We finally completed the car swap. Here you see our 2008 Toyota Prius next to our old 2004 Honda van at the DMV. It is not often when two people want each other's car - but this deal worked out well for both owners. We wanted to try a Prius - the other owner needed a van for their new young family. Essentially we paid $8700 plus the van for the Prius. The Prius has 23,000 miles on it - the van 101,000 miles. The big savings was sales tax. On a trade you only pay tax on the cash transfer. I paid $600 on the Prius - the sale tax on the Honda was zero.
We struck this deal on the plane on the way to Philadelphia over the net. The closing was delayed because the bank over by Panama City would not release the Prius title without a cash payoff. Once the Prius was paid for - the bank overnighted the title to us and we completed the swap.
The Prius is a hybrid gas/electric car. It claims 48 miles per gallon - we will see. A similar new Prius on the lot costs $30,000. I wanted a chance to try a Prius without paying that big premium. The sales tax savings was simply icing on the cake.
I had to take the above picture with my iphone because my good camera just broke. Now to get that fixed.
