I am sick to my stomach. I did not research hybrids before buying one today.
I helped my son pay $10,500 cash for a used 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid 101k miles. With a carfax report indicating a single owner before being sold at auction. No accidents. A very clean carfax and perfect car with no scratches, dents, or rust. It performed great while test driving. My son was very excited after saving so long for his first car.
We paid, filled up the tank and headed home. Before we got home the check engine and IMA light came on. After researching, I am ready to throw up. I did not realize that batteries last only 150k miles. I suspect the previous owner had the codes reset and got rid of it. My son is devastated. The used car dealer just pointed to the sticker that said "As Is. No Warranty."
I will head to the Honda dealer tomorrow to get the official bad news. All my sons money is gone. Now he may have to wait till he can earn another 3k to get the batteries replaced and end up having to carpool till he can get the money together. I let my son down.

 

Your son bought a great car. His father, however is overdramatic and uninformed. You have not even pulled the CEL code before posting online a diagnosis as fact. The HCH II needs to be driven 30 minutes or more every 3-4 weeks to maintain the battery. Various reasons can trigger the IMA light. Man of which are nothing to be concerned about. There is no "mileage" figure that requires HCH II batteries to be replaced and in most cases a simple grid charging / battery balance will set the battery back to near new specs again. I'm been offered this service for one of my 08 Honda Civic Hybrids for as little as $25. So save your tears and don't jump off any bridges please.

 

Well the dealer has given me the expected bad news. The battery will have to be replaced for $2903. So I guess if you are an environmentalist you would think that is a great deal for a kid buying his first car. Some lame environmentalist decided to reset the codes and dump it on the next sucker. There are so many nicer cars that my son could have gotten for 13k. Reading all the other HCH owners battery issues in these forums means this car will always be a pain. I will never buy a hybrid again unless its as common across all makers as front wheel drive has become. Kids making hourly wages don't deserve to get saddled with this enviro crap.

 

Maybe you should take all the time you've wasted dramatizing about the results of your lack of research and read the post above yours designed to provide more options besides a replacement of what could be a good battery pack. This is not the complaint hotline.