Pick Up Prime, but So-So experience with dealer

Wow, that sucks. Sounds like it was all dealer issues. Not the cars fault. Too bad your initial experience with the car was horrible! If I were you I would not go to that dealer for any service on the car. I would take a long drive just to avoid this dealer. Also, I thought Toyota Care covered all towing the first 2 yrs/24000 miles. The tow truck driver should have used a dolly under the flat tire instead of rolling it on the flat. Don't let this initial experience ruin your view of the Prime. Give it another chance.

 

I think "So So experience" is putting it mildly. You'll clearly be scarred for life with this dealer and car. Depending on your state laws, you may have 3 days to reverse the deal for any reason. Just leave the car with them and demand your money back!

 

I bought a prime at White River Toyota in Vt, after getting them up 40% for my trade in to an honest deal, and after signing all the financial papers I found out the car had 1000 miles on it.

Toyota is great.
Toyota dealers are car dealers, basically one step below dishonest lawyers,(honest lawyers are wonderful)
I agree, stay away from that dealer and let others around you know your feelings, word of mouth, public opinion matters.

When you find a good service department, stick with it.
Next time you buy, use your phone and computer, compare prices, don't get emotionally involved, it's buisness.
True, the prime is hard to find, an exceptional case.

 

Bluebells2 What is the name of the dealer? A dealer like that deserves to be known.

 

Wow Bluebells that sounds like a dealer horror story no one wants to ever have! Sorry you had to go through all this on just your first day of ownership. First off I agree with the last poster in that you should let us know who the dealer is so people can avoid them like the plague, there is no excuse for that kind of horrendous service after the sale, regardless of who's fault it is for the tire damage.

I dealt with a few dealers in MD before deciding to let a local dealer near me order the car in, rather then have to drive down to complete the deal. So I'm definitely curious as to who it was? Fortunately there are quite a few dealers near your area so you shouldn't have a problem finding another dealer for service. I would likely never return to the dealership and still peruse a case with them from Toyota because of your loss of work and the runaround you got.

 

It seems obvious that if they didn't have a tire in stock but you got your car back that day that they patched the tire. For the past six months I have had a tire that would lose about ten pounds of air over a month. I asked the dealer to check it out when they did the one-year service and rotated the tires. They claimed there was no problem that they could see. Yesterday I noticed it lost ten pounds in the last two weeks. I backed it out of the garage, jacked it up and removed the tire. I noticed a finishing nail without the head. Threw tire in the back of my truck and took it to Costco. They repaired it in about 45 minutes at a cost of $11. Came home and reinstalled it. Just mentioned this so people realize that it isn't always necessary to tow your car away if you notice a flat at home.

 

Sorry to hear horrible first day Prime ownership experience. I also agree with many here that it is mostly dealer to be blamed, not so much on the car.

That's a very good point. So far, I have been lucky enough not to deal with flat tire on my Prime, but knowing this car has no spare, I am prepared to deal with it if it happens. I have full-size spare at home, and I have good quality portable air compressor. For most cases of flat tire I have experienced is similar to @Washingtonian describes in that it is not a blow-out, but rather a slow leak over time. In most cases like that you can just top-up air into the tire and drive to nearest tire shop. Not everyone has ability to jack-up the car and take a tire off and have second vehicle to take it for a repair shop. Prime dose come with flat repair kit with a teensy-weensy compressor. I think in case like OP, since she apparently drove the car home with a screw already in the tire, I would think if she pumped up the tire, it may have held just long enough to drive the car to a nearest shop even without using the flat repair kit.

In case you are not familiar with the tire repair kit. Here is how-to video.

 

I decided to purchase a Scangauge to monitor the actual Tire PSI of the tires. Mounted it on the steering column where on most cars you look through to view the instrument panel items. I hope to ID tire leaks before they become problems. It also has some other interesting gauges you can monitor from the same device, including corrected MPH! I have a spare at home. I need to carry it in the trunk(hatch).

 

What a nasty experience!!

AFAIK, all states have a three day "cooling off" law. I'd have been sorely tempted to use it on those jerks.

Yes, you could have used the goo and pump that came with the car and then just driven it back to the dealer. After taking pictures of the flat and the screw.

Don't all Primes already have a tire pressure monitoring system? All four of my Prii had it.

 

They do, but it is just a warning light. I like being able to monitor the actual PSI. Am I anal retentive or just a car guy? I'll go with a car guy.

 

Yes, but @Dudley1030 is using a Scangauge to monitor real time pressures, instead of simple warning light that only comes on when the pressure falls below the threshold. I was tempted to purchase aftermarket TPMS with radio monitor for that purpose, that way you can tell actual psi on each tire all the time. I didn't buy it, because most of aftermarket TPMS are in the valve rather than inside of tires, and with our road salt, there is a good chance they will corrode and become impossible to remove when needing to be removed.

 

The dealership name should be posted here. This is a horrible dealer.

 

How can this dealership stay in business? That is the worse experience I have ever heard of. Getting a new car is suppose to be great. I am mad and it was not even my experience.

 

Unless US Prime is equipped by different TPMS valves than EU one, you don't need aftermarket TPMS because the current OEM ones already have a radio monitor embedded. All you need is a good OBD Bluetooth adapter (like this) an android Smartphone and this app (free). Piece of cake...

 

wow, that is ridiculous.

 

Can it identify which tire? Also dose it work while driving? Scanguage seems to be able to do that, but if I can find less expensive OBDII adapter and app, I want try that first.

 

This specific aspect could be a little difficult, since the TPMS codes are not stored in the Prius ECU in a specific order related to the single wheel position... you would need to make changes in at least two tyres pressure in order to identify the four sensors position.
An easiest, but a lot more expensive (3 times) way is to get a TPMS scanner, an handheld device which works scanning the parameters once is put very close to the wheel. But it works from outside the vehicle, not very practica, while the application can be launched on need by the driver seat..

 

I tried Autel TPMS scanner. Works great if you need to clone TPMS ID, but as a real time tire pressure monitor while driving, it did not work.