Warning lights suggest new hybrid battery

I live in CT and have a 2005 Prius with 143K miles on it.

In 2014 I had warning lights come on. (Red triangle with ! and ABS lights. )I thought it might be the hybrid battery and was relieved, since I was still within the 10-year warranty period. Turns out it wasn't that. They ended up replacing the small battery.

Last night I was driving from one shopping plaza to another when several warning lights came on and it beeped.
yellow indicator light (exclamation point in a circle surrounded by parenthesis)
yellow check engine light
see multi-informational display light (red triangle with exclamation point in the middle)
Hybrid System Warning light (red picture of car with an exclamation point over it)

I drove the block over to a parking lot and left it there overnight. It said to take it to a dealer immediately in the book, so I had it towed to the closest dealership (different than the one from 2014) this morning.

The codes are P0A80 and P3000, which they told me means I DO need a new hybrid battery this time. They said they can't guarantee that there isn't something else wrong with the car, but they have to start by replacing the battery and see. They quoted me around $4150 for the battery and labor. I later asked what the battery itself cost and they said $3192.

I called the other dealership from 2014, mostly to refresh my memory about what had been done back then. He said, yes, the code does suggest we need a new hybrid battery, but he'd first make sure there wasn't any other smaller issue like corrosion or mice chewing wires (he gets a lot of that and I had mice in my car a few years ago) before making that final determination.

He also said $4150 seemed a little high. He said his dealership has done a bunch of these and they are closer to $3600, with the battery closer to $2600, 7 hours labor and taxes.

I assume the dealer we brought it to this morning checked those other things, but who knows. While I've changed my headlights/taillights/wipers and added wiper fluid to my Priuses over the years, that's about as far as I go in the do-it-yourself realm.

Do either of these estimates sound like they're in the right price range for someone who can't do it themselves?

We can't get a new car for $4000, and are wary of used cars, but is replacing this part a good idea for a 12-year-old car with 143K on it? We get the regular maintenance as suggested. We just got new tires last year. What would you do in this situation?

The engine has been running loud for quite a while. Like it is very loud when it kicks in and makes a loud gugg sound when it shuts down, at least in comparison to our 2009 Prius. So this may not be the only thing going on, but we did just have an oil change last week and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Now and 2014 are the only time we've ever had an issue with this car. Oh, and my husband just got laid off a couple weeks ago, so this is perfect timing.

Suggestions, opinions welcome. Thank you!

 

Thank you both. Will check that out. At this point anything we can save is helpful.

 

Thanks again biglew8 and wjtracy.

Checked out the Goodwill warranty thread and, after towing the car to the second dealership, called.

Ultimate result: 2 years out of warranty, got $1000 off the total cost of replacing the battery.

Toyota rep said first thing they look at is how often you go to the dealership for maintenance. We didn't at all with this car, but we did buy the pre-paid service plan for the first 45K of our 2009 Prius.

They also look at loyalty. I thought we were doing well owning two Priuses, but she said some people have owned 8 or 9 of them!! I said we just aren't there yet -- we've only had 4 cars in our lives.

She also said the main reason she gave us anything (since the rest wasn't fantastic) was that the dealer service guy vouched for our character. She said that he told her we were nice and respectful people and he'd never had a problem with us (except he'd like us to visit more ) I was also pleasant on the phone with her for what it's worth.

So lessons learned: 1. Go to dealership for service. 2. It pays to be nice.

Moneywise, it may have been smarter to try to sell it and buy a super cheapo non-Prius replacement car (the cheapest used Prius we found around here was $5K and had 200K miles on it!), but it was just too many moving parts for us to figure out right now. This car has new tires, new brakes and has had all the regular maintenance, so if it can (hopefully) last us another 50K miles, we'll be happy.

 

The dealer was quoting $2588 for the battery and with labor and taxes it was going to be $3500, so now we're looking at $2500. Still not great, but it seems to be the best option for us at this point.

 

They ordered it today. Service guy said it should get there tomorrow or the next day (something about how they ship it b/c it's high voltage?) and then they'll put it in, since we already towed the car there yesterday.

Fingers crossed that everything else continues to work and we get plenty of good use out of the new one!

Thanks!