Learning How Often You Should Replace a Car Battery

The short answer to how often to replace a car battery is every four to five years depending on several factors. But there is so much more to it than that! Explore the ins and outs of car batteries with Don Hattan Dealerships, so you know not only how often to replace a battery, but also warning signs to know when it’s time to come into our expert service center for maintenance. Find out how we’re helping Derby drivers find out how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced by contacting us.

How to Know If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Replaced

There are a few warning signs that can tell if your car is reaching the end of its life and how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced including:

Dimming headlights
More frequent need for engine revving or receive jumpstarts
Takes longer to start the engine when you turn the key/push the button
Unusual power fluctuations

What Causes a Battery to Deteriorate?

Heat: Hot weather can cause liquids that have evaporated to get inside a car battery, which means you’ll have to replace your battery more often.
Vibrations: If the clamps that connect to your battery are loose, or you have to travel rough rounds near El Dorado frequently, then the vibrations may cause the battery to break down quicker.
Needing a Jump: Accidently left your lights on overnight, or you idled for too long and needed a jump-start, your battery suffers a significant reduction in life.
Time: Time is, unfortunately, the biggest contributor to deterioration, but with proper care, you can maximize the life of your battery.

How do You Test a Car Battery?

If you bring your vehicle to our service center near Newton for regular maintenance, your battery will be tested automatically. However, if you want to learn how to test a car battery at home, then you can do so with a few easy methods:

The Headlight Test:

Keep your vehicle in park and turn on the engine with the headlights on.
Rev the engine to see if the brightness of your headlights change
If the headlights get brighter, then it is a sign that your battery’s charge is currently too low to sustain the headlights at normal levels
Schedule service for further assessment and possibly a battery change

Using a Digital Multimeter:

Set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
Under the hood, touch the negative terminal (black) with the negative meter probe (also black).
Touch the positive terminal (red) with the positive meter probe (also red)
Have another turn on the headlights to create a charge
At 80℉, 12.5 volts or higher means your battery is fully charged. 12.3 volts means it’s at about 75% charged.11.8 volts or lower means you have 25% or less charge.

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery?

When it comes time to a car battery replacement, a lot of drivers get nervous about how much a replacement car battery can be. Typically, they will run between $75 and $120, with the premium batteries running up to $200. If you are driving a hybrid car, however, this cost increases significantly due to the special nature of hybrid batteries, and they will run between 1000 and 6000 dollars. This price is offset by the much lower gas consumption.

Rely on Don Hattan Dealerships to Keep Your Vehicle Healthy

Now that you know how much a replacement car battery can run you, as well as the importance of how often to test your vehicle, the only thing left is to make sure you are keeping up with routine maintenance! Our service center is ready to help you through every step of the way, so come in today!

When you are ready to replace your battery in Andover, visit the Don Hattan Dealerships parts center and check out our parts and service coupons ahead of time so you don’t miss out on a great deal!