Why are Prius a.c. filters so expensive? ($30). Even the auto stores are high on this item.
Because they can.
Filters and other car parts are priced partly on the owner’s “ability to pay”. On a brand new car, parts are sold by the dealer and no competion exists. As the car ages and becomes less valuable, and aftermarket suppliers enter the price drops.
I buy a cabin air filter at an auto supply store for my Corolla for $11. That’s because the dealer (who wants $49.95 installed) no longer has a hammer lock on the customer and there are millions of Corollas on the road making it easier for after market suppliers to get into the business,
When there are millions of Prius cars on the road someday, the parts will be cheap as well.
My Accord has two of them and it will cost me $70 total just for the filters (for a DIY job). So $30 isn’t too bad.
they’re charging you extra because you insist on calling it an a.c. filter.
AC filter is what Toyota calls them…Everyone else seems to call them Cabin Air Filter.
If you amortize the cost over a year, it amounts to less than $3.00 a month or a dime a day. I agree that the price is high, but I think that the filter is helpful.
Oh, you wanted a serious answer?
Well, supply and demand, combined with the setup cost of making and distributing any new part make these expensive. They are HEPA filters, which cost significanly more to begin with. If you look at furnace filers at Home Depot (or similar) your basic $2 filter runs $10-15 once you get into the higher quality materials.
You also have the option of removing the old filter and just not putting a new one in.
All the money saved on gasoline must be made up somewhere.
Tempting, but unfortunately, there’s apparently no mesh screen over the air intake as there is always a lot of miscellaneous “trash”, leaves, acorns, etc., whenever I check the filter. Wouldn’t want that to go deeper into the works.
I checked out RockAuto.com and found they sale a cabin air filter for a 2008 Prius for as little as $5.00 dollars for a cheap filter, and $15.00 for a better one. Just stock up on a few to have on hand http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1441534,parttype,6832
But Wait, I Thought It Was Already Taken By Those High MPG, Low Mileage Tires.
CSA
There are almost a million registered in the U.S. now…
Factory production run costs will affect an individual part sometimes.
The factory ( Winns, Purolator ) produces millions of one filter must stop and retool the line to produce just a thousand of another. That low demand part now costs more per item than the similar item selling in high demand.
Recycle your old one. Clean it with a shop vac which will remove 90% of the trapped dirt and dust, then “dry-clean” it in mineral spirits, also known as “dry cleaning fluid”…Leave it out in the sun for a few hours to dry…
My Prius manuals ('07 & '10) call it a cabin filter. Got one for the '07 onlne from a Toyota dealer for $15.