2007 Prius base, 62K miles P0A80, P3016, C1259, C1310

This isn't as comprehensive as I would like because the car is with my daughter in Houston and I'm in San Antonio. Basically, I bought the Prius for her six weeks ago from a local San Antonio Toyota dealership - one owner, originally purchased and always serviced at this dealer, traded in for a new Prius.

Dealer allegedly performed thorough pre-sale inspection (not CPO because of age, sold to me with no warranty) and all was pronounced good. I purchased an extended major mechanical warranty from my credit union, covering essentially everything except the HV battery and peripherals.

Six weeks later, car failed. All the warning lights, red triangle, no acceleration, no HV battery. I instructed her to have it transported to a local Toyota dealership for diagnosis. Pertinent codes are as above in the title, the engine water pump had failed because of an internal leak but not the inverter coolant pump. Looking at a $4200 repair bill ($2900 for new HV battery alone) on a car that was pronounced healthy by the selling dealership only six weeks earlier. My major mechanical warranty will take care of everything except the HV-related items and my copay is $50.00, but I'm furious that the car experienced a water pump failure, 12V battery failure and HV battery failure. Diagnosing dealership had pinpointed the HV battery failure with cell #6, but of course they can't officially recommend replacing a single cell. The rebuilt packs are available in my area, installed with 5 year warranty for $1500, but that's not the point. Recommendations? I'm contemplating demanding the selling dealership buy back this car, for which I paid $6100.00.

 

Interesting. That's the folks I was just researching. New OEM Toyota pack 3 yr/75K miles $2000 installed. Do you know if that would also address codes 1259 and 1310?

I was citing greenbean batteries in my original post, but reviews seem sketchy.

 

Thanks. Will contact him Monday

 

Sent email to them after reading the Forbes article. Jessica responded within an hour, said the installation, new or rebuilt, will remedy all of the fault codes. I'll have it done next week and deal with the selling dealership separately.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Mavi. We'll see if the dealer is going to see reason. As for the battery, I need it now, not May, and it's worth $400 more for an installed OEM with a solid warranty and back on the road next week.

 

Folks, I'm particularly ticked off because I bought this car from Cavender Toyota, a reputable member of the Cavender chain of new car dealerships in San Antonio. In fact, my Audi A6 Avant is serviced at Cavender Audi and I have nothing but praise for them. I'm ticked because Cavender Toyota assured me the battery pack was healthy and had many more miles of life remaining. Otherwise I would have walked away from it. I'm not going to the mat with them for my $50 copay on the warranty I bought elsewhere. I'm just glad I at least had the foresight to buy it. I know a water pump can go bad, sometimes with little warning. But the HV battery is another matter entirely, and some good friends, fellow Prius owners, also said I would probably have better luck getting financial relief on the HV battery from Toyota North America. BTW, Cavender would have happily sold me an extended warranty for four times the price I paid for the one I bought at my credit union and it still wouldn't have covered the HV battery.

As for the replacement pack from Hometown Hybrids in Houston, $2000 total cost gets me a brand new installed Toyota OEM pack with a 75K mile/3 year warranty. Of course, for the cost of the major mechanical warranty and new battery pack I could have bought a newer Prius with a full CPO warranty. So the bargain purchase has become a joke.

 

Many thanks, all, for the comments. FYI, the PO's contact information was still in the maintenance booklet in the glove box and I decided to ring her up. She was exceedingly gracious and we enjoyed a lunch meeting together, where she gave me her file folder of service records and the plastic wallet key. The car had been used almost exclusively for in-city commuting fewer than 30 miles per day.

The attached service record generally corresponds with the PO's file folder, but the service record is far more extensive than the PO's documents. She did note that in January she had experienced a jolt while driving, first time ever, and took it to Cavender the next day, but they couldn't replicate the problem and found no error code. By that time she had already decided to trade it in for the newest model. Records indicate the inverter coolant pump was replaced in Sep 2011 and the 12V battery was replaced in Mar 2013. No record of HV battery issues per se.

