Advice on getting car battery replaced?

peace800

I have a Honda civic 1.4 03 which I bought two years ago with a 65000 (I have no idea when or even if they ever replaced the battery) mileage and it now has 75000. As it's the winter now I'm a bit paranoid and was thinking about whether it would be a good idea to get a new battery just in case? I've had no problems with starting the car in these two years and battery seems to be ok but as it's the winter I just want to take precaution.

I'm not very car technical savvy and was wondering should I get a new battery and fitting at Halfords, any experience of their battery fitting service. To be honest I wasn't very impressed with their fitting staff when I once had my bulbs replaced. Would a local garage be better and what sort of quote should I expect?

Or am I just being paranoid about winter and do people replace batteries even though they seem to be ok?

Thanks

McKneff

I was thinking of about a 5 minute job to change a battery lol.


If you get a good price from a local garage they will often fit it free.

Ectophile

There's no point in replacing a battery if it's working fine - that's just throwing money away. If you're lucky, a battery may last 10 years before failing.

The sign of a failing battery is that the engine turns over a lot slower when the engine is cold. Once it gets to that stage, don't ignore it - swap the battery as soon as you can. Otherwise, you'll get to one cold morning and it wont's start at all.

thescouselander

Ugh - my wifes car popped its battery last week and I can't even begin to describe how much of a PITA it was as it went at a very inconvenient time. Since a battery can be had for quite a bit less that a tank of fuel I'd say it's reasonable to change it as a bit of preventative maintenance.

straighttalker

erdalenver wrote: »

Find a price for a batter using Euro Car Parts. Enter your reg and find the right batter for the car. I can't see anyone charging much to fit it, say an hours labour at most even though it will take them no time to change it. So batter plus about £60ish. Hope this helps

There is absolutely no way any garage could justify an hours labour to fit a battery. Go to your local motor factors and they may well fit it for free if you ask nicely. Alternatively, they'll charge a nominal amount but the battery will probably be cheaper than any from Halfords.

Strider590

thescouselander wrote: »

Ugh - my wifes car popped its battery last week and I can't even begin to describe how much of a PITA it was as it went at a very inconvenient time. Since a battery can be had for quite a bit less that a tank of fuel I'd say it's reasonable to change it as a bit of preventative maintenance.

I'm in two minds, if it were my car i'd be able to recognise if the battery was on it's last legs, but I wouldn't change it for the sake of it.
However, for someone who is likely to simply find the car won't start one day, then perhaps yes.
An awful lot of people will also keep jumping and recharging a dead battery, something which I regard as highly risky.

loskie

I have just bought a yuasa battery from buypartsbuy.co.uk th online arm of sutton auto factors. £78 delivered v halfords at £120 for the same.
car is volvo v50 2l tdi.
you can fit it yourself look at an online tutorial.

https://www.buypartsby.co.uk/details/HONDA/CIVIC/_BPB/1.3/2003/__/73/44B19L/battery/

Gloomendoom

Batteries normally give a fair bit of warning that they are failing. I've never known one just stop.

In older cars they can be a sod to change if the fixing have corroded.

Strider590

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Batteries normally give a fair bit of warning that they are failing. I've never known one just stop.

In older cars they can be a sod to change if the fixing have corroded.

My GFs car decided not to start this morning, she came back in and woke me up, I went outside and sure enough it was turning over slowly, I asked "was it turning over that slowly the first time you tried to start it????" she said "I don't know, I had the radio on".

*facepalm*

So for as much as you do get a warning, a lot of people totally miss the signs.

Last night she had to start it because i'd changed the headlight bulb (stupid Ford KA won't turn on the headlights if the engine is not actually running), she turned it off after about 10s (much to my disapproval), so i'm fairly confident that either a) it's flooded or b) the battery was too low to start it this morning or c) combination of both.

All I know is, if she'd been listening to it the first time, i'd have a better idea what the issue was.

salubrious

Simple to get it checked at a garage. Avoid the fast fit places though.

Most decent garages have battery testers that can check the condition of the battery and the charging at the same time.

Delia_Cardei

Being paranoid is not your fault. We all need to prepare for unforeseeable conditions and it's wise to get ready for rainy days. But I see no point in changing car battery since your battery still works. What I recommend is that you grab a emergency power supply just in case, a jump starter & power bank can be a good option. I bought a suaoki car jump starter for my DH just in case that he encounters bad situation when cold season kicks in. Lots of them are sold on amazon with good price, you can take a look.