RAC Battery Change Service

Our 2007 plate Ford S-Max needed a new battery so on Sunday I booked with the RAC for a battery to be fitted at my house between  10:00 – 14:00 today. This time came and went and I then received a text with a link to a web page which shows an estimated arrival time which has skipped continuously as is now showing an estimate of midnight to 3am.

I need the car on Saturday to drive to the start of an audax and really need to be in the office tomorrow as we have auditors in.

Has anyone else used the RAC for battery replacement? Will they really turn up past midnight and expect to be greeted by somebody who is awake.

From reviews it seems that this service is delivered by normal patrols when they are not busy helping stranded motorists – seems a bit of a shit thing for both customers and their patrol staff tbh. I really wish I used a different service.

Used twice now and both occasions the patrol guy has actually gone above and beyond as he checked the order and knew from experience the listing was wrong, called to advise he was going to be late as he was popping in to the store to get the correct battery.

I just go to ECP round the corner, pick one up and replace it. 

Yeah just go to ECP/halfords/kwik fit whatever…plonk new battery in, 5min job, job jobbed as they say.

Used the Aa once for the wife’s car. She called them using her homestart membership as the car wouldn’t start (so not a pre booked thing) and they came out within an hour. Identified the battery needed replaced and swapped it out for about €20 more than me buying one from Halfords. Saved me a trip to get it then fit it so was happy to pay the premium to get her on the road straight away.

This time came and went and I then received a text with a link to a web page which shows an estimated arrival time which has skipped continuously as is now showing an estimate of midnight to 3am.

Perhaps (s)he’s broken down…

Never used it as I’m capable of loosening two bolts.

Never used it as I’m capable of loosening two bolts.

Just how old is your car? Jump-starting cars was a regular part of my previous job, because cars could often be stored for months, and I can assure you that modern cars can frequently have the battery stuffed away in some very inconvenient situations, like back underneath the scuttle below the windscreen, hidden away in the boot…

Just getting jump-leads onto the terminals could be a challenge to one’s temper and self-restraint!

I got the local garage to do mine because googling suggested losing the power to the OBC, radio, etc., would be an issue. Also something about the computer having learned the stop-start status of the old one and needing to do it in the right order to ensure that it recognised the battery had been changed (that was one of the reasons for the change, the battery was no longer enabling the stop start)

Was I being bullshitted and I could have undone 4 bolts?

You’ve booked a battery replacement and not a breakdown? Now the appointment has been missed I would ring up and say you’ve broken down, if they just get it started then you can drive to Halfords

Was I being bullshitted and I could have undone 4 bolts?

You could, but at the very least you’d probably need to unlock your radio and reset the clock. I also needed to retrain my electric windows and trip info was wiped as well

It varies from make to make, but it shouldn’t cause earth-shattering problems

Just how old is your car?

3 years and 2 10 years. One has the battery under the footwell which easy to access as the batteries need to be removed at some point. I’ve seen some in awkward places but they can be removed and they often have extended jump points, you only need to reach the live.

We have used RAC to replace a battery on our Ibiza and they came when they said they would.  We also have an S-Max (2017).  Not sure if your S-Max is the same, but getting at the battery looks like an enormous faff.  It kind of sits underneath the windscreen on the right-hand side.  You can get to one of the terminals, but it looks like you’d have to remove other stuff to get to the battery and change it.  I’d quite happily pay someone to do it rather than try it myself.

I’ve got a Ford six years newer than you OP, 2013, (different model though, its a Transit) and removing the battery causes no problems whatsoever, nothing needs resetting at all. IIRC the OEM radio used to ask for a code but I’ve put an aftermarket DAB one in and that doesn’t, everything else is fine. I disconnected it most recently last week to do some work.

Thanks for the responses. I received a text just before ten last night saying that they had been busy rescuing motorists and will come between 10 and 2 today.

I did think of replacing the battery myself but, after reviewing a video by Haynes on Youtube, decided to pay the extra £20 for a professional to do it.

To get at the battery the air filter needs to be removed and the video had a few comments from people who had tried the procedure and were unable to reassemble it after the battery replacement.

Do they just disconnect, unclamp, swap, reconnect?  Or do they plug in supply to the cigarette lighter first and keep the radio code and such like?

The last time I bought a battery I thought it was big and heavy when I collected it from the Factor, but hey-ho, how hard can a simple job be? It turns out the battery for an A6 is in the middle of the car under the windscreen. I’m fairly big and strong but failed. the awkward full-stretch reach across the car was beyond me so I had to go and knock for my neighbour to help me. The shame!

The patrol chap phoned me just after 11. He had to go to collect the battery as I ordered a Bosch and they only have Varta’s on the vans. The battery pickup sounded like a nightmare as he was kept waiting for 40 minutes whilst paperwork was sorted out. He fitted the battery in about 25 minutes and seemed very competent and personable.

It seems the back office really let the patrol guys down.

Cletus
Full Member

The patrol chap phoned me just after 11. He had to go to collect the battery as I ordered a Bosch and they only have Varta’s on the vans.

This is where that sort of centralised service really falls down, Bosch and Varta car batteries are literally the same battery with different stickers on, so all that fuss could have been avoided

Yeah just go to ECP/halfords/kwik fit whatever…plonk new battery in, 5min job, job jobbed as they say

Unless it needs coding to the ECU

ECU coding – see the other thread about worries about older cars… a blooming lead acid battery left my colleague without her leccy car (less than a year old) for weeks as it had to be main dealer ordered (lease car).

I used the AA one when my battery died in lockdown. It was cheaper for them to deliver and fit it, than just buying a battery from Halfords, nevermind spending 3 hours and £5 on buses or £25 on taxis actually getting there and back and fitting it. Bargain.

This place REALLY is slipping isn’t it?

Ok.

Stw car battery default answer is ……

Drum roll…….

Tayna batteries.

Tick the fitting option if you want to keep your hands clean.

Should have gone Varta, not Bosch.  As per others, literally the same product from the same factory with different stickers.  But the Bosch customer support for batteries on Blighty is renowned as total shite. Whereas Varta ok.

And +1 for Tayna – supplied the Varta for my diesel pretty much next day, we.packaged etc.

neilnevill
Free Member

Stw car battery default answer is ……
Drum roll…….
Tayna batteries.

Seriously, **** Tayna. Ever tried to use their warranty? First of all, you have to either send the battery in at your own cost, or pay them a £20 “deposit” for a return kit which they will only reimburse if they decide to honour the warranty. They won’t accept a garage’s instruction that it’s faulty and won’t accept any test that isn’t made with the battery charged to over 12.6V which of course a failed battery might not be able to do on account of it has failed.

Warning siren not sounding yet? Once they have it, they “test” it and of coruse it is flat, and then they say “no warranty, because battery is flat, and that must be what caused the problem”, when of course you are returning it because it is faulty and has subsequently gone flat and stranded you. And again they state that if it can’t hold 12.6V then under no circumstances is it warrantyable, so immediately disqualify the most common failure mode.

Imagine “Yes we can see that your frame has broken in half, but we’re not going to warranty it because first it has to pass our test procedure which requires us to ride the bike”

Obviously this a bigger problem with the cheap crap than with a quality brand, absolutely never ever buy their Enduroline own brand as they are both cheap crap and the product they’re most incentivised to not support. But seriously, **** tayna, they are not a company to give money to.

(of course I threatened legal action because they were so transparent about it, and inevitably after some timewasting and futile repetition they folded because they know perfectly well they ‘re in the wrong, but even then I was without a battery for weeks and they know fine well that most people can’t wait so they drag it out)

I’ve not used them but have taken notice of pretty much every battery thread I’ve seen on this place over the last 4 years or so as my 10yo octavia is still on its original battery and I’m sure it can’t go on for ever.  Tayna seems to be the response everytime.

I’ve literally just done the same job on my 2008 Mondeo, assuming it’s mostly the same (it should be) the job isn’t that hard. Unplug the sensor on the air filter, undo the top and pull it to the side, pull up the bottom (it’s secured by rubber plugs) and fling it to the side.

To get the battery out shift the stupid flap bit, if you break it never mind. Undo the clamp on the bottom of the battery using a 10mm spanner or socket, undo the live terminal using an 8mm spanner, fling the terminal to the side, pull the battery and undo the negative terminal. Remove the battery, replace with the new one and reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.  You’ll need to put the radio code in and retrain your windows.

https://www.fordwiki.co.uk/index.php/One_Touch_Window_Reset

Tanya are much cheaper than Halfords unless you have a trade card. Varta from the former, Yuasa Silver from the latter. I have a trade card so Halfords every time.

Whoever you buy from, make sure it’s actually the correct battery. ECP, Tayna and Halfords all list the wrong battery for my CLS.

Whoever you buy from, make sure it’s actually the correct battery. ECP, Tayna and Halfords all list the wrong battery for my CLS

Second that, they all list the wrong battery for my E91 LCI too. My car hasn’t got stop/start so the wrong one would work fine but it’d mean a trip to a garage for a recode instead of just registering the replacement which my cheap OBD scanner can do.