Took my Prius in today for her 8000mi. oil change and tire rotation. After over an hour wait I went to see what was taking so long as it wasn't busy and the entire waiting room had turned over since I got there. They said "We're washing your car." I though, "oh, that's nice, but why...." Reading my face the service mgr said "But, there's a reason. We scratched your rim." "Not so good, I thought." He quickly came back with, "But we're going to order a new one and replace it for you, on our dime." "Ok, that's decent of them, I probably wouldn't have even noticed." So a while later the car was ready and he came out to show me what had happened. In passing he mentioned that they had to look up the part and get it ordered...the wheel/rim + the trim/rim...... $400!!! Should be in by next week and they'll, of course, put it on for free too, but dang, that's a heck of a lot considering some of the nicer custom chrome rims don't cost that much. Also, I'd heard rumors about a new Special Service Campaign (allegedly SSC-40D) and asked the service folks about that. They got on-line to check and said that there were NO open service campaigns. I'll keep an eye on this, but I haven't seen anyone post the actual letter or information about this SSC, if there really is one.
Well, remember that the price they showed you is probably their MSRP price. When my electronic power steering pump went out on my MR2 Dick Dyer Toyota wanted $925 for it - I talked to our family friend who owns Toyota of Greenville and his price was $400. So, DD was adding a $525 mark-up. And that DID NOT include installation. To book-end the story for you, I found a pump for $100 from a salvage merchant, 6 month warranty, and put it in in less than 15 minutes.
It was posted in another thread that the front thermos assembly (the thermos is the stainless steel container for storing hot water) costs $4,600 (or was it $6,400)?
So, a Prius costs Less than the Sum of it's Parts? Seems like buying the parts for the Prius, if one were inclined to build his own from ground up, would cost you about $75k give or take!!
Did you find out if they curbed the rim? One of the arguments the Toyota folks gave at the dealer training for the trim rings was that trim was cheaper to replace than rims. If what happened to you was curbing, I suppose that argument is false :-/
