A few short weeks after buying my Prius, and I already broke the tail light cover backing into the driveway. And to make matters worse, you can’t just buy the cover, you have to replace the whole tail light assembly. The local dealer has it in stock for $225. The cheapest I found it on-line was $170 including shipping.
BTW: To all the companies that make auto parts web sites? You all suck. Go back to web design school. I should not have to put in the VIN and the type of engine and transmission (on a Prius, which only has one type of each no less) just to find out if you have any tail light assemblies. I should not have to guess if tail light assemblies are listed under “Safety”, “Body” or “Electrical”. I should not be on a page that says “Toyota Prius tail lights” at the top of the page, and still have to put in the make, model and year before I can find out if you have any.
Have you called any local scrapyards? If they’ve got one they tend to be about 50-75% of dealer cost.
Of course the Prius isn’t likely to be a model that the scrapyards see much of so YMMV, but I’d give it a shot. Tread carefully with the third-party websites as I had a friend who ordered a headlight assembly for a Honda once and the one he received fit and looked the same at a quick glance, but up close it was cosmetically different to the point that it was noticeable. It drove him nuts and he eventually swapped it out for a dealer unit, unable to return the one he bought online. I’d double check to see that the ones available online are listed as “genuine Toyota”, or at least guaranteed to be cosmetically identical if not.
I just did the same thing on my 2007….can you tell me where you bought your part from (assuming you are happy with it)?
Thanks
Neil, I got my part from conquestauto.com. It’s a genuine Toyota part, and is exactly what the dealer would have sold me. I found the instructions on how to replace it on the priuschat.com forum site.