The main drive battery on my 2007 Prius failed. I ...

The main drive battery on my 2007 Prius failed. I took it to the nearest place, Priority Toyota. They wanted $3746.71 for the battery and added a bunch of other service recommendations for a total of $5232.76 (about what the car was worth). My battery warranty was one year beyond the the 8 year limit. I called Toyota corporate and got them to knock off $1000. Unfortunately, they arranged with Priority to get it done. I had read the reviews which put this dealer near the bottom of area Toyota dealers. I did a lot of reading at Prius Chat and went back to Priority. My guy there was Luis Galarza, who seemed a nice guy, but he was clearly doing the dealer upselling dance with me. In fact, he said the original battery replacement cost was actually north of $4000 as "we had discussed." He had never mentioned anything like that. I had his estimate in my hand. I was having none of that. He backed down. Later he said that it was a misunderstanding. Maybe.

I walked through the rest of the estimate with him and just went with one modified other service. Then, on the advice of an attorney friend, I wrote Luis an email with my clear understanding of our agreement. Next time I will record the agreement on my phone when I face an expensive repair.

After that they gave me a nice free loaner car and Luis seemed to work hard to let me know when the battery had been received and worked quickly to put it in. So far, so good.

Would I go back to Priority? Probably, but definitely with my guard up.