Last week I asked if a high mileage C-Max that served as a taxi in NYC still had any value left in it. The overwhelming consensus from you Curbivores was that no, it does not. That’s understandable. Former NYC cabs probably have far too much blood, sweat, semen, and tears in them to be considered safe, even after a thorough cleaning. That being said, does one with a Toyota badge make a difference?
I’m fairly certain all the CC’s for sale I’ve posted so far come from dealers. The exception being the 1995 Acclaim I posted the other day. Craigslist now charges people to list cars, so that’s probably going to happen more often. Regardless, my digital adventures have brought me to these retired NYC taxis and the dealer that sells them. I still can’t help but think these things are worth owning. Imagine the excitement of seeing how much life is left in something like this Camry! The risks are sudden hospitalizations and the contraction of several STDs, but still, I think it might pay off in the end.
Are these pictures purposefully low resolution so that potential buyers won’t be turned off by all the scratches and dings of a retired cab? Probably, but then anyone who assumes something like this is fine should probably get their brain scanned to see if it’s still functioning. Then again, they’d be the perfect mark for something like this…
This era of Camry hybrid achieved an EPA combined rating of 40 mpg. Solid numbers. Horsepower was rated at 202 with 157 Ib-ft of torque also available. How much of that is left after 335,000 miles? Only way way to find out! You can understand why these are so good as taxis.
Inside, the Camry has the same vinyl seating as the C-Max. I can’t tell if these replaced the factory fabric or if they were just installed over the regular cloth. I think it might be the former.
The interior is obviously a bit worn. It looks like the rear A/C duct broke lose at some point and was screwed back on. Or maybe this is an aftermarket addition. Can you get an aftermarket rear A/C duct installed if a car could be equipped with it in higher trims? It’s a possibility.
In any event, it looks like the center stack has held up a bit better than the previously featured Ford. That taxi’s buttons were not in bad shape, but were definitely worn. Seems like the electronics still work too.
In conclusion, I’d definitely purchase this Camry hybrid if I were rich and could treat $2,900 cash like it was nothing and just wanted to find out what it was like to own an extremely high mileage hybrid. Realistically, I would consider this if I were in the market and could obtain it for $500, max $1,000. I mean, come on. Who doesn’t want to own a car with zip ties inexplicably fastened to the alloy rims?
Source: Staten Island craigslist
Alloy rims? The zip ties are holding the wheel cover to the steel wheels in that picture.
Sam’s correct, but I’m impressed that the Camry wheel covers look so real they fooled Edward!
Ha! I wrote this up last night and I was a little tired so I missed that. Still, it’s weird that it’s zip tied.
It’s not that uncommon if one is concerned about theft or just loss and doesn’t care since it’s not their car but they are responsible for it.
When in Iceland a couple of years ago all the rental cars had snow tires and hubcaps on the steel wheels. Zip ties on all of them.
It’s extremely common for taxis to have the covers zip tied on – Crown Vic’s were also found this way over a decade ago because simply due to the rough roads and constant use there is absolutely no way each cap wouldn’t work itself loose over the course of two, three hundred thousand miles.
“It looks like the rear A/C duct broke lose at some point and was screwed back on. Or maybe this is an aftermarket addition. Can you get an aftermarket rear A/C duct installed if a car could be equipped with it in higher trims?”
That’s not the original vent outlet, but I imagine the console duct is factory installed (see photo). It appears someone slapped a vent outlet over the existing hole and ran it down with a pair of self-tapping screws.
Now I wonder what the current one came from!
“Condition: Like New”. Truth in advertising …
The C-Max was “like new” also (lol)
I remember that, in the late 1960’s, you could find ads in the back of Mechanix Illustrated for used NYC taxis for the bargain prices of $699 and $999, depending on whether they were one or two model years old. They were, of course, stripped examples of the low-priced-three, with a six and maybe an automatic. I remember asking my dad about them, and his saying buying one was probably not a good idea.
Reverse “bargain prices of $999 and $699, depending on whether they were one or two model years old”, and that sentence will be more accurate, duh.
But obviously the car that could survive 2 years of being a taxi and still run is worth more!
