Please recommend repair in Houston area or advice. This may be goodbye to the Prius

I think I suggested a few things in your original post:

“For Prius v owners, its used or new repairs at our expense. It has a book price of around $4k at most dealers, I was quoted $2250 at my dealer. They are a hard pair of parts to get to especially on a v. I had an independent Prius mechanic change mine with used for $1200 and he warranted it for a year. Works good now.”

So the first thing is to try other dealers. You should be able to find the $2250 price I was quoted. I promise they are still making money. Just take your quote to service advisors, no need to take the car.

For used or new try Hometown Hybrids. Don’t use their internet form, call them. Don’t expect a miracle cheap fix either, just ask if they do the work and will guarantee. Used parts and a year year guarantee would be good. If they do not do it, ask who will. If push come to shove I could give you my Austin area mechanic if you want to trailer it up. Its probably a two or three day job for him if he wants the work.

 

Rule of thumb is the dealers pay about 50% of their retail price for parts. The better mechanics at the better dealers can do a repeated job like this in half the book time as well. Ballpark, $1400 in parts, $850 in labor, they are still making plenty in their labor alone. Another way to look at it is the internet prices of Toyota parts departments at dealers like McGeorge which I also gave you in your last post. About $1800 in parts which leaves McGeorge with at least $400 profit for just selling parts. I am not lying to you, sometimes the dealers are....

Now for the gut check. How many miles on your car? Have you replaced the HV battery yet? How clean is the car in all aspects, eg does it ride good, get good mpg, cold air, good tires, etc? If the condition is good, you like the car, the miles are under 150k or you have already changed the HV battery, its probably worth $1200 to $2250 to get it running again. Otherwise its essentially worthless as a trade and no one will buy it for more than perhaps $1500. I would not put $4k Into it because the car is probably only worth $6k running, assuming reasonably high miles. Used car prices in most parts of the country are down 20-25% because the dealers have too many lease returns they can't move and the auctions are really slow right now. A new car dealer may say they will give you $1500, as is, on a trade but that's funny money they are not giving you as a good discount.

Again, how many miles? What is the overall condition? Have you changed the HV battery? Are you sick of it and want some $500 a month payments on a new one?

 

check in with jessica at hometown hybrids. ask if they know of a decent shoppe

 

They do the job last time I checked

 

I would fix it but not for $4k. It should be less than three or four months of a new car payment. Call Hometown.

 

You can also try Kennedy Auto Solutions in Tomball. Kurt runs a great shop and was a former Toyota dealer tech.

 

I was quoted $2250 by San Marcos Toyota last year. You should call around and find that price or better from a dealer even if its in San Marcos (about 2.5 hours from west Houston).

 

I’m also in Houston facing the same problem, did you find a shop or mechanic who replaced for a good price?

 

Post 10. They are less now.

 

Lot more bad stuff going to happen.
If you get it repaired start saving for the blown headgasket and traction battery.
Get a new water pump.