Want a cheap used Prius just to drive in carpool lane in rush hour.

I thought all the Carpool stickers for the Prius were expiring this year....

 

The yellow carpool lane stickers expire July 1, 2011.

Clean Air Stickers High Occupancy Vehicle HOV Lane Usage

But, would still go for it just for the gas mileage savings.

 

So if all the carpool stickers expire this year, does this mean you don't want a Prius? You can still enjoy high MPGs, technology and more even if you're not in the carpool lane.

 

~ three years too late, and quite a few dollars short.

 

Want a good laugh?

2005 Prius w/90K miles

Black Book Value (copy and paste the VIN and mileage into the fields- wholesale will be in the middle to lower end of trade value)

And people wonder why other people think car dealers are such sleeze bags.

This is the kind of crap you are up against. In a nutshell, the dealer will steal any potential gain you intend to make by opting for a used Prius.

 

a couple of options for you...
- a CNG fuel vehicle. Honda civic GX or a vehicle that has converted to CNG. check out CNG Auto Sales Inventory. these CNG vehicles are eligible for carpool stickers that expire in 2015
- or, if you want 50mpg...shop for "salvaged title" Prius. many on this site, including me, have owned or currently own one. you can find a good buy in your price range

 

Just keep in mind that any vehicle w/a salvage title will have no warranty and potentially difficult to sell for very much in the future.

Depending on what caused it to be get the title, it will be anywhere from a horrendous headache and/or dangerous to running great w/minimal to no trouble. Definitely steer clear from flood damaged cars.

 

Salvage Prius prices are just as over the top as pre-owned right now.

 

it's not for everyone.
you gotta work at it, search craig's list and the penny-saver type mailers to find the best deal and vehicle that looks good after repairs.

for example, i just looked at an '09 Prius Touring w/ 50K miles (loaded...has leather and Nav) for $12,000. the right front was damaged, insurance totaled it, a reputable repair company fixed it. it looks very clean, everything works fine.
it's a very affordable price vs one on a dealer's lot.

regarding re-sale, worst case scenario...you drive it for 5 years and sell it for $5K. it'll cost you $117/month (depreciated $7K for 60 months).

personally, i've had alot of success w/ salvaged title vehicles.
but...they're not for everyone.

i only brought it up on this thread because "ragnarkar" is currently driving a '99 (beater) civic. he's looking to spend under $8K.
i've seen '06 & '07 salvage Prii w/ 100K miles under that price.

if a for sale salvage title Prius has been working for 100K miles, my experience is it'll probably continue to function normally going forward.

 

You are assuming the cars are equal in value and differ in price which is false. Buying a Prius will net you more on your resale later. It also will be more comfortable and have more creature comforts. Also note it is safer, and many insurance companies offer a discount. My insurance company gives me a 20% discount on my entire policy (not just the Prius' auto insurance) because of the Prius.

Also maintenance cost will be much less than you are currently paying. Oil changes at 10K miles is considered soon. Brakes last many hundreds of thousands of miles. Many get their 100k services with original brakes and they are still like new. There is no transmission, so that won't be needing to be replaced.

The list goes on, but the assumptions of your "pay back" are false.

Frequency is almost none, and cost is between $400 for salvaged, $1200 for new 3rd party, and $2500 for new from Toyota. Many taxis with 300,000+miles are on their original battery. That and it is warranted for 150,000 miles in CA.

 

I sold my 10 y/o Honda Civic for $3500 in 2004. It had about 85k miles on the odometer.

A pretty good rule of thumb for your question is to keep the car you have until it becomes a sinkhole for repair costs and then buy a Prius. If you save in the meantime you might have the choice of buying a non-salvage car.

 

No need to convince me. I averaged slightly higher than 32 mpg (yearround) from an Accord Hatchback -- before learning how to hypermile -- and kept it to 235,000 miles before exchanging it for a Prius.

Your Civic is still young. Keep it a while longer, and learn how to hypermile it.

 

The cost and reliability of a 99 Civic beater vs a Prius beater, there's no contest, the Civic wins hands down. It's true that both models are reliable but some repairs on the Prius don't run cheap and are dealer only. For example, if the transmission goes, you can still run on the remaining working gears on the Civic, not so on the Prius.

 

oh! i thought you were trying to find a vehicle for the car-pool lane...

 

If you want to minimize the total cost of ownership of a commuter car, buy a clean used Civic or something similar.

 

Wth are you smoking?

Reliability is about equal between the two brands for a 99 Honda and any 04-09 Toyota. If the "transmission" goes on a Prius, you are immobile because that means there was a catastrophic failure. Also why there have been less 10 reported. Not per year, but total that we are aware of.

There are also other non-dealership repair centres for the Prius like any other car and they can do almost everything. Just choose a shop that has a Toyota Techstream and you are good to go for 100% of the services. Joe Schmoe with a Techstream can do the same thing the dealers can. Not that you will need to be in there often.

Your random crap spouting is getting annoying. Learn about what you are talking about.