Bad Prius Warranty

Advice on what?
- Suing the original dealer: You could try, but without anything clearly in writing to back up what they said it seems pretty iffy.
- Buying a new car: By all reports a new 2009 Prius should be highly reliable. I would get one from a different dealer.
- Buying a car: A recent used Civic should be an excellent value.
- Minimizing expenses: Yeah, it would suck to have to buy a new battery for the 2001, but that could well be the least expensive option.

 

It sounds as though the problem began while the car was still under warranty. Have you pointed out this issue to Toyota? Do you have records of those visits, including your request that they look at the battery because of the warning light?

I wouldn't give up yet.

How many miles on the car?

 

This is February 27, 2009 and the failure was September 2008. Off hand a couple of questions:

1. do you have any dealer diagnostic codes - get the most detailed listing possible since that can also identify at least one failed module. But it would be nice to see the module-pair voltages.
2. has car been sitting for 6 months - does it even run or was it used during this 6 month interval
3. how much is your time worth? - you need to make some hard choices
   • new battery - about $4-4,500 but gives you another 7 years of service. Not bad for a car that can deliver 50 MPG
   • salvage battery - about $500-2,000 depending upon luck and how much you put into the battery swap but again gives you a car that can deliver 50 MPG for an unknown period of time

Sorry but there are no easy answers and you're window probably closed in September depending upon miles driven.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

A demonstrator should not be registered at all, it should have a dealer only license plate.
When a car is registered, it becomes a used car even with 0 miles on it.
Your car was registered on July 2000, so the warranty started on this date. The dealer only transfered the new car warranty to you.
The warranty expired on July 2008. Sorry, you are out of luck.

 

When you first test drive the demonstrator, does it has a regular CA license plate or a dealer only plate in Jan 01 before you bought it? You mentioned in your first post that it is licensed in July 2000. How many miles when you bought it?

The best thing to do is to check Carfax, it will tell you how many time the car has been register and to whom.

 

Hi Sherman,

Usually an auto purchase agreement contains a clause to the effect that oral promises are not binding. If that is the case in the agreement executed by you and Dublin Toyota then you have no recourse, unless the agreement specifically indicates that the new car warranty clock started upon the date that you purchased the car, vs. the date the car was first placed into service.

Since the vehicle warranty is provided by the manufacturer and not the dealer, I'd be suspicious of any dealer sales person's claim that the warranty can be modified to your benefit. The sales person has no power to make commitments on behalf of the manufacturer.

You've probably heard the joke about how you can tell when a salesman is lying - his lips are moving - unfortunately there's some truth behind that.

 

Patrick,

You are THE MAN when it comes to electronics, but you are not licensed to practice law. I don't mean to come on too strong here, but our OP is not shut out just because of the standard form contract language. Given the circumstances, I do not think the OP should give up on anything without having first talked with a CA lawyer who has experience with car dealerships and warranties.

I don't think this is a standard deal. Either the OP did not understand that he was getting the new car warranty as if he was the first purchaser (standard), or the dealer lied so as to induce him to make the purchase (fraud, and tough to show), or the dealer extended the contract. If it is the latter, then the question is whether the dealer was able to bind Toyota to this longer warranty or was extending it on and under his/her own obligation. In the first case he's in a bad way. In the second, he has a tough evidentiary battle. In the third, he is going to get everything covered.

Shermanlj: Hang in there and hire a lawyer.

 

You may be on to something here. If the contract was modified on its face and both parties initialed the changes, you have something you should take to a lawyer.

Good information to give to your lawyer.

Still worth taking to your lawyer

In and of itself, this doesn't do much. I think it would be expected that you would have the full rights of the new car buyer for the remainder of the natural warranty -- unless you and the dealer (or Toyota) agreed to something different.

This is the information on which your case turns. Please take this to a CA lawyer with the right experience. If you need any help getting recommendations, please send a PM.

 

Hi Sherman,

Here's a recap of the timeline as I understand it:

July 2000: Car entered service as demo
January 2001: Car purchased by you
July 2008: End of eight year warranty period (counting from demo service start date); car had 76K miles
September 2008: Traction battery failed

The $ amount at issue is ~$3,500, the cost of having a new traction battery installed by your dealer.

In retrospect, I think your effort to assert a warranty start date of Jan. 2001 clouded the issue from Toyota's perspective. If instead you had contacted the Customer Experience Center and said, "Gee, my traction battery failed only two months after the 8 year warranty expired, I've already spent $2K on repairs that may have been related to this, and my car only has 76K miles, can you please give me a break?" - then it is likely that the response would be, "We'll take care of it at no charge." or else "OK, we'll cut the battery price 50% or 75%."

a priori suggests you contact a CA attorney for assistance. Keep in mind the dollar value of the dispute is $3.5K - so how much attorney billable time are you willing to incur on this issue?

 

Two good things to think about, though you may not have many options left on the first suggestion. Still, if you haven't contacted management level customer service at the corporate level, you should do that first.

Remember that when you contact an attorney, you need to find one with experience in this field. A good attorney will take 30 minutes to talk with you (without a charge) and should only take the case if the attorney feels there is something worth either further investigation or pursuit. Make certain you have such an understanding at the outset.

No doubt you could spend $500 on an attorney and come away with nothing. Of course, you also could spend that and get $3,500 worth of service and materials at no additional charge.