Hybridbatterydoc on Ebay: too good to be true?

Travel time can eat into profits, might be interesting to find out who their installer is for Montana (or insert out of the way place). Would also question this six (6) month warranty, who pays for battery shipping (both ways) assuming it goes out within the coverage period. And what about the uninstall / reinstall of this warrantied replacement battery is that covered or will the installation tech who initially installed it the first time being doing that for free (including the boxing of the return battery).

We have people offering to play whack-a-mole for $400 and up in northern California. There are even some techs that travel up from Los Angeles and claim to work for known (reputable?) shops like 'Hybrid 911' who will do it for $300.

 

can't speak specifically to this company, but here are a few rules of thumb:

1) rebuilt batteries are always iffy, and only as good as the warranty and company standing behind them.
2) is there a place of business you can go to, if they fail to show up during warranty, what will you do?
3) if it dies after 7 months, what will you do?

 

I am brand new here and about to replace the hybrid battery on my 2005 Prius–for the third time–and I found this scrolling through related threads.

I found 2 people close to me, one of which does a full pack rebuild with either Gen 2 Toyota cells ($1650) or Gen 3 Toyota cells ($2200) with a full 3 year warranty, i.e. no proration. He has an actual shop that I visited today and he did a free battery analysis for me and pointed out the offending cells.

The other does Gen 2 rebuilt pack with Gen 2 cells for $1550 with 5-year warranty, 18 months of which is non-prorated. This guy is mobile though he told me his shop is about 12 miles from me–but there's no physical address listed at his website.

Have any of you had experience with buying a battery like Toyota cell replacement?

Can anyone tell me how to turn on email notification of thread replies?

 

Taylor's Automotive in Sanfrod NC is a reliable shop. Dave Taylor founded "ReInVolt" which was a quality HV battery rebuilding shop. He sold hid business to Dorman.

When make a comment in a thread, PC automatically has me following that thread and I get alerts.
JeffD

 

For an ought-five I'd be tempted to go a lesser route than the full-bull $2200 rebuild with G3 cells.

I'm sure It's a good product and the non-prorated warranty is also a nice assurance.....presuming of course that the shop will still be open in three years, and that the warranty includes parts AND labor.
$1650 out the door is reasonable presuming the recipient car is in excellent shape

I can install a battery pack myself so I'm probably biased towards a plug and play solution where I do the plugging and playing, and the battery is closer to $1000.
I suppose it all depends on how much life is left in the car, and the owner's ability to swing wrenches and their tolerance for break-downs.

I have an 06 SUV that I can use as a daily driver......BUT......I'm fault tolerant, I've owned the vehicle since new, it "only" has 170,000 miles on it, and I can stroke a check for any repair up to the hull value of the vehicle......and beyond.

The algebra is a lot different for a single underemployed parent with only one car and a long commute to a job where attendance and punctuality are key performance requirements.


Let us know what you decide.
PS....no clue about e-mail notifications.

 

Thanks JeffD, you're helping me in multiple threads now! –I'm not too far from Sanford so I'll call Taylor's tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

Thank you too ETC(SS). Unfortunately, I can't install a battery pack myself. Well, I'm sure I could do it with the help of YouTube, but the high voltage is a concern for me.

The shop that offers both G2 & G3 and the full prorated warranty is the one that I get a good gut feeling about, i.e. I got a good feeling about the guy over the phone and in person, and I saw him interact with repeat customers while I was there he was very professional and they seemed very happy. –I forgot to mention that if he does the G2 cells he offers a full 3-year warranty for that as well. I am a single person with no other car and a very short 10 minute commute to work–and punctuality and reliability are important. I don't travel often, though I like feeling that I can travel without obsessively worrying about the car.


I'd love to keep driving the car, which now has 182k miles, for 5-8 more years if at all possible. That's why this guy was recommending that I consider the G3 cells for longer life.

The other guy seemed nice enough but he was telling me that G2 cells are better and more reliable than G3 cells, which seemed very odd to me. I live close to where he says his shop is and asked if I could save some money by bringing the car to his shop but he says "there's no need," and that to save money I can pay with cash rather than using my credit card. This makes sense of course, but it seems odd that paying a mechanic to come to me to do the work rather than me going to him. With his warranty, anything that happens post-18-month up to 5 years means that he would essentially sell me another battery at a discount, i.e. prorated from the first, but there's nothing tangeable about his operation that I can see.

As for the email notification I found a workaround that's neither obvious nor ideal. If I reply directly from the thread page, either by clicking reply or by just typing my reply in the bottom area of the page, there's no box to click for email notification. Or I can click the "more options" from that same message box at the bottom of page but it takes me to another page where I can type my message–and I can't see the thread from there. That's what I'm trying this time. I hope it works. I keep checking settings in my profile to set this up as automatic but I don't see an option to do this there.

 

you're almost in new battery territory. have you called around to some dealers to see what they charge? 5-8 years is right in the sweet spot.
mobile is nice, but i wouldn't have anyone do the work who doesn't have a physical shop i can go check out, too many stories of 'mobile' rip off jobs.


sorry, no idea on the email notifications. look around your home page? all the best!

 

Hi bisco,

No, I haven't called dealers. The last time I did this was 13 months ago and new batteries were $3400-3600 if I remember correctly, which is cash that I don't have to spend. Ironically though, if I'd bought a new one originally maybe I wouldn't be about to buy the third one now.

I agree with you about mobile versus a B&M shop.

