Trade In Musings

[Dacre]

Some interesting points brought up by GC, Parts King and other posters. Here is my take on it.

I bought my October 2010 T4 Prius second hand in Oct 2011 - it had 13k on the clock and cost me £18K. I looked at earlier models but the 5 year 100K miles warranty attracted me and definitely put me off the earlier gen 3 models with the shorter warranty.

The main reason I wanted the 5 year 100K warranty is I drive approx 25K per year so wanted to be covered over the 3 years I will own the car. I got burnt by the Chrysler warranty - £60K, 3 years - on my 300C - I bought a Warranty Direct extended warranty at 60K and ended up paying out over £2K on repairs as 'that part isn't covered sir' on a number of repairs when I took my first 300C up to 95K in 4.5 years.

So the 5 year 100K warranty was a definite reason for finally deciding to purchase the Prius - as well as the low running costs. Would I have bought one with the weasel warranty - no is the probable answer.

I have also been looking at the Citroen/Peugeot hybrids - only a 3 year/60K warranty - so its not for me even though the DS5 is a very cool looking car.

How much is a Toyota extended warranty to take the weasel warranty up to 5 years and 100K?

GC, a question for you. If your Prius had a 5 year 100K warranty, would you still be negative about the car?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

GC, a question for you. If your Prius had a 5 year 100K warranty, would you still be negative about the car?

No - for the same reasons as you. I do 30k a year and a 100k warranty would allow 3 years of worry free motoring.

That autotrader search shocked me. I can't believe that gen2's were holding their own against a similar aged and mileage gen3.

Either Joe Public knows the gen2 (100k 8 yr hybrid warranty) is better or that the gen3 (60k 5 yr hybrid warranty) is worse.

[valmiki]

A Toyota extended warranty for the Prius costs around £860 for a 2 year, unlimited mileage cover, for a Prius under 3 years old. Surely the best thing to do if you have a pre-June 2010 is just buy the extended warranty, or am I missing something? Logic would dictate that if the price difference between pre and post-June 2010 is more than this, then the post-June 2010 is overpriced (all else being equal)?

Obviously, this only applies to people looking to buy a Prius, not those wanting to trade them in ;-)

[Grumpy Cabbie]

..... or am I missing something?

Yes! Yes you are. People are scared off because the manufacturers warranty has been reduced on those scarey hybrids.

It's not me wanting the warranty. It's the prices are low because Joe Public out there avoids the car because the manufacturers warranty is not there. Not everybody understands that they can pay extra for an extended manufacturer warranty and a lot of people believe extended warranty companies are just scammers who never pay out or have ridiculous terms.

And, the extended manufacturers warranty isn't available to me even if I wanted one.

But even excluding taxi drivers, a business driver doing 25k a year isn't going to convince his company to pay out nearly £1000 to extend the warranty?

I'm also ****** cos I told everyone the Prius was a good car and it's turning out to bite me on the bum. It's not reliable, it's proving expensiveoutside of warranty for wear and tear (3 steering racks? come on!) and now the chronic depreciation where prices are equal or lower than the out going model doesn't help.

Or a £21,000 car is worth £11,000 at two years old through a dealer (less if private) with 30k miles on it. That is BAD.

[valmiki]

Point taken, GC. Wasn't aware you couldn't take the extended warranty.

[johalareewi]

And, the extended manufacturers warranty isn't available to me even if I wanted one.

Is that because of business use or something else?

[kithmo]

GC, a question for you. If your Prius had a 5 year 100K warranty, would you still be negative about the car?

That autotrader search shocked me. I can't believe that gen2's were holding their own against a similar aged and mileage gen3.

Either Joe Public knows the gen2 (100k 8 yr hybrid warranty) is better or that the gen3 (60k 5 yr hybrid warranty) is worse.

GC, have you driven a Gen 2 ?

SWMBO has a 2006 T4 and it "feels" like a better car TBH.

It is nippier off the line, it is quieter and feels more solid. The only thing that lets it down is the handling, lots of understeer compared to the Gen 3, but that might be down to the tyres.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Yeah it excludes taxi use.

I hear what you say about the gen2 but I'll probably run this until the first sign of trouble and then just hand it back under my finance agreement. :)

Thankfully I'm out of the taxi game which so we'll see what happens.