How Often to Replace a Car Battery

How often to replace a battery depends on how often you drive, how you drive, the climate you drive in, and more. We’ll look at how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced and how much a replacement car battery costs below while going over battery replacement intervals.

How to Know If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Replaced

Knowing how often to replace a car battery is just as important as understanding how to check your transmission fluid. Here are the warning signs that your battery needs to be replaced:

• Dimming headlights
• Unusual power fluctuations
• There’s a more frequent need for engine revving or jump starts
• It takes longer to start the engine when you turn the key/push the button

What Causes Car Battery Deterioration?

When you need to replace your car battery depends on a variety of factors:

• Time: A car battery can only go through so many charge cycles, but proper care can give you more time before needing to replace a battery.
• Heat: Hot weather causes liquids to evaporate inside a car battery, and your battery life will be shorter if you live in a more consistently hot climate. Always try to park your car in an air-conditioned environment at home.
• Vibrations: If your battery’s hold-down clamps are loose, or you drive over rough roads frequently where you live, vibrations can cause internal battery parts to break down faster.
• It Needs a Jump: If your battery needs a jump because the lights were left on, etc., this will have a negative impact on your battery’s total lifespan.

How to Test a Car Battery

It’s easy to find a local auto parts store that can do a battery test for your battery, but we also have some easy steps below to test your battery’s charge:

Testing Your Headlights

1. Turn on the engine, keep the car in park, and turn the headlights on.
2. Rev the engine and see if the headlight brightness changes in brightness.
3. If the headlights get brighter when revving, the current may not be strong enough to keep the lights at a normal level of brightness while the car is idling. 
4. Take your car to a service center at this point for a diagnosis for your battery.

Using a Digital Multimeter

1. Set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
2. Under the hood, touch the negative terminal (black) with the negative meter probe (also black).
3. Touch the positive terminal (red) with the positive meter probe (also red)
4. Have a friend turn on the headlights and check the voltmeter reading.
5. 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. 

Our service center can easily test your battery the next time you come in for tire or oil service! How much is a replacement car battery though if you know that you likely need a new one?

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery? 

Replacement car battery costs will vary on your make and model, but you can expect anywhere from $75 to $200+ including labor, any applicable taxes, and so on. Hybrid vehicles will cost more due to their larger batteries, being anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000.

Choose Battery Service at The Garage at Bettenhausen Today

Contact our service center today if you have more questions about your car battery. Our team is well-prepared to take care of your vehicle, and we offer plenty of other service tips– like how to start your car in the winter!