Car battery? Is there a difference from where you buy?

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rayonline

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#230607 4-Mar-2018 15:01

Is there a significant difference where you buy a car battery? Bought a Century battery from supercheapauto today after needing a jump start. Noticeably cheaper than from a mechanic place we used before. There are also others like Battery Marshall and AA Batteries.

Is there a difference in car battery?

Cheers.

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#1967920 4-Mar-2018 15:13

Yes. Century is a good brand.

No difference to buying anything else, different outlets will have different prices for the same identical thing.

AKLWestie

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#1967961 4-Mar-2018 17:04

I found Exide and Century batteries are good.

AA battery not so good. Had one died just over two years. Exide and Century batteries can last four to five years.

One good thing about buying car batteries from Supercheap auto is that they will print a separate, proper paper receipt for you, on top of those thermal paper one. So in case you need to claim warranty, your proof of purchase is still there (not faded away).

timmmay

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#1967966 4-Mar-2018 17:44

AKLWestie:

One good thing about buying car batteries from Supercheap auto is that they will print a separate, proper paper receipt for you, on top of those thermal paper one. So in case you need to claim warranty, your proof of purchase is still there (not faded away).

I scan all my receipts and throw the original away. I name the file with what I purchased and where from. When I want something I use Everything Search to find it instantly.

k1w1k1d

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#1967974 4-Mar-2018 18:21

You have to be careful comparing battery brands as there is so much "badge engineering" that it is very difficult to determine who actually manufactured the battery.

Exide batteries for example are available from many sources with different stickers on them. Pretty sure The Warehouse batteries are Exides?

Bung

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#1968006 4-Mar-2018 21:07

AFAIK the price often reflects more on the length of the warranty than any difference in battery.

xpd

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#1968095 5-Mar-2018 07:49

Bung: AFAIK the price often reflects more on the length of the warranty than any difference in battery.

Long as its a "known" brand, yeah.

Our local mechanic sold us a Panasonic - he admitted there was actually stuff all difference between that and the other slightly cheaper brand he sells, but the warranty was longer. (3 vs 2)

XPD / Gavin

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Linux

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#1968102 5-Mar-2018 08:15

AKLWestie:

I found Exide and Century batteries are good.

AA battery not so good. Had one died just over two years. Exide and Century batteries can last four to five years.

One good thing about buying car batteries from Supercheap auto is that they will print a separate, proper paper receipt for you, on top of those thermal paper one. So in case you need to claim warranty, your proof of purchase is still there (not faded away).

AA use Exide batteries with a different sticker on it they come out of the same factory

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tripper1000

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#1968104 5-Mar-2018 08:25

A good rule of thumb is that the warranty period indicates quality.

The manufacturers/importers know pretty well how long their batteries will last under typical conditions and set the WTY accordingly (if you look after them you will get longer and if you abuse them you will get less of course).

You can commonly find batteries with wty's ranging from 6 months to 36 months.

Don't be tempted to save money by fitting a lower CCA battery than the car maker recommends - the car may start OK in the early days, but the battery will wear out faster because it is working harder.

Coil

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#1968105 5-Mar-2018 08:26

Pretty sure AA Batteries are refurbs.
Century Yuasa batteries I found to be really good along with Genuine brand ones.

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#1968108 5-Mar-2018 08:27

Coil:

Pretty sure AA Batteries are refurbs.

No way

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Lias

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#1968141 5-Mar-2018 09:46

I'm also a fan of Century Yuasa batteries.

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#1968143 5-Mar-2018 09:49

Yuasa is good

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mclean

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#1968162 5-Mar-2018 10:13

Most top end car service people seem to have a preference for Varta. They're not cheap but I don't believe the price difference reflects just a difference in the warranty - I think it's quality.

Cars like BMW/Mercedes/Audi have battery management computers which are sensitive to battery quality. You don't want to buy a Supercheap battery for cars like this, and it definitely isn't a case of simply unbolting the old one and putting a new one in.

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#1968231 5-Mar-2018 11:43

Coil:
Pretty sure AA Batteries are refurbs.

Pretty sure AA batteries are re-brands. Please don’t make statements like that without substantiation.

tripper1000

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#1968239 5-Mar-2018 12:12

mclean:

Cars like BMW/Mercedes/Audi have battery management computers which are sensitive to battery quality. You don't want to buy a Supercheap battery for cars like this, and it definitely isn't a case of simply unbolting the old one and putting a new one in.

Some BMS systems need to be reset when you fit a new battery. If your car has a BMS you'll need to google weather it needs resetting and how to do it.

Varta is a European brand. It is typically the OEM battery in most those marques you mentioned. The style (dimensions and terminal posts) of batteries in German cars can differ from Japanese, Australian & Korean cars, so alternate options to Varta can be less common and/or less competitive in NZ simply due to the smaller NZ market.

Incidentally BMS systems can make the car pretty ineffective as a donor car when jump starting another flat car - the alternator in the running car switches off until the car is engine braking so it won't necessarily/always recharge it's own battery/the other cars battery when stationary. It can be pretty confusing/frustrating if you're not aware the BMS is sabotaging your efforts to be a good Samaritan.

AA batteries are brand new not refurbished. I don't know of any reputable automotive company retailing reconditioned batteries.

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