It looks like AAP has reduced the prorated warranty on their Gold batteries from 7 to 5 years. The full replacement warranty remains 3 years. I'm not sure what the Silver had, but it now shows as only having a 2 year free replacement period. This must have changed recently since a Gold I bought in Dec had 7 years.
Advance Auto battery warranty
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I'm getting to the point where a prorate on a battery is something of a joke. I had a 3 year old Everstart go bad on my Ranger last week. The one additional year beyond the 2 year free replacement would have netted a whole $11. and change of the cost of the new replacement battery plus the new battery would have had a 2 year free replacement only.
An AAP Silver with a discount code cost $4. more than the prorated replacement at WalMart. Ended up at AAP and bought the Silver. I've had better luck there anyhow.
An AAP Silver with a discount code cost $4. more than the prorated replacement at WalMart. Ended up at AAP and bought the Silver. I've had better luck there anyhow.
Auto Zone has done the same thing with their batteries.
Duralast Gold used to be 8-yr. total, 3-yr. free replacement, now it's 5-yr. total, 3-yr. free replacement.
Their Duralast used to be 7-yr. total, 2-yr. free replacement, now it's only a 2-yr. free replacement; no pro-rata.
Duralast Gold used to be 8-yr. total, 3-yr. free replacement, now it's 5-yr. total, 3-yr. free replacement.
Their Duralast used to be 7-yr. total, 2-yr. free replacement, now it's only a 2-yr. free replacement; no pro-rata.
The whole industry is going away from Pro rata warranties.A flat 2,3,4 years for free and then nothing after that.Also,the 1st warrantee is your last...until you buy another new one.No freebie after 2 years,then another freebie after 2 years and so on....
+1 on useless pro-rated warranty. Get the longest free replacement. And a store or brand with many places (Sundays & evenings) with which to get a replacement.
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
The whole industry is going away from Pro rata warranties.A flat 2,3,4 years for free and then nothing after that.Also,the 1st warrantee is your last...until you buy another new one.No freebie after 2 years,then another freebie after 2 years and so on....
Walmart told me if you do not have the receipt, they use the manufacturing date for the warranty. Given that how to they know its your first or 5th?
The whole industry is going away from Pro rata warranties.A flat 2,3,4 years for free and then nothing after that.Also,the 1st warrantee is your last...until you buy another new one.No freebie after 2 years,then another freebie after 2 years and so on....
Walmart told me if you do not have the receipt, they use the manufacturing date for the warranty. Given that how to they know its your first or 5th?
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
The whole industry is going away from Pro rata warranties.A flat 2,3,4 years for free and then nothing after that.Also,the 1st warrantee is your last...until you buy another new one.No freebie after 2 years,then another freebie after 2 years and so on....
Walmart told me if you do not have the receipt, they use the manufacturing date for the warranty. Given that how to they know its your first or 5th?
They punch out your old battery's manufacture date on the punch-out label. No receipt for the replacement. If you do manage to "Find" your receipt later, you have an old receipt and an apparently old battery.
They are, or at least were, friendly. Had a 3.5 year old "gold" battery that I "came across" and it was dead. They gave me ~$45 credit which I used towards a "downmarket" 2 year battery. Plus they gave me a core receipt, even though I had already turned in a core. No matter, I turned in another one. Long story short... new battery for $1.
I understand they are more strict now.
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
The whole industry is going away from Pro rata warranties.A flat 2,3,4 years for free and then nothing after that.Also,the 1st warrantee is your last...until you buy another new one.No freebie after 2 years,then another freebie after 2 years and so on....
Walmart told me if you do not have the receipt, they use the manufacturing date for the warranty. Given that how to they know its your first or 5th?
They punch out your old battery's manufacture date on the punch-out label. No receipt for the replacement. If you do manage to "Find" your receipt later, you have an old receipt and an apparently old battery.
They are, or at least were, friendly. Had a 3.5 year old "gold" battery that I "came across" and it was dead. They gave me ~$45 credit which I used towards a "downmarket" 2 year battery. Plus they gave me a core receipt, even though I had already turned in a core. No matter, I turned in another one. Long story short... new battery for $1.
I understand they are more strict now.
Walmart now has barcoded serial numbers on their batteries. The barcode is scanned at the register during purchase.
Presumably they are tracking that nationally, so you won't need a receipt for warranty replacement. (Or perhaps you'll still need a receipt, with the matching serial number.)
Presumably they are tracking that nationally, so you won't need a receipt for warranty replacement. (Or perhaps you'll still need a receipt, with the matching serial number.)
Just recently bought the autocraft gold from aap and noticed the warranty too. My batteries always fail between 3-4 years.
JHZR2
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If one wanted to play a game, they could notionally kill their battery before the replacement period, take it in, and replace it.
Not that I am advocating this at all.
But unless your head has been in the sand, the prices on EVERYTHING have been going up. Warranties are a form of insurance. Youre paying for it as part of the purchase price of the battery, like it or not. If the warranty is changed, and the price of the battery doesnt go up quite as much is it a bad thing?
One perceives poorer value, but is it really? Pro rate on an old battery doesnt amount to much value anyway... I think Ill take my $11 in lower purchase cost than in a discount on a replacement battery. It all comes out the same in the end.
Not that I am advocating this at all.
But unless your head has been in the sand, the prices on EVERYTHING have been going up. Warranties are a form of insurance. Youre paying for it as part of the purchase price of the battery, like it or not. If the warranty is changed, and the price of the battery doesnt go up quite as much is it a bad thing?
One perceives poorer value, but is it really? Pro rate on an old battery doesnt amount to much value anyway... I think Ill take my $11 in lower purchase cost than in a discount on a replacement battery. It all comes out the same in the end.
How would you kill a lead acid battery? Are they just going to assume it's bad if you drain it to as far as it can go?
Drain it as far as possible then recharge 2-3 times.
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
How would you kill a lead acid battery? Are they just going to assume it's bad if you drain it to as far as it can go?
Call my daughter....she can kill anything electrical. Just leave your lights on for 3-5 days.
How would you kill a lead acid battery? Are they just going to assume it's bad if you drain it to as far as it can go?
Call my daughter....she can kill anything electrical. Just leave your lights on for 3-5 days.
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A starting batt. is designed to handle an intermittent load, such as cranking the engine for a few seconds. Draining one of these completely will cause accelerated wear (sulfation on the plates).
As someone above said, you could theoretically drain totally and recharge it enough times that sulfation would build up on the plates to the point where the batt. would fail a load test. How many cycles this would take? I don't know.
The AGM (absorbed glass mat) starting batteries are more resistant to this type of sulfation, though still not a true deep-cycle batt.
Deep cycle batts. are designed to withstand many deep-discharge cycles (marine batteries, electric golf cart batts, etc).
As someone above said, you could theoretically drain totally and recharge it enough times that sulfation would build up on the plates to the point where the batt. would fail a load test. How many cycles this would take? I don't know.
The AGM (absorbed glass mat) starting batteries are more resistant to this type of sulfation, though still not a true deep-cycle batt.
Deep cycle batts. are designed to withstand many deep-discharge cycles (marine batteries, electric golf cart batts, etc).
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
As someone above said, you could theoretically drain totally and recharge it enough times that sulfation would build up on the plates to the point where the batt. would fail a load test. How many cycles this would take? I don't know.
Ask my wife. She's killed batteries at least twice
As someone above said, you could theoretically drain totally and recharge it enough times that sulfation would build up on the plates to the point where the batt. would fail a load test. How many cycles this would take? I don't know.
Ask my wife. She's killed batteries at least twice
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