Dealer Issue Purchasing CPO 2018 Prius Prime

I think I would contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center which it looks like you already did.
After things are (hopefully) resolved I think I would flag this dealership as one to avoid in the future.
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Yes. Two.
Insist on speaking to the OWNER and don't take no for an answer.
When I did that, I ended up speaking to the owners son......who really ran the place......and it worked out fine.
Also please tell us what dealership this IS.
They need some "advertising".

 

I wasn't aware that you could order part of a charging cable. I wonder what they expect you to do with part of it. I doubt the salesman was, but I assume you are aware of where the cable is stored when you open the hatch. I keep my umbrella there now. Incidentally, how does the price of a COPO 2018 compare to a new one after the Federal income tax rebate of the same model? You didn't list what model you bought.

 

Yeah, the OEM L1 evse (aka. charger cable assembly) is an $850 MSRP item. And yes often it is not included with a used car. As @Washingtonian asked, I wonder what part they did order. I am not aware of any part of the charger cable you can order separately for the unit is not repairable. I would insist on getting the full charger cable assembly (part no G906047130). But not having the sales deal agreement in writing was the mistake you made. If it was in writing with a clearly stated part number, then there would be no dispute.

Good luck and let us know how it works out. If all fails, and you still need an OEM L1 charger, luckily, then can be bought used on Ebay for $200 to $300. Heck, I can sell you one of mine for $150 if you want.

 

When a company tries something like this, I ask each high-level person I can reach there, for the name and number of the company's attorney or legal department. I don't get into arguing with any of them, but will explain the problem to each person one time, and say why I want the number of their attorney. Which is: "My attorney would like to call and see if this can be worked out without taking legal action, and I don't pay him to negotiate with anyone except other attorneys. I'd be happy to speak with ownership myself before either of us start paying attorneys to talk to each other."

In your case, the sales department who made the deal, the finance/insurance department who did the paperwork, and the parts department who ordered the part which isn't sufficient to let you charge the car are the 3 departments I'd try escalating to the legal department from. Hit them all, maybe one will either fix the problem, escalate to ownership, or sound the alarm that a customer wants a legal contact.

You don't have to worry too much about multiple people giving you the lawyer's number and figuring out that you already had it. They rarely if ever will provide it, not wanting to be blamed for a customer running up legal bills for ownership by a customer or customer's lawyer placing calls to their outside lawyers who bill just for picking up the phone when it rings. If they have an in-house legal department, you might actually be given the number or get transfered through to them. At which point, just calmly explain the problem from the start, what you'd like to happen, and don't threaten legal action or overplay the "my lawyer" card. They already know you're considering legal action, and they also know they can cause you some legal bills when your lawyer gets involved. Keep it friendly, they have a good idea of who is right or wrong, who would win or lose. They don't like fighting losing battles, so there's a good chance they'll set management straight if what's in your contract supports you getting what you are asking for.

Here's what really happened, probably. They didn't realize how much the OEM cable cost, so found whatever related part number had the word "cable" in it, to use as an excuse for why they didn't charge you more for putting the cable clause in the contract. Maybe they legitimately priced your car based on the price of that wrong, insufficient "cable" part number. Find the price of the part number they're trying to foist on you.

If getting the full OEM cable out of them becomes too much of a battle, I'd want to be ready to propose a specific third-party or used OEM cable available on Amazon or eBay as the solution, and they'd probably want to just give you that amount of cash rather than deal with being responsible for whether a Chinese part on Amazon works well, and whether Toyota would go nutzo on them for ordering it.

I'd expect you'll be given enough cash to buy a nice, reputable, non-cheapest, third party equivalent to the OEM cable, and to be on your own as far as buying it or dealing with warranty on it.

 

im so sorry OP . it just seems more and more often that dealerships are not taking responsibility of taking care of the customer. im really sorry about your situation. i actually had a similar issue where my dealership was haggling the price on a pair of wiper blades and an air filter. they were nickle and diming me saying theirs were better....i ended up going oem (Toyota Parts - Discount Genuine Toyota Parts and Accessories) and got a wayyy better deal there than what the dealership was offering. got it fast and the issue was over with. it left me really annoyed more than frustrated that they wouldnt just do me a simple courtesy of not overselling me. but i feel for you op.