$200 for 12V Battery Yesterday Ouch!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by shaneprius2005, May 8, 2012.

  1. shaneprius2005

    shaneprius2005 New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Williamsport, Pa
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
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    N/A
    So I decided to purchase a new 12V battery for my 2005 Prius I bought last month. Original 12V still in the car so it's time. Anyways it cost me $200. The parts counter guy was very helpful, and told me the price for these just recently went up. My question is why? Shouldn't prices for these be coming down?
    Also I asked him about traction battery failures and he told me that only 2 have come into the shop for replacement. One was from an accident, and he wasn't sure what the other one was. He said your car should be fine at 117,000 miles. He said a 2005 was a good year Prius. Mine was assembled in Feb, 2005. He said just do the maintenance and take care of it and you should be fine. All recalls on mine have been done, before purchase, and also it has had all scheduled maintenance completed by previous owner, including 2 transaxle fluid changes. So far I feel like I've made a good purchase. Hopefully the main battery lasts a long time.
     
    #1 shaneprius2005, May 8, 2012
  2. stillageek

    stillageek Junior Member

    Joined:
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    2004 Prius
    I bought the Yellow Top battery. Being delivered today. Bought it from Advanceautoparts.com. It was $199 then I used a $50 off coupon code making it $149. I then used the Discover shopping portal to get 5% back making it $142. I will then send in the $25 mail in rebate making it $117. Not too bad. After tax , some $3 texas battery fee and the stamp for the rebate it will be $132.96 .

    My battery isn't dead yet...but it's 5 years old and I want to replace it before the Texas summer starts.
     
    #2 stillageek, May 8, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  3. olerox

    olerox Junior Member

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    Hi Shaneprius2005. I understand your shock at the high ticket price for a Prius 12v battery. There is a ton of info here in PriusChat about this vital battery. The aux battery is the core to the Prius soul, when its weakened or discharged it renders the car a crazy mess.

    Congrats on your new Prius, I hope you just bite that $200 bullet and enjoy your well maintained car. You now have a healthy new aux battery which likely won't be a concern for the next 6-7 years. Hopefully you don't need to worry about the big traction battery for 300,000 more miles or 15 years.

    Enjoy.
     
    #3 olerox, May 8, 2012
  4. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    Indeed, the MSRP has jumped recently to $199.27. This is most likely due to unfavorable exchange rates (the batteries are made by Yuasa in Japan) and high transport costs. The Optima is a cost effective alternative.
     
    #4 seilerts, May 8, 2012
  5. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    2005 Prius
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    did you buy just the one optima for yourself? or did you buy a few (optima $25 rebate limit is 4) to put in the salvage vehicles you repair?
     
    #5 cnschult, May 8, 2012
  6. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    The 12v battery has a 1 year unlimited mileage warranty.
     
    #6 JimN, May 8, 2012
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