Just over a year ago, I purchased a Varta, lifetime warranty battery. The salesman assured me, if the battery failed, as long as I own the car, they'll change it. As I had no intention of selling the car, I figured £53 wasn't a bad deal.
The battery has performed faultlessly, however, realistically, just how long can a battery be expected to last, even with a lifetime warranty?
It also raises the question, why not install these at the time of manufacture...or will cost raise its ugly head ;-)
They do, they just don't expect the original owner to keep the car long enoughto need a new one, Varta are gambling that you're unlikely to keep the car for more than the 4years they expect the battery to last
Twas Sat, 27 Dec 2003 20:15:14 -0000 when Duncan Wood put finger to keyboard producing:
Why can't you put it in your next car and so on then when it fails tell them it was always in this car.... ?
-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.
Good job halfrauds weren't that much on the ball when they sold me a battery for my VW LT 3 years ago, when i bought my current van to convert into another motorhome, i scrapped the LT.. keeping all the good parts.. including the battery, which was a little small for the size engine in the Iveco.
The battery i got with the Iveco was a bit naff.. i suspect the last owners did the same thing.. took the good battery off it, and fitted any old battery they could find that looked like it would work,
The abttery off the LT lasted about a month, then started to show signs of dying, so i went to halfords with my bullshit head on, and got them to test the bettery on the Iveco, i had the reciept, which didn't say what van it was ordered for (they don't stock big van batteries) mind it didnt say muc hat all.. that heat transfer paper they use for reciepts nowadays is crap, the printing fades after a year, so you could just make out hte price, and that was about it.
They knew the battery was supplied by them, and at first the bloke recognised me, and asked if i was the one with the LT camper.. i had to play dumb, and say no, i got's an iveco, had her for 3 years mate ;)
they rang up the people they got the battery from (another local car parts supplier!!!!! i only went to halfords for the battery as the van was a camper van, and i would be unlikely to be near the shop i bought the battery from when it failed if the last one was owt to go on, and there are halford shops all over the country)
Anyway, the people they got the battery from said i had the wrong one for my van (i already knew that :) and sorted out getting me the correct sized one the next day, which turned out to be physicaly smaller than the last one, but has a higher cca rating and all that, newer technology i guess, and they renewed the 3 year gaurentee on the battery as i'd got a new one!!
don't worry, i got my comeuppance for pulling this stunt, a week later the engine ate number 4 exhaust valve, and cost me 4 grand to have a new engine put in her.. warning to potential iveco van owners, they are bloody expensive vehicles, parts are scaled down truck parts (the LT used scaled up car parts) so iveco parts are a lot stronger, last longer and so on, but cost a lot more to start with.
Hitachi batteries fitted by Nissan in the late 70's lasted 10 years. Not a fluke as I had 3 Hitachi batteries last this long Current battery life expectation is 5 to 7 years. Got an Exide doing OK, says 'recharge if not sold before July 1998'. Will be about 4 or 6 months older than that so it will be 6 early next year.
How the dry charge battery is filled, allowed to stabilise (several hours standing but not overnight) and put into service affects future life Reducing standing time to 20min for urgent use (and aren't they all?) will reduce life by about 6 months. Irrespective of the label a dry charge battery will last longer if given an initial charge before making it start an engine. So if you want a long life from it don't expect a new battery to be ready for fittment in less than 3 hours, unless it's common one they always keep on hand ready to go. I had one 'Lifetime guarantee' heavy duty battery that failed the same week I bought it, one cell had not been properly filled and after driving home was only half full as the bubbles and air lock had shaken out.
-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!
Easy. Take it off the 'new' one. Dad had both a 910 Bluebird estate and coupe on X and W plates. The estate was used by him or my brother for 6 years then by me for 5 more. I had to put a battery on it when it was 10. I then bought the coupe off him so I put the one year old battery on that and the 10 year old battery went on the estate which was sold. 5 years later the coupe was written off and I got a Celica. I bought the salvage on the coupe for £25 (had £150 of 6 month old tryes on it that also fitted the Celica), I swapped the poxy little thing on the Celica for the 6 year old battery on the coupe before it went to be finally used up at the local tech college. Battery lasted
4 more years on the Celica.
-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!
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