Would you sell your Prius if in my shoes?

The big battery has a life of about 150K miles which would give me 50K more miles on the car before I had to spend about 4000 for a new battery

That is just crazy!!!!!!!

 

It reads as if you have already made up your mind to get another car. Personally, I wouldn't spend $6K to repair a car that isn't worth much more than that. And you should be able to locate another Prius ('05 or '06) with lower mileage for around $10-11K if you know how to look.

 

Your car is TRASH, sell it and get someting else.
End of story!!!:cheer2:

 

The traction battery is warranted for 150,000 miles. I'd say you have a job ahead of you. How easy do you think it's going to be to sell a damaged car? IMO cut your losses & buy a new one.

 

I seem to recall that the OP has had a total of $6,000 of repairs on this car. That is sunk money, and not a factor in future decisions, except for any reduction of value for resale.

If this is true, it makes sense to keep this car as long as possible. The longer you keep it, the less the effect of the repairs. Near the end of life, it only matters how well a car runs, not what happened to it a long time ago.

Tom

 

A few questions:

1) I assume that in lieu of repairing your car, your insurance co would send you a check for $6K. Is this correct?

2) What is the value of the damaged car if you tow it to your local salvage yard "as-is" or otherwise dispose of it?

3) When you sum the numbers in 1 and 2 above, does that total at least $8K? If yes, then clearly you would be better off getting rid of the car now.

4) What new car are you going to get for $13K, and how do its features and benefits compare to your existing Prius?

 

That answers my question about sunk costs. If the $6k isn't already sunk, I would lean toward selling.

Tom

 

If you have to pay $4000 for a new HV battery you're getting ripped-off big time. Re-involt can replace it for less than half that and they will install it as well.

 

Please state your sources about the life of the big battery being 150K miles. Just because that's the warranty mileage length doesn't mean that its life.

Agreed w/earlier posts, $4K is a rip if it were to die. See Prius Battery Change is No Big Deal - Newsroom : Our Point of View Post / Toyota. Many would argue that on a high mileage Prius, one would probably be better off buying a pack from a salvage Prius for much less.

 

I don't know about your state but here when you trade in at a dealership they will ask you (and sign to the fact) if the car has had major repairs or been in a wreck. It would be up to you to live with any deceit.

I think you would be very hard pressed to get anywhere near "book value" if the dealership knows about the repairs; especially if they didn't do the repairs. Now if you are at the same dealership that did the repairs and are a skilled negotiator, you might do better.

 

You'd probably do ok getting it fixed, but there a lots of low miles 2006-2008 priuses out there for $11-14k so why not move on to a fresh undamaged low miles car that hasn't been messed with? Here's how you could do it:

Contact the claims agent, let them know that you want a check for the damages and you plan to sell your car in its currently damaged state. Insurance adjusters do this all the time, its a standard financial transaction, the repair money goes into your bank account and your car is worth that much less.

Post your car for sale as is with photos on Craigslist. There are a ton of private guys who are very handy and can fix stuff for much less than a shop. They'll gladly buy a damaged prius, probably fight over it. Post a couple of photos and a more detailed description of the damage and I can give you a pretty good estimate of what someone will pay. You'd be surprised.