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Hi guys,

Tomorrow I'm going to look at a used 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. The car is supposedly in good condition, it has around 99k miles.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=255449229&dealer_id=63598877&car_year=2003&rdm=1235937498905&model=CIVIC&num_records=100&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=2001&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=used&distance=100&marketZipError=false&ct=p&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=HONDA&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=&default_sort=priceASC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=100000&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceASC&address=92557&advanced=y&end_year=2010&doors=&transmission=Automatic&max_price=7500&cardist=55&standard=false

There's the car in question. I've talked to the owner and run a Carfax on it. Everything seems in order; it was in a minor rear-end accident but is free of frame damage etc. The seller claims that the battery is warrantied til 150k miles. I live in California.

I'm just curious as to whether this would be worth pursuing or not vs. a regular 03-04 Civic.

Thanks.

For that price, I would take a serious look at it. Not half bad IMO.

He says he'd be willing to part with it for $6.5k. I can provide a CarFax to any of you that would like to examine it, in case you can glean more from it than I can.

Was this car serviced at a Honda dealer?
If it was then it should have a service history to check up on. The areas I would look for are the typical gripes you should be aware of and can usually have a serious bearing on whether the car will be reliable or not.

Look for the following:
- Software updates. Chances are that if it serviced by a good dealer then the car is up to date and count that as a +1
- CVT servicing (fluid changes and intervals among other servicing) if the service intervals were less than the recommended interval count that as a +1.
- O2 sensor replacements. If one or more were performed then count that as a +1
- Catalytic converter. If servicing and/or replacement was made count as a +1
- EGR valve servicing. If replaced at some point count that as a +1
- If oil and other fluid changes (except the H-CVT) changes were made at recommend intervals count that as a +1
- 12V battery. If it was replaced recently the count that as a +1

If a dealer serviced history is not available or detailed records are not available I would have the unit inspected by a good Honda dealer and have them report on the balance of the warranty including the state of the components and systems I outlined.
If the car fails the due scrutiny in several of these areas then I would feel less compelled to touch it.

Cheers;

MSantos

Thanks so much for the detailed and helpful reply.

The hybrid does have the most recent software updates.

The dealer serviced the CVT, and Carfax says it was serviced at the dealer every 4-7k miles.

Catalytic converter was recently replaced by the dealer.

The current owner recently replaced the 12v battery.

I'm going to look at it tomorrow morning (12~ hours from now).

Well, based on your answer the car is beginning to look more and more like a good deal to me. Hopefully, you'll get a better idea of its cosmetic state when you look at it tomorrow. ;)

Good luck

MSantos