Toyota Why Not

You're in Texas? Where? I live out in the country, NE of Dallas!

I'm interested to know if you find anyone local who can work on your Prius...it's years away, but I'll be in the same boat, someday. My local Toyota dealerships are very friendly, and shouldn't present a problem.

Did they tell you why they refused to service your car? Speaking only for myself, in my business I don't turn away clients.

 

I live in North Texas as well, and I too can't imagine my dealer turning people away. That being said, from your screen name, I assume your 2004 Prius was a salvage? Perhaps the repairs done prior voided any warranty or perhaps the cost of the repairs needed far exceed the value of the car?

Can you give us some history of your vehicle? It seems there is more to this story than just a dealer denying you service.

 

claridiva: I concur. Something more is going on here.

I fix computers for a living, and I have had to deliver the dreaded "it's not worth fixing" and "your money would be better spent..." messages to people, before. But even then I didn't refuse them service...I provided counsel. The decision is ultimately up to the owner.

Even if his Prius' warranty is void, it can still be repaired. It just can't be repaired under warranty. Cost effectiveness comes into play, at that point.

NortTexSalv04Prius: Were I in your position, I would request (firmly) that they explain their position. Refusing someone service is something that just doesn't happen in the course of normal business, unless something very weird is going on.

And, weird, always deserves an explanation.

 

In general I would say that hybrid vehicle owners will have trouble (and will pay big $$$) obtaining service for major repairs once the car is out of warranty. That is why junkyards exist: they take cars that can no longer be economically repaired. A hybrid vehicle will reach that point sooner than a conventional vehicle due to the high electronics content and lack of aftermarket parts and service.

In the OP's case, I'd be interested to know what accident damage exists (if any) and what is the immediate problem that needs repair. I'm not surprised that his Toyota dealer would refuse to provide repairs on a salvage vehicle because the cost of repairs will be high and a successful outcome cannot always be assured (for example, if a damaged wiring harness exists.) This will lead to the expenditure of lots of dealer staff time and still result in a dissatisfied customer.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Toyota dealer lock-in. Enjoy your (expensive) stay.

 

I agree...there has to be a reason we're not understanding. When someone who makes money when you spend money for service turns you away...there's a reason, especially on a big repair. The service writers work on commission, and the dealer needs to do service business to survive. For them to turn $2,000+ in business away I promise you there is a reason.

Could it be a flood car? Especially in TX...especially that year. LOTS of Katrina cars wound up in TX and FL...

The issue is not your mileage...its something to do with the salvage title and what happened to the car previously I promise you.

 

Why would any shop want to touch a salvage? If it wasn't worth it to have the car repaired the 1st time around it won't be worth it the 2nd time. If you are willing to write a blank check I'm sure there is a shop that specializes in restorations that will be willing to build a car for you.

 

Um, because it's profitable? Why would any shop *not* want a paying customer?

I could understand a shop having a policy against working on salvage cars, or something similar, but as a potential client I'd want an explanation. And, it'd be easy to explain a policy like that, to a customer.

Salvage title or not, there's something more going on.

 

Sometimes a car isn't safe to work on. Up here in the land of 4 months a year of salt spray, some cars rust out to the point of being unsafe to lift on the hoist in as short as 12 years. Maybe a flooded car would rust faster? (if that was the reason for the salvage title)

 

Consider what is required for the car to be designated salvage in the first place: the insurance company involved has to decide the the repair cost exceeds the car's market value, so the company would rather pay the owner a settlement check than fund its repairs.

Now the salvaged car is purchased by an entrepreneur who thinks s/he can repair the car more economically than the insurance company has estimated. What shortcuts are going to be taken? Will airbags be replaced with new which is Toyota's policy, or will salvage bags (or nothing) be installed? Will wiring harness damage be correctly repaired? Who knows.

Then an unaware owner buys this car and it starts to have problems (which are probably intermittent since the car passed pre-purchase inspection by the new owner). The new owner is probably cost-conscious, because if money was no object s/he would not have bought a salvage vehicle.

Toyota diagnostics are not perfect. We've recently seen several posts from salvage Prius owners who have strange problems that can't be quickly identified.

Suppose it is necessary to expend 16 hours of labor time just to figure out what's wrong. How likely is it that this cost-conscious customer will cheerfully pay a $1,600 bill just for diagnosis?

If you as the repair shop manager don't have confidence that the car's problems can be easily diagnosed, why bother? The owner will question every expenditure that you might propose and will certainly complain if your first proposed solution doesn't fix the problem. You've got to have plenty of idle time to take on that headache.

 

Cars are salvaged because the cost to repair + scrap value exceeds the current value of the vehicle. That being said, those that have the skills and are willing to invest some labor of their own can sometimes repair these vehciles and return them to use. The damage may not be excessive, as in my case, and the costs can be high due to the specialized nature of fixing hybrids, if the power train is involved. If a car was properly repaired, the dealer should have no trouble workiing on it. Howver, if it was a flood car, or had severe hidden damage, or was not properly repaired, they may feel that the customer can never be made happy since the cost to repair may exceed the cost of pruchasing an equivalent vehicle in good condition, hence they can refuse to repair it.

 

Because the liability of working on the vehicle outweighs the profit that would be earned by the same.

We're not hearing the entire story here. My money says this Prius is a flood car and has problems related to the HSD system that the dealer thinks are related to the flooding, and the dealer is afraid if they install say a new inverter it will lead to failure of other components that are already damaged by the flooding and they would be on the hook for that.

 

I do the same in my business. I have turned down good money to avoid a potential swamp. Sometimes the reward isn't worth the risk.

Tom

 

SW03ES - I have a hunch you are right on the mark. It would be interesting to learn the whole story.

One of the responders mentioned that Prius reach the 150,000-200,000 mark early. Yes they do ... because it is economical to drive. I already have over 12,000 miles and my G3 is only 10 months old. We live 150 miles (RT) from our daughter and 180 miles from our son. If we were driving a 24 mpg vehicle we would make far fewer trips to see them.

 

Then why does your vehicle have a salvage title? Whether its in good condition or not a salvage title means at some point it was declared a total loss for some reason. What is the reason?

You are just complaining but you aren't giving us the whole story. Do you want to complain or do you want help? If you just want to rant and rave stop wasting our time.

Haha...no. Have you ever owned a business? If you have you would know that you don't make money doing little things...you do the little things so they lead to the big things. Shops don't make money selling oil changes...they sell oil changes to build trust with you so that they can replace your brakes, or rebuild your transmission, or do whatever else when its needed.

Its like when I owned my detailing business, we did $25 on site carwashes. We didn't make money on the washes...we made money on the $250 details we did on the vehicles 4 times a year. We did the washes to keep their business with us. The same is true of oil changes.

The logic "I don't want your $2,000 job because I have to do these $40 oil changes" is not what is at work here, and the dealer isn't refusing to work on your vehicle because of what it says on a Carfax. The dealer never even looks at the Carfax when you bring the vehicle in for service.

If the dealer is refusing to do a $2,000+ repair job on your vehicle there is a reason other than they are too busy. That reason either has to do with your vehicle...or it has to do with you.

Like I said before...you aren't being forthcoming with us here.

Why don't you calm down and tell us the WHOLE story and start from the beginning. Answer these questions:

1. Why does your Prius have a salvage title, what happened to it and how long ago?

2. What is wrong with your Prius that needs repair that the dealer won't do?

3. What is the reason the dealer gave you for why they won't do the work, and what do they recommend you do?

If we have the answers to these questions we can advise you but if not, then you're on your own.