Prius curious in Los Angeles

1) What I've gathered is it makes more sense if you are the DIY type.
2) Only on new plugins. I'm getting about $8800 back. $4500 as a federal tax rebate, $1500 California rebate, $2000 Air District Rebate, $800 PG&E. There's no Prius with $7500 tax rebates.
3) Probably.
4) Dianne Whitmire <[email protected]> is a member on these forums.

Lastly, LA is very expensive, I lived there some 20 years. Try to save as much money as you can.

 

This does not apply to hybrids, only battery powered vehicles with a minimum battery size. The Prime is eligible for $4502 in Federal tax credits, but you have to have a Federal tax bill that large to claim that amount.

There are no tax credits on used cars.

 

Stick with a Corolla. Less expensive repairs and no one will steal your catalytic converter. Yes that’s a thing in LA now.

 

Gen3 in Ca. gets 10-yr 150000 mile warranty on Battery. So if you could swing something like a 2015 under 150000 miles you would have coverage. And that incorporates some safety fixes. Also older 2012-2015 Plug-in PiP might be very interesting play, you could get free HOV if it has not been previously registered for stickers...which probably you'd have to get from out-of-state but might be interesting idea for you. In all cases you need to aware of Toyota CARB warranty which in order to qualify you need to purchase qualifying car by Toyota rules (CARB state car).

New Prime Plug-in would get you quite a bit of federal and state credits as well as free HOV. n After tax credits the price might not be too bad.

 

As long as you have some basic mechanical skills and the help of folks on PriusCat you'll love an older model high-mileage Prius. They're super reliable and rarely need repairs. When they do need repairs, it can be done inexpensively with used parts on your day off... When I bought my high mileage Prius I was a hardcore enthusiast who wanted to do repairs, but nothing ever went wrong with it going on 7 years now, so instead I just work on other people's Prius so I know what to do if I ever have a problem with my own.