$7,000 to replace the battery?!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Spoon @ Jul 31 2007, 12:22 AM) [snapback]487860[/snapback]</div>

Bob Wilson

 

This is my first posting and I thought I should add my experience in here. I have a 2001 Prius, and have
owned it since Dec 2000 though it was a dealer demo and came with about a 1000 miles on it. Last week,
the battery failed and today I got the car back from the dealer with a new battery. My Prius was almost
exactly 7 years old and had 101,000 miles on it. I had absolutely no problems with my car and my big-
gest issue was with the tires that seemed to wear out much too often.

I originally took the car to a diagnostic center and they said some of the main battery cells had gone bad
and the replacement cost would be $4,000. I decided to take it to a Toyota dealer since I was just
barely over warranty and hoped I might work something out with Toyota. The dealer told me that replace-
ment would be $3600 plus about $200 in labor. Corporate Toyota agreed to provide the new battery
and I paid labor! Not bad, I am looking forward to the next 100,000 miles in my car! Just thought you
would like to know. I am one happy Prius owner!

 

Street prices have drifted down into three digit territory, and
certain instructional interests are sometimes apt to throw numbers
around for self-promotional purposes.
.
_H*

 

I found the battery online from a dealer for $2388. I could easily have installed it myself, and gotten the $200 bounty back on the old one.

Used ones sell for less than $1000.

Nate

 

Well, I certainly have less "cred" on this than nater does, but I can offer this datapoint: when I bought my 04 last year (had only 15k miles), I actually checked around since I'd heard rumors of battery replacement horror stories (no doubt spread by GM and its agents). I got a dealer quote of $2300 for a new one, with installation not included. This would seem to be in line with nater's info.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ekpolk @ Aug 3 2007, 03:20 PM) [snapback]490188[/snapback]</div>

I second that info. When I bought my '07 a month ago I was told by the dealer that the battery cost had come down to $2300.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Starbug @ Aug 3 2007, 05:56 PM) [snapback]490197[/snapback]</div>

$2300 is a lot better price, like everything else in electronics, the price is likely to drop over time......I wonder what the average time frame Prius owners will keep their cars...Seems like most will trade in before batteries are needing replacement......