Battery troubles

I bought a 2009 prius on 2/14/19. The prior owner had the 12v replaced early 2/19 after it did not start after work.

On 3/4/19 the car would not turn off. I took it to the same dealership. Was told I had left something on a drained the battery. Totally plausible since the car workings were new to me.

Everything ok until 3/26/19 when care would not ready. Got the car to the dealership again. They found that the hybrid battery had been replaced at some point (before the owner from whom I purchased the vehicle bought it) with an after market battery and looked like it had been done by an unskilled, inexperience technician or amateur mechanic and this totally messed up the computer and possibly the wiring harness for the hybrid system and fixing all that plus buying a new battery would be more than the car is worth, if it was fixable at all. Also, they found that the car had been in an accident and there was structural damage.

My questions are; wouldn't the diagnostic equipment the dealership used in early February, 2019 automatically detect a problem with they hybrid battery? Or, is the diagnostic equipment used for the 12v different than that used for the hybrid battery. Should the technician who diagnosed the bad 12v checked the hybrid battery too to make sure the problem was only the 12v.

Thank you.

 

I talked to 2 other dealers, my nephew who os BMW mechanic, researched the Toyota troubleshooting site and manual. I found the some answer each time; when the car was dead in early February when the previous owner took the car to the dealer, since the triangle warning light was not on or any other warning that the problem was the hybrid battery or that matter, there was no need to test the hybrid battery. The tech did a load test (I think that's the right term. I don't have the details in front of me at the moment) the 12v was in fact dead. He took all the steps one takes to diagnose a dead battery as one would do on any car. That I understand. The battery wad DOA so was replaced. So, seems the tech did everything right.

I have the car fax. The car was in an accident in July 2013 but the accident was not reported until December 2013. The car was serviced multiple times after that. I called each dealer and garage to find out what they did. Either the only thing they could tell me was what I saw on the carfax, mostly alignments and oil changes or they had no record at all. They was one battery change and some body work. Still waiting for a call back from that dealer to find out what battery and what their body shop fixed.

Here's the kicker, at some point the car went to auction. I don't know why a car would go to auction. I thought it was because there was something really wrong with the car but I'm getting multiple answers when I ask mechanics and dealers. Have not yet asked my nephew who I trust but will when he is off work. Anyone have info about that you can share? Anyway, I called the car dealership that sold the car to the previous owner. Not a Toyota dealership but a one man shop. I pressed him for info. He didn't really want to give it to me but I'm pretty tenacious. He told me he bought the car at auction did all the diagnostics he always did, brakes, 12v, oil, etc. I specifically asked of he checked the hybrid battery and actually put his eyes on it. He said he used his scanner and found that the battery was ok and since the red triangle was not on, he didn't feel the need to do any further checking. He did not look at it. I researched scanners and found out there are different types. Some will not actually show an error code and thus give a tech a reason to check the battery. It seemed to me that this man did more than the bare minimum and sold the car to an unwitting buyer. He kept telling me to bring the car back to him which is 2 hours away, pay him $80 and he will check it again. I think not since the dealership jere has already established that the hybrid battery is toast. He was adamant that anything that could have happened to the car happened in the 8 mos since the previous owner bought it. Side note: I didn't tell him I already knew the battery was bad. I wanted to know of HE knew that before he sold the car.

So, I don't know if I'm just an unlucky person and a battery that had been put in wrong finally pooped out 6 weeks after I bought the car, or the person I bought it from knew about the accident, etc. and didn't mention anything. I find that hard to believe since the dealership had just looked at the car when they replaces the aforementioned 12v. Or, the last car dealership knew there was a problem and sold it anyway. Or, worse yet, all the bad things that happened to the car just were never detected by all the dealerships and mechanics that worked on it and it was just time for the battery to give out during the short window I've owned it.

I have no problem putting in a new battery but I'm already into the car for $7000 and there's no guarantee that will do the trick of there are more problems due to the accident. I will get a full report from the dealership showing what they found when they found out the battery was dead and the car had been in an accident on Monday. I have insisted the report go into minute detail. Then I will have a better idea of I should get a second opinion or cut bait amd buy a new car. I'm leaning toward the latter. I'm tired.

Sorry for the long winded story. I'd like to hear opinions on different mechanics' techniques, any similar experiences you have had and what you did and if you think I should give up and buy a new car or keep pressing and if I find out who messed up the car, was dishonest or a bad mechanic, take them to small claims court to hopefully recover some of my money.

Thanks

 

Almost 96000.

 

I'm nothing if not thorough

I could do a new car it it wasn't the most expensive. No new prius, we already have one, and I'll have to give up my dream of having a BMW. I'm looking at a Yaris. Good enough for a while then reassess. I had a Nissan for 25 years so I'm not afraid of taking care of a car as long as I have control over it's maintenance.

This has soured me a bit and might be willing to take the loss for peace of mind as soon as I've exhausted all options.