I've been looking to buy a 2010-2012 Prius for the past 3 months, but have run into nothing but dead ends in locating the car I want at a reasonable price.
It seems 75% of the listings in the PDX area are rebuilt\branded title cars. On top of that, all but 1 of the cars I've looked at came from Russians. I don't care that it's Russians selling the cars, but I've noticed some seemingly shady things. Some ads show the same photos for a car listed by different people with different phone numbers.
Recently I went to check out the car in this
ad and found that the car pictured is not even the one for sale. Originally the ad said it was a package IV with NAV, but when I looked at it in person, I found it was a package II without NAV, had stock tires instead of the ones shown, and the windows were tinted. Also, the ad says 35k miles on the OD, but actual is 39k. After asking about it, the guy said he copy/pasted the ad from a friend, and since then has corrected some of the errors in the listing.
Why would someone copy an ad when it takes just as much time to make a new ad with the correct info?
Why is it Russians selling cars?
Why so many Rebuilds?
Is it Russian culture to be deceptive in marketing? All people are corrupt, but I seem to be noticing a trend here. I posted a car for sale once, and a potential buyer specifically asked if I was Russian, as if he wanted nothing to do with the car if I was Russian.
Why won't these cars go for a reasonable price? Many 2010 vehicles still have the remainder of the manufacturers warranty left, but rebuilds have none. How are these cars selling for 85% of private party value? So far, nobody has been willing to sell at 70% of value, cash, even though I think that is the upper end of reasonable. Are people really paying too much for these cars?