My son-in-law's 2003 Civiic Hybrid just had the IMA light go on at 98,000 miles. He took it to the local dealer who quoted him $5000 to replace it plus $3000 more for a disposal fee on the bad battery. In reading the forums, I've not seen anything about the "disposal fee" and the replacement cost seems outrageous. Are costs a dealer dependent issue? He plans to drive 200 miles later this week to see if he can get a better deal from the dealer he bought it from. Any other suggestions?

 

The drive could very well be worth it. My sister has a 2003 model and the IMA recently died around 118k miles (she did not have the extended warranty). Her cost she told me was 3k. She is still not very happy with this. She lives in the Atlanta area.

 

Your son-in-law's dealer's prices seem to be higher than any I've ever read about before. And I've never heard anyone say they had to pay a disposal fee like that. I thought the dealerships returned the bad batteries to Honda to be refurbished.
Not sure where your son-in-law is located, but if he's anywhere near NY, he might want to check into this:

http://www.hybrid-battery-repair.com/hch/index.html

They have a chart on that site that lists the usual range of costs for a battery replacement, and the prices don't come anywhere as high as what was quoted to your son-in-law.

I think he's wise to check with another dealership.

 

Agreed, I've never read about a disposal fee either. Definitely go elsewhere. Perhaps his dealer is hard up for money? That's what's supposed to be great about these batteries is that they are studied and refurbished/recycled when they go bad.

I really hate reading all these stories, though, about Honda batteries puttering out.
Then you have Toyota bragging about how few batteries that have had to replace out of the hundreds of thousands sold. I wonder what the percentage is with Honda?

Jess

 

Disposal fee??? Toyota pays $200 for a used NiMh traction battery since they encourage recycling and the nickel in the battery has real value.

JeffD

 

Tell them you'll dispose of it yourself.

nf

 

Thanks for all the replies. He's driving up tonight to the dealer he originally bought the car from, so hopefully he'll get a better response from him.

 

http://www.hybrid-battery-repair.com/hch/index.html
...a link to some folks that do hybrid battery repair. I don't know them, and don't know of anyone that has used them. But if my battery goes after the warranty expires, I'm calling these folks first!

 

Those prices are absurd.

The battery might still be covered if you are in a "green state" like California...

The 2003 can be driven without the traction battery like a regular non-hybrid Civic if you don't want to replace the pack. Civic hybrids have a regular 12VDC starter and battery.

There is info on how to do this somewhere....searching....

 

I'm sure the Civic is similar:

http://www.99mpg.com/mima/faq/#cantheinsightopera