What should the PPI include for 2007 Prius?

Long version (filled with a fair bit of psychological/emotional hang-ups):

I've been reading this forum and learning a lot from this community, but it's hard for me to synthesize all the information and am hoping for some help deciding what is a deal breaker and what isn't.

We are/were a Prius family: my husband drives a third gen Prius and I used to drive a base 2012 Barcelona Red Prius which I had bought new. My cousin totaled it while visiting us last summer. It had barely 30K on the odometer. The accident happened on 6/21/2017.

I drive short distances (thus the low milage on my former Prius). Insurance deemed the vehicle a total loss & paid out close to 17K for it, but it was a protracted, time-consuming/emotionally draining struggle and my heart still breaks every time I think about the situation. My cousin was fine and walked away from the crash, but seeing my car look the way it did was devastating... I didn't actually realize I cared about it (or else I probably would have not let anyone unfamiliar with San Diego driving drive it) until it was gone. Then, it really hurt to know my car was gone. And, if I'm honest, my own stupidity in trusting my idiot cousin and making the car available (or rather not being able to say "no" to a family member) still gets to me. I feel like SUCH a tool. Insurance was a hassle, too and we ended up in arbitration (I won) etc... But the entire process was bitter, drawn-out struggle. It made me more cynical.

Anyway, sorry about the long preamble, but this is why I've resolved to get a car I don't really care about.
This is probably a bad idea, but I just want an older Toyota for less than $5K. Maybe it'll surprise me. Maybe I'll like it. If not, then at least it won't hurt like the previous one did. Maybe I don't need as good a car as what I lost. Maybe the car was too good (too much car) for me.

Short(er) Version:

I found a 2007 Toyota Prius on Ebay and won it for $4200. It's in my own zip code. It has 112K on the odometer. Looks good. I pulled the Carfax and learned that Owner #1 was a rental company (but OK). No evidence of servicing until 50K when owner #2 bought it w/50K on the odometer.

Owner #2 drove about 6K miles a year and took the car into the dealership every 3K-5K miles. The car's maintenance was rigorously documented from then on. I logged into my Toyota w/the VIN and saw all the maintenance. Looks fine. The car moved from Santa Monica to Nevada to San Diego (all rather warm places) and was driven fewer than 6K/year. Should I assume the hybrid battery is toast?

Notably, the 100K service was recorded as "recommended", but the owner seems to have requested to have something else done instead (brakes & tires). He may have done it, but the dealership notes are ambiguous...

The listing mentioned the battery was 100% and the records mention that a "battery replacement" occurred in July 2012 (but I don't know which one... meaning I don't know if the hybrid battery was replaced).

I contacted the seller about getting an inspection (and haven't heard back yet) and then called a local independent shop that specializes in Toyotas only and asked them about doing a PPI. They quoted $115 (which I will gladly pay). They have all the diagnostic tools and Toyota/Lexus trained mechanics etc that the dealership does. I trust they'll be able to evaluate the car, but what should I focus on specifically?

I don't know much at all about 2007s or even cars in general to be honest and would rather not compound my initial mistake with another one.

What are the deal breakers that I should make sure aren't present on the PPI? I don't want to be an idiot again and I don't want to care about the car, but I do want to get something reliable that I can drive the limited miles I usually drive. I don't trust myself to tinker with anything much at all and my husband has no interest in fixing cars either, so most of the servicing would be done at the dealer/independent shop mentioned above...

I'd appreciate any recommendations about the car, etc. Any psychological evaluations (judgements) are welcomed, too, if they lead to clearer thinking. And anyone who actually bothered to read all this, can comment any way they want and say whatever they like because they've earned it. I'd probably be the first to drop TL;DR if faced with a question this long.

THANK YOU!

 

Thank you.

Pre Purchase Inspection, I hope!

 

Thank you, Padroo. I've been lurking around the forum for the past week and this seems like a wonderful community!

You're 100% right about the anxiety level. I'm usually a much more decisive person, but I don't think I'm over my red Prius yet .

I DO NOT have 2007 Prius yet. The Inspection has to happen first.

 

Jerry,

Thank you for saying that. That's my sense as well, but I'm second-guessing my decisions regarding cars in a way I wasn't before last June. I'm getting over it, though. We'll see what the inspection reveals; fingers crossed. I suspect you're right --and very few bad decisions could ever equal letting my cousin drive my low-mileage, owned outright little red Prius. But, the price seems good to me after having looked around for a few months and getting a sense of the baseline for non-salvaged, under 150K-mile Prii with no accident history and a documented record of regular maintenance --provided the inspection checks out, of course. I'm looking forward to having another car to call my own --and the remaining 12.5K from the insurance payoff can just go toward mortgage or something with some kind of interest rate...

Thanks again!!

 

Mendel,

Yes; I'll definitely do it to the best of my ability. And I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said about a car potentially being a perfectly good, well-maintained car because the owners look after it and know what they are doing. My stepdad's Corollas are textbook examples of nearly obsessive upkeep without maintaining any kind of regular dealership presence. He buys his car new and drives it till it literally reaches its end of life, but he takes lots of long trips and the milage adds up. He never buys a new car (even though he could) unless he knows he absolutely has to. He does all basic maintenance himself; in fact, I think he tends to feel somewhat skeptical of too many dealership visits, if that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure that in a couple of years or so (after the sting of feeling stooopid about my former Prius has faded a bit more), I'll have a lot more confidence and a lot less anxiety about picking up another car. I just feel inordinately sheepish after that SNAFU and may be trying a little too hard to dot my is and cross my ts (as best I can with an 11-old car) without putting a lot of money on the line. I think I'm delegating more responsibility to the professionals than I usually would, but will definitely also rely on my sense of the car and try not to second-guess & hesitate unnecessarily.

Thank you for the reminder.