Used prius

What color is the car? Darker colored cars heat up more in hot climates, which can harm the battery.... Also a bit suspicious of the claim of lower voltage modules being replaced in battery pack because it's not about voltage so much as how each module responds under load that matters most. Finding a car that hasn't had a battery pack ever been worked on, or hasn't been worked on in more than a year would be better. To the extent they can document that work is the extent to which you can trust them. But in the long run reconditioning a healthy, but old, battery pack is much better than the more problematic process of replacing modules/rebuilding a battery pack.

 

How long has he owned the car? I know it sounds like an odd question but did he just buy it and fix the battery just enough to flip it?

 

welcome!

plan on a new pack anytime in the future, around $3,000., call around for prices. as with any high mileage car, you'll likely be doing some repairs as time goes by. prius is very reliable, but some repairs are very expensive.

 

Ok, so essentially what you're buying is a Prius that's hybrid battery went bad and was traded in for a new vehicle because dealers don't replace individual cells, just the whole pack and that pack/part cost $2k not counting labor to install. The person selling the car has rebuilt the battery pack and trying to sell it quick before the next cell goes bad.

As a general rule replacing one bad cell if you do everything right to increase the overall health of the pack can go for a year or longer without issues if you get through the first few months. But as someone who has worked on rebuilding packs, I can tell you there's lots of people out there not doing a very thorough job that will last, which is why Toyota and most mechanics won't do this work.

But get on Craig's list and there's someone in every city doing this work and the warranty they offer directly defines the prices, which range from $500-$1800. If you have a warranty from one of these mobile services every time your battery goes bad they show up and in less than hour swap out the packs. Again, this is problematic and a mobile service if not going to be licensed and bonded like a regular shop, but they wouldn't be doing it if their wasn't a profit in it.

Moving forward you can get and OBD2 reader (See this link: priusapp.com/obd ) and use the Hybrid Assistant app on your phone to control hybrid battery pack cooling fan speed to keep the battery as cool as possible. Rebuilt packs work fairly well, but once the pack gets above 100' in temp, things get screwed up real quick.

How bad the pack is on this car has alot to do with how long the previous owner drove around with the warning lights on when things started to go bad. If they went straight to the dealership, then it's in way better shape than if they drove it around for a long time with the warning lights on.

 

So yes the guy is a flipper. The only way you should buy this car is figure out the cars value and deduct the price of a new battery pack from that. The reason the guy replaced only one battery cell is because he could not make a profit doing the correct repair. The numbers won’t work, walk away.