Will Toyota replace a HV battery if I have 156K in CA?

Has the car been registered in CA continuously? If so, it would be worth calling your Toyota Regional Office.

The Right Way to Get Your Issue Resolved - Toyota Customer Service Tips

 

Good will coverage of 50% are common.

 

As Jimbo said, see what they will offer. It'll be a good test case.

It's unlcear who has qualified in the past for goodwill 50%-off replacement, but one category may be people in CARB states with CARB-certified vehicles who were nonetheless disqualified by Toyota (for example if the state was not CARB member at the time of the purchase).

I don't think we have a big population of vehicles that have >150k in CARB states and also the battery failed, so you are possibly blazing the trail. More vehciles will be in this category though as time goes on.

 

What dealer is CA would suggest the warranty is only 8yr/100k? They should know without a doubt they are in a state that offers 150k warranty

 

Just to be clear .. this is about the car

1. Was it bought in CA, and registered in CA ?
2. Has it ever been registered outside of CA ?

Presuming you are not trying to pull some sleight of hand, I'm really surprised that the Toyota dealership did not know the basic rules about CARB. I would not take their diagnosis at face value, and I would not have work done at that place.

 

Well good, at least you are arguing from a 150k warranty limit rather than 100k.
I suggest you collect *all* the alarm codes the dealer pulled and post them here. If you are fortunate it will turn out not to be the traction battery.

 

Still seems funny the service dept was not aware of 10-yr/150k. Maybe take this as excuse to get 2nd opinion.
Given you are so far away from Carlsbad now, the only thing I can think of find out who biggest best Toyota dealer is in your new area, and get the car over there and see if service dept can swing you deal with Toyota. Then you tried two places. I've done this with other vehicles (learned it here) just ask the service dept to see if courtesy warranty coverage can be offered. Maybe make sure the new place knows you are giving them the repair business so they are competing for your business.

Guess you are close to Lucisious garagae, or is that LA? Believe they will give you a Toy batt for around $3200.

 

My opinion, stay away from rebuilds. They can be done right (Eric Becky is probably one example) but it is a labor intensive job that makes the battery not much cheaper than simply buying a new one. A cheap rebuild is a sucker's gambit.

 

Since you are in the Bay Area, inquire w/ Luscious Garage (San Fran) and Art's Automotive (Berkeley) on which dealers seem to goto bat for customers. W/ this info, go to those dealers and ideally speak w/ the service manager. Let him know that you would really like him to get Toyota to offer a goodwill gesture, since just over the mileage limit, otherwise you'll end up having to get a Doorman HV battery. If the service manager is business savy enough, 50%-75% of a typical HV Battery replacement is better than zero, as he knows what your response will be if he can not get a favorable goodwill replacement.

Call Toyota LAST. They will want to know if the car has been serviced by a dealer for most/all service intervals. Your response (aka dealership level service) has a big determination on the outcome.

Good luck.

 

What makes you say that dealership service affects Toyota decisions ? Why would Toyota care ? I think a record of buying Toyotas, in particular new cars, in the past would be of much greater interest to them if the underlying question is future sales.

 

That was my experience when I called Toyota about help on a Transaxle failure, that was outside of warranty, back in Feb 2011. Summary:

Transaxle making noise. Took to dealer, paid the $100 diagnostic fee. They reported failing, and no codes. $3700 replacement cost. Started looking at other options (used transaxle and install fee, sell car then buy a new/used car).

After above diagnosis, I called Toyota to see if they could help in any way? After they take your contact info, VIN, vehicle license, the problem you are calling about, and what you would like done, they placed me on hold, while a "supervisor" is consulted. Person gets back on phone wanting to know if the vehicle has been regularly serviced at a dealership. I respond "no." Placed on hold so info can be relayed to "Supervisor." Ultimately told SOL (Shite Out of Luck). Implication being, no quid-pro-quo; if I had lots of service intervals performed at a dealership, they would probably have gone 50% or more on the repair.

This story has a happy ending. The dealership that performed the initial diagnosis, called me a week later saying he was able to get the transaxle covered under warranty (the longer Emissions Warranty). Guess the service writer/Manager knows someone at Toyota to say hey, ..... Voila. I'm a happy camper.
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Hopefully OP has can demonstrate lots of Toyotas purchased and dealer level service for his current Prius, to have a strong compelling case. After my experience, I have come to believe that the dealers have quite a lot of leverage.

 

Exstudent, 3 moments after you supplied your VIN Toyota had the service history of your car. The follow-up question about dealer servicing was either a BS formality to give you a 'reason' why your request was refused; or if you are feeling charitable, an attempt to clarify whether a knowledgeable person was in the mix.

 

I think that if the owner has displayed a willingness to pay high dealer service prices, then it is more likely Toyota will give that owner a break on covering issues out of warranty. A warranty repair requires the dealer to provide labor at a lower rate and fewer billable hours than the dealer would receive from a retail customer. Toyota can tell the dealer that by helping this customer, the dealer will probably enjoy continued repeat service business.

In the case of the OP who logged 156K miles, I think it is questionable that Toyota will help simply because the standard warranty is for 100K miles. The California (and other states adopting CARB regs) 150K mile warranty is stretching the limits of Toyota's policy - such a generous policy is not offered anywhere else in the world. But s/he can ask the Toyota Customer Experience Center, the worst that will happen is a "no" answer.

 

Yep, they definitely do make a lot of their income from servicing.

I'm not sure how similar the figures are in the US (servicing costs are relatively high in Australia), but an industry body here recently reported that car dealers typically make about 5% of their overall profits from new car sales, and a whopping 50% of their profit from servicing. They didn't specify what the other 45% was due to, but I assume it's made up of a combination of trades/used car sales, parts and finance deals.

 

Nearly identical!

This must be where "Stealership" originated. Source LINK

Penske Automotive Group, which operates 326 dealers in the U.S. and U.K., the gross margin for service and parts was 57 percent, vs. just 8 percent for new-vehicle sales.​

 

The dealer already knows how much repeat service business the customer is likely to supply -- they do not need Toyota to remind them. And there is a presumption here that Toyota has to somehow convince the dealership to perform the warranty work. Is there any reason to think this is the case ? I cannot think of a single instance I have read about where dealerships try to avoid e.g. recall work. Just the opposite, actually: the service writer pushes the customer to perform any recall work available.

I am not equating recall work to OP, because the recall work is already authorized. I'm only saying that the labor rate the garage receives appears to be attractive as is.

Moreover, I am under the impression that an auto franchise is under contract to perform warranty work as authorized by the manufacturer, so even if the dealership did not want the work I think they are obliged to perform.