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Honestly, should we be surprised when we get a call from the dealer letting us know we need to mortgage the house to get our Prius back. Probably not, it should not catch anyone off guard, but yet somehow it still does. These are real life people who gave me permission to share their stories on what happened to them at the dealer.
All I Wanted Was A New Stereo
This poor soul who is hailing all the way from New Zealand had the crazy run in with the dealer when they wanted to get a pretty straight forward upgrade for the stereo. Turns out, they got nothing, because they could not afford the bill, not to mention, the dealer was not sure they could do it. Here is their story.
I have a Gen 2, no auxiliary, no Bluetooth. I wanted a new stereo because it's all in Japanese anyway. I had a quote last year of $1000 NZD ($630 USD) which seemed steep at the time. I looked around and found that it was actually not so bad. I decided to go back to them. I was then told it would be $3000 NZD ($1888 USD) and they weren't confident that they could do it. They are the local Toyota dealer
The ABS Actuator
An ABS actuator on a 2nd Gen Prius is not unlikely to have replaced. The cost though may send you through the roof. This person at least negotiated a better deal and a rental to boot. Here is their story.
I had the dreaded ABS actuator go out on my Prius. I was nervous about what it would cost, and I had every right to be. It was $2600 USD and 6 days from the dealer. I wanted to keep my Prius but this really had me thinking about a different car. After a little negotiation, I was able to get the price reduced to $2000 and get them to give me a rental car. I wish someone would have warned me about this.
Lack Of Skill Left Me Broke
This guy I feel for, hard. I remember not knowing how to work on my own car and what the costs associated were with having repairs done. I am glad I never had a bill like this one. Here is his story.
My Prius had a subframe bolt that was snapped. At the time, I was not skilled enough to fix it, which ended up costing me dearly. $1300 bucks and a hard lesson learned for sure.
Airbag Light Left Me Without A Financial Safety Net
Airbag lights are not great to have. This can mean your car is not the safest is can be, in the event of an accident. Though it should not cost an arm and leg to have a new one installed. This poor soul had a quote that made him think driving the car without it may have been the better option
I needed to have a part called a clock spring or spiral cable replaced in my Prius. The dealer confirmed it, but the price that I was quoted about made me fall out of the chair I was sitting in. $1400 for a replacement in my gen 2 made me ill. I could not believe how much that cost to be replaced. Yikes.
My Inverter Died, And My Heart Almost Did As Well
Luckily for this person, their component was under recall by Toyota, otherwise this story could have been a huge down payment on new car.
The dealership quoted me $8500 to replace the inverter for the hybrid system in my 2010. Turned out to be covered under warranty due to a software recall. I had to do the research to get it covered, though.
Conclusion
I am sure there are other people out there who have had higher and more ludicrous quotes that what I have here, but you never know. Be cautious when you go to the dealer and do your homework before saying ok. I hope that you all have a great weekend and stay safe.
Check out my other story about the 3 Reasons Toyota should bring back the Prius V
See you in the next story where I am discussing why Carista is the best $20 tool for your Toyota Prius.
Also Watch New tech means more MPG from your Toyota Prius and Click to Subscribe to Torque News Youtube Channel for Daily Toyota Prius and Automotive News.
Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He is an automotive technology instructor at Columbia Basin College. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter is also an Adjunct Instructor of automotive technology at Columbia Basin College. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and you can tweet him at The_hybrid_guy on Twitter.
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Comments
Greetings I enjoy and
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Greetings I enjoy and subscribe to Torque news.
Question. Should I buy an extended warranty for my 2020 Prius Prime XLE.
They want to sell me a 10 year 100K mile bumper to bumper. Around $2100.
Your thoughts please. I take delivery next week. I can still cancel it or modify it I believe for 60 days or so. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice.
