Car batteries, Walmart, and Me

[mwtdvm]

Well, it's been a pretty long ride and I think I did good.. But all good things come to an end.

I bought my '97 Chevy Silverado in '97 after the new '98's came out. The battery lasted till '99. I picked up a high end battery from Wally for about $100.00 with a Three or Five year free replacement. A few details in the warranty... Not transferable, Original owner and you must have your receipt. Prorated after that and IIRC that was good for a couple of years.

I don't think any lasted the full replacement time, except the one that crapped out after 37-38 months in '09. Got a new one with three years warranty then for $1.80 or so. Well that last one was well made.. (HA) It made it four years and one month. I only got $54.00 in prorated value for that one. So the old truck has a NEW battery for $50.00 (+ tax of course). And has another three year free replacement warranty. As I was going out the door, the saleslady told me "no more prorated warranties on any of our batteries". I guess not. I have been driving around for fourteen years for about $100.00. I think I got a good deal and I think Wally took a bath!! People are holding on to their vehicles longer and Wally's marginal quality batteries are failing and they are having to replace them at full price or darn near it. Your mileage may vary of course!

 

[rwsmith]

They are hard to find

When your battery craps out, it's hard to shop for a good one so we buy the ones that are designed to last 4/5 of their warrantied time and then go out completely so you'll buy a new one.

IF, that is IF I can find one with so many cheapies about I'd rather have a Delco or an Exide or even a Diehard. These aren't timed to quit after 22 months.

 

[Rule3]

Wal Mart Ever Start batteries actually have a good rating. Here in the HOT South they work as well as any others. We used to get natteries there.

Auto Zone DuraLast I think are better if you get the premium one.

 

[foxeye]

Its hard to beat a good Interstate brand battery. The battery on my John Deer lawn and garden tractor died after 6 years of hard use. I went to John Deer and would have had to remortgage the house for another. I stopped by Wally World and went in. I had my battery group etc written down, and bigger than life they had a fairly decdent priced battery that matched. So I bough it, ONce at home I compared the batteriesw. Darned if they did not have everything identical with each other right down to the mold impression and index marks. If I had to guess, I would say they are identical and made on the same assembly line, and only the stickers are different, but not by much. ONe says Wally World, the other says John Deer in almost identcal fashion except for the spelling and color and about 1/2th the price. Its been going great for 2 or so years now even after setting the so called winter seasons out unused.

 

[TAROMAN]

I worked for some time at a quarry where the batteries in the mining equipment really took a beating.
We used Interstate batteries and they were pretty good.
Finally went to DEKA agm types. They really did last.
Have them now in my motorcycle and truck.
Worth searching out. Usually sold through truck/equipment parts suppliers. Get mine at FleetPride.

 

[bgrone]

Batteries

The AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries do take the vibration better thats why Harley specs them in new bikes. As for other types I sell Interstate Delco and Exide under Paccar label, the Delco will last longer than any other i sell and I can sell it cheaper than Interstate , the Delco also has a longer free replacement period, that is the only part of the gaurantee that means anything IMHO. I have only had to warranty one Interstate battery in last ten years and no Paccar branded Exides.Any battery will last longer if kept properly mounted cleaned and charged. ASE certified Master Heavy Truck Technician.

 

[yaktamer]

Around here the summer heat really kills batteries. I rarely get more than two years out of one, mayber three.

The best battery I ever had was the Panasonic (who knew they made batteries?) that came as original equipment in my '82 Mazda pickup. Held up through hot summers and freezing winters, lasted nearly ten years.

 

[Arik]

I buy remanufactured batteries for $25ea. I bought my current car in 07 and changed the original battery shortly after. Replaced with a remanufactured one. Last summer i chaneged that one out too. Not bad for $25

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[EugeneNine]

I've worked too many years around clustered servers with teamed NICs and redundant power supplies so my truck has two batteries. I can Jump start myself or swap if needed.

 

[Rule3]

Around here the summer heat really kills batteries. I rarely get more than two years out of one, mayber three.

The best battery I ever had was the Panasonic (who knew they made batteries?) that came as original equipment in my '82 Mazda pickup. Held up through hot summers and freezing winters, lasted nearly ten years.

I did They make great batteries they are an electronic GIANT!