I think most people didn’t want the CMax not because it was a Ford but because it was a NY taxi. Same with this one, it’s not hard to find a Camry Hybrid used, why take on the absolutely worst use case one? I like Toyotas in general and would even purchase a rental car (have done so) but a taxi? From NYC? Hell no.
Here’s what I’d recommend…if you really, really, really want one of these, put it on a rollback and take it straight to an auto detailer. See what their rate is for a car interior and plunk twice that amount of cash on the counter and tell them you are expecting immaculate.
However, the cringe factor is really high on all of these. It’s enough to make me wonder what is spilled, shot, and wiped on the floor during a routine night shift and what awaits some poor sap before the car is taken out of service and (theoretically) prepped for sale.
That’s what piques my curiosity, as well. What, exactly, is the criteria where a vehicle is taken out of taxi service? I’m pretty sure it’s not like cop-cars which are removed from service after a set number of miles are reached so, in theory, there’s at least a chance of getting one that’s not too bad.
I can only surmise it’s the number and cost of repeated repairs for one major driveline component, or there’s some sort of ‘tell’ that a major system is on its last legs and it’s finally become too difficult and/or expensive to repair it when it lets go. With a hybrid, could it be the traction battery? Or maybe it has some sort of major frame/chassis damage that’s been hidden.
Whatever it is, a used taxi seems like one of the dicier auto prospects.
In fact, it kind of reminds me of the old Checker Marathon. There’s one that you rarely (if ever) saw for sale. They were simple and stout enough that I would imagine anything could be rebuilt and replaced, so cab companies kept them, literally, forever.
@rudiger
A New York City taxicab cannot legally be older than a certain number of years old.
In Portland, Oregon, there are no such rules. From what I have seen a taxicab is retired when it is no longer economical to keep on the road. Since moving here in 2013 I have seen a Chevy Lumina taxicab and a circa 2000 Toyota Camry taxicab as recently as 2017. As of January, 2020 there are still some Crown Vics in service.
yeah, I miss the days when taxi fleets consisted of anything that still ran. In Philly, there was a 1973 Fleetwood Brougham still picking up fares in the early 1990’s. I hailed it once. The early 70’s interiors held up better than the post-1977 GM interiors where the seats shredded and the headliners sagged. I was in New Orleans in 1996 and there were still a couple of pre-1976 Electras and 98’s in taxi service.
In Portland, Uber cars age out when car is over 10 years old. Many cities allow 15 years for Uber, but not here. Family member uses 2010 Altima which will need replacing due to this at the end of this year. Apparently this does not apply to taxicab companies, I guess.
If i had the extra money to toss around I would buy this after getting it looked at by a shop, drive back to Oregon, and see how long the car will last. A good cleaning inside would be nice.
Jim said it, the badge is on the grill is irrelevant, it’s still an equally gross ex-taxi.
Craigslist is charging people to list cars? That sucks, but explains the significant drop off in listings as I peruse through. 🙁
They started about six months ago and while there are a few less listings, the quality of the listings has improved significantly (at least around here) with far fewer constant duplicates especially from dealers and less scams. They should have done it years ago!
Yeah that timeframe jives with the noticeable drop off I witnessed. It’s not just a few less listings, it was pages worth. I always sort listings by owner, since the kind of cars I’m interested in are rarely in dealer inventory, and with that checked I rarely saw duplicate listings.
I never would use Craigslist like autotrader or cars.com. The place has always been dark-web adjacent, and that’s what I liked about it!
Unfortunately for people like me who shop at the sub-$1000 threshold those types of cars are all but gone from Craigslist since there are numerous free alternative “marketplace” type apps.
” I still can’t help but think these things are worth owning. Imagine the excitement of seeing how much life is left in something like this Camry! The risks are sudden hospitalizations and the contraction of several STDs, but still, I think it might pay off in the end.”
I agree that it would be exciting to see how much life could be left in the taxi. I think I would prefer to experience that excitement watching someone else own it!
Are you suggesting we start a GoFundMe for “Edward’s TaxiCab Adventure”?
I’ll say this, if one was set up and it raised enough money to actually purchase something like this, I’d go through with it 100 percent. I’d even sell my Focus just to have a financial cushion in case something went wrong. I’m not kidding.
