To receive a one time waiver in California the owner must spend a minimum of $650 towards the vehicles problem subject to the departments approval.
If it costs $2000 to replace the traction battery to repair the car the repair cost is $2000 before a waiver can be issued. This $500 maximum repair cost for a waiver is a fallacy.
The waiver requirements vary by state for the 30+ states that even have emissions checks.
Anyone with a problem like the OP’s needs to check the requirements with his/her state Department of Motor Vehicles… the name of which also varies somewhat by state.
Ok, maybe I should look for a refurbished battery. I’ve looked a bit around and haven’t found anything. Any one know who deals in refurbished batteries in los angeles?
I think your estimate was for a remanufactured battery. A new hybrid drive battery is $3200 plus labor and sales tax this would be close to $4000.
There is a remanufactured Civic hybrid battery on Ebay for $1200, with shipping and labor the repair will be close to $1600.
Am I the only one who sees the futility here of trying to answer 3 different questions simultaneously? It seems to me that the OP is grappling with:
The most important question has still not been definitively answered:
WHAT’S ACTUALLY WRONG WITH THE CIVIC?*
dgerch, the absolute best path for you forward here is to figure out exactly what is wrong with your current car, and I’m not convinced that you have. You mention taking it to multiple places, that’s the first problem. Find a mechanic who you trust and is knowledgeable, or else take it to the dealer. That advice was already given, and you never clearly stated whether or not you followed it.
Get a thorough explanation on why the cat and battery pack needs to be replaced - ask lots of questions if needed, and get a detailed breakdown of the costs. For the cat, a P0420 code is pretty typical, but that absolutely does not mean an automatic cat replacement - it could be a bad $100 oxygen sensor. The battery pack, I’m a little less knowledgeable on. There is no such thing as a dumb question, and as soon as you don’t understand something, you need to stop the mechanic and ask them to simplify the explanation until you do understand it. Write stuff down, for goodness sake. Then, when you have as much information as you can possibly get, post it on here.
Btw, feel free to completely ignore all of this - I’m sorry if I come across as judgmental, but it’s crazy how many people come on here expecting solutions, and then completely disregard the sound advice that is given. The folks on here can absolutely advise you well, but not if you only feed them random bits and pieces of the story. A “new” car will not necessarily solve everything - it’s entirely possible for you to go spend $7k on a car today, and then tomorrow have to turn around and spend $2k on a new catalytic converter for that car (I’m guessing you were not planning on getting a pre-purchase inspection done).
Maybe I’ve been in engineering and/or academia too long, but you can’t possibly hope to make an informed decision unless you have all of the information, and (most importantly), you understand it! And if you don’t have all of the information (again, at the risk of sounding judgmental, it does not sound like you do), how can we possibly hope to have it?
Im trying to sell my 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The battery had died. I wanted to smog it but the catalyst and emissions were saying not complete. I was told new battery required 40 miles of driving. Didn’t work. Then 100 miles and 2 weeks to pass etc. your blog said buy a new converter. I called Honda asked for a mechanic. He said drive for 15 minutes at 55 mph and it worked!!! I had gone back to smog station 5 times. Finally it passed. Pass this along
Sincere thanks for taking the time to pass this on, even after all this time has passed. Feedback adds to our knowledge base and helps others. We “pass it forward”. And you, my friend, have just done exactly that!
Happy motoring.