Thanks!

 

I know its a lot of money to dump, but I would go with a new battery if at all possible. Its closer to having the best results. Especially if you plan on driving it another 5 to 8 years. I am sure there are qualified used or rebuilt battery specialist around the nation, but I would hate for you to stumble into some that are not.

 

Do you drive your Prius a lot? Is it mainly only for commuting for work? If so, another car might be better for you than a hybrid. The hybrid battery doesn't do well if the car is not driven a lot. It could be a reason why the other hybrid batteries failed.

 

Toyota has a new option for the Traction battery. They will supply the dealer with a new set of 28 modules (new ones, not refurbished. and the dealer can use their battery shell, the new modules and some parts from your existing battery for about $2500 installed. That may be you best option, but Dave Taylor will know about that option so talk to him.

JeffD

ps: He may remember me.

 

i thought that was only in parts of cali?

 

This is fantastic, Jeff, and the first I've heard of it. Do you mind sharing how you know this? Apologies if this is old news...

Are you maybe thinking of the factory remanufactured test-market in Cali?.. Again, apologies if I've missed this new-module-only option news.

 

The new modules must surely come with new bus bars right? Otherwise your battery would eventually fail from old corroded bus bars.

I believe this is the refurbished option being explained to the 10th person and the facts got changed a bit.

SM-N900P ?

 

JeffD,
Is this a new option? Sounds like a lot more labor for the tech installing it. I can't see how it could cost less. But maybe I'm not fully understanding.

Toyota already supplies a "not fully assembled" battery pack. But what you are describing sounds like it is even less assembled than that. With lots more room for error.

If you have more details I'd like to chat about it. Feel free to call me. Have you got a part number?

 

yes, i thought they were new cells in an old case. i didn't know there was another option as well.

 

Reading through all of this I'd probably spend the $1650 for a re-manned G2 pack with G2 cells.
It's about 1/2 of the street price for new OEM pack from Toyota BUT I'm not sure that the dealer would offer the full 36 month warranty that you would get with a third party supplier.
The car is an 05, and it's probably in good shape if the OP wants to log another 5-8 years with it.
IMHO the juice isn't worth the squeeze where spending another $500 for G3 cells is concerned.

In the OP's situation I'd get assurances that $1650 is the real out-the-door price, and then I'd tell them that this is not your first dance with a re-manned battery, but it WILL be your last one.....one way or another, and third party vendors live and die by social media.

As an aside for other listeners-in, battery packs do represent a voltage hazard but they're made to easily replaced and probably represent more of a danger from being fairly heavy than they do from stored energy.......BUT(!).....anyone uncomfortable with replacing one should probably not do it themselves. After all.....battery thieves don't seem to have a problem removing them in some of the more crime-ridden parts of the nation without being zorched.

This is probably the best video that I've seen for a DIY replacement.

Good Luck!
Get back with us with the results of this latest automotive adventure!!

 

I wish PRIUSCHAT would start a new forum specifically for the G2 HYBRID BATTERY.

So many posts about the battery across the main and maintenance and technical. It's quite a mess and everyday we get more battery posts.
Used to be the 12 volt battery now it's the hybrid battery.

We could list all known battery vendors and there contacts
in a sticky and members could post
Reviews on them including watch outs for rip off artists.
List all known charger company's. Members could get discounts on battery repair through participating company's.

Post symptoms of a failing battery and best course of action for repair in a sticky. It would be extremely useful to new readers who now have to comb through hundreds of posts to figure out what to do about there battery.

Focus.

 

All of you are so amazingly helpful. Thanks for all of your feedback–and forgive me for hijacking the OP's thread.

I spoke at length with Jeff Sloan from Hybrid Automotive today and he was incredibly helpful as well. He thinks that, given how tight the variance is in the resistance of my cells are, that the Prolong Battery setup has a 65-70% of reconditioning my battery and bringing it back up where it needs to be, and I'm very strongly considering trying this first.

I've also pulled a very mechanically-inclined friend into this whose father ownes a 2010 Prius so we'll order a separate harness for his car so that he can use it as well. And should I still have a problem with the one cell, he's willing to help me replace it.

–Thanks for your feedback on G2 vs. G3 ETC(SS). JeffD–it sounds like the option that you mention is what the mechanic that I met yesterday is doing. He said the cells are genuine Toyoa, though his G3 price is $2200. –I haven't jet talked with Dave Taylor but I will.

JC91006–If I have the mechanic do it, he includes replacement of the bus bars.

biglew8–I don't travel a lot, and I live 10 minutes from work, which is nice. But you may be right about the shorter commute and the hybrid battery, however, I've diven quite a lot in the 13 months that I've had the battery. I love my car though and don't want to buy another one anytime soon. Even though Toyota says the best mileage is from city driving, I've always gotten better mileage driving longer distances and judiciously using my cruise control.

The one thing I'm wondering about though is whether my hypermiling is negatively impacting the battery life, i.e. I don't hard brake a lot. I speed up and slow down by adjusting the cruise and I almost always slow to a stop by taking my foot off the accelerator and (mostly) rolling to a stop. I asked Jeff Sloan about this and he didn't think it would have a huge impact but said that it might have played a small part in my battery ilfespan issues. –And I have to say that the first time I put in a salvaged battery with unknown miles and it lasted for 4-5 years. The second time I also put in a salvaged battery but it was a new reconditioned aftermarket battery that had just been put in a car that was then wrecked within 200 miles of installation.