She also advised me that when she traded it in, she gave both electronic keys to the dealer. When I bought the car, it came with only a single key. I inquired about a second key and was told it came with only the one key. Well, I should have walked then. It's not as if you can have a duplicate made at your Home Depot for a few bucks.

Needless to say, when the dealer learned I had been in touch with the PO, they were nonplussed, especially when I told them the PO had given them both keys. They actually denied it. Then I pressed them and identified the sales person to whom the PO had given the keys when she traded it in and asked if they would like for the PO to personally visit and point him out? Oops! They finally acknowledged they had received two keys but had misplaced one and grudgingly agreed to program a new key for me at no cost as if they were doing me a favor. Caught them in a flagrant lie.

So why did I continue to give these guys the benefit of the doubt? They're a major new car dealership chain with a high community presence. The Cavender Audi dealership has always provided exemplary and professional service, treating the customer with respect. I assumed that would carry over into their Toyota dealership. Each dealership has a Cavender family member in the front office. So it was just difficult to get my head around the prospect the dealerships may not have the same ethic. For example, why did the folks at Cavender Toyota misinform me that the car's service records are not available when, thanks to this forum, I see that not only are they available, they're accessible on an official Toyota owner's web page? You know, that's just intentional deception.

What's more, judging from Sterling McCall's Action Plan, there are some other pre-existing issues that should have been remedied by Cavender during the alleged 160 point inspection, but weren't. Highlighted in red and yellow. Why wouldn't I have received a similar document at the time of purchase that would have enabled me to make a more knowledgable purchase decision?

And I do believe I'm going to print this entire thread and stick it under the Cavender brother's nose, send it to the BBB and Yelp it. Community reputation carries some weight.

 

That would be my preference. I've decided to personally contact the dealership GM and give him a chance to make this right before going over his head to Cavender himself. I'm putting him on a short fuse because in the meantime my daughter is without a car in Houston and has obligations.

Also, apologies for hijacking a technical forum with what turns out to be more than a technical concern.

 

Well, of course it was initially looking like a very good bargain! That's why we wanted to buy it! But after factoring $1500 for the third party warranty and now another $2000 for a new HV battery pack, what had been a bargain starts looking pretty rich. For the final expenditure I could be looking at a fair market value newer model with a CPO warranty.

For the record, I told them I wanted a new set of tires, and they balked, but after I pointed out the production dates and insisted they measure the tread depth, they reluctantly agreed to install four new Continental Control Contact tires, for which I subsequently bought road hazard warranties from Discount Tires. As for the FOB, should it have been necessary to threaten to have the PO come into the dealership to attest to the fact that she had provided both FOBs, which she was perfectly willing to do? All they needed to do was be forthright, provide accurate information and full disclosure, but they appear inherently incapable of this, transforming what should have been a straightforward business transaction into a test of wills. I got the tires because it was easy for anyone to see they were worn. Not so much the hidden issues that Sterling McCall highlighted as RED (fail) or YELLOW (caution), like worn struts dirty/sticky throttle plate, old brake fluid and worn brake pads, all of which should have been noted by Cavender. If I wanted to buy a pig in a poke, I could've bought one from Craigslist. So, the failed HV battery pack, the single most costly component of the car, after receiving worthless assurances before making the purchase that it had many thousands of miles remaining, finally tore it for me and left me with the impression they were interested only in flipping the car rather than generating customer loyalty for a potential future purchase, unlike my Audi dealer or my wife's MB dealer who earn our loyalty every time we bring them in for service. I refuse to believe the customer who buys a used Toyota from a Toyota dealership should expect or accept a lesser degree of professionalism or feel less valued as a customer simply because the car may not command the same price as a luxury car. What's more, as Prius owners, I submit we should expect a higher level of service and demand it when it's not forthcoming.