Driving without oil! Help!

That's where trading in might work, for both you and the dealership, if they give you a sweetheart deal. Then they can put in a salvage engine and sell it to someone else, out of your hands.

 

i would get the dealers best offer, then, if not satisfactory, play your next card.

 

IF ALL ELSE FAILS you might well have a case for legal challenge....

 

A good point. Not sure how you get past the "He said -- she said" and actually prove that the 3rd party is the one who messed up. But if you could, it would sure help pay for it.

 

A long time ago, when I bought a new Ford car, I had a bad lemon of a car. I took the "nice guy" route. 2 years later, the car still wasn't fixed. I kept bringing it back, they kept giving me a loaner, they appeared to "fix it", sent me on my way and 3 months later I am back. I wasn't charged anything and they paid for the loaner car, but my issue was the 2 years of my time wasted. Not to mention I was paying payments on a car that wasn't working properly. I vowed that should this happen to me again with any car, I would not take the "nice guy" route. If this happens again, I'm hiring an attorney and taking the "clean your clock" route. This is one of the reasons I do as much of my own maintenance that I can on my own. If I mess up, I own it and move on. There is no wondering if all the repairs that were listed were actually done. And, if I buy a bomb of a car, I am waisting no time and just going straight to the "replace or compensate" route. Just my historical two cents.

 

can't blame you. i hope it all works out. what have they offered for warranty?

 

no one does. all you can do is look at the book value of your car, get the best price on the car you want, and ask for a reasonable discount on top.

 

also, i would top the oil to the upper mark, yake a picture of the dipstick, try to put some serious miles on it, and see if it has burned much in 6 months. if it runs fine, and hasn't burned much oil, you'll probably be fine.

have you run any of this past your insurance agent?

 

I would contact Toyota, and initiate a trade-in discussion with dealership. And maybe a lawyer as well. Or maybe lawyer first??

Pretty nervy that they took it upon themselves to swap engines without your say so, too. My first thought: how do you even know they've swapped engines, how to verify.

 

maybe your state attorney generals consumer affairs office.

 

The engine should be stamped with a unique number which could be correlated with the vehicle docs.

 

Irony time ---

Early last week, I had my other car (not the Prius) serviced, then it sat in the driveway for several days. Moved it Friday night to discover an oil slick underneath.

Yesterday morning, with additional leaking, I did some inspection. The oil drain plug was merely finger tight, I was able to move it with just a thumb and finger. Had to dig out a socket set and tighten to feel. And send a weekend email warning to the shop to check up on their quality control.

The oil level on the dipstick did budge very slightly from the day I brought it home, but not nearly enough to need any extra. I'm glad to have caught this at home, not on the highway to the ski hill.

 

I've noticed with Honda drain bolt washers, the ones made with aluminum core and fiber/plastic skin: I'll torque them (for sure), and at next oil change, they're practically finger tight. The dealership I deal with also has plain aluminum so I've switched those, no further problems.

I don't think that's your case, mine were never loose enuf to even leak, just a thought.

Very good luck you caught it.

 

Leak discovery was merely four days, and 8 miles driven, since the oil change. It had no realistic opportunity to loosen significantly over time.

The service was at a highly regarded independent local shop. I've been using it (for the other brand, not for the household's Honda/Acura/Toyota vehicles, which go to a different independent shop) since it opened as a one-man operation a very long time ago. But it does seem that quality has been a bit less consistent as it has grown over the years, to nearly a dozen people.