Evansville Indiana dealer attemped ripoff

Extended warranties don't cover wear items such as bulbs, wiper blades, tires etc. Neither does the new car warranty.

 

I heard the same kind of story from a driver for a hybrid cab company in Charleston, SC.

 

The folks in Aichi decide how how many hours of a technician's time that they will pay the dealership for a covered repair. I'll save you the look-up time. As pointed out above, for headlamp bulbs....it's zero. Same thing for tires, brake pads, wiper blades, etc.
These days...an extended warranty is a rip-off, since 99.something percent of cars on the road will operate normally for 100,000 miles without suffering a cataclysmic failure.
In fact....most cars will go for 5/100 without the owner having to do much more than change filters and fluids, which is also not covered by either warranty.
Manufacturer defects usually express themselves before you reach the end of the basic "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, and many OEMs have power train warranties that are good for........100,000 miles.

So...did the dealership try to rip you off? Probably. Either that or they're sadly lacking in the knowledge required to work on Priuses. I don't think that I'd use them for any repair that is covered by your warranty, nor would I use them for scheduled maintenance.
I've seen lots of rants and raves about dealerships trying to pawn off "engine flush" and "HVAC cleaning" services to owners who are in for their XXXXX mile service.

There are some dealerships out there that are committed to establishing a good customer relationship and only selling the services that the customer actually needs, at a reasonable cost. Some others have mechanics and service managers who will be tempted to turn a quick profit off of a customer's lack of knowledge.

MY current strategy is to do self maintenance and repair to the extent that my limited knowledge (buttressed by the internet) will allow me to. After that, I use a mechanic that I trust, that I've also done some internet homework on.

Good Luck!
You can always pop a flare over the dealership's owner and/or Toyota's Customer Care branch about this incident. Service Managers are a replaceable unit.

 

This is all very very old news. Each bulb costs $150 MSRP. So two bulbs is $300. The repair manual prescribes removing the bumper and the headlights. That is at least an hour of labor, which is covered in the labor guide. If you go to a dealership, ANY dealership, this is what you should expect to pay. Blame Toyota for this mess, not individual dealers.

 

I think the above and http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...e-replacing-hid-headlights-2.html#post1250838 sums it up pretty well.

For me, after watching the videos I found thru various threads here including the ones from Luscious Garage, I thought I could do it in an hour or so (to change the passenger side bulb). Unfortunately, the metal clip popped off so the job turned into a multi-hour ordeal w/me eventually having to remove the front bumper cover since I couldn't get the washer tank out. I spoke to someone else recently who ran into the same problem w/the washer tank.

 

all the best with your new wheels SMASTER!

 

BTW. Are these the HID headlights or just the normal halogen ones that we're talking about here?

 

It is a great car, and I think you see the value in being an informed owner. Most of the dealer's strength in setting the price is the lack of alternatives for service. For example, these HID headlight bulbs, you can't just drive down to Pep Boys, pay $20 for a pair, and have them put in for free. And you also see the limited (asymptotically approaching zero) value in the pre-purchase inspection/certified pre-owned stuff.

A lot of times, their hands are tied by the high cost of replacement parts, such as the $178 12V battery. Do yourself a favor by never going to the dealer again.

 

LOL that applies 2x over here Seilerts. We bought our Prius s/h (toyota certified used vehicle) from the dealer. The car was immaculate, but they included a 3 year warranty with a "condition" that we had to have it serviced with them (couldn't even go to another Toyota dealership!). To me this kind of set off some alarm bells, like I thought they'd probably try and rip us off. First time we took it in (<50k miles and car in immaculate condition) and they charged $650.00 for a basic service. Needless to say we've never been back there again.

 

I once had your mindset about dealer ripoff. However you must shop dealers as you shop for parts. The day you need a OEM Toyota part and no one but the local dealer parts department has the inventory you may change your thinking IMHO

 

Well, that may be true if you need the part immediately.

However if you can plan ahead and order parts for future consumption then there are several Toyota dealers that discount parts ~25% for web orders, for example toyotaworld.com

 

Yep, but to save money consolidate the order to offset the S&H.

My '04 Prius needs a windshield wiper nozzle replacement, so I bought it along with filters for the next two years from Toyotaworld. All in all I paid about 17% less than the local msrp prices, and of course the convenience of buying online cannot be beat. Time and fuel saved by avoiding the dealership was just icing on the cake.

 

my HID replacement turned into a multi-hour ordeal when I dropped something in the engine compartment. Had to go to work to get a boroscope, and even then it was a struggle. Of course, my experience with Toyota dealers is they'd just say "you don't need that part"