Walmart Batteries Are Getting Expensive
- Thread starter macarose
- Start date
I’ve gotten these batteries for $39 for decades, what happened?
They were trying to charge a $35 core fee as well which is insane.
They were trying to charge a $35 core fee as well which is insane.
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
In February 2024 I paid $179.94 for a WM Everstart Platinum H8 AGM battery. WM's price today, nearly 2yrs later is $189.00. This is a lot less than what most car parts stores sell them for.
Toyota batteries and Honda batteries I've purchased from the dealer have lasted 7+ years for me over the last few decades of my life. Maybe I'm just lucky, but they're not much more, or cheaper, than aftermarket.
Its all relative. Costs more but fast food workers are making $20/hr. in places. Look at how long you need to work to buy something today vs. how long you needed in the past. Could be less today
That higher CCA battery does that by using more but thinner plates, actually more prone to early failure, IMO. I go with a battery based on its reserve capacity for longevity, not CCA. Modern cars start so easily that high CCA is unneeded, unless some super cold place.
I went out of my way to go to the Ford dealership and buy the correct Motorcraft battery for my precious Mustang GT convertible.
Lasted three months. The battery not the car.
I suppose that would depend on the quality or technology of the battery. I'd not say that is a cut & dry answer.
Modern autos have a lot of electronics so going up will only help. Also, RC is nice to know but that is more for deep cycling capacity not for CCA capacity. Maybe one correlates w/the other but CCA is what I look at when buying a battery. If you have a boat or some sort of other sitation where you need capacity from the battery without charging it during use then yeah look at RC. Thanks.
I bought 124R at Costco just a week ago, C$169, it used to be C$125 just over 5 years ago. Reasons I'm returning older Costco battery is it drops voltage to 12.1V over night and drops to 8.8V on starts. Costco will give 50% of battery cost back on this just over 5y.o. battery. I can live with that. Don't want to wait till car doesn't start in winter, not buying booster pack either.
Shocker!
Walmart has destroyed the competition. They can charge what they like for everything that they stock.
Walmart has destroyed the competition. They can charge what they like for everything that they stock.
Who no longer sells batteries that used to sell batteries? AAP, AZ, O'Reilly's. Napa, Tractor Supply, Costco. Even Home Depot sells batteries?
and compared to walmart these places are much higher in price....
quality and technology-that applies to anything. All things being equal, I prefer RC over CCA. More plates equal weaker plates and more opportunity to fail. I don't need a gazzilion CCAs for cars that can start on a whiff of gas in any weather...But a premium level battery usually has high RC and CCA and is what I buy.
Understood, all about the application. I'd just throw in this last bit for me is the warranty. Usually, the bigger batteries have longer warranties. Will be going to AGM for the F-350. Tired of cleaning terminal posts from these flooded batteries.
Just a suggestion, but as anyone attempted to service their automotive batteries? IME, I find that I can get it to last a few more extra years if I refill the fluids (if possible) and completely recharge it with a battery charger. You would be surprised.
Yep, another price hike YoY. It just so happens that I bought a Walmart battery in Dec 2024 for $69, everyday price. One year later, same battery costs $79, an increase of 14.5%. Still, a lot better than RAM/SSD prices that skyrocketed by 200+%. Just don't believe govt's fairy tales of inflation being at 2-3%. The battery is working well so far. BTW. I got 8 years out of my last battery, an AAP Silver.
For those of us in the Midwest, Meijer no longer sells batteries.
