A couple thousand is probably not enough. But I think people do tend to exaggerate how expensive used cars are. You can buy a ~10 year old Prius for around $5k, for example.

That still seems a bit high to me, unless you mean older ones? A ten year old Prius is >$10k here [1] and I don't see $5k until I get back to the 2010 model year (14-15 years old, and starting to get a lot less reliable).

[1] https://boston.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=2014%20prius

[2] https://boston.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=2010%20prius

Yea, location is definitely a factor. With my zip, kbb.com puts a 2012 Prius v Five Wagon with 120k miles in a private party sale at between $5900-$8200. A bit higher than I thought, tbh. I bought a 2008 Prius a couple years ago for $4,000. I'm thinking I may have just been a little lucky with that deal.

I've found KBB valuses a bit low for used cars since the pandemic, FWIW.

Did you buy your Prius at the beginning of the pandemic? There was a brief period when cars got super cheap (no one was buying anything, sellers were desperate) followed by one where they got very expensive (manufacturing was blocked on missing parts, more people were trying to buy used since they couldn't buy new).

I bought mine early 2022, well into the expensive used car mania. Sounds like I may have just gotten an unusually good deal.

Sounds like it! Though also closer to 15y than 10y old, which explains some of the difference.