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What would a used busted Insight be worth with 61k miles on it. The hybrid system is shot to hell. The pack is gone. Joe's Auto Repair has put the ubber screw up on it. It stays in recal all the time. Always trying to regen. The struts are all shot. The front end is gravel beat to death. I think the car has been ran on Okie gravel roads a lot! I pulled up a hunk of carpet by the passenger door jam and the pan was clean. I saw no dirt line under the dash and the head liner looked to have came with the car. It does not look like its been a flood car. It even has its OEM tires still on it. It has A/C but the A/C does not work.

I offered the guy $1250 for it. He wants $3k for it. He but but but'ed me... I got cross with him a bit and told him. Forget my offer. It just went down to $1k. He had to think about it.

I told him straight up. The car maybe worth more than that to recycle for the metal if you cut it up and clean it up. The whole time knowing I can decouple it and trash the hybrid system and hope to make a lean burn monster out of it. While I don't over all look forward to a project like that.

So what do you Insight folks think its worth? Low mileage, hybrid system is trashed, bad sturts and bad paint on the front,,, clear title?

WTH did that snowplow Insight make it from Ontario? (Wayne will fill you in on the inside joke of the Insight from Hell)

I think the odds are better with a less junked Insight or 90's Civic, or CRX.

Insight prices have been rising faster than the price of oil. I've seen Inisghts recently sell with rebuilt salvage titles for crazy prices lately.

Chuck I know about the snow plow Insight.

You have to remember. I have the tools at hand to take out the electric motor and connect the shafts. :)

Jeff, you may not have to trash the hybrid system at all. As long as the car was originally sold in the US and has a clear title (not flooded or anything of that nature) the hybrid powertrain is under warranty until 150K mi. You are WELL under that.

Compared to the pack and everything else hybrid (which you don't have to worry about due to that wonderful warranty), the struts would be cheap to replace. Paint is tricky on aluminum, but heck... would you care about that expense either if you got the hybrid portion fixed for free?

As long as the frame is straight, everything is there (underbody panels? I'm missing one :(), and the bodywork isn't dented up... it might be worth a closer look than you thought at first?

Chuck I know about the snow plow Insight.

You have to remember. I have the tools at hand to take out the electric motor and connect the shafts. :)If you raise one like that from the dead, start a site:

www.HondaKewl.com (http://www.HondaKewl.com) :D

My 2001 Insight had a bad battery and charging system. It was out of warranty, but when I took it in, the mechanic at the dealer said Honda retroactively put them back to a 10 year warranty I think. Anyway, I got a $4000 system (both charging and battery pack) for zero pesos baby!

If it had been unmolested. I think Honda would do something. Lets put it this way. When you open up the controls box / pack area. There are wire nuts in places. Somebody has cut up and joe blow wired around on it trying to fix it. There is no way I could clean up the pack and control area enough to fake Honda into having any faith in the car.

Im going to see if my ins. agent will run the vin and see if anything jumps out at her. And then see if my neighbor the tag agent will run the vin.

I honestly don't care if the hybrid system works. If one could pull the hybrid part of the car and just drive it as a lean burn monster and make everything else work. Why would you need the hybrid system? I know I could pull the engine and tranny over a weekend and and get the IMA out of the car and a coupler made to replace it or a fly wheel if needed. And drop the engine back in it. With all the hybrid unhooked and a SG in hand. I could then see if it looks like it will go back into lean burn and make sure the basic emission controls work. If it then looked like there was something to work with. Then start ripping out all the hybrid stuff in the back and its wiring.

I know the IMA system has not been working for some time now. Its LMPG is 37 mpg. It stays in constant recal and regen. And the A/C does not work.

I smell project car,,, big time.

Oh... well that isn't good. :p

You'll probably need to keep part of the system in there anyway as there is no alternator -- just a DC-DC converter from the 144V system. Mike D. has the info on working around a dead pack; I think you have to jumper a couple of spots and put a fuse in but someone drove his Insight this way with no pack physically in the car for over a year.

The Insight sold today to a sucker for $2750....

That sucker got a good deal. Any car that runs and gets 50 mpg is worth $2750 now anywhere in the USA (especially since it isn't a rust bucket like many older FE cars are now) . A POS Metro sold for $2400 around here recently and it had a dead AC ,180,000 miles on the motor, lots of body damage, lots of rust .

Charlie

That sucker got a good deal. Any car that runs and gets 50 mpg is worth $2750 now anywhere in the USA (especially since it isn't a rust bucket like many older FE cars are now) . A POS Metro sold for $2400 around here recently and it had a dead AC ,180,000 miles on the motor, lots of body damage, lots of rust .

Charlie

Its not a good deal. The hybrid system in it is shot. Its stays in constant recal and regen. A dozen or so of the wires where the battery and controls are have been cut and wire nutted together. I few inline fuses put in place. Its been hacked on bad. There will be no support from Honda on this car at all.

I was interested in the car as a project car. No thoughts at all of rehabing the IMA system. I feel sorry for the person who bought it if they did not have the same plan as mine. They will not get any mpg in it the way it is now. And there is no way its worth all the parts and labor needed to rehab the IMA system.

Theres a fool born every sec.

Lets hope the person know what he got. Unfortunately I can see him telling hundreds that he got screwed. Insights are all pieces of junk. You really can not get even EPA out of them. That Honda will not stand behind their products. And last but not least, all small cars are worthless and go out and buy a nice used FSP 4x4 air hauler.

Hopefully the person will get with somebody with the knowledge to make the most out ofthe reminants.

I know of one publized instance someone got an Insight simply because they wanted to have a lightweight and aerodynamic body to put an Acura engine for racing...if that was the intent - it will make sense to them.

(I'm not into that)

What's the current price of decent condition Insights? If you had time and could find two $2750 wrecks that would piece together you could come out ahead big time. The buyer just needs to find a wreck with an intact pack.

Is there any reason - other than breaking - that the Insight can't just continue in this dead battery mode getting 37 mpg ? Most folks would love to get 37 mpg.

Since this vehicle was obviously , visibly distressed , the new buyer must have a good idea that he is buying damaged goods (asking $3000 for a 61,000 mile Insight is a HUGE hint in that respect). I suspect that the new buyer is mechanically adept and will just use as is, or attempt to strip and sell some of the Hybrid components. The motor is low miles ,and the body is low drag - and it ran. Someone was going to buy it . Even at 37 mpg only 2-3 currently produced vehicles top that.

Ultra hardball lowball negotiating usually won't work when a seller is getting the HUGE number of calls that an Insight would get. Folks here are frugal -hence the interest in mpg- most folks would be delighted to pay $3000 for a running Insight . Might be a bad choice for the mechanically maladept , but they will do it anyway.

Too bad we can't follow this buyer and car and see what becomes of it.
Charlie

Charlie