Thanks James
I have a 2011 Toyota Prius
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I have a 2011 Toyota Prius with 75k miles on it. It never gets more than 41mpg average. It doesn't matter how we drive it, we never get more than 41. The internet has been no help, when I asked the dealership if they could check the hybrid batter to see if it is charging and discharging correctly they seriously laughed at me and said the only way they could work on the battery is if there was the red death light. I had a friend with a 2016 Prius and he would get upto 60mpg. I would drive it on occasion and even drive it on a 4000 mile road trip and I would average 48+.
What can I do to see why I am getting only 41mpg? I will also mention a friend of mine has a 2008 and he doesn't try to get good mpg but he averages 48. And when I drove his I noticed the gas engine kicked on much less than mine.
I had a 2010 prius with 126
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In reply to I have a 2011 Toyota Prius by Will (not verified)
I had a 2010 prius with 126,000 miles and averaged 44 milespg. Never got the 50 advertised.
A headlight on my 2009 Prius
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A headlight on my 2009 Prius went out. The dealer said they would run a diagnostic to see if the problem was electrical at $140 an hour for approximately 2 hours. I said no thanks.
I left the car for an oil change and they called and said it was probably a bulb after all, but I should get the other one replaced as well because they tend to go out around the same time. Total cost of over $600. I said no thanks.
My local tires and such replaced the bulb for $110 and a year later both headlights are working fine.
Its a bit cumbersome but you
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In reply to A headlight on my 2009 Prius by Vince Hoffman (not verified)
Its a bit cumbersome but you can change headlights yourself. Yt has several vids showing how. I do my own after learning how much it costs. Why did toyota make it so difficult to change a $15 lightbulb
The most outrageous Prius
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The most outrageous Prius claim was when a conservative marketing company claimed that a Hummer has less of a carbon footprint than a Prius. Turns out their study was assuming a Hummer would last for 30 years and Prius would only last for 7. It was eventually debunked as other companies tried to replicate their findings and figured out their bias. But the false information persists within conservative circles especially on social media.
I'd need more space than what
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I'd need more space than what allowed,but just a few:
I always used Synthetic Oil in our Oil Changes,but the Dealership always required the Oil Change every 2500Mi. Instead of 8-10,000Mi. standard in most Synthetic Oil Changes, and recently, my 2010 Gen2 Prius. Just recently, I began experiencing sparatic rough starting, which was slowly increasing from every 7-8-starts to 6-to-5 and eventually began almost every start, yet still ran absolutely "Perfect" on all Long Term Freeway Trip's....
Well the Sealership told me, our Prius that just hit 150,000Mi. Had a possible bad Head Gasket,or worse, and would only cost a little over$6500.00...
I obviously refused and found an indipendent 2nd Opinion, and they told us a similar story, except $2000 less, then someone told me to look at a YouTube Revelation Video, from a stealership insider, who told people caught up in the horrific stealership Monopoly...to simply remove the outer O-Ring from the Coolant Overflow Cap, which would stop the horrific nightmare that forced many who didn't have a year of SSI. checks saved up, to either sell, or part out their beloved Gen2 Prius!
Well, I did so and my beloved Prius was running without issues from that point on... but knowing that I might have changed a perfected system within the Prius, so I researched the 100s other's suffering from the exact same issues that should be a recall on the 100s of other Gen2 Prius owner's Motors, but we'd never be that Lucky... since we live on State Disability, we are part of a growing group of helpless Prius owner's forced into a corner, without any help from the greedy stealerships who only pay their service techs on whatever they can squeeze out of their service contracts...
But some of them are forced into trying aftermarket Head Gasket Sealer, who's applications can get dicy for the Prius setup, but I too tried this, as a backup because of the various issues involved in the insider trick's, and so far so good on the Blue Devil Hesd gasket sesler...or look into the cheaper replacing the motor, for a used motor, which could cut the original cost,in half...
Either way, there is a growing catestrophic problem with the Gen2 Prius Motors that needs to be addressed by someone in a position to reach the greater masse's, who can help the many who struggle in this difficult economy...!!!
William Roehling