Well its a big job to replace them but should be about $6-7k minus your core charge replacement. Contact your local toyota dealer and ask them and have the entire car ispected BEFORE you buy it including the state of the battery.

 

Pass on that "deal," Andrea. No good can come from it. Regardless, welcome to the forums! :hi:

 

Welcome to TN!

I moved your thread so you can get better answers.

 

i'm in a similar boat, and wondering if anyone can be more specific about the hazards.

i have read many accounts from very happy customers of the independent hybrid mechanics and battery rebuilders in my area who have done cel swaps, or more often full battery swaps in under an hour for 600-1800 dollars, with warranties ranging from six months to two years. it's not a big job at all - they come to you and do the swap in as little as 20 minutes.

i've only been researching a few days, but i haven't recently seen anyone spending more than $3000 from a dealer recommendation, and that seems more rare than going with an independent reconditioning or replacement. $6000-7000 is sounding more like a dealer taking full advantage of someone, or at least an ignorant consumer not looking further.

i have also seen many accounts on this forum of owners going well over 200,000 on the original battery, with just a handful of mechanical repairs. maybe they are the exception?

of course, i'm brand new here, and only going by the accounts of others. i hope more folks will chime in!

 

they come to you and do the swap in as little as 20 minutes.

You may be right on lower prices out there but below is a link showing step by step instructions on the job in question and if they can do all this is 20 minutes they either fixed the phone booth to get changed or they are just popping trim pieces off with no care at all.

To be fair my first post was from just a few quick google searches that all said the same price. They almost all agree that replacement of batteries is NOT something one should expect to do during the ownershio of the vehicle and many have gone way past 200k on original batteries. Anyhow below is the link so you can see what has to happen if you so change them.

https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/install-hh1

 

thanks for that link! indeed, there's no way i could do that procedure in 20 minutes... but its great to see that you could DIY-it in a few hours. looks like i've got the tools if necessary, too.

my paraphrasing of the '20 min' was from this yelp review of a two-man team who came to this guy and did it on his Prius. perhaps the Prius is easier. more likely the guy was exaggerating in his excitement. but i can see how if these guys are battery swap specialists, travelling around L.A. all day, they could get it down pretty fast.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/hybrid-battery-repair-north-hollywood

there are at several outfits in my area who are getting solid reviews for this service. very encouraging!

i'm actually thinking that there are especially good opportunities for buying used hybrids, as the myth of the dreaded traction battery has taken hold. but again, i'm brand-new to this so it's just my inkling.


thanks again for that link - now i'm gonna read up some more on the possibility of doing it myself, should i ever need to. :smile:

 

OK - let me be the guinea pig! i bought the '06 a couple days ago. 168,000 miles on it. turns out there's a well-regarded hybrid specialist in my neighborhood. that gave me some confidence in itself, then while talking with him he mentioned that while he has worked on many Highlanders with around 200,000 miles and over, he's never had to replace a battery. he has reconditioned or replaced many Prius batteries. of course they are far more numerous and reach back farther than '06. i asked him that if i ever had to replace one in a Highlander, what would he charge, and he said $1200.

he also said that his girlfriend wanted a used Jeep, and he told her there's no way in Heck he would work on that car for her, so he found her a Highlander hybrid with 150,000 miles on it. i figure that's an honest endorsement.


i've had mine for two days now - i'm thrilled to be getting 32 MPG around Los Angeles!

 

Hey Babycat, any updates 8 years later. I am looking at an 08 Highlander hybrid with 160k on it