OT - another car buying question

You certainyl did do their job for them but you're not getting a cut. The saleman must think you're a mug.

Of course there's wriggle room. It's a mass produced car. It's only a brand of Fiat. The manufacturer is interested in volume sales.

It's a good job you're not negotiating Brexit.

Reply to
pamela
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Well, lease cars etc from the lease company are normally not old. Not usually in banger territory.

Lease cars are generally disposed of because they've reached a certain mileage or age. Not because of a hidden fault. Although some may have that too.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

What needed fixing?

Reply to
Clive George

It was electric, and the traction battery had had it. Which is not something you can tell outwardly, only by reading the codes or looking at the battery voltages with an OBD tool over a charge/discharge cycle.

(I must price up the replacement, because it might be useful negotiating ammunition. It might have been worth it if I'd got a price that compensated for the repair cost)

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

Reply to
GB

If its a Toyota/Lexus product there is a guy in Northampton

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who is making a name for himseld

Rob

Reply to
Gone Fishin

Hmm:

"SAFETY WARNING It is important to understand that there is no cheap alternative. Changing battery packs is a very dangerous & complicated procedure which should not under any circumstances be carried out by those who are not electrically qualified to High Voltage standards & have experience of vehicle diagnostics ? the Lexus packs can supply a lethal shock of 28.8 Kilowatts! ? Equivalent to 10 x 3 bar electric fires, ? the current these packs supply is Direct Current or DC which will tend to hold you there!"

- shocks measured in kilowatts?

The process is basically 'unscrew all the trim and unplug it':

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Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT. Which isn't bad considering it's good for 150K-250K miles. (I should have said, this is a Prius hybrid - not fully electric)

There are some lower cost bodges that involve replacing individual cells and rebalancing (which is what the above mechanic is doing - eminently DIY-able), so I don't think it's fully necessary to have a new battery

- but basically a 1200 quid replacement is the worst case.

(The vehicle in question was a bit far away, so there would have been a risk driving it home on a dead battery)

Theo

Reply to
Theo

En el artículo , Theo escribió:

That isn't bad at all, is it. ISTR in the early days of lecky cars a battery replacement was more of the order of 6k quid plus the dreaded.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

What use is a key without the car ?.

Reply to
Andrew

But it's a Prius. Only has a relatively tiny battery. A full electric car battery would be a lot more.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

The Prius is generally poor value used as it is so popular with Uber drivers. Until the point when it is no longer suitable then drops like a stone.

It's not a car that makes sense for private use used.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

The Prius battery packs contain sodium hydroxide and run at quite a high temperature. Changing them (by Toyota) requires the tech to wear an NBC suit of the sort used by the military when dealing with depleted uranium contamination.

PS What is a 'lethal shock of 28 Kilowatts' ???. Surely a lethal shock of not much more than 30 milliAmps is enough.

Reply to
Andrew

En el artículo , Tim+ escribió:

Ah, thanks. A spot of googling suggests $2.5 - $3k

It also turned up this:

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News) escribió:

A colleague who came to join us at my workplace brought his LHD Pious with him, he liked it so much. From Hawai'i.

He said the shipping, import duties, mods, registration, etc. cost him over 4k quid.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

If you already have one, fine. But because of the demand from taxi drivers, they are poor value used. And that's before you consider people thinking you're a cab. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I buy my cars around a year old from a dealer, ex demo cars. These have low mileage, have not been thrashed and there is an upper limit on price. Typically they are 25% less than new. And there is often manufacturers guarantee on them. My last car had done just over 300 miles when I bought it.

Reply to
harry

You really are brain dead. There is ample wriggle room.

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Only £29,000 here.

Reply to
harry

field in Lincolnshire, but an Italian masterpiece built to order.

It's a rapidly deteriorating, overpriced, Eyty rot box. Which you have paid far too much for. The brain dead and their money are easy parted. Ten seconds Googling:-

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Reply to
harry

it and went home.

et field in Lincolnshire, but an Italian masterpiece built to order.

Not leather seats or 18in wheels which adds on another £2000.

Reply to
Simon Mason

The one I am interested in is around £44k new, and even £33k as ex-demo is well outside my intended price range.

About 3 times my price range, roughly.

So new or nearly new is not an option.

In the past we have bought top specification at 3-4 years old, because the major depreciation has already happened and you don't pay a premium for all the optional extras.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

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