Not many miles on ours, 2990, but it seems like we see a lot of others on the road now… Overall. maybe a lot of new cars as folks are opening up their savings a bit… A couple new Nissan SUVs in my neighbors yards, too… Don’t think they bought hybrids, tho… A couple inlaws are looking around…
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I’m afraid I can confirm this.
My 2017 Prius, which I was planning on keeping another 5 years,
was mangled by a moron trucker in ND. Used Priuses are selling
close to new prices. New ones are on allocation and mostly sold
before they hit the dealer lot. I bought the privilege of getting on
the wait list for the dealer allocation, with their best guess that I’ll
get a car by late summer.
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Kid wanted a hybrid (no place to charge an EV at school). We tried to get a Toyota but gave up. None available on the lots, dealers adding markups.
She liked the Kia Niro - small hatchback, cross-over style. We bought one off the lot. Has all the bells & whistles for $30k. 54mpg so far. She likes it.
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We began looking last year, living here in Sonoma County, Marin, Napa counties hearest, all he dealers had markups varying from $1500-3000, but no available Hynrids in the Pearl white for any price. One local dealer doesn’t do markups, we had our name on several lists, but as it happened, this dealer/sales lady had a cancellation of just what we were looking for, a '23 RAV4, Hybrid, Limited… We jumped in the car on a Friday afternoon, took delivery that afternoon… Silly the lucky situation. Other dealers continue to cal with others but all still ran higher prices because of their markups… We had another limitation, overall length, when we moved here in the '70s, I took the back wall, took several feet for a home level laundry room, and the RAV4 was the only Hybrid that still fit, tried a CRV, it barely made it, but tight…
Wait lists, markups are painful, tax, insurance bump ups add on, our dealer’s finance fellow tacked on more than $4K of things, ince we were home, we realized we didn’t want, need, so that next morning, back to the dealer, had them taken off, a check came back in a few days… Paid for, lots of widgets to sort out, but mileage is overall near 40 mpg, gas use has dropped to near negligible… I have outlets in the garage for my welder, could have gone to a plug-in hybrid, but didn’t see why, really… this works,…
Good luck finding what you need… A sellers market for now, it seems…
weco
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Yes, you’re right. I bought a 2010 Prius in Nov 2009. I purchased the extended warranty; turned out to be the right move. This was the limited version, with all the extras including radar control i.e., “Adaptive cruise control”. In 2010, this was a new feature for only the Prius and Camry.
In 2015, the Inverter Assembly with Converter went out and was converted by Toyota.
The head gasket blew in 2021 after the pandemic. I was ready to get a new car, but hybrids at the time were not available for at least a year out.
I replaced head gasket and had the head machined with new exhaust values.
I’ve recently been offered $10,000 for my Prius with 210k. I was told that there is a limited supply on the market, and I’ve been told I can probably get more than that for it. It’s hard to believe it is worth that much.
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We weren’t in a rush to find a new RAV4, so were patiently waiting when the call came. We’re gifting our '07 Civic to one of our Grandsons, as soon as he gets licensed, that isn’t exactly rushing along, so it sets in the driveway now, waiting… Leaving the RAV4 in the garage space, and my F150 out in a 2nd driveway until the Civic leaves… I’ve had dead batteries on both vehicles as I tend to drive the RAV4 more than I expected…
But, yes, we kept out eyes open for used Hybrids, but their prices here near new prices, so why mess with it, the dealer we went to in the end was used by myInlaw for 3 or 4 vehicles he bought, no problems, so I think we’re OK… Next month we’ll hit the 5K/6Mo 1st service time, will be interesting to see how it’s handled…
Only about 3K miles so far, will add some more on a long weekend up the coast, but it will still be far short of the 5K mileage, but 6 months seems fine, a yearly event after that… I used to do all the maintenance on our vehicles, now, in particular with the RAV4, way more complex, let the pro’s at the dealer handle it… Beyond warranty, I have a local fellow I’ve used recently as ny other long time mechanic, since '82, retired, and they seem fine, maybe have a chat before I take it there… The whole RAV4 planetary transmission, hybrid system is amazing, no clothes, very little to actually wear…
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Interesting article on replacement costs for Toyotas, I didn’t realize the multitude of options, from wrecking yards to eBay to OEM new… Interesting, good to see the reuse, repairability happening…
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