I'm looking at buying a 2013 Prius c with 80k for about 10k from a lady who goes to auto auctions and sells them localy. This will be my first hybrid and I am having a few reservations about reliability. Just wonder what other owners have to say/any advice you all can provide
welcome! best advice: car fax, get the vin and plug it into toyota owner site, it will show you dealer services. shop around a little to compare her price to others, and check kbb value. keep in mind, you only have 20,000 miles left on the hybrid warranty. all the best!
I have to make some assumptions here. I'm assuming this is a private party sale for a Prius C III and the car is in very good condition. With that in mind, the KBB value is around $9,865, in Southern California. With the attached link, you can switch the pricing to the cost from a dealer. Dealers usually offer some sort of limited warranty- she is probably a curbstoner or a private party seller. Kelley Blue Book curbstoner
Thank you for the response. I found this car on Kbb and then researched the company. I found her on facebook but for some reason I cannot repost the linnk. she buys cars (probably at auctions) then sells them locally. I met her in person (she seems nice, not like most carsales people). I test drove the prius for about 10 miles and everything seems in working condition. She gave me the vin number and I looked it up on toyotas website and everything seems top notch. I'm still skeptical.
can't blame you. there's always risk with auction cars. whats the kbb private sale price? what does the car fax history say?
I am sure that I would not purchase the car from her. You can do much better, lower miles, newer car, for about the same amount of cash.
Charlie, you mentioned that you have reservations about the reliability. The '13 Prius C has excellent reliability reports, as per Consumer Reports. So, I'm going to assume you're concerned about the hybrid reliability. What can help give you a peace of mind is the 8 year/100k hybrid warranty. Unfortunately, with 80k miles already on this particular C, the warranty might be up within 1 to 1.5 years. Look for something with lower miles so you'll be covered for a longer period of time.
IMO, that price sucks. I purchased my 2014 Prius C Two last October from Carvana. It had 22K miles on it and was(and still is) under factory warranty. I paid 13K for it. I just went on to cars.com and there are a bunch of low mile(under 40K) 2013 and 2014's for under $11K
Red Flags to me. I don't mind a "Private Party" buy...but if this is someone who makes money going to auctions and buying and reselling? I'd pass. You are not buying from a direct owner, you're buying an "Auctioned" Prius that is being resold, for profit. I think you can do a LOT better than being the second purchaser of an auctioned Prius.
Hertz Car Sales dumps the cars they don't want to auction. What does that tell ya? Don't purchase the car!
I have to disagree(somewhat) with the auction vehicles sentiment expressed. There are tons of cars that come off lease after 2-3 years with low miles and go through the auction process. I am sure that is how Carvana got the Proius C i ended up buying. That said, the 80K mile 2012 you are looking at is not a lease return, it's a higher mile car that a dealer didnt want to put on their retail lot, so they took it to the auction.
I totally agree with Blackbelt. There are many good cars that come off lease after 2-3 years with low miles and go through the auction process.
