UPDATE: Toyota offers assistance on hybrid battery, warranty clouds...

2005 Toyota Prius, in-service date 7/30/05 (10 years ago), 113,046 miles (today)

I'm in MA, where I work and live part of the year, but the car was originally and still is registered in FL.

So, I heard back from Toyota...

Toyota got the dealer that I brought the car to, last week, to come down from roughly $5300 to $4900 (battery and new computer module) and Toyota agreed to donate $1900 towards the battery cost, so I'm at $3000.

I don't think I need the new computer module, the service tech said I just had two bad cells.

$3000 is still much more than I want to spend on the car, having just spent $3000 on the brake actuator, pads, and drive belt last month. My back-up plan is a rebuilt for around $1500 with warranty.

The Toyota rep suggested I call another dealer and try to find a lower price, and then he would start the process over and see how much assistance he could get from Toyota.

So, I called the first dealer I had originally called, but had been booked for a week out and unable to take my car.

They put my VIN in their Toyota computer and it is telling them that my car is still under warranty for the hybrid battery replacement, through today, even though it is registered in FL (and originally sold in FL). She said this is the system that they use to determine warranties and she doesn't understand how it could be wrong.

I explained the rejection of warranty claims on cars sold or registered in non CARB states and this was news to her, but she opened a new repair order on the car and we are going to see if she can get the battery replaced under warranty, or at least see how inexpensively we can get the repair done with Toyota assistance.

Stay tuned...

 

Yes, I'm hoping for that, I would much prefer a new, original, Toyota part. The Dealer said something interesting which I have only read on here once which is that, technically, their understanding is that the car itself carries the warranty if it was built to CARB certification regardless of what state it is registered in. I found one post on here where a PA guy sued Toyota in small claims court for battery replacement and won because his car was originally sold in CA, but Toyota had filed an appeal, and the guy never posted again... I'll see if I can find it.

 

Yes if they will still give it to me. He said the amount may vary depending on what the new estimate to replace the battery is, he said it's all done on a case by case basis, it might not be $1900 again, he'd have to start over with a new dealer price quote and work from there. Very nice guy at Toyota, he really wants to do his best, I'll keep y'all posted.

 

wjtracy, when was your initial in-service date? the Toyota rep actually told me if I registered the car in MA it would be covered, but it was too late to do it now... so i'm getting conflicting info from dealer who says CARB equipment is warrantied regardless of state vs. Toyota telling me it has to do with current registration. it seems like semantics.

 

UPDATE: Going with new battery with Toyota assistance at my local dealership. cost with Toyota assistance about $750 plus 5 hours labor.

When I brought the car into my other local Dealer yesterday, they said once Toyota corporate has made a decision regarding warranty and put notes in the system, they can't override it, even thought the Toyota computer system and they believe the battery should be warrantied regardless of state (FL registration). They said in the past, California's emission equipment on a vehicle was always covered under the california warranty regardless of state, so this 'out of state' registration warranty refusal thing is new to them. I think they just haven't encountered it because they only see Massachusetts cars. Nevertheless, they were willing to lose money on the battery at $2495 (they don't understand how other dealerships can offer it for $2000 unless they are getting some sort of bulk pricing/shipping deal from Toyota).

Anyway, once Toyota got involved in dealing directly with the dealership, with the goodwill assistance, the battery cost was bumped to the warranty rate of $2600 plus tax and labor and Toyota agreed to still contribute about $1950, so I should be out of there around $1300 I figure with tax for the new battery. All in all, a very good deal, and much better than where I started.

 

Yes, I agree, cheaper to do goodwill replacement than deal with lots of lawsuits or total warranty coverage.

 

Just picked up the Prius today, total out the door was $1005 for a new battery. Toyota contributed $1953 and I think the dealer gave me a good deal on labor at $225 (either they were quick, or discounted it). So far, I think the car is running much better than it did before the battery failed, in some ways I think better than it ever has, it keeps accelerating in EV only mode with a light pedal, but without me having to "try" to get it to do that by feathering it, etc.. I can't recall it ever doing that so easily, gas engine still kicks in when I want to pick up speed, but this is a noticeable improvement. I can drive between stop signs in neighborhoods on electric only without working at it.

So far 52mpg driving around town, up and down hills in Western MA. Gotta hand it to Toyota for designing a great car.

 

yep, it all evened out.

 

Thanks, yes, definitely running better, even goes into the no gas no battery coast zone much easier, i haven't had that in a long time, I had actually forgotten about it. Noticed today though that the driver's side speaker is buzzing, I hope the mechanics didn't blow the speaker