What makes a good car battery?

[Cret]

I've rang round a few places today. Gotta say that they were all very helpful people which is great.

But prices are not good though. A lot of them are budget batteries for premium prices, but that's kind of what we are used to over here.

The options for an 075 battery are:

Exide 600/60 £80 3yr (Express)
Motaquip 600/62 £87! 4yr (ATC)
"UK Batteries" 570/60 £71 3yr (DMS)
"Platinum" 570/60 £70 3yr (National)
Varta D59 540/60 £79 3yr (Auto Electrical)

Not great options for the money, even if they have a decent guarantee.

I'm in the uk end of Jan for a weekend, so I could always pick up a decent one without paying postage, the downside is any problems that need the guarantee and I'm stuffed.

But as an example the Exide one that's £80 here is £53 on ebay but many places won't post them or want silly money because of the weight.

[gazza_]

That could be why the batteries are so dear here,
only so many u fit on a pallet with the weight

[Geordie]

Woud'nt have a un-used one lying around would ya?

Nope, all used in the cars unfortunately. Got a few dead ones lying around if you want them though!

[Cret]

That could be why the batteries are so dear here,
only so many u fit on a pallet with the weight

That's what we'd get told if we asked Gaz because it's the standard excuse for everything being expensive over here and batteries are indeed heavy items.

But not to the point of being £30 more per battery - not by any stretch of the imagination. An extra fiver per unit might be reasonable cost increase for the weight, but not this much.
You think of the size & weight of stuff you can fit on a pallet that would cost £100 to deliver (and that's being generous!). Say you can fit 20 on it for arguments sake and that's £5 each delivery. Now with a deal on regular shipping that many companies will have with their delivery companies I doubt that each pallet full of stuff costs £100 each, never mind when you add a load of light stuff on top to subsidise it.

That's just based on the fact that I've had a few pallets sent here over the years and I've never paid over £100.

Can probably argue the numbers a bit but who cares, point being I don't buy that such a difference is down to postage really. Same with fuel etc.

[Seren Arian]

The reason nobody will "post" one over is because all the couriers etc won't touch them with a barge pole because of the acid being a hazardous substance under health & safety. If one leaked on the delivery guy, there would be hell to pay for somebody! The only way to ship them is protected both top & bottom on a pallet. I'm fairly sure the hauliers are keen on charging extra for shipping pallets with hazardous contents if they know what