Absolutely, if you believe the 2008 Camry is going to be more reliable than the schlock they’re manufacturing today.
intercst
2 Likes
I put a $1,300 recycled battery in my 2007 Toyota Prius that corrosion had destroyed due to hairline seam leaking water into the car while I was in Costa Rica 8 months.
$300 for electrical harness, $1,000 for battery.
1-year warranty, still running strong a year later.
+$200 for 2-year warranty
+$300 for 3-year warranty
Guy knew what he was doing. Even pointed out the leak.
Hybrid Battery Exchange
Gresham, OR
1 (971) 220-5096
4 Likes
I hope we see independent Tesla recycled battery shops.
Houston had quite a few independent shops selling recycled Prius batteries
intercst
1 Like
I watched this video on the original YouTube channel.
It absolutely makes sense to put $6000 of new batteries in a car only “worth” $5000. If the car has been well maintained, is free of core structural rust and doesn’t have any major suspension flaws, the car can easily last 300,000 miles. As a fifteen year old car, its appraised value is dirt cheap which means personal property taxes are very low and insurance rates – while they probably haven’t gone DOWN during its life – would be MUCH higher on a newer vehicle. Combined, dumping the old hybrid for a new car will likely spike insurance + personal property by $1000 per year – more if you have a kid under 21 driving it. Putting $6000 for new batteries into the old car yields a car that remains reliable for another 5-10 years while keeping those artificially low valuations that are driving tax and insurance bills.
As other threads here have also pointed out, to some extent, a 10 to 15 year old car is cheaper to repair as well. They don’t have the extra cameras, touch screens, and cabin electronics of newer vehicles. Another YouTube video getting views over the last week talked about a driver who power-washed his Ford F-150 truck and got water inside one of the rear tail-light assemblies. It corroded, shorted something out, then caused intermittent problems with the actual tail light AND the camera view. You can ignore the broken camera but if the tail light doesn’t work, that’s a safety violation that has to be fixed.
The bill to fix? Something like $5600. For ONE pre-fab tail light assembly. That’s why insurance rates are skyrocketing.
I’m sort of in the same boat as this car owner. I have a 2007 Highlander Hybrid with only about 105,000 miles that is now getting driven only about 3000 miles per year. If I wasn’t worried about it BORING me to death, it could easily last another 10-15 years but the hybid battery might need replacing. It still gets about 25-26 mpg now so it doesn’t appear the hybrid battery is near a point requiring replacement. I might replace it with a new 4Runner if they ever get the next redesign released but if I do that, it won’t be because of economic reasons.
WTH
6 Likes
A definite disadvantage compared to do-it-yourself tail-light replacement setups, likely as low as $2=300, as it was a while back when I replaced the headlamps, both, because the old ('06) F150 was really dimmed by the fogging, and it was a good chance to improve the bright high beams as well. Actually the high beams are so bright, if there’s any traffic, I can’t use 'em… Lights to the night to where the reflective signs are too bright, but can be handled OK… A simple search online found a variety, from simple. near OEM to jazzed up ones… Not bad to swap, the simpler ones are just a matter of a couple screws to remove the old, unplug, plug in the new, and replace the screws…
Dealer charges for such simple work, drives me crazy… Fleecing the flock… Also why I try to use my independent mechanic, over the dealer, once I found a truly honest fellow… So much so I could have given him a blank check without any worries before the work was done. Sadly, he retired, but a new guy, not as curious as the original has been OK. Nearling 180K miles…
I did forget to mention, we are awaiting delivery, mid month the dealer said, of a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (Limited). Happened to catch a cancellation of exactly to trim, color DW wanted, and at a local dealer NOT adding on special bump up fees to the MSRP, rare out here in NorCal, those bumps were anywhere between $2-5K, so good to avoid 'em…
weco
5 Likes
Earlier this year when shopping for a new-to-me car, I had a chance to test drive a 2018 Prius. Although the car handled well and had some nice extra features (e.g. blind spot warning), it also had 98,000 miles on it. Though the car did include a 90-day or [edit] 4000 mile warranty, the hybrid battery was not covered - the high mileage was a deal-breaker.
Keeping the rental car another week was an acceptable trade-off until I found the “right” Prius 
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Hmm, my 2007 Prius has 235,000 miles. Bought it at 130,000 miles, recycled battery and harness for $1,300 a year ago. All the taxi drivers in the portland area have been grabbing all the used Prius’s because they know the battery is not an issue.
Gonna try for another 100,000 miles but I do have safety buffer in my stocks account (thank you Saul et al) to finance an expensive fix or new car.
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@MoneySlob - Good for you.
I know of someone with a similar Prius hybrid battery experience. Ironically, it was the Uber drive who gave me a ride to pick up my Prius. He bought his Prius during Covid (mid-2020) with around 30K miles on it. He knew after 100K miles, a hybrid battery replacement might be needed. He indicated that he doesn’t think too much about it. Infact, with his driving routine, his biggest car cost, after fuel, has been replacing his tires - now on his fourth set, with over 220K miles on the car (still with the original hybrid battery).
All that said, each of us needed a car, but in very different time-frames and circumstances. That changes how “life of a hybrid battery” is weighted in our car replacement decision. At least to me, foremost on my mind - there is a reason why Toyota has a 100K limit on their hybrid batteries, right? YMMV (no pun intended)
2 Likes