Winter, Car Batteries and NOT getting stung....

I thought I would post this as a bit of a word of caution, in the hope that it might prevent one or more of you from being caught out.

The battery on my car is firmly in the 'questionable' category (they are known for problems sadly) and whilst I have a very good charger/reconditioner (CTek MXS5.0) that I would highly recommend to anyone and everyone, I sadly cannot legislate for what the previous owner did. During the week, there was one morning where the starting of the car was less than enthusiastic - don't get me wrong, it started, but you know the tone of your own starter etc.... so, this led me to take a cursory look at the prices of batteries so that I am aware of what is coming in terms of a bill should the worst happen. What I discovered was pretty horrendous.

First stop I thought I would try was the well known Eurocarparts. I don't normally use them, but I thought I'd take a look just to see.....



Yes, that is correct, you are seeing a price of £514.99 for a BATTERY.

Varta AGM 019 Car Battery - 3 Year Guarantee | Euro Car Parts

The link may well expire, hence the screenshot.

I then went to my usual, go-to place for many, many years - Tayna batteries and looked at the very same battery there:



G14 Varta Start-Stop Plus AGM Car Battery 12V 95Ah (595901085)

For the same, Varta battery (exactly the same) it is £171.95 inc VAT.

Now, I know that there are discount codes available at Euro, but even using those gets you nowhere near the Tayna price... and I can guarantee, you won't get near Tayna on service either!

So, the two morals of this tale are:

• If you don't have a battery charger/maintainer, get one. Seriously, modern car charging systems are awful (worse than the old bangers we had years ago), and will knacker batteries as soon as look at you, so worth plugging in once in a while (more if not being used)
• If the day comes and your battery does turn its toes to the sky, make Tayna your starting point and avoid the stupid profiteering from the likes of Euro.

 

AA seem to be back on the form they used to be years ago; I re-joined this year after a good couple of decades away from them, and took car insurance with them too.

 

That is the problem with mine @HarryS - Stop/Start, so it is an AGM battery and being a diesel engine the CCA is relatively high too.

The charging systems on these 'eco' cars absolutely badgers batteries like this too - they charge them up to around just over 50% mark and then drop off the charging current to save fuel.... the trouble is, even AGM batteries are essentially lead-acid technology which absolutely hates being much less than 95% charge and the batteries deteriorate rapidly. My Nissan needed a new AGM battery just before it's third birthday, and it was that car which made me buy the battery reconditioner/maintainer.

The battery for the Nissan was £140, although Nissan covered it under warranty, so the prices I am seeing three years on for the Jag are not out of the way - - or at least, Tayna's price is about right

 

Yes, CCA - Cold Cranking Amps, so for mine it is looking at somewhere over 85Ah; AGM is Absorbed Glass Matt, so still lead acid tech, but not free fluid.

That is a touch - I need to do mine I think as Mrs C's key can be huffy at times.

 

I am quite lucky that way - I get a warning which says "Start Engine - Battery Low" on the dash.... having seen it a few times is the giveaway that my battery perhaps isn't the happiest in the world.

 

Good old days? Blimey, not how I remember them - trying to get it started without breaking a wrist is more my memory...