it up to my garage door, or do i need to hire someone to come out and set it up, or do i need to buy some kind of adapter for my garage door? About bluetooth for my cell phone, what's involved in hooking that up?

I might want to take another week looking at more cars, but i feel some inclination to get the 07 with the package 4, two different salesmen called me at home tonight to ask if i'd decided yet, and the second one said he would bend over backwards to get me to choose his car and would not let "a few dollars" prevent the deal. Not sure what that means specifically.

About buying an extended warranty, i would really want to do that. Hill--do you mean you bought your extended warranty on eBay? How much does a bumper to bumper warranty for 150,000 miles cost? does it cover rental car?

 

Do you mean that i can bring the car home and follow instructions in the manual so that it will then open my garage door, without buying anything additional? i have a garage door opener, with a sensor that responds to a remote. Do you mean that i can program the mirror (!?!) to communicate with the existing sensor to open the garage door?