Of course the battery cost haven't come down yet!! They won't come down until after OUR problems are taken care of one way or the other. The whole thing just frosts my cookies. Keep me posted on the outcome of your situation as well. Thank you.

 

Well, American Honda has come thru...sort of. They have agreed to pick up 50% of the cost of the part. My end will be about 2K. It's less than the whole, but a lot more than none.

I find that I don't have a lot of options left, though I'll explore all of them.

I'll post what the final resolution will be.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Well, we got our car back. I had decided to not post the resolution until I got my car back because I didn't want to throw a monkey wrench in it mid way

Honda quoted us $3800.00 + tax (about $4000.00) to replace the battery. I told the service advisor that there was NO way we could pay that, especially since we were still paying on the car which we only bought two years ago. The service advisor called Honda Goodwill Assistance and this is what they came back with. They told us that they would provide the battery, but that we would have to pay $750.00 to have it installed. After initially being quoted $4000.00 and then having it brought down to $750.00, we JUMPED at it.

We were told the warranty would be 3 years/36,000 miles and not the 80,000 mile warranty that came with the original one. Does anyone know if this battery is of the same quality as the original or is it a refurbished one? Any information would help. Thanks.

 

Well, that certainly looks like a pretty good deal. The installation cost of the battery is a lot less then $750 (I believe that the quoted time rate is 2 hours, and I'll bet that it doesn't take that long). I suspect that they are underwriting part of the cost of the battery by charging you the $750. All in all, a good deal for you.

Having said all of that, for my next Honda (now don't get me wrong, I like Hondas), I think that I'll go with the regular Civic. I love getting great gas milage, but when you add the upfront additional cost (2.5 to 3K more) PLUS the possibility of paying an additional 4K somewhere north of 100K milage....well, the math doesn't work so well unless gas cost about $7 per gallon.

Thanks for the informative post. Could you send me along an email, I'd like to know which American Honda service rep you talked with. I'm not even getting that warranty on my "new" battery.

Jeff

 

By looking at my last post it would appear that my problem was resolved..... WRONG!! Two weeks after I got my car back, the IMA and check Engine light came back on... I took it to the dealership and saw the same service rep I saw before. I left it at 9:30 and didn't hear anything from the dealer until about 3:30. They told me that the battery would need to be replaced again and was wondering if I could leave it with them. I told them that they can keep the car and to give me a call when I needed to come pick it up. When I picked it up, I asked the Service Rep if the battery was replaced with a new one or whether it was reconditioned. He proceded to tell me that all of the replacement batteries are reconditioned and that there are NO new ones. Anyway, I picked up the car and brought it home.

Well, another couple of weeks went by and my husband and I were riding in in on this past Sunday. He told me that when he gets home from work, he normally has a full battery because of how far he drives every day. He had been noticing the battery doesn't seem to hold a charge after it has been sitting overnight. He has parked it with a full charge, yet by morning the battery is almost entirely discharged. I sarcastically remarked to him "Don't worry, the check engine and IMA light will come on in a couple of days." and Guess what??????? I WAS RIGHT! My husband took the car to the dentist this morning and both lights came on again. I just called the dealership for the THIRD time and have an appointment to bring it in in the morning. THREE times in a months time!!!!! AARRGHHHHH!!!!! I will keep you posted as to how this thing turns out. At this point, I am about to go to the dealership and tell them that I would be willing to trade our Hybrid model for a non hybrid model..... THIS CAR HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE!!!! Wish me luck!!

 

HSK,

Sorry that you've had such a problem. I sure hope that I have better luck w/my rather costly repair. I've been talking to one of the independent repair shops near me. Apparently you can pick up a battery from a junkyard for prices ranging from around $400 to around $900 (or so I've been told). Unfortunately most salvage yards only guarantee their parts for 30 days. The guy that I talked to said that it's very hard to test batteries, and perhaps you'll get a good one, perhaps not. Another hybrid repair guy said that the longer a battery sits, the worse off it will be.

I like the idea of the hybrid (helping the environment, better gas milage), but the more that I think about it, the less sense that the math makes.

Good luck, and definately keep me informed.

Jeff

 

Are there stories like these coming up with the prius and other toyota hybrids?

 

Fast forward six years--- battery replacement prices have not dropped. I'm facing that problem with an HCH1 that is in a Honda dealer as we speak. It is still $3xxx, certainly not in the $1xxx range.

Another gotcha, which has not been talked about on the forums. An HCH1, even if bought and registered in California, does not necessarily have the 10/150 (extended to 11/170) warranty. It also depends on the smog certification of the car- PZEV, SULEV, or ULEV. Only one of them is 10/150.

That is a nasty surprise.... Honda Corporate is not willing to assist either. They asked about what other Honda cars I have, but in the end, that made no difference to them.

Unfortunately, I'll have to take this in consideration for future vehicle purchases. Already met with a Honda salesman for 2014 Civic, but it would be insane to complete the purchase. Just economics; I can't afford to buy cars that have catastrophic failures. The IMA system has not been a positive customer experience, but I was hanging in there. But now the 10/150 warranty surprise? Wow.