Repairing
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A Toyota Camry Hybrid owner repairs the car's battery pack.
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Hybrid Repair Costs Drop, Especially In The Northeast
We have good news and bad news for hybrid car owners. First the bad news: basic car repairs are more expensive than they used to be. According to a CarMD survey of repair costs across the U.S., problems associated with the "check engine" light cost $367.84 to repair in 2012. That's 10% higher than...
Richard Read -
Do Battery-Pack Failures Reduce the Life of Hybrid Cars? A Reader Asks
Our reader Jonathan P asks: I have a 1997 Saturn that, remarkably, is still running. It probably has the book value of a large watermelon, so if anything major goes wrong with it, that's the end of that. If that Saturn were a hybrid, I'm guessing the battery pack would have died about four years...
John Voelcker -
Hybrids Don't Cost More To Repair or Run, But Payback Debatable
It's a concern that comes up over and over: If I buy a hybrid car, won't I have to spend thousands of dollars to replace the battery pack in a few years? The answer is, No. Not only are automakers required to warranty the high-voltage battery packs in hybrid-electric vehicles for 8 years/100,000...
John Voelcker -
California Steps Up Gross-Polluter Vehicle Retirement Program
Not only do old cars pollute more than new ones, they pollute a lot more. According to a rule proposed by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair, fully “75 percent of vehicular pollution is caused by just 25 percent of the vehicle fleet" in the state. Those vehicles were built before 1995...
John Voelcker -
Yet Another Reason To Buy a Toyota Prius: Cheap Insurance!
There are many excellent reasons to buy a Toyota Prius, new or used, leading off with the hybrid's superb fuel economy: 50 miles per gallon for the new 2010 Toyota Prius. Now you can add to that list another justification. It turns out that the Toyota Prius will save you money on insurance. The...
John Voelcker