Odd experience trying to buy hybrid battery at Toyota

All I can think is that somehow they already have a useful core to return, which gives them the flexibility to offer you a simple sale.

On the other hand, you could have been talking to somebody without a clue.

 

You don't want to have it shipped that's going to cost a fortune as you just heard You want to go pick it up at a Toyota dealer where it's shipped to it'll be cheaper for you to do that than it will be to ship it unless you're talking some ungodly amount of driving distance or what have you which is possible I didn't look to see where you are generally you want to use the Toyota Network to get it as close to you as possible and pick it up at the dealer or else you're going to waste all your core money and savings in shipping and that's just fine as long as you realize that and you're down with the program some people can make the time some can't when you can't then you pay the premium

 

i haven't read that anyone has gotten free or low cost shipping.
in fact, most dealers won't ship.
i have been reading lately that more and more dealers will only sell to mechanics. unfortunately, all you can do is call around to all the dealers you're willing to drive to.
one member recently bought one hundreds of miles away,because his wife was going to be in the area to pick it up and bring it home. i forget how he was going to return the core.

 

Or a car business owner dealer of some sort which is pretty easy to have handled

 

Why not take the core with you on the first trip?

Surely arranging another car to make that trip is easier than doing a whole second trip.

The dealers don't ship the batteries because few carriers will accept large, heavy packages that are technically dangerous goods. Toyota already has a freight service contracted to get parts from the ports to the dealer parts departments, so that's the free ride.

Anything you do after that is going to cost money, and my (admittedly limited) experience with LTL freight says the hard minimum would be around $300.

 

I've never made two trips I keep a core here ready for a return just in case this happens and usually that core that I have to return is seven or eight old batteries that I've taken all the crappy modules out that leak and look like h a l e. And I put them and rack them up in an old junkie case it's laying out in the rain and stick a front end on it you know the part with the solenoid and all of that nonsense the computer that's probably been sitting outside that I know is bad and I assemble that in 20 minutes right quick on my way over to the dealer to pick up my new battery that's sitting on the loading dock and one of those funny boxes so there's always that I realize a lot of you guys have one car one part one whatever so there's always that sometimes it'll be a battery rebuilder guy in your area sometimes you can get with him and for 50-60 bucks whatever he can help you out with a dud with a bunch of junk parts that he's not using and never going to use and he can just hand them to you in a box and you can take them home and put them all together and make some facsimile of a battery they don't take this stuff apart at Toyota You hand them a you put a case in that box that weighs about 84 lb and you see how many of those suits are going to come pick it up look at it or fool with it they might kick the box and hurt their foot and that's the end of that That's your core and that's going on they say your core is approved That's just terminology nobody's approving squat everybody's too busy on the phone calling their girlfriends and their moms and not doing work It's a car dealership for goodness sakes they're not qualifying squat. At least they're not at the dealerships where I'm going to in North Carolina they're not doing anything matter of fact they know I know I know the people in the parts department the service writers all that nonsense they see me coming there's not much happening hey Tom your battery's here. Yeah I know hold on let me pull up next to the dock and I'm going to throw this one in the trunk and drop this one in the box so you guys don't have to bend over okay yeah yeah just leave it out there and go.

 

The only problem with taking the core first is that many people don’t realize all the things that need to be swapped from the old to the new, so be careful and do a lot of research first

 

very interesting. hard to believe toyota would raise the price that much, but anything is possible i guess.

 

that's a poor commitment to recycling if true

 

Toyota isn't exactly a monolith here.

The mothership can operate a good exchange operation with reasonable prices and 1:1 recycling all they want, but if the two or 3 people who own all the Toyota dealerships in Alabama don't like that they can order their parts departments to jack up the prices and use difficult policy to push you towards buying new.

The actual modules are the same between 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation cars. Same ones used in some other Toyota hybrid cars (Camry, Highlander etc) as well, though those usually had a different quantity than the Prius.

 

there have been several more reports here of $3,000. in the last few days, and it seems to be the new official parts price.