Europarts vs Costco Car Battery?

roses

Hi,

I need a new car battery & am unsure where to buy it from.

Europarts quoted me £45 for a Bosch battery with 3 year warranty. It is a 3 mile detour on the way home from work.

Costco quoted me £47 for a Bosch battery with 5 year warranty. It is a 15 mile detour on the way home from work plus the warranty is only valid if I renew my membership every year (£30/year), which I do not want to commit to for 5 years.

On the Halfords website it is £80 for a Bosch battery with 5 year warranty.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_734795_langId_-1_categoryId_165762

Does anyone know if the Bosch battery at Europarts is the same as Costco? Are there different types of Bosch batteries? I have a 1.0L car and use it for coming to work and back, 20 miles each way. It's very rarely used for anything else.

hewhoisnotintheknow

do you have access to a halfords tradecard

Hintza

How long will you be keeping the car? I would vote for cheapest option especially on an older car. But I might buy a slightly bigger battery than recommended.

roses

I will keep it until it breaks down completely and is not worth repairing

mchale

Get the cheapest battery with the longest warranty & don't lose the receipt, have a look on yell.com for "motor factors"

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Why do you want a Bosch battery?

Wig

Scrap yard
£8 - £10 ought to do it. £5 if you're lucky

Some of them have a battery test rig which gives a good indication of the life left in it. But ask before you buy. "if it turns out to be rubbish can I bring it back for a swap?" Take it home and charge it overnight.


Buy yourself a "good" battery charger and by "good"
I mean one like this - actually I wanted to find one similar to this but new I was expecting about £15 but I can't find any online, I wanted to recommend the "cheap" made in East Asia type as they are rugged and will last a lifetime, unlike these new fangled electronic ones that are onsale everywhere, I have one about 30 years old, the other is a "super electronic gadget" costing mega bucks. The cheap 30 years old one is better than the new one, whether because the new one is broken or just rubbish - I can't say- but the older one charges a battery properly and it's simplistic rugged design means it will never break.
This looks ok for the price - and it's not too tech heavy so will probably last a long time.

I'd also charge your existing battery with a "good" battery charger before bothering to buy a new battery

Zanzibar

Hi, Bosch are a top brand and recommended by many - they do ranges called S3, S4, S5 and S6.

Costco do the S5 range for most cars (got mine 2 weeks ago) as is the Halfords one in your link (its clear on the label). I think you can get yours in the S4 range too - supposedly a specification down so check with Euro Car Parts if theirs an S4 or S5. I'd guess all three are selling the same battery.

see: http://www.boschautoparts.co.uk/pcBatt9.asp?c=2&d=1

Premier_2

Zanzibar wrote: »

Hi, Bosch are a top brand ...

And you know how much extra one often pays for a top brand.

Which would you prefer? A top brand battery with a 3 year guarantee or a cheaper unknown brand with a 5 year or even longer guarantee?

harveybobbles

Taken from the first link Wig posted re the battery charger...

Selling because I don't own my own car now, operation to remove tumour went wrong and left me disabled so I now have a Disabled Mobility Car with full home start and breakdown cover all repairs free

Why do people give sob stories to try to get more money...? It's like the X Factor when they have battered children, from a broken home on a Council estate with a Mother who only has one arm who is in £450,000 debt and would nothing more than to "See her child happy..."

goldspanners

harveybobbles wrote: »

Taken from the first link Wig posted re the battery charger...


Why do people give sob stories to try to get more money...? It's like the X Factor when they have battered children, from a broken home on a Council estate with a Mother who only has one arm who is in £450,000 debt and would nothing more than to "See her child happy..."

its works the opposite way for me, a sob story is enough to put me off buying thier sheite stories.