2007 Prius Destroyed by Toyota Dealer

Are you saying that a dealership caused your engine to seize and they took it upon themselves to source out a junk yard engine to replace it? That doesn't sounds right.

 

Sounds like a great opportunity. The dealer made a mistake, admitted responsibility and wants to make it right. Everyone makes mistakes. Give them a chance to make you whole and break even.

Let's run through a little math. I don't know what an engine costs, but let's use $5,000. They loan you a car, let's add another grand. So, a month from now, you roll out the door with your car including a new engine. You always have in the back of your mind something may go wrong because of the engine swap. The dealer says Good Bye to $6,000. and all he has to show for it is a valuable management lesson.

But just what if... what if, instead, they hand you the keys to a new Prius.
What would that cost the dealer, $22,000.? You drive away really impressed, a walking talking testimonial to the dealer's honesty. On the dealer's end, he shelled out $22,000.for the car he gave you, but now he has your 2007 Prius with a $5,000. engine swap. So he has invested $22K + $5K, what's he going to get for a 2007 Prius with a brand new engine?
Anything he can get over $22K helps heal the wound. In this market, he'll get close to even because of the new engine.

Admittedly, this scenario doesn't include his lost opportunity costs for the profit he would have made on the new Prius he gave you. Maybe you can offer him a couple thousand to do the upgrade. He will come out a lot better financially, and you'll be sure you have a great car with no worries.

Maybe my math is flawed, maybe an engine costs $10K, and that makes a bad deal for the dealer. All you can do is make a reasonable offer and present the upgrade as an opportunity. Doesn't hurt to ask. Good Luck!

 

there sure are a lot of posters thinking the op should get a new car for a problem like this. nonsense. i have a problem with everyone wanting something for nothing.

a mistake was made. they'll fix it.

the op is entitled to a new engine, and a rental while it is being worked on ; hes not entitled to a new car.

stuff happens, this is not an unknown problem. rare, but not unheard of.

quit telling the op to get lawyers and demand a new car. ridiculous. not going to happen. drop in a new engine and go forward with your life.

 

Asking for a new car would just be another example of the 'me, me, me' mentality. A sad commentary on ethics here in America.

The dealer admitted their mistake. They are giving him a new engine. The car will leave the dealership more valuable than it was when they damaged it. The owner is coming out of this made more than whole.

If it were me, I'd ask the dealer for a concession which wouldn't cost them a penny - and I'd have no doubt they would be glad to oblige . . .

I'd ask the dealer for a written promise to be placed at the head of any future waiting list for the car of my choice at MSRP.

My fear of owning a Prius is for it be totaled and not being able to get a replacement for God knows how many months.

That would be a win-win. The dealer would make me happy at no additional cost beyond the repair of my car, and they would be nearly guaranteed my repeat business. And I would have peace of mind knowing I can have any future highly sought after Toyota car at MSRP ASAP.

 

10 years and about 79,000 miles. It was a hatchback and a great little car. (And I had louvers for that back window.) This was after the redesign and a few years before they stopped making them. I traded it in on a Nissan 200Sx hatchback. (Bought louvers for that car too.) In fact....I think the Nissan was an 82 so I must have had the Pinto closer to 12 years. I bought it new. And cheap. In fact, after the deal was done the manager ordered my Father off of the property. Yeah, my Dad can get blood from a stone; he makes car salesmen cry.

 

I say your story is pure BS..

For starters I can't imagine there isn't protection for no oil pressure or lack of oil.. Heck my lawn mower has low oil shut down.

Second I doubt dealer would ever provide a new engine, perhaps a short block at best.

Finally, I'd think it would take longer than a few miles plus you would have had an indication of High Temp before it locked up.

sorry but your story doesn't add up.

 

I think I know the dealer your talking about. I believe have a car on order from them right now. Would it be just south of Charlotte??? IMO I would be happy if this happened to me. Especially if it happened when it had 100k. You will be getting a brand new engine! Make sure just in case, but I feel confident that it will be a new one. The only difference you will have is that your car will be better! If I was to push anything ask for the motor to have coverage for 60,000 miles like the original engine warranty. As far as "deserving" a new car...well that mentality make trial lawyers rich and all of us poorer. Your coming out good and the dealership acted responsibly. I hate you had to go through this, but again you came out better in the long run.

 

Also Scruge your wrong. Sorry but everything he said matches fact. Stop by a dealer and ask a mechanic.

 

I totally agree with that. That's the kind of dealer I want to do business with.

 

It could be a WHOLE LOT WORSE!

They could deny responsibility and make you attempt to prove otherwise in court for the next 3 years and appeals.

I had a chevy dealer change the oil on my diesel truck and fail to tighten the oil filter. When I got home I had a puddle of oil under my truck and it was only down 1 qt out of 12.

I asked them if they would have owned up to it and they said doubtful.

I change my own oil from now on.

DONT LET THEM PUT IN A REMAN ENGINE OR REMAN YOUR ENGINE. IT WILL NEVER BE RIGHT AND YOU WILL SUFFER PROBLEMS FROM NOW ON!

