Complain about a product or service

Should You Buy a Second-Hand Prius?

Maintenance costs may outstrip fuel savings

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 4, 2008

With sales of new hybrids increasing by almost 30 percent a year and gasoline prices following at a faster pace, a second-hand hybrid can appear to be a smart alternative in a tight economy.

But because of the car's relatively new design, there is little information available to help consumers judge the reliability of a used Prius other than reports from previous Prius owners.

Consumer beware. The risks may be higher than you think.

Battery blues

Doris in Smithville, Tennessee bought a used Prius in July 2006.

“Trying to inform myself prior to buying the car, I asked about the battery and was told never had they seen the whole battery fail, only a cell at a time to the tune of $200 per cell,” she was told. “I did not want to spend the money on a brand-new Prius. I wanted to test the waters on a used one first.”

The decision to buy a second had hybrid was costly.

The 2006 Prius had 73,200 miles on the odometer leaving 26,800 remaining on the hybrid battery warranty. “I bought it and thought I was living the dream, but only for a moment,” Doris told ConsumerAffairs.com.

When the weather turned cold her Prius would have no power. The engine was difficult to start. “Finally it went totally down,” she said. “No power!”

The Toyota dealer told Doris at first that she must have over-filled the gas tank and may have ruined the Prius computer system. The repair cost would be $1,900.

One year later the Prius lost all power while driving at 65 mph on an Interstate highway. "I was scared to death,” Doris wrote. The Prius was towed to a dealer and Doris was told “the main battery was down it would be $6,890 to fix it.”

Remember, the first dealer told her the battery never failed completely and the replacement cost would be roughly $2,000.

Doris was lucky as things turned out.

“They called tech support and found it was a leaf sucked up in a filter which in turn prevented gas and air from going to the battery and drained it." Doris spent $225 to tow the Prius to the dealer and $276 to charge the main battery plus tax, a lot less than the original $6,890 repair estimate but still $549.85.

But not all the repair news was good. "They told me it could happen again. So I'm stuck with what I feel is a defective product. I'm Toyota's rolling gunea pig,” she said. “I cannot trade the car because they tell I'm $5,500 up side down," she said. “I have to buy a new car to roll this amount with it. I can't afford a new car with a $425 per month payment.”

Transmission troubles

In Loomis, California, Sam tells the tale of expensive repairs with his 2003 Prius.

After a series of problems with the Prius engine, Toyota informed Sam that he needed to have the transmission replaced. The estimate for repairs was around $7,000, almost the value of the entire vehicle, according to Sam.

“Naturally the vehicle was no longer covered by the warranty,” he said.

The Prius had 116,289 miles on the odometer when the car began to malfunction. The check-engine light came on and the engine quickly shut down. The dealership informed Sam that the gasoline engine quit because the battery ran out of juice. The dealership checked the spark plugs and coils, detected slight misfire until warm but could not reproduce the problem. The cost of the service was $123.77.

The repair bill seemed too good to be true. And it was.

When the problem occurred a second time, the Toyota dealership said that the “problem was not really the spark plugs but that the sophisticated hybrid transmission needed to be replaced. The estimate for the parts and labor for this repair would be approximately $2,000.” The estimate was quickly revised to $7,000 with parts and labor. The “cost of the new transmission alone was $5,000,” Sam reported.

Early adopter

In Sunnyvale, California, Matt was one of the original 2001 Prius hybrid owners.

“Now, after 130,000 miles of driving the main battery is dead. The Toyota dealer is telling me the life of the main battery was 100,000 for my car, although the new Prius comes with a 150,000-mile warranty,” he said.

Matt said that the dealer told him he was the third Prius owner to require a main battery replacement.

“Labor and parts, plus tax was $4,500. Unfortunately, there is no third-party service provider who knows how to fix Prius,” he said.

Matt warns consumers interested in a second hand Prius to be prepared to pay $4,500 for the main battery before 150,000 miles have been recorded on the odometer.”

Complexity

That is not all.

“The car is loaded with electronics and solid state controllers. Be prepared to pay outrageous prices for diagnostics and repair. Very rarely you will walk out with a bill costing under $300,” Matt said.

“You will pay nearly $150 for having a duplicate key made to your Prius. That is because the key apparently has an anti-theft chip which has to be programmed by Toyota,” he said.

There's no doubt the Prius gets good gas mileage (though perhaps not as good as many buyers expect). But whether the total cost of ownership is reasonable is another question indeed.

