Car Battery Warranty After 1st Replacement Has Failed?

Maharishi

Hello Forum,  I'll keep this short;

Bought a Varta E44 battery from BMS on Nov 18 2018 which had 5 year warranty.
Battery went bad Jan 2021 and they duly replaced it like for like Jan 11 2021.
Replacement battery starting to show signs of going the same way as #1 did.
I still have 4.5 months left of the original 5 year warranty.

Am I still entitled to a free replacement?

Many thanks,
M

uknick

One would have thought so as it's still within the original 5 year warranty.  What you don't get is another 5 year warranty on the replacement battery.

sevenhills

The Varta E44 is one of the heaviest duty 096 car batteries sold in Europe, according to their advertising.

Unusual to be showing signs of low voltage during the summer, perhaps you are making abnormal demands on the battery?

Also unusual to need a second replacement.

Maharishi

uknick said:

One would have thought so as it's still within the original 5 year warranty.  What you don't get is another 5 year warranty on the replacement battery.

No, of course not

I really don't understand the 5 year warranty thing as I have never had a new battery, of any make, that didn't fail within that timeframe.  I think that 2-3 years is pretty common nowadays before they fail.

stuhse

I'd check the charging system on your vehicle.

Grey_Critic

You cannot have warranty on warranty - HOWEVER - if the replacement part fails before expiry of the original warranty then the original warranty still applies.

***I still have 4.5 months left of the original 5 year warranty.*** therefore that is how much warrnty applies.

As stuhse has advised you need to check the charging system to ensure the battery failure is not caused by something else

chrisw

Maharishi said:

uknick said:

One would have thought so as it's still within the original 5 year warranty.  What you don't get is another 5 year warranty on the replacement battery.

No, of course not

I really don't understand the 5 year warranty thing as I have never had a new battery, of any make, that didn't fail within that timeframe.  I think that 2-3 years is pretty common nowadays before they fail.

I thought that was not right as I've never had one fail before 8 years, usually they're 10 years plus,

However, according to Google, the average lifespan of a car battery is indeed 3 to 5 years. I must have just been lucky.

Rodders53

Maharishi said:

I really don't understand the 5 year warranty thing as I have never had a new battery, of any make, that didn't fail within that timeframe.  I think that 2-3 years is pretty common nowadays before they fail.

Really? I've never had a car or caravan leisure battery that failed that soon.  Admittedly we buy second user cars and sell on around 6 -7 years old... with the original battery still working fine.

Leas acid batteries that have failed me have been abused... i.e. not charged properly (faulty charger on a mobility scooter), over-discharged so can't recover, or similar.  Modern car systems are much smarter with battery charging than older cars were.

How many miles do you drive?  Is it too little, too infrequently to make up for the self-discharge losses?
Do get the charging system checked out as well as replacing the battery.

Barkin

Rodders53 said:

Maharishi said:

I really don't understand the 5 year warranty thing as I have never had a new battery, of any make, that didn't fail within that timeframe.  I think that 2-3 years is pretty common nowadays before they fail.

Really? I've never had a car or caravan leisure battery that failed that soon.  Admittedly we buy second user cars and sell on around 6 -7 years old... with the original battery still working fine.

Likewise. Wife's car is 9 years old and still on the original battery. Likewise the daughter's car, which is 10 yeas old.

Not so my own car. It's 17 years old, and the original battery gave up 4 years ago. The replacement (Bosch) seems as good today as the day I bought it.

Maharishi

sevenhills said:

The Varta E44 is one of the heaviest duty 096 car batteries sold in Europe, according to their advertising.

Unusual to be showing signs of low voltage during the summer, perhaps you are making abnormal demands on the battery?

Also unusual to need a second replacement.

It isn't showing low voltage as resting is 12.72 vdc.  I have no "abnormal demands"; no radio, no aircon, no fancy gadgets, just a diesel 1.8 TDCi Ford Transit Connect.

Maharishi

stuhse said:

I'd check the charging system on your vehicle.

I did; it's fine.