Scottd

My engine started to sound a little weak these last few days when I went to start it up. You know the sound, the first few cranks are very slow, it almost sounds as if its not even going to catch. My engines is big (468) but the compression is moderate so I decided that the battery (4.5 years old) was getting ready to ghost on me. I know may car well enough that it wasnt timing or a starter issue...

I went to Pep boys for a generic, El Cheapo battery. I need about 660 CCA's. A series 75 dual terminal is the only battery that fits my current cable layout. I was guessing I could skate by on a 85 dollar battery...

128 bucks for the bullskit '30' month battery. I wasnt ready for that.

I worked retail automotive all through college (late 90's), there were 3 grades of batteries. 65 bucks for a 1 year warranty, 85 bucks for a 2 year, and 120 for a 3 or 5 year depending on manufacturer.

Man, I cant believe its been 15 years and the 'cheapos' are now 120 bucks. Ugh. It sucks getting old.

doorgunner

"YES"! That's kinda' high for a cheapo'. If you squeezed 4.5 years out of your present battery, you might want to buy the same brand again.

OR.........find a really cheap $90 battery and replace it in 30 months/repeat every 30 months.

OR.......if you plan on keeping the car, buy one of those gold-plated $195 batteries!

leadfoot4

I know what the OP means!!!


As a much younger car owner, back in the early 70s, I remember batteries, good ones, were $20-25. After I retired from full-time work, back in 2008, I wound up working part-time for Advance Auto Parts, for a few years, just for a little "pocket money". I drove one of the trucks, delivering parts to repair shops.

At that point, I obviously noticed that batteries had gone way up, cost wise. I'm sure that some government regulation, related to the handling of hazardous materials, like lead, is a big part of it.....

Dynra Rockets

Yes, automotive batteries have about doubled in the last 5 years. Walmart has the least expensive prices around me but it still stings.

My experience is that there is no physical difference between the low and mid-tier batteries, the higher price point is just to cover more claims from the longer warrantee period, so as pointed out above, my recommendation would be to get the least expensive battery and plan to change it out every couple of seasons under a pro-rated warrantee.

PHIL 68

I don't know about pricing but when I dragged the 4 batteries out of the basement for my boat I swear they put on weight LOL Phil

terrys6t8roadster

Teenager, first battery I bought was from Sears it cost 8$, last battery I bought was 80$. Yep I'm getting old. T

pmr2000

True on cost but I will say they last longer in general....I have got 8 years out of Sears Die Hard gold on my last RX-7 using battery tender, my C5 battery was 6 years old when I got the car!

bj1k

Don't expect the same service out of Sears DieHard batteries anymore because Sears sold out their Auto Department. An outside company owns it now and they suck big time . Any battery that you take in for testing , they will tell you that it tests good and they can't replace it. Ask me how I know. Well I'll tell you . Recently my DieHard in my corvette was only bought new recently and still under warranty and it was always going dead. All of the electrical system was new and tested good and they still blamed the car so I swapped batteries with my Silverado putting my seven year old Silverado DieHard battery in the corvette and the new corvette battery in the truck . The truck was dead the next day and the corvette was running fine . When I went back and explained that to them they still insisted that the battery tested good. Since my wife was a retired Sears manager she convinced the Sears manager to get involved and he got another new battery for me and the corvette has been fine now for about six months . Don't expect them to ever admit that their batteries are bad. Print this article off and take it with you . It might give you some hope . Oh , and I forgot to mention that I have been a DieHard customer for as long as I can remember . Not anymore !

Scottd

Its sadly a sign of the times. Sears has been slowly getting away from lifetime tool warranties (remember the venerable yellow Sears tape measure....they don't make them anymore and give you a one time replacement with a Stanley now). Their hand tools are now divided into different groups. Craftsman is still there with the warranty, but several other 'cheaper' tools are now displayed next to them with similar packaging. No warranty....and its pretty easy for a novice to pick up the 'Toolman' brand thinking its a lifetime Craftsman model. The employees get dragged over the coals when some poor customer is trying to warranty a 'value craft' tool and the cashier is like 'Im sorry sir, its not a Craftsman." (I was that guy, I worked Sears Hardware for a few semesters in college)

I give then 2-4 years until they disappear and along with them, a long, honorable and durable tool series.

But back to the battery...it seems that there has been a near 100% price increase in the last 20 years. Have tires and other maintenance items gone up in the same exponential fashion or is there some govt regulation, lead free, tree hugging directive behind the price increase?

cv67

Delco batter last yr cost me 150
They dont last like they used to even the optimas
Used to keep them for 5+ yrs avg every yr I have to replace them now.
And yeah they seem to have gotten heavier I sure havent gotten older

71 Green 454

For years now, I've been buying Walmart batteries for our 2 MB's and the Corvette. I only keep the MB batteries for 4 years and replace them when they hit the 4 year mark.
Since I don't drive the Corvette, I replace the battery when the old one fails to hold a charge. This is the last battery I purchased for the Corvette in 2014, it was $76 at that time. It really cranks the 454 over fast when starting the engine.

https://www.walmart.com/search/?quer...ahead=maxx-75s

Jebbysan

Something happened about 4 years ago and nobody can seem to tell me what but batteries retail went up about 50%.
I have an account with O'reilleys though and a $100 battery for a walk in is about $67 for me.......
I have NEVER gotten that much discount off of a battery in the past and I have had this account for 10 years......
I think they jacked up the retail price to cover EPA stuff.......

It happened in the 90's as well........when Exide was buying everything up.......

Who knows.....?

Jebby

Street Rat

Jebby your are probably correct. I know that last time I bought a plain Jane battery I had sticker shock. The new prices really suck. I'm using a deep cycle yellow top Optima. I got a free one already due to a defect. So you pay more and you still get crap!

Scottd

So the general consensus is that battery prices have gone up exponentially and not in line with other automotive related purchases. Good to know Im not getting the 'meh, back in my day, things only cost a quarter' syndrome.

TWINRAY

FWIW, I bought a Firestone FOREVER battery for my '69 in I think 1978. They have replaced it at least half a dozen times for free. It would have been more but the car was off road for 12 years. My last replacement was about 5 years ago and I had to go to management because the folks in the local store had no idea of what I was talking about. JC Penny's had the same deal at the time and, in fact, paperwork on my last replacement said to charge back JCP.

Scottd

I dont think a 'forever' battery offer exists anywhere nowadays. Guys like you ruin it for the rest of us. (kidding, Im glad you got to use such a great benefit. Most of us forget)

449er

I know that this is off subject, but in the bass boat industry, it is nothing to pay $250. or more for a top quality trolling motor battery & you will need either 2 or 3 of them depending on the voltage of the trolling motor!

TWINRAY

​​​​​​​Costco used to have 5 year full replacement batteries when under their Kirkland brand. Pro rated after 60 months. Now they have 42 month free replacement, no pro rating with the Interstate brand they sell now. Their prices are pretty good.

Dave J

I used to wait for the "sales" on car and boat/rv batteries, and then buy them.

HA! Ain't no more of that either..........

mrvette

Walmart, marine deep cycle, not only cheaper, but better but an inch or so taller which in some modern cars can be a mess due to crappy cheap skate cable lengths....so in one case I fabbed up one to work....