Purchasing a used prius

Is it from a private party or a used car lot? I think any car with that many miles on it should be checked by a mechanic. The problem is you need to find a mechanic that knows about the Prius, and they will most likely all be at Toyota dealers. If you are really serious about this car go to a good Toyota dealer and talk to the Prius Tech, not just any mechanic there, you need to see the trained Prius technician. Ask him if he will check out the car for you, It will cost a little but may be well worth the price.

If you tell us where you are someone may be able to point you to a dealer with a good technician.

If who ever owns the car, car lot or private party, won't let you take it to a mechanic (technician) of your choosing they have just saved you the cost of having it checked over, just walk away. Also, make sure it has an owners manual with it. Most cars you can figure out without the book, this one you can't.

 

Double post in the same forum.

 

You raise an interesting question/problem. Tumbleweed's suggestion is good.

You don't say whether it would be from a private party, used car lot or dealership (Toyota or otherwise). If a dealership, do they provide any warranty, even 30-90 days?

The one test I always paid a mechanic to do when buying a used car was a compression test on the engine's cylinder's. There's little likelihood the Prius ICE would have a major problem, though, unless someone had negligently let oil leak from the "pan" on the bottom (for example) or otherwise abused it.

If a private seller, does he/she provide all maintenance/repair records with it? Most dealers don't leave this stuff in the glove compartment (if it was in there when they got it), but some do.

You'd have just a few thousand miles before the car's 100K warranty on the traction battery expired. The Prius is so new, of course, there have been few battery failures anywhere---that we in these online groups have heard of.

If you follow Tumbleweed's advice, ASK the Service writer (who would write up your "ticket") EXACTLY what kinds of things they CAN check. Wear on the front disc brake pads is one obvious one, unless you can get the car long enough to have them checked for free at a brake place (like Midas; there are many).

 

there is a few TSB's on the 2k1's the most serious one is the power steering rack assy. Toyota has been very good at replacement but this one is over on mileage. One other was a reseal on the HV battery, not serious but still needed to be done. Your Prius tech at the Toyota dealer should be able to call the car up by serial number and see if all the TSB's have been done. Worth taking it to them and get it properly checked.
The only thing that caught my eye on this thread was the price seemed a bit high. Last week there was a 2k1 in the local paper and it had about 40k miles and it was $18,000 CDN so take about 23% off that for USD and you'll understand why I think 12 grand for 90+ thousand miles is a bit high. Mind you it's a sellers market down south for Prius. If properly serviced and maintained 90K is nothing as there are Prius taxi's here with 200K miles and still going

 

As I understand the "warranty enhancement notice" it covers for 5 years (starting from the vehicle in service date) and unlimited mileage. This is certainly an issue to address. I agree with all of Frank's other comments.

My 2001 Prius has 81k miles and very pleased. May press for the steering work at some point, because it does get "the shakes" from time to time.

Classic Prius with about this odometer have sold on ebay for $8000-13000. Edmunds says less, Kelly says more. Get the car checked out, and if OK offer whatever you are comfortable with.

 

I thought that the rack was covered for 5 years or 80,000 miles? I might be wrong but that was my impression when I read the notice from Toyota.
We have 2k4,5's in the want ads here 7K under list almost makes me want to gray market them in the US. My local dealer has 2 on the lot.

 

In addition to my previous post I think there is one other thing you should do. Go to one of the on line services that will sell you a vehicle history report, I just did a search and there are several of them. You need to give them the VIN which you can get off the car, it's on a metal plate on the drivers side of the dash somewhere and other places as well. They should be able to tell you if it has ever been in a major accident, if it has forget it.

Also offer quite a bit less than what they are asking, most private parties and all used car lots pad the price a bit hoping a sucker will come along. Don't be one.

 

Marci,

Others have mentioned Kelly and Edmunds, but their figures are pretty skewed at times. I usually base a used car value on NADA. So, I did a search at http://www.nada.com/ and came up with these numbers.

Average trade in value:
Base: $11,825
93k: -850
Alloy wheels: 150
Power locks: 75
Power windows: 100

Total price: $11,300

Average retail:
Base: $13,975
93k: -850
Alloy wheels: 175
Power locks: 100
Power windows: 125

Total price: $13,525

As you can see, there is a $-850 penalty for mileage higher than normal for a car of this age.

So, My feeling is that based upon NADA appraisal, which financial institutions frequently use to determine maximum lending amounts for used vehicles, the price they are asking is in the middle and probably decent. If they are serious about getting it sold there will be a Toyota dealer inspection report and a phone number and contact you can call to speak with somebody who did the inspection. If there is no inspection in place right now, you might ask the sellers to have the car inspected by a Prius Tech at their cost. As far as I can tell they have built in enough cushion that they can afford to do that to sell the car.

But in the used car market, a sucker is born every minute. You could insist on an inspection and the next guy looking at the car might not car and he would get the sale. Whatever you do, just make sure there is plenty of CYA in any transaction for a used car.

 

The thing that bugs me on this is warranty... Its one thing to age a car yourself and be totally familiar with it when your 100K miles runs out.. but to get a used one I would consider paying more for a newer one if possible...
It won't be fun fixing things without a warranty... the best years of the car are over... the next 90+ thousand miles will be much riskier!
I don't know how much he paid for it originally, but I think he is getting close to his original price.. but at any rate a newer car will also demand a nice price for you later when you sell....