Car battery time – who online or pop to Halfords?

Just over three year old XC90 battery is on its way out (and is a fairly big one) – any recommendations for an online supplier or should I just go to Halfrauds (again)?

not got a motorfactors or even a eurocarparts near you ?

infinately cheaper than halfords – they are my last ditch attempt for parts.

4.50 for a halfords branded belt when i can get a dayco for about a quid at the factors

go to halfrauds (again) – probably still in warranty unless you bought the cheapest version

Recently had to look for a spare and Euro car parts were much cheaper than halfords (halfords own brand was 120 and ECP had one for 75)

Luckily the wife didnt totally destroy ours so a charge seems to have it up and running again. Depends on all the goodies in your car that draina the battery though I guess, we dont even have a radio at teh moment so a cheapy one to get it started is all we need

GSF
ECP
Unipart

Or for you:

CESUK – Chester branch – Website appears to be broken at the moment.

Hth

Cheers guys. 6 months out of warranty – will prob go for ECP

Any local car parts / speedy exhaust type place.

Go decent quality and get it fitted.

http://carparts4less.co.uk/

It’s the same company as Eurocarparts but is significantly cheaper if you can wait a day or two for it to be delivered.

I use an on line company called Tanya battery.
They have really good delivery times and reasonable prices too.

euro car parts were alot cheaper than my local motor factors or Halfords, i could get a Bosch battery with a 5 year garentee for the same price as batteries with either 1 or 3 years. And there are further saving to be made using that carparts4less link above. That has taken a further £25 off the price of a 5year guarentee battery

reserve online on the ECP website and use code WEBSAVER20 for 20% off.

“Go decent quality and get it fitted. “

any particular reason to get it fitted ?

Hang on to the old one too, you can weigh them in for a fiver or so.

Plus Halfords batteries are no good. I was recently told that the length of the warranty is how long a supplier expects the battery to last. Halfords is 3 year, the unipart one i got is 5 year. The unipart one was also cheaper

Three years? That’s a bit crap for a battery isn’t it?

Three years? That’s a bit crap for a battery isn’t it?

Certainly is.

Whatever you get, avoid getting the same as you had last time.
3 years is very poor battery life for a modern car.

How long should you expect to get out of a car battery in a modern car?

Mine have been 8-9 years old & replaced before they failed big time.

depends on the loading.

if your running dvd players and charging stuff with the engine off or at idle all the time when the alternators not really working great then youll kill batterys in short order.

once your cars running and at more than idle your battery is doing very little

My car is 10 years old and this will be its 3rd battery, so 5 year average so far.

Plus Halfords batteries are no good.

This is probably right as the OEM battery lasted 7 years and the Halfords one just 3 (and a bit).

This is probably right as the OEM battery lasted 7 years

I’d say that was even a bit short, but of course, will depend on how you use it. 3 years is still shite though.

The battery on my pug-e-ot lasted 7 years and failed big time. Drove home 25 miles 10 mins later car dead. 😯

Got a new Bosch battery guaranteed for 5 yrs; 50 something £ cheaper than Halfords from Eurocar parts. The nice young man even carried it to the wife’s car for me. 😀

sort of had to get a battery fitted at halfords – 5.30pm on a saturday and local to where call out guy said “this is dead and is the wrong amp hours” – so thanks to the Renault dealer for fitting wrong battery ( i know it was a renault)

– Halfords guy matched the RAC guys amp hours estimate – saved radio code but next morning start up had more warning lights on than apollo 13 – went back to Halfords “need to take it to main dealer mate we just fit them”

so if got fancy electronics take care

any particular reason to get it fitted ?

Not if you know how to do it safely, but for most folk.

How long should you expect to get out of a car battery in a modern car?

Any decent battery would come with a five year warranty in my experience. So certainly not less than five years.

My 2001 VW Multivan is on its second battery (replaced in 2009)
Girlfriends 2006 Yaris is on original Battery
Mums 2006 Audi A4 is on the original Battery

Can everyone stop recommending Eurocarparts…otherwise for every person that mentions them I’ll have to repost the following so it doesn’t get lost in amongst the more expensive recommendations!

http://carparts4less.co.uk/

It’s the same company as Eurocarparts but is significantly cheaper if you can wait a day or two for it to be delivered.

