Do I need a new car battery?

[chia]

The dealership said that the charge is at 286, and should be at 410 full charge. (I don't know what that means exactly...)
They say we need a new battery, for $169.
What say MM'ers?
Wait? Or, do it now while the car is in for service?

[BAMFMrsB]

that's probably a little high for the cost of the battery, but I know when my battery started to die, I only had a few days of enough ampage to get the car to turn over before it died on me.

I'd have the dealership replace it.

[LoveTrains]

$169 is highway robbery for a car battery.

How long have you had the battery? Car batteries last about five years, so if the battery is older than that, you probably do need a new one. Go buy one at autozone, they will install it for free.

[Deleted]

Go to Auto Zone, or another auto parts store.

Ask them to test your battery, they will do it for free.

Then buy one from them for half the price, and a lot of them will even install it for you.

[LoveTrains]

Jan 9, 2013 12:18:45 GMT -5 jjwritergirl said:

Installing a battery isn't hard. Buy one from Auto Zone or Walmart and do it yourself. It will be a lot cheaper.

Ditto batteries lasting about 5 years.

But autozone will install for free, so seriously, buy one from autozone and then just have them do it. I don't want to mess with stuff in my car and I understand if others are also not comfortable doing it themselves. No need to do it yourself if you don't want to with free installation.

[chia]

In the end, I wound up just doing it, since the car was already in for service. We've had the car for almost 4.5 years, I figure we're close to needing a new one.

I have a lot of stuff going on right now (DH starts a new job next week, DD is home sick and pukey today, I'm tired & pregnant), so I think wasting $100 to save a little time was worth it in the end.

[limey]

Sears or Pep Boys will also have batteries, if you don't have an AutoZone near you.

[LoveTrains]

Jan 9, 2013 12:20:42 GMT -5 chia said:

In the end, I wound up just doing it, since the car was already in for service. We've had the car for almost 4.5 years, I figure we're close to needing a new one.

I have a lot of stuff going on right now (DH starts a new job next week, DD is home sick and pukey today, I'm tired & pregnant), so I think wasting $100 to save a little time was worth it in the end.

Bummer. You probably wasted more than $100. But at the end of the day it is done, so that is good. Having a battery without enough charge can also affect other stuff, so it is good that you got it replaced if the charge was truly that low.