 

Minor note -- the engine/transaxle in a Prius gets removed out
the bottom, not the top, as a general rule. I don't think it
fits out through the hood opening. But when the car's on a lift,
it really doesn't matter which direction things need to move.
.
_H*

 

No, they are not. In the US car makers cannot own dealerships and sell retail. The "new tool" was an employee of the dealer, a company separate from Toyota which buys cars to re-sell.

 

Hello, all,

My feelings in this are that the OP gets a COMPLETELY NEW engine ASSEMBLY (NOT a short block to have his old engine's accessories attached to), but NOT a completely new CAR (in exchange for his 20,000 mile car).

However, if the same situation happened on a 5,000 mile car coming in for its 1st service, then I would definitely say NEW CAR ONLY!!

I had a co-worker back in the 80's who had an unfortunate new car/bad experience incident of this type, but he left the job and/or area right after it happened so I never got to learn of the actual final outcome. He bought a brand new Dodge truck from the local Dodge dealer. The day he picked it up he got about 3 miles from the dealer & the engine seized up right underneath him almost causing an accident. He had it towed back to the dealer & they found no oil in the crankcase. Boy, was he ripping. The drain plug was still in place, so it got shipped from the assembly plant with no oil (where was Dodge's quality control?). All of the shipping moves must have been short enough to not overheat & seize the engine before it got to the dealer (but was the oil pressure light even in work'g order, so that nobody noticed it anywhere along the way?). Then what about the dealer's responsibility during the dealer prep process (back in the days when dealer prep was an actual charge listed on the window sticker that you had to pay extra for)? Did the dealer ever even pull the dipstick during the prep? I doubt it. A few years ago you could see other horrible examples of the dealers omitting certain steps in the prep process in Consumer Reports when they used to list the actual sample defects (now they just say they had xx# of defects, but don't list them any more). I'd love to dig some of them out & re-read the car reports & maybe post some of them here.

Well, anyway, my co-worker wanted a new truck (he needed a vehicle right away (no 2nd car at home) or a NEW engine to go into it right away, but the dealer balked & said the only thing they were going to do for him was to rebuild his seized engine [remember the truck was brand new that day & only had 6 miles on the odometer (3 miles out till it seized & the 3 mile tow back to the dealer)]. He was just beginning his fight with them & was going to elevate it to corporate. But I never saw him again after that (hmmm, do you think the dealer put out a contract on him to shut him up?), so I don't know what the final outcome was.

Another quick one : About 2 years ago my brother-in-law ordered the newly designed GMC Yukon & was all excited. Somehow he was able to track the progress of the VIN he was given (from the assembly plant all the way to the dealer), & when it showed that it was at the dealer he called to find out how long it would take for them to have his Yukon ready. They told him a week, maybe longer. Well, why so long? They told him that in the process of rolling it off the truck the transmission (or transfer case?) blew. Seems it was a new non-metalic (carbon fiber or plastic?) gear that fell apart. There were none of the new type replacement gears available as they were all being used to assemble the new transmissions for the truck assemly line. The best they could hope for was a whole new transmission. The dealer located one & flagged it for delivery to them, but after wait'g a couple of weeks with no delivery, they found out that another dealer (with a higher priority customer who had been wait'g longer) snapped it out from under them. Seems there were a whole slew of transmissions fail'g because of that newly designed gear. All the dealers were on wait'g lists for replacement transmissions. He finally got his after a couple of months with his new truck just sitting at the dealership not able to move. A short time later that transmission failed too & he got another new replacement transmission then promptly sold the Yukon. He got the next year's model of it because by then they had finally gone back to the old metal gears & he's had no trouble since.

I just had to share these new car horror stories with you guys, so maybe the OP wouldn't feel so bad. Again, my feelings for the OP : new engine=yes, but short block or new car = no. And get it in writing : warranty on new engine 'til 80,000 odometer miles & 5 years from the day it goes out of the shop---no ifs, ands, or buts.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Did they credit you for your oil change???

I had one of the guys try to remove my antenna from my 05 Tacoma at the Toyota dealer in Santa Maria, CA and decided to use a hacksaw. Needless to say he slipped and ran the blade across the front fender. The dealer said they would take care of it but I would rather not have to have anything taken care of especially paint. With my new Prius I am a little concerned that the dealer will be qualified to work on my car without messing something up.

 

I'm only being semi-serious here when I ask: if the dealership blew your engine just changing the oil, do you really trust them to replace the entire engine?

 

there's a difference between the oil change guys and the line techs at the majority of dealerships these days.

 

My sister had the same thing happen to her once with a Saturn SL. The dealership installed the drain plug incorrectly and it fell out, wrecking her engine. On another occasion my cousin got new tires put on her Audi, the lug nuts weren't tightened on one wheel and it came off on the interstate.

Stupid mistakes definitely happen in the case of everyday maintenance.

 

Are you saying when out of Oil there is no warning. Oil pressure, Eng temp or otherwise?

Read Galaxee's response.... http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-technical-discussion/25846-prius-oil-system-2.html#post341003

I've also read from an unsubstantiated source that oil pressure is prerequisite to ICE startup.

 

Even the best of the best will make a stupid mistake someday.

What matters is... after they make a mistake... will they admit it and fix it, or will they deny blame and shy away from fixing it.