 

[Mcwsky09]

There was a story not long ago about a woman who bought a car I think in the early 50s and everything she bought from batteries to brake shoes had a lifetime warranty - and she has all her maintenance records - I don't recall the details but she still had the car some 60 years later and had lots of warranty replacement items over the years keeping the overall cost of ownership VERY low for her.

There used to be a BP ProCare near me - they had a 24,000 mile or 2 years whichever came LAST warranty - that I used a couple of times. One of those times was on a Pontiac Fiero that had an oil leak. After they worked on that car about 3 times under warranty they changed their policy regarding how they write the initial estimate and how specific they are on what is covered. to be fair "oil leak" was probably too generic a description. what they likely should have done was written oil leak from head gasket - or from main seal. I had other work done there as well that resulted in warranty coverage - and while I don't know how many other such cases they had but I can't help but feel that my warranty claims were largely responsible for their policy changes. They are out of business now - at least at that location.

 

[Frank237]

Had an Interstate battery that lasted TEN years in my old Ford f-150 pickup. It was garaged in the winter and on a tender. But still... TEN years.

Just bought batteries for both motorcycles yesterday. I can get 3 years max from the little bike batteries.

 

[jframe]

To the best of my knowledge, there are only one or two actual manufacturers of batteries out there. They simply put them in the case and label that applies to the brand they are distributing out.

 

[steamloco76]

Over the years I've replaced a large number of batteries and used AC Delco, Exide, EverLast, Ever Start, Interstate, Motorcraft, Sears Die Hard and private label brands. Almost all batteries are manufactured by either Exide or Johnson Controls. The batteries from the Exide brands have always leaked around the terminals or failed suddenly. Side terminal batteries being the worst leak offenders.

The longest lasting battery I ever had was an OE Delco in my '78 Pontiac Bonneville which was still going strong in 1986 when I sold the car.

 

[roadhog96]

Never bought a battery from Wally World but I did buy a battery from autozone for my truck with an 8 year warrantee on it. Less than a year later my son bought the same top of line battery for his car and the warrantee was only 7 years. They must have been loosing their butts on the 8 year ones. I agree more people are holding on to their cars longer, I know I do.

 

[jaykellogg]

I just bought a blem for $30. My last battery for my daily driver was bought at Wal Mart. They say they install the battery free, but when I got there they said my 350Z was a "difficult install". They refused to install it, but didn't give me any credit for installing it myself. My feelings are if they cannot install a battery, I wouldn't let them work on my brakes or even do an oil change.

 

[cddanjr]

Having Walmart work on your car?

For the life of me, I would have never thought of that. Wow.

Chuck

 

[99savage308]

I'm like that older lady and the lifetime stuff. I had to replace a sterring stabilizer shock on my wrangler. I t was free and it was approx ten years old. My battery is seven years old,from walmart, I'm seeing signs it is due for replacement. I'm happy.

 

[venomballistics]

Having Walmart work on your car?

For the life of me, I would have never thought of that. Wow.

Chuck

I did it once ... and probably never again ... no ... forget probably.
had a tire going flat due to valve stems not being replaced by a shady shop ... when this issue reared its ugly head I was down to WM service as my only option.
The dude at the service desk was stoned as the rock of Gibraltar.
seriously .. the dude was full blitz baked.
I figured I saw it entered into the system so what could possibly happen ... right?
an hour later the car is untouched ... so back I go to see whats jammed up ...
"Oh like the oil change" ..
nope .. made sure that was corrected and checked back in 20 min ...
"oh your the tuneup ... right"
This time I walked the wasted rock ranger out to the car ....
"Whoh .. did you know your tire is like ... flat?"
so this time I figured I got everything squared away for sure ... Wrong.
I checked back 10 min later to see what the work order was this time and was told they had to order my brakes.
so out the door I went and snuck around to the back to circumvent Bob Marley's biggest fan and talked to someone sober ... who had no idea why my car was there and was talking to the supervisor about having it towed ...
I baby sat my ride in the shop at that point.

 

[jbouwens]

To the best of my knowledge, there are only one or two actual manufacturers of batteries out there. They simply put them in the case and label that applies to the brand they are distributing out.

"Almost all batteries are manufactured by either Exide or Johnson Controls."

Intersate and Penn Battery are the other two big manufacturers. Makes me kind of smile when people debate battery "names". Oh and oil too. most is bottled on the same line.