1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Caught the body shop driving my Prius hard.....

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by 348, Mar 4, 2016.

  1. 348

    348 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2015
    71
    36
    0
    Location:
    Central Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    Body Shop that is.

    Enzo got hit while parked and needed a new bumper faring. I drop it off with 10ish mikes on the trip monitor and 50.1 MPG .......and picked it up this evening with 13 miles and 34 MPG. Needless to say I am pissed!

    I fired off an email to the body shop informing them that I will be contacting their corporate office (Lithia) and the insurance company they did the work for USAA. What else would you do?? image.jpg
     
    #1 348, Mar 4, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2016
  2. mrstop

    mrstop PWR Mode

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2012
    742
    329
    109
    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    My guess is that they left the car on while they were working on it which would have dropped your MPG. Even if they drove it for 3 miles, it wouldn't take much to drop the average down if you only had 10 miles on the tank. My MPG can vary wildly until I get some miles on the tank.
     
  3. 348

    348 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2015
    71
    36
    0
    Location:
    Central Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    image.jpeg Perhaps. But I doubt the engine would be running. And even if it was they were working right at the exhaust pipe! I hope you are correct thou. I am a 30 year professional aircraft mechanic and take impeccable card of my equipment. There is a 03 Tacoma with 275,000 hard miles on it next to Enzo.
     
  4. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2005
    3,686
    699
    2
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    Other Electric Vehicle
    Suck it up, more likely that it has not been left on, on purpose.:cautious:
     
    #4 mrbigh, Mar 5, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2016
  5. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2014
    1,784
    944
    0
    Location:
    Pa.
    Vehicle:
    2023 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XSE
    Maybe they took it to the local 1/4 mile drag strip and did 10-12 passes?......to dry the paint...??
     
    milkman44 likes this.
  6. Lucifer

    Lucifer Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2015
    1,014
    485
    0
    Location:
    Nh
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    I agree, they had it in "ready" in the shop for a few hours, best apologize to them for your short... shortsightedness.
     
    milkman44 likes this.
  7. FroggyTaco

    FroggyTaco Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    211
    59
    3
    Location:
    Paso Robles, Ca
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Do a little self test...

    Reset a trip meter & re-achieve your 10 mile/50mpg reading. Then proceed to do a number of cold engine starts while it warms up & maybe drive it around the "repair shop". I would bet it won't take long to drop your avg. without doing anything nefarious.

    I would also assume they took the car up to freeway speeds to verify no weird wind noises or rattling after the bumper cover was installed. That will drop to the 30's mpg very easily.
     
  8. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2009
    17,035
    10,010
    90
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    That is just 2 or 3 cold start cycles while they had it. Not any indicator of hard driving.

    P.S.: At 50 mpg, your car should have used 0.26 gallons to go 13 miles. At pickup, it had used 0.38 gallons, so 0.12 gallon is 'missing'.

    From a past car, I had a very crude rule of thumb that a cold start cycle costs very roughly 2-miles-equivalent of gas just for warmup, in addition to the fuel needed to actually move the car for short trips. The Prius very roughly follows the same guideline. That 0.12 gallons represents 6 miles of driving, or at most 3 cold start cycles where the car may have been started to move a short distance, and allowed to warm up before being shut off.

    If you (or they) let the engine warm at pickup time, before driving away from the shop, that counts as one of the warmup cycles.
     
    #8 fuzzy1, Mar 5, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2016
  9. 348

    348 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2015
    71
    36
    0
    Location:
    Central Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    I tried just that today, the mileage went down to 44. It has not been 'cold' for over a month and even when it was I can keep the MPG close to 50
     
  10. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2009
    17,035
    10,010
    90
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Is that just one cold start? Repeat three times, allowing many hours to cool off in between.
    By engine operating temperature standards, it is 'cold' every morning.
     
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    how then, did it get 13 miles put on it?
     
  12. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2009
    17,035
    10,010
    90
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Between post-repair test drive, and moving it around between shop locations, 3 added miles is not unreasonable.
     
  13. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    So .... First ... you are concerned about what they body shop did in under 3 miles? Based on the MPG readout ?

    Add to that ....... worried enough that you sent off an e-mail .... !

    Sorry ..... Unbelievable.
     
  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,473
    38,103
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Concentrate on their workmanship, fugedabout the mpg.

    We once had a Civic Hybrid in the shop, took close to month. The car showed 29 liters per 100 km when we picked it up, lol.
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    true, that miles of flooring it and sliding in sideways to parking spots is no big deal. he was probably watching the latest prius commercials.
     
    milkman44 and 348 like this.
  16. 348

    348 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2015
    71
    36
    0
    Location:
    Central Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    My mpg reading is rarely below 47 and if it is I know why. Yes, I am concerned about the way they treated the vehicle.

    4 'cold' starts in the last 24 hours, the MPG is still at 46
     
  17. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2009
    17,035
    10,010
    90
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    (1) how many miles does the trip meter show after this series? I need to compute the amount of 'missing' fuel.
    (2) What was your engine coolant temperature for those cold starts? (I.e. ScanGauge or other engine monitor reading.) And what was it after the warmup cycles? Mine can't cool fast enough to do that many in just 24 hours.
     
  18. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

    Joined:
    May 22, 2009
    9,083
    5,795
    0
    Location:
    Undisclosed Location
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    3 miles to test how solid the repairs might be- would be fine with me.

    Better than them just slapping the parts on, then rolling it into a parking spot.

    As far as the drop in MPG?
    Short trips....such as 3 miles, CAN drop MPG's quickly.
    Or maybe they did accidentally leave it running a bit.

    In either case? My concern would be with the quality of the repair they did. If that's acceptable? I'm going to ignore 3 miles added to the odometer.

    Trust me...I've heard worse stories.
     
  19. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,473
    38,103
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    I find usually if a body shop put on some miles it's to take it to some sub-contractor.
     
  20. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    So the OP posts about his 03 with 275k of hard miles ... and he is concerned about 3miles on a Prius?

    Sorry .. I have to come back and comment on this because it is so silly. Nothing could be done in 3 miles to harm it.

    This is why I'm so glad I don't work with the public.
     
    #20 yeldogt, Mar 6, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2016
    kc5dlo, milkman44 and The Inquisitor like this.