(Sorry @Syonyk, I know you recommended the Chevy.)
I don't mind the Prius, if it does what you need. My perceived objections to it are largely that it
didn't exist when I was doing a lot of my Volt writing, and that the range is inadequate for the average daily drive. If it fits your particular driving needs, I'm sure they're perfectly fine cars. But they won't do the average American round trip commute. Also, the Volts are cheaper, but...
shrug. If a Prius Prime works, nothing against it.
Even looking there, which I thought was a fairly vibrant market, there are not many available nearby. Is there a better marketplace or avenue to look at for private party auto sales?
You're in the Treasure Valley, if I recall properly. There are
no EVs, PHEVs, or anything of the sort for sale out here. Your best bet would be to bug Fairly Reliable Bob's and see if they have anything in stock or coming in, or just plan a fly-n-drive (or drive-n-drive) to Seattle, Portland, or somewhere along those lines. Possibly Salt Lake, but I'm not sure what the market looks like out there. At least some years back, it was cheaper to fly to Seattle and bring something back than to buy things out here. I'm guessing the used market out there is just as fouled out as it is everywhere else, though. You could also check vehicle specific forums. No idea what those are for Priuses, though.
He's a good earner at his job. He doesn't know much about cars yet but he is wicked smart and could learn. I'd rather he just pay the additional increment for a perfect title. He has a higher willingness to take risk than me; the jury is out on whose approach is better.
If you don't know how to work on cars and are a "high earner," I would also suggest avoiding a salvage title. I've owned a lot of them over the years. I didn't know how to work on cars, couldn't afford anything better, so learned. But it sounds like he's got more than a couple hundred dollars to scrape together for a car based on what you're describing the price range as, so it's probably not relevant.
Quite a number of these cars have wording to the effect of "Salvage title due to minor damage, professionally repaired, car is perfectly fine now." These are tempting. Most of these are in California.
There are a variety of shops, often in California for reasons that baffle me (probably because there's a lot of cars out there), that specialize in
one type of car, and often just one general model of it. They buy them up, part out anything that's pretty well wrecked, and repair ones that have less severe damage. It's far cheaper than buying parts retail or pick-n-pull, if you can part out entire cars worth of parts at once (front end collision, everything in the rear is likely to be fine). And they get to know
that car very well, so often seem to do a decent job with the work - they know what to look for. I'd generally believe they are what they claim to be in terms of repair.
Worth the discount? Avoid these at all costs? Salvage OK but branded not? Ask for a bigger discount?
I'm a bit unclear as to how registering salvage titles goes in various states. In Iowa, where everything I owned was salvage title, nobody cared - it was just a line on the title. Other states are a lot picker, as I understand it, so if he's got the money for something with a clean title, as it sounds is the case, I'd suggest something with a clean title for the ease of potentially moving it to another state. I managed to sell all my salvage titles off before I moved out of Iowa, so I'm not sure what the process looks like, but I believe it involves inspections with people who aren't particularly happy about doing it, at least in some states. How that works if it's out of state... eh. Look into it.
If you're talking about a $2000 beater, sure. Get a salvage title if your state is OK with it, and plan to sell it if you move. I don't see the logic in doing that with a $30k class car. Yes, you save some, but it will reflect in value when selling it down the road, and it could make it very difficult to move to another state with it.
Paging Syonyk...
No idea why. I barely internet anymore. Most of my unpopular opinions go on my blog.
It's the MMM forum in 2022. Has he considered a Tesla with the self driving package? You know, to support the future, and all that?
Mostly the question is what kinds of "minor damage" to a PHEV would result in an insurance company deciding that the cost to repair was too great? I was guessing any damage to the battery or related components, but that is just a guess.
On any modern car,
any airbag deployment is likely to total the car. They're expensive, and nobody really wants to mess with them over fear of later lawsuits, so that'll scrap a car right there.
PHEVs and EVs tend to have some expensive equipment more or less right under the skin. Chargers and such can live there, and are easily enough crushed - I believe the front left of the first gen Volt is an easy way to total the car because the charger lives under there - or something of the general power electronics and "expensive to replace" variety is in there. And with the PHEVs, you often have some significant complexity with the cooling system. I've got a VoltScreen (wire mesh thing) over the front lower grille opening, because rocks can put holes in radiators and they're an annoying pain in the rear to replace - plus, if they leak too much, it can damage other stuff. So if someone mashed up all the radiators on a Volt, odds are good that it would get totaled.
Also, car repairs in general are expensive right now, and it seems that "total it" wins out over "wait 6 months to maybe hope you can find some parts from an OEM who isn't in business anymore but nobody knows it." Newer cars also have a lot more sensors and such that both need replacement and recalibration, which isn't cheap either. A good solid hit to the front could toast a couple grand in sensors alone, plus whatever other damage it did.
Or maybe my sampling is not scientific.
Unless you're in the salvage market, it's unlikely you've got a good sampling.
Anyway, </thoughts>. He should spend the coin on a non-salvage title unless he's strapped for cash and not planning to move any time soon from a state in which they're easy to deal with.
