The famous "We've never heard of that problem" Toyota line!!!

I don't buy a car because of how their corporate customer service act. I don't deal with them. Those people are nothing but a bunch of office seat warmer paid to answer the phone and not know a thing. I buy the because it meets my needs. Just my two pennies.

 

Let's start off with a 'deep breath' here... First of all, this is not a Toyota Site. It is not a 'Toyota customer blog'. It was built and created by a user of the site (Hi Danny), and grew into what it is today as people learn about, and fall in love with this car.

That said, there are some folks who complain about navigation issues here, but the vast majority of us with NAVI (myself included) seem to love ours, and the directions that we get. Since Toyota is the buyer of the data, and resells it to us (but they do not create or program this data), there is not much that they can do to solve this. All vendors of mapping software get their data from only one or two sources, and this is the likely cause of most discrepancies, as they occur. This data is constantly updated, and you could choose to buy the updated data once a year or so, as they release it, but it's expensive.

As for the dashboard squeaks and rattles, while some folks may have them, this is not a widespread issue with this car. I have not heard a single peep from my car in 33k miles, and I know several other Prius 3rd Gen owners who stated the same to me.

That said, if you choose to avoid a Prius for these reasons, that is fine, and certainly your right. Then you should buy a car from a manufacturer that builds cars without rattles and squeaks, and does not have a Navigation system, which would use the same datasets from the vendors.

Or, you could just relax, show them the Prius site (I doubt that all Toyota Employees read every blog and website for each models of their cars to monitor for issues), and show them that several folks are complaining about this, and you would like to ensure that the vehicle that you get does not have this issue. Then you test drive it, and confirm that it works as expected. If it has squeaks, or inaccuracies, then either try a different car, or a different car maker.

I would just try to chill and not act like they are all just trying to lie to you and pull one over on you. This difference in your attitude may be all it takes to get a dealer to work with you and address what you feel are some legitimate concerns. Then, when you do buy your Prius, you can come back here and tell us all that your car is fine, and that you were worried over a few over-anxious reports on a public site that anyone (even folks selling competitors cars) can comment on, and just enjoy your new Prius!

 

Unlikely, since the Volt and Leaf will be in very short supply.

 

Sorry for your bad experience Kora. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to get what you should. After all, how many decades ago was the expression, "the squeeky wheel gets the greese" ?? LONG time ago. Why? It the nature of most of mankind to do the least, unless you have someone who ASKS for more. As for the Volt - it's going to cost a boat load ... so that won't bring down Prius pricing.

Now, if you're TRUELY worried about squeeks, or NAV issues? Rent one for a couple weeks and see what you think. Maybe you'll agree, maybe you'll think, "those whiners got their heads up their whoha". Either way ... get a real world experience & let us know what you think.

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While this isn't an official Toyota web site, Toyota staffers do pay attention to it. Many of us have met them in person and exchange information from time to time. I will point out this thread just to make sure they see it.

Tom

 

The Gm Volt or Vauxhall Ampera here in the UK and the Nissan Leaf both use Lithium ion batteries which are very expensive and neither GM or Nissan will give any details of how expensive they are to replace or how long they are likely to last. So when the 3 year warranty runs out the cars will be worthless. This equates to a £30k car being worth £3k after 3 years, i.e. a 90% depreciation over 3 years !
I can't see people rushing to buy the Volt (Ampera) or the Leaf until the water's been tested.

 

I am debating whether to get a Prius now. I love that car but with such customer service, I can't make up my mind. Besides, the Volt and LEAF are coming out this year. They will drop the prices on Prius, for sure.

Just my angry two-cents here![/QUOTE]


Sorry to hear about your experience. You should really get another type of car. "YOU WILL" be very disappointed with the Prius and Toyota. Look into a Hyundai or Kia maybe a GM or Ford, those will be much better choices for you.

 

Thanks Tom for drawing our attention to this thread, we just can't keep fully up with PC, we do our best, but you're all always welcome to tip us off to an important thread or send us a PM to discuss something privately.

Kora, we're also sorry to hear about your poor experiences, both with our call center and with some of the car components.

