Had to Replace the 12V - UGH

Most of the AGM batteries in this size are made by two or three companies at best batteries today just seem to have a high failure rate because of quick manufacturing and other practices in place I guess so I try not to get into the battery wars too much pretty much any battery you buy is going to have some kind of prorated warranty to get you to 5 years or something or similar. You can run all kinds of shoddy batteries in the back of a Prius from universal batteries the 151 things whatever they are The only problem will be with any batteries will be how you connect the terminals there's a bunch of ways to do that if you want to play around or you just pay the $180 get the regular group size battery shove it in the hole and be done with it if you abuse the car and don't drive it and leave things on and do all that stuff put a pigtail on it and stick it through the little plate so you can plug up your charger when you need to without having to start pulling panels up and maybe check that terminal that plug you've added back there and see what it really is about every other week or so and if you need to put it on the battery tender it's just that simple I shouldn't be to forgetful of that.

 

Duralast gets pretty good reviews, I think you’ll be fine

 

Do you mean “they charged me $150 to install it”?

 

There is no reason a Toyota Parts department won't sell you the part without installation. You probably contacted the service department and not the parts department.

Also you should confirm the problem you have is actually the battery and not some other issue. The dash all lighting up is usually not a battery issue

 

"I checked with the local Toyota dealer since the OEM battery was highly recommended and they only sell the battery if I let them install it. Labor rate was $150 F.. that for undoing a few bolts."

I agree, that doesn't sound right...it's a part just like if we were buying brake pads from them....should've escalated that up their chain and raise the BS flag!! Why are some Toyota dealers starting to act like Chevy and Ford stealerships these days???? The Car Care Nut has a new video with a Lexus bill for something like $147 for an oil change...they charged over $5 for the drain plug gasket and triple-charged for the oil filter and I think the oil was $15 a quart....highway robbery!!!

 

Nope..he meant:

Labor rate was $150
F.. that for undoing a few bolts.

 

It would be Autozone in an emergency for me.