Haha, that would be good! Or I could mail you five ZipTies and then you could be that guy with them inexplicably fastened to your Focus’ alloys. 🙂
What is concerning though is the ad clearly states the car has 335xxx miles on it but the pictured car’s odometer has 310xxx on it…But he got the VIN right. The dealer just seems so shady already and this one shouldn’t have aged out of the fleet yet, should it? It’s only six years old and apparently “Like New”.
If you’re seriously interested in a super high-mileage hybrid, there’s a gen-1 Honda Insight on Facebook Marketplace right now. It’s in Pawcatuck, CT near the Rhode Island border-for only $1,100 you get 524,472 miles of experience, and it’s certainly cleaner looking than a retired NYC taxicab!
The ad does make the dealer look very shady (and incompetent). Like many shady sellers, this dealer uses flagrant keyword spamming (which is prohibited by poorly enforced), putting every make, model, year, and color possible into the ad in a list to make sure his ad will pop up no matter what you search for. But he couldn’t even get that right, as not only did he use a list of cars from the wrong continent, but also didn’t leave a space between the brand and the previous model name, ensuring that it won’t show up in searches for either.
Lol, it’s like buying a used Motel Six mattress.
I could see it having appeal in many third world markets and serving well for decades. Its nowhere near used up yet and battery cells can be easily replaced individually in the packs.
I have a 2007 Camry Hybrid with 125,200 miles,great car👍🏼, I’m just wondering What the hybrid battery is like 🤔🤔☠️☠️
As far as I am concerned any car of this type and size that is over 300,000 miles is worth $1000 or less. If the car had some greater value because it had more value as a restored vehicle then fine but this isn’t that kind of car.
So its done a little over 550,000kms or 150,000kms out of warranty, Toyota offered 400,000 kilometer warranties on hybrid Camrys for Taxi use here effective putting the dedicated Ford Falcon Factory built taxi out of the market, like the Prius they seem to go forever
I wonder if the overall operating cost of the hybrid Camry at this mileage is lower or higher than the regular Camry with 4-cylinder engine. I can assume its overall feul cost is lower. But this vehicle probably is in its third set of battery. If this was done in Toyota dealership, the cost will be at least $4k. In contrast to the regular Camry, it can easily run this mileage without major expense.
Always puzzling me is if those Hybrid vehicles can continue running with a defective battery?
As the comparison between Camry Hybrid and C-Max, I have to see that C-Max is better designed and more suitable for taxi service, but like all the US car band, it is not very reliable. But we have to admit C-Max, along with Volts, is the best handling hybrid vehicle in the low end market.
I’m not sure about Camry, but I’ve a 2011 MkZephyr Hybrid with 165,000 km. Ford programmed the hybrid system to run on ICE only around 8-9 years (just when the hybrid warranty expire). Fortunately for me, I’ve come across a post on how to reset a battery clock with a laptop via a OBD II/USB and FORScan. Now my car runs like it was when it was new.
As for a traction battery degradation, DOE have done a study and determined that it was negligible: https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/batteryfusion4757_0.pdf
It depends on the system. The Ford and Toyota can not run on a truly defective battery. The traction battery is what starts the engine. Now a degraded battery the car will continue to run.
The original Insight on the other hand with its single motor sandwiched between the engine and trans also has a conventional starter. In regular use the traction motor is what starts the engine, with the conventional starter as a back up in case the traction motor or battery fails. To make sure the starter didn’t seize from not being used for many years excercising it is part of the regular maintenance. The traction battery is disconnected and then you start the car. Many owners have disconnected them when they failed and continued to drive the car.
New York City cabs need to be inspected 3 times a year. These inspections are more like the British MOT than any inspection you have in the states. They must be washed every day and therefore never get rusty. They can only be brand new when put on the road and fleet cars can be in service 3 years and owner operated cars 5 years. I have bought 20 ex NYC cabs over the years, my first was a 1975 Dodge Monaco, my most recent, a 2011 Transit Connect. Every one of them performed flawlessly, I currently own a 2005 Crown Vic, the Connect and a 2011 Crown Vic. All purchased from the original owners for under $1000. Here’s a pic of my Transit Connect on vacation in Mexico a couple of years ago