Prius Team is on PC from time to time but we can not treat it as an official source for product feedback etc. Only a dealer or a call/email/letter to our Customer Experience Center is the official channel for expressing a concern. While Doug & I do take in much of the info on this site and we share it internally whenever we can, PC is still viewed as a 3rd party site (thanks Danny & mods) and it's not seen as an official means for gathering product info.

So, my best advice is to ensure that your feedback through the call center was logged as an official piece of product feedback and not just an inquiry for the future product (yes, this may require another call) or to visit a dealer you're happy with that can examine the squeaks/rattles and do their best to help you out. If you've owned your Prius for 90 days or so, you should receive a product feedback survey that allows you to comment on things you'd like to see improved. I promise all of the parties making decisions about future product enhancements take this data very seriously (Prius Team included of course) so please everyone do your best to express your feedback on those surveys.

Hope that helps a bit,
Erica Gartsbeyn, Prius Product Marketing, Toyota USA

 

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The answer to your question is state specific. See What Fees Should You Pay? for the answer. I can't vouch for its accuracy since I've never lived in your state.

Dealers are all YMMV, including Toyota dealers. Fortunately, the ones I've bought from or taken my Toyotas to for service have been ok to very good, IMHO.

I didn't need much help from my salesman when I put myself on the waiting list for an 06. I was very glad for the walk thru that he gave me when I picked it up. Some people (in the past) when they got their brand new Priuses either didn't pay attention or their salesman didn't tell them jack at pickup.

 

Since $$ is an issue, you should seriously consider a used GenII instead of a 2010/2011. Not only will you get a much less expensive vehicle for your money, but as long as you do your due-diligence check-out of the prospective car you will get an excellent value that will last for years to come. I suggest looking at the '07-09s' that are certified.

I just purchased an '05 Prius for my wife yesterday. It is a one-owner vehicle owned by a corporation and it has 117k miles on it. I had the Toyota dealer pull the maintenance log and a Carfax on it. The log was 5 pages long and consisted 90% of 'oil change and rotate tires'. The coolant pump was replaced at one point under warranty, but other than that I didn't see much besides replacing the tires.

I haven't figured out what package it is yet, but it has the nav system and the JBL stereo. My wife test drove it and just loves how it handles. I expect to get at least another 100k miles out of it. I paid less than $9500 for it.

BTW, I told her she does NOT need to do hipermileing--just drive it. Whatever mileage she gets out of it will at least double that of the pickup it is replacing.

 

Kora, factory rebates are not reportable income. They may or may not reduce the sales tax.

"Customer Service" is an oxymoron. If the manufacturers wised up they could fire all of them & nobody would notice. Try calling the other manufacturers & see if any of the others are any better. (I doubt it.) In my contacts with Toyota I didn't encounter anyone competant until a senior management level was reached.

In December all Toyota's Customer Service could do was read from their website & hang up on me. So much for even trying to find someone with an answer.

 

The down payment is just that--payment toward the price of the car. The rebate is considered either a payment (after sales tax) or a reduction in the price of the car (before sales tax).

www.michigan.gov/sos is the site for the Secretary of State. You may want to ask them about the tax treatment & the fees. I doubt the dealer is going to calculate extra sales tax & keep it but they will inflate legal fees & taxes so you do need to know what they are.

 

Unfortunately with the Prius, you are locked-in to using Toyota service unless you are lucky enough to live in a few places where there are third-party garages.

Every time I set foot in a Toyota dealership service department, I hope against hope and cross my fingers that the people who I'm basically forced to pay to maintain the car (cause they appear to LOVE denying warranty work) don't break something on my car (which I then expect to figure out how to blame resulting failures on me). I mean they couldn't even do an oil change right when I gave them the jug of oil. I have never received such bad service from any of the cars my family has owned (Subaru, Honda, Mitsubishi) and I will never buy another Toyota that I have to bring to dealer service.

 

Hmmm ... GM has already said they will warranty the battery for 10 years. Nissan will doubtless tell us the warranty before we buy - besides, you can lease if you aren't sure.