A Chris Fix YouTube Video

With a dealership hanging a $4,000 sword of Damocles over the ownership experience, some of the angst is justified.....

 

That's third time I've seen that number in recent days, but isn't the (US) dealership "street price" (installed) more like $2500~3000?

 

I'm thinking that the $2500-3000 price is more of a negotiated price.
If the dealer is smart.....and they're ALL smart.....they can probably get the OEM battery from the mother ship at a reduced price...say, $1200-1500.

Then?

They doink the customer on the head for three-to-four figures worth of labour.

Remember....
Even IF the wrench in the shop is very careful and replaces broken plastic clips, cleans the area, and checks to ensure that all of the hardware is re-fastened and torqued to specs we're still looking at a 1-2 hour job.
If all they care about is turning the car around in the least amount of time possible without having a 'bring-back' likely that same year-----which is the same thing as saying nearly ALL dealers, will be able to throw a battery into the car in less than an hour if they've done it a time or two.

If we presume that the wrench gets paid $200/hr for the job - which is not completely unreasonable for a competent certified mechanic, then there's still a lot of meat left on the bones for the dealership to keep the lights on, the refreshments topped off and the break-room clean.
In other words....the battery replacement cost for any Prius should have never ever exceeded $2000 to begin with, and "battery fear" REMAINS the biggest worry for prospective owners of a car that only needs this $1500 part about once every 8-10 years.

It's not FUD.
It's GREED, and if Toyota, the brand, lived up to their eco-chic street cred they would have reigned their dealers in a long time ago on this....but alias, the folks over on the TRD end of the factory are the ones that have had the largest rudder input for team Toyota lately.

 

Notable too: his purchase was just a "tuned" bunch of cells, which has to be the most efficient battery replacement, purely a "heart transplant", from a materials replaced point-of-view. A dealership battery swap would be the intact battery in the case, more-or-less. I believe just a few bits get swapped over.

The latter maybe goes faster, but has more supurflous parts swapped. Kinda like swapping engines for a head gasket problem.

Pros and cons to both approaches, but for DIY, where the time clock is not ticking, I'd think the heart-transplant method is better. @2k1Toaster's offering follows this approach.

 

It's kind of stupid of the dealers to do this now to the gen 2 customers. Who would pay such money to fix their $4K car? It's like the dealer does not want the work. I called my local dealer here once to inquire what a battery replacement would cost (this was a year ago, granted) and was quoted north of $5K with labor. It was something like $4.2K for the battery plus 8 hours of labor. To me it sounded like "we don't want your business" in translation. I was inquiring about a 2007 Prius, not a Rolls Royce.

Not sure why they don't want to make the $200/hour on labor plus some nominal markup on the part, but in my locale this was the story last year.

Today with @2kToaster's parts and some of the dealers' own discount pricing I am not sure how these dealers quoting $5K are seriously thinking that such a quote is nothing but a "F%#& You" to the customer with a 10 - 15 year old car.

 

There's a rationale, that if the cost of a repair rivals the book value of a car, then it's not worthwhile. I wonder though, if that's valid. I mean, at some point, even a new set of tires can rival the car's book value, but if the car's otherwise in decent shape, you put on the new tires and off you go.

Another comment on the video:

It's interesting how he suggests to move the two outside temp sensors (#1 and #3) closer in to the center, where it's typically warmest, to encourage the battery vent fan to run sooner/faster.

 

an oem replacement battery has new cells, is warranted for one year over the counter, or three years dealer installed, and will last the same as any original battery

this is chris's first swing at it, he is not a prius expert

 

the problem is priuschat. we have no idea how many clueless people are buying $4,000. batteries. dealers are making a fortune on ignorance, twas ever thus

 

Yes and no? They can be kinda like "new" tires, that were manufactured 2 years back. Or worse? @2k1Toaster's business is sounding more-and-more the way to go.

There's one third gen'r (in a thread here, with 118K miles IIRC) and a failed battery: was quoted $4K, and ignores suggestions to get a few more quotes.

 

how old were the cells in your 2010 when you purchased it?

 

No clue. Is there a way to tell?

 

When I bought my Prius...admittedly new, and in a CARB state, I never viewed or felt about it that way. I focused much more on the warranty. So to me? I had 10 years or 150,000 miles of which NOTHING was hanging over my head in regards to the Hybrid Battery.