Like for like Bosch batteries e.g. S3 & S5 are £20+ cheaper from carparts4less and that’s not even with the extra discount codes for spending more than £50 etc. so you could get another £5 off as well.

The website is exactly the same except it’s orange not blue.

and you cant go and pick it up from the store that day.

if my battery has died and ive decided to replaced it then i dont want to wait a day or two ….

different for service items 😉

Last time I replaced mine I got it from Halfords and they changed it on the spot. Very impressed by their fitting service, my battery clamp was corroded to f***, but he managed to get the old one out and replaced all the corroded bolts with new ones for free!

dooosuk

Cheers for the carparts4less link, on a pair of lower wishbones and a battery i can save almost £50 for my car with them over eurocarparts. I know the battery is dying on my car as i have had to jump it twice now in the cold weather.

infinately cheaper than halfords

Wow, batteries for an infinitesimal sum, that’s basically free. Great 🙂

Re the lights on after replacing a battery – lots of cars do this. They throw a wobbly, but they will sort themselves out in a short while if the faults don’t recur. Which they won’t unless you really have a fault.

and you cant go and pick it up from the store that day.

if my battery has died and ive decided to replaced it then i dont want to wait a day or two ….

different for service items

His car is still running though, so “as it’s on it’s way out” he has a couple of days to wait for the order.

different advice for different questions 🙂

any particular reason to get it fitted ?

Not if you know how to do it safely, but for most folk.

Okay, I’ll bite – what the heck

is the technical complication involved in replacing a battery safely? Disclosure: I’ve replaced a few in my time. My technique (worried now…) went something along the lines of

1) Disconnect old battery
2) Remove old battery
3) Insert new battery
4) Connect new battery

Touch wood, so far this has worked out for me and I haven’t died…

Okay, I’ll bite – what the heck

is the technical complication involved in replacing a battery safely? Disclosure: I’ve replaced a few in my time. My technique (worried now…) went something along the lines of

1) Disconnect old battery
2) Remove old battery
3) Insert new battery
4) Connect new battery

Touch wood, so far this has worked out for me and I haven’t died…

Mate, there are folk on here that have to take their MTB’s to the LBS ‘cos they are unable to change a gear-cable – don’t assume everyone can (and will) do basic jobs.

No reason not to change the battery yourself. Make sure you have all relevant codes for radio etc. You may need to reset the window stops on the leccy windows, it will give you the procedure in the owners manual it’s fairly straight forward. Euro carparts much cheaper than halfords.

Another thanks for the carparts4less suggestion – only buying some cheap tailgate struts, but 40% cheaper on there than ecp or gsf, and only a couple of quid more than the cheapest used ones on ebay.

Will I kill myself fitting tailgate struts, or should I get them fitted?

Euro carparts much cheaper than halfords.

😆

dooosuk, dooosuk – you’re wanted!

Where’s the head against a brick wall smiley 🙂

I’ve just bought a new leisure battery from here (they also do car batteries) http://www.tayna.co.uk/ Loads of batteries with 3-5 year guarantees if you pay a bit more.

Next day delivery and code AUTOEXP gets you a 5% discount.

Highly recommended!

I need a cheap leisure battery actually.

Have you got access to Costco ?

Got a Bosch S5 recently – Can’t recall the exact cost, but worked out cheaper than anywhere else reasonably local.

Chris

For everyone going “what’s the worst that can happen?”…

I genuinely suspect the chances of getting blown up or zapped are pretty damn slight.

The chances of cocking your car up are very high on some models – I had a Peugeot with multiplexed electrics, and the proper procedure for changing the battery runs something along these lines:

Get in the car, wind down the driver’s window.
Take the keys out.
Get out and lock the car.
Wait a minute.
Pull the bonnet release through the open window.
Disconnect the battery

Reconnecting the battery involves more faffing through the drivers window turning things on and off before and after you reconnect.

Not doing the above causes a computer somewhere to FUBAR itself. The computer is a) expensive and b) frenchist dealer only, and therefore takes weeks to come into stock.

Obviously such unusual and complex procedures with expensive consequences don’t make it worthwhile sticking a warning label next to the battery.

So that’s probably the worst that can happen. 👿

If someone else fits it, at least that kind of aggro is their problem. I found out about the above due a garage disconnecting the battery during mechanical work and putting the car off the road for several weeks of headscratching and waiting for parts…