As commented above, I was going to start a new thread for this Prius build thread but then on further thought I figured it might be good to keep all my Prius stuff in once place.
Though I have 2 Prius, I really don't need a 3rd right now. I bought this one with the intention of flipping it. As things progress I'll evaluate weather I keep this one or flip it.
My most recent flip of a salvage car was this 2004 Chevy Malibu sold for $1950. This Prius is a 2004 model also but Prius hold their value more than a Malibu. It seems to me that the absolute bottom end pricing of running, used Prius pricing is $3k. For that you will get a car with more than 200k miles, often a lot more than 200k.
I was willing to go as high as an all-in-purchase price of $1,700 for this Prius. When done, I think this could be a near $4k CL ad with a settle price of $3.5k-$3k. That should represent a value at only 158k miles even if the car is wearing a rebuilt title. My goal is to have less than $2k into the car and less than 10 hour of sale prep time.
Im unsure where to start in this whole Prius story. Lets go right to pictures from the pre-purchase inspection at the auction yard.
The interior is dirty but not impossible. A full Saturday after noon or $100 to a detailer should solve these issues. Dirty yes, rips no.
First, a pic of the driver's side rear door and the proper gap.
Now the passenger side with tight gap (no gap.) This pic is the passenger rear door. The panel gap is tight. The door opens and closes just fine but there is a "rub" when the door closes.
If you zoom in, there is a little rub mark
Here's the why. This pic taken from the top of the passenger fender shows there is a little push on the rear quarter causing a little "point out" or "out of round" to the wheel lip. This point is just above the leaf in this photo.
These Toyotas have a vin tags on body panels like shown by this black tag on the passenger fender.
All the tags are present except for one. The drivers side may have been replaced but I wouldn't say it was replaced recently and the work is generally good.
The worst rust of this Cleveland market car is at the passanger, rear rocker. Zoomed pic.
Unzoomed
Acceptable by local standards.
Like seen in this pic, there is no major distortion of the passenger rear quarter.