What should I look out for on this vehicle?
Have a mechanic look it over a lot of miles on it
I’m thinking the guy is getting rid of it because it may need a battery replacement sooner or later… :0
@Mountainman
Be wary. Hybrid cars don’t last as long as regular cars. My husband’s Prius started to get lots of serious and expensive problems at about ten years. We eventually got rid of it because it cost more to repair than it was worth.
I would bring a mechanic
I don’t know much about hybrids but before you buy a used car you should take it to a reliable mechanic and have him thoroughly examine it. A car may look OK on the outside but there may be hidden damage or mechanical or engine problems that a trained mechanic can spot that you couldn’t.
I had first hand experience of this when I bought a car in 1997. It was a 1985 Toyota that I thought was fine when I looked at it and test drove it. I bought it for $2000 and I drove it around for a few months in summer and everything was fine but when winter came and it rained there was a leak somewhere around the windshield that the previous owners had not told me about and huge puddles would form on the floor of the interior every time it rained.
My ex-brother-in-law who worked as a mechanic tried to find where it was leaking and fix it but he was never able to find the leak. And not only that but we had the hood open and we were checking out the engine one day and he suddenly announced that the car had been in a major accident. He saw that part of the frame was a replacement meaning that the previous owners had taken out part of the frame to fix it because of major structural damage and then welded on new steel.
I would never have discovered that on my own in a million years but he had been mechanic for years so he was able to spot it. If you buy a car off the lot at most major car dealerships they will give you a Carfax report which gives the entire history of the car including how many previous owners there were and what repairs had been done and any accidents it had been in.
I don’t know if you can get a Carfax report while buying a car from a private party. I bought my 2012 Volkswagen from a dealership and Volkswagens are sturdy, reliable cars but when it needed repairs my mechanic groaned and said, “Nick, why couldn’t you have bought a Camry?” Volkswagens are hard cars to work on, cars like Camry’s are easier to work on so you might want to take that into consideration.
Because like it or not, when you have a car, most likely it’s going to need repairs at some point, especially older cars. But yeah, before you buy it take it to a reputable mechanic and pay him the $50 or a $100 to thoroughly inspect it and see if anything’s wrong with it.
Toyotas are usually good cars, its a major make of car. A car is a big investment and you don’t want any surprises when you shell out the money for one. You want to know what you’re getting into when you buy one.
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