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HELP!!
My friends at Darryl Waltrip Honda in Franklin are telling me that what I'm describing is exactly how it works now. All the way up to the service manager, "this is how the car works".
1 - They asked me to do this upgrade, my car didn't have any issues before.
2 - The "upgrade" letter did not mention 'sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't'. I certainly wouldn't do the upgrade if it did.
3 - Really? If you make it so my IMA only kicks in 80% of the time that will increase the life span? That does not sound like an upgrade, sounds like a bunch of crap.
4 - For 2 weeks after the upgrade I did experience a drastic loss in MPG, from 42 ish down to 30. The 3rd time I took it in that problem stopped. They said they did nothing.
I have owned Honda's my entire life (36 years). My mom worked for Honda out in Oregon. This is my last Honda. I cannot bleieve someone can look me straight in the face and tell me that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
If anyone is interested in a car, I'm selling. It works exactly as Honda says it should.
\Even if a hybrid battery fails outside the warranty limits, Toyota would most likely still offer assistance, said Pearce.
It's the same story over at Honda, maker of the oldest hybrid on the market, the Honda Insight.
That's nice... what about the Brooklyn bridge.
Don't sweat over hybrid battery failure
That may be a little pessimistic, but not much. It is after all a 5 year old car with 93k miles, even Honda's can't defy gravity.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-CIVIC-HYBRID-AUTO-CD-CLEAN-1-OWNER-NO-RESER- VE-/130435817397?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e5e949fb5
Selling your car for $6k would be like giving it away!
As far as what the car is worth, in excellent condition, according to KBB,
Trade In: $8,400
Private Party Sale: $10,470
Retail: $12,370
Can't understand why yours doesn't perform better with a new battery.
I agree with you, but that's the way it is. Heather_07hch's experience at a dealership getting a trade-in number above tends to confirm it though. KBB does not buy cars, dealers do.
Now I am in the state of CA, and my car is certified PZEV and SLUV (Tier II). Therefore, my IMA battery should be under warranty until 10/150,000. The dealer tried to convince me that I was wrong, my battery was NOT covered, and my car was ULUV only and did not meet the state requirements.
I had a pretty good feeling that they were trying to trick me, so I contacted Honda America. The customer service rep I talked to was very vague, but said there was absolutely nothing in her records (based on VIN) that would tell me whether my car was covered.
So since neither Honda entity was going to help me, I did some reseach on my own, and determined that my car was indeed covered.
I called Honda America back again, and my complaint was escalated to a "case manager". He immediately tried to convince me that, yes my car was PZEV, but based on my VIN it was not covered. He said that even though my car was certified PZEV in the state of CA, it really didn't matter. Some cars were covered, some were not, and it was all based on VIN and some info he had in his database. He then goes on to say, "your car is NOT covered, but Honda wants to keep you happy, so would you be satisfied with Honda covering half of the $3k?" Heck, no - they should cover it all. By law.
After talking to two California state departments (Bureau of Auto Repair, and CARB) they encouraged me to file a complaint, because what Honda America (and the dealership) was saying was not true, and they felt I was being duped.
I called back my case manager, and requested my denial of coverage in writing, along with any support he had based on my VIN and the Honda database. My husband followed up with a call, basically saying that we knew my car was covered, and we weren't going to go away.
Literally, an hour later, I got a call from the dealership saying my IMA battery would be replaced for free.
I wanted to share my experience ASAP, because I feel that this a shady tactic from the top of the company, down. If we hadn't been persistent, and had just TRUSTED Honda, we would be out $3k. I believe that Honda is most likely pulling this scam on a lot of people, and I wanted to tell people to talk to your state board, and stay on them. Don't believe everything they tell you. And if this has happened to you, please feel free to contact me. I think it's time to shine light on this bad business practice.
Dealers are not buyers of cars, but business dealers. Dealers buy cars to sell for a profit. What they pay for your car is way below the actual market value. They are in the business of making money! If you actually trade it in for $6k, you will see it back on their lot selling for $10k plus. Just look on ebay and the Autotrader and see if there are any dealers willing to sell their 2006 Civic Hybrid for car for $6k. Your car then is worth what the dealers or private parties are selling their cars for, and it's definitely not $6k.
My son was contemplating buying one... NOT!
Thanks for all the great info.
I wonder if Honda is backtracking because of complaints about the software upgrade or it is just more flailing around rather than doing the right thing to repair our crappy batteries.
I wish I had not done the software upgrade because it has hampered the performance and probably slowed the deterioration of my already impaired IMA battery which means I am stuck longer with it.