Consumers who need reliable, inexpensive transportation are still better off with a simple, straightforward economy car -- a Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic or something similar with a four-cylinder engine and a manual transmission are likely to provide trouble-free, economic transportation for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Here are some of the reports we've received from other Prius owners:

Michael of Tigard, OR March 20, 2009

Michael of Tigard OR (03/20/09)
Purchased a 2006 Prius in Dec 2006. Up until ~Dec 2008 milage ran consistantly at 49-50mpg during summer months and 46-47 during winter (Ethenol blend fuel mandated in OR). Starting in Dec 2008 milage dropped dramatically to ~30mpg. There was no change in driving habits/routes/etc., and fuel during the period was purchased from a variety of filling stations (these facts are noted to preempt the standard manufacture's excuse that it's the owner/operator problems.) During 20k service dealership found no problems.

NOTE: the mpg noted are calculated by elapsed odometer milage and gallons consumed. The on board computer was not relied on. I am trying to find out if other Prius owners have experienced this same dramatic drop in milage with no reasonable explanation.

Fuel cost is 10-20% higher than expected or orginally obtained.

Patricia of Carlton, OR March 12, 2009

Patricia of Carlton OR (03/12/09)
3/10/09, while driving north out of McMinnville, Or straight, no curves, on two lane Westside Rd., sunny dry afternoon. A sudden heavy hailstorm passed over, dropping considerable hail. My 2007 Toyota Prius immediately lost all traction and I was unable to control vehicle as it swerved into on-coming lane, was hit on rear passenger broadsideby driver in on-coming lane. My Prius then flew off the road and into a ditch.

I suffered two cracked ribs and contusions. Other driver was unhurt. Both cars were a total loss. My steering wheel airbag deployed; the driver side airbag did not. I have long been aware of the problems with the Pruis' TRAX traction control system (the slippage on things as minor a wet grass/ puddles at low speed, but this was a serious event and could have easily resulted in a deadly outcome.

Johanna of Buffalo, NY March 5, 2009

Johanna of Buffalo NY (03/05/09)
I am writing to say that I am HAPPY with my Toyota Prius. I purchased this car NEW in 2006. It now has over 70,000 miles on it. The only issues I have had with it are due to my own stupidity (leaving lights on) and cost me NOTHING to fix. AAA just came by to give me a jump and all is well. I live in Buffalo, NY - I am sure you reading this knows what that means: SNOW! And lots of it. Every time my friends and I go driving in the snow for whatever reason, we opt to take the Prius because it performs well in the snow. The Buffalonion motto: be prepared. I always carry sand or kitty litter in my car and a shovel. In Buffalo it doesn't matter what you drive, odds are you will have to dig your car out at some point in time. But rest assured the Prius does fine in the snow of Buffalo, NY. Of course when we get over a foot of snow I have to dig it out - but this is something any sedan would have to do.

Also I was in a major accident soon after I got my Prius. I got t-boned on the driver's side by a Ford 250. I had no whiplash and was not sore the next day. The Prius did take most of the impact and it didn't look pretty - both doors and the post had to be replaced - but I was fine and didn't have a scratch, bruise or ache. It cost me nothing to fix because it was still within warranty.

I have gone up to 30 miles past the 'blinking light' gas warning and had no issues. I've noticed that certain gas stations cause the 'safety' to go off while filling up but not all - so I go to the stations that I know this doesn't happen and I don't have any issues filling up.

I have had my Prius for 3 years now and love it just as much as the day I got it. No problems with headlights, engine, batteries (again when I do its because I left a light on and a simple jump by a friend or AAA will fix it up). Other than regular oil changes, gas, and car washes, this car has cost me nothing.

Joe of Martinez, CA March 1, 2009

Joe of Martinez CA (03/01/09)
2007 Prius Problems - Headlights and tail lights unexpectedly and randomly shut off. I can get the tail lights to come back on by mildly smacking the side panel near the light. I've checked the bulb connections and they are clean and tight with no exposed or loose wires. The only way to get the headlight to come back on is to turn off the headlights and turn them back on. Toyota dealer says they can't repeat the problem. My wife and I are going to take video on the next occurance. We have subsequently been paying attention to other Prius's on the road. Quite a few are driving with one or both tail lights out!

My wife was stopped by a police officer the other night in our neighborhood...for one tail light and one headlight out. No ticket, just a warning. This could be very dangerous!

Martha of Stafford, TX February 27, 2009

Martha of Stafford TX (02/27/09)
My gas pedal gets stuck and keeps accerlerating. Dealers can NOT Duplicate the issue therefore send me back on the road with it.

I've been lucky, haven't wrecked into anything yet. It's been close, brake doesn't seem to work when it starts to accerlerate on it's own.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |