Hello there! I'm in the market for my very first car and have my heart set on getting a used Prius. Going to test drive one on Monday at an official Toyota dealer. It has approx. 85K kilometers (53K miles) and has had a rear collision at 5K kilometers with only a bumper replaced. I am awaiting a free copy of the Carproof and of the maintenance history. It is going for 16,5K CAD (14,7K USD). I should perhaps mention that I'm in Montreal, Qc, with rough winters and all. So, I'm on the fence about a few things: 1) If this car has had a rear end collision at 5K miles with only bumper replacd, should I worry about damage to important parts such as the battery pack? Could I use this as a reason to bargain hard? Should I even be considering buying this car?! Can I trust the dealer to be 100% transparent about the inspection/state of the car? 2) I have yet to understand exactly what is left on the original guarantee because I'm so new to this. If anyone can enlighten me, that would be great. At this point, I also wonder if it's worth buying an extended warranty. And if so, for how many years? Thanks for your advice!!!
welcome to priuschat! 1) never trust a dealer. 2) how do you determine there wasn't more damage than the bumper, but that's all they replaced? have a body shoppe check it out? you want them to look at the hatch fitment and closure, the smoothness of the rear fenders, the bottom panel under the spare tyre, and etc. 3) there should be a warranty booklet with the car. down here, it's 3/36 standard, 5/60 on emissions and 8/100 or 10/150 on hybrid components, depending on what state you are in. 4) try to find out how many owners and service history. have all the recalls been done? 5) how are the gyres and the 12 volt battery? 6)make sure it has 2 key fobs. 7)all the best!
Wow thanks so much for this quick and thorough reply!!! I'll make sure to look into as much as I can!!
Dealerships are independent franchises. It is money, and more coincidence than anything else that they sell and service cars rather than say televisions or blenders. Sometimes expert mechanics work for them, but I would not count on it. I would count on 'service advisors' who are incompetent salespoops.