Of course this isn't true with those buying used, or for those who's ownership is approaching the end of warranty or passed the warranty.
But my personal approach was really to NOT worry about the Hybrid battery as long as it was working.
I felt, at anywhere from $2000 - $4000 dollar eventual investment, on a timeline of 10-15 years, was acceptable, given all the benefits of Hybrid ownership for that period of time.

I kind of wonder like Mendel Leisk asks...at what price point would reliable Hybrid Battery replacement have to reach before people really did NOT have angst about the investment? Is that reality ever reachable?
$4000 seems more like a price, that encourages new vehicle purchase than encourages continuing with the original vehicle.
But I think IF 6-10 years of continued usage could be expected, at an investment of $2000 or less? People wouldn't even worry about it.

My feeling with my New Prius was to NOT worry, and hopefully always have the means to DO full replacement when and if it became necessary. My feeling was that would give me the realistic expectation of 2 decades or more.
Also in the meantime, keeping the rest of the vehicle in good repair is also essential. Having an older Prius in which investment into the Hybrid Battery arguably makes sense is part of the equation. If suspension, engine, and other components are not in good shape, then Hybrid Battery failure becomes more of a signal that it's time to move on, than a moment of decision to continue on.

 

maybe on the cell itself? not sure.

how about an estimate of lot time plus shipping and fudge some sitting around time at the factory?

or is there a build date in the vin? even then, the cells aren't likely fresh out of production.

 

With a new Prius, it's folly to worry about the battery, since even on free soil the battery is covered by a 100,000 mile warranty.

As far as dealers, there are some out there who simply do not want to work on a G2, and so they will do what contractors generally do when they really do not want to build a particular project - which is to bid higher than the market rate and kinda hope that they do not get the job.

Given the fact that even iPhone drivers can determine what the street price SHOULD be for any given make and model, and the fact that all of the usual dealer scams are so thoroughly documented by those with eyes that see (window etching, documentation fees, nitrogenated tires, paint and pleather protection packages, pin striping, locking lugs, etc....) the used car lot and the dealer parts and service centers SHOULD be the biggest and most profitable parts of the dealership.......without constantly ripping people off.

I suppose I should get a part time job at a dealer someday just to see things from the other side of the fence, but I have a feeling that they would fire me before lunch!

 

I wanted to hate the guy but he won me over. I liked how he called out all the torques, very helpful. The one thing though is for not that much more money you can get a brand new set of batteries that will most likely last 10+ years.

 

Another point in the Prius favor is how economical it is. We bought our 2008 new when gas prices were approaching $5 a gal. I traded in a truck that was getting 20 mpg on a good day. Our Prius now has about 140,000 miles on it.

If we consider a cost of $3 a gallon for gas as a base. it would have cost me 140,000 mi divided by 20 mpg =7000 gallons x $3 equal $21,000 worth of gas.

2008 Prius consistently gets 50 mpg. 140,000 divided by 50 mpg = 2,800 gallons x $3 equal $8,400

Provided my math is right I've saved $12,600 dollars and been able to drive a safe dependable car.
Other savings, tires for the Prius are generally smaller and cheaper than truck tires. I've had to buy 4 tires twice so far since owning the car.
In the almost 11 years of ownership I've have had to replace the 3 way coolant valve- $72, The right front wheel bearing- $128, and the brake actuator- $1,134. These have been the only repairs since we purchased the car in 2008. The 3 way valve began sticking after I changed the coolant - I believe some debris got in it. The wheel bearing failed after hitting a massive pothole and the brake actuator was on a recall but I missed the recall by 3 months. I do all the work myself so no labor cost was involved.

Yes a new battery may cost $1500 but many of us save this much many times over by driving a Prius.

 

Yeah very positive guy, and smoothly edited video.

 

another way to look at it, how much would you have saved with a corolla, and what is the hybrid premium?

 

I've owned a Corolla. A very nice car. When we bought the Prius it exceed the Corolla's mpg by 20 mpg. Prius = 50 mpg, Corolla = 30 mpg if my memory serves me correctly.
We sat in a Corolla in 2008 and test drove it along with the Prius test drive. Having owned a Corolla previously I was interested in it also.
For our family the Prius was the clear winner over the Corolla. I believe at the time the Prius cost $3000 more for the models we were considering. It was an easy decision to pick the Prius.