The humble car battery. It sits quietly in our vehicles doing its job without a fuss, and we don’t take much notice of it until it dies and the car won’t start. It’s such an unobtrusive piece of kit that a lot of people don’t even know whereabouts under the bonnet it lives.
Car batteries last, on average, between four and five years, depending on the way you drive, the kind of vehicle you drive, the weather where you live and so on. If you need a replacement, where do you go? If your car won’t start you can’t drive it to the garage. Car batteries weigh an absolute ton, so it’s unrealistic to expect to lug one around town and carry it home on the bus or train. Thankfully you can buy cheap car batteries online.
Give it a good clean first
But first… will a thorough clean do the trick and extend your car battery’s life? Have a look at the terminals and see if they’re clogged with white stuff. If so it’ll be Sulphate, which can build up perfectly naturally as your battery discharges lead. If you clean the residue off, you can often squeeze a few weeks’ more juice out of it. Use a mix of baking soda and water to loosen and remove Sulphate residue. If it doesn’t make a difference, your battery is officially dead.
Buy your replacement car battery online
There are plenty of companies selling replacement car batteries online, like Car Batteries UK. Look out for one offering free next day UK delivery and a free manufacturer’s warranty for a minimum of 3 years. Prices are usually pretty keen because the overheads are lower. Many sites sell on a drop-ship basis, which means they don’t need to rent or buy premises in which to store stock.
Look out for a supplier who provides DPD PREDICT services, which help you narrow down the delivery time window. You don’t want to have to stay in all day waiting, and DPD saves you the hassle. Just give the seller your mobile number when you order your battery and they should hook things up automatically, sending you mobile updates about exactly when your delivery will arrive.
Find a supplier who provides a telephone number so you can talk to a human being if you get lost in space. Track down a firm with the full range of batteries for every major manufacturer. And last but not least, find someone who includes simple make-specific fitting instructions for your new battery, so you can save on mechanic costs and do it yourself.
2 handy car battery tips
Tip: Heat, not cold, is the main cause of car battery failure. So summer is your enemy. Clean any corrosion from the terminals and tighten the cable connections to help keep it in good nick.
Tip: You can get your battery tested, recommended if it’s more than four years old. On the other hand all the test gives you is a snapshot of the battery’s state at the time, with no data on performance before and after the test. So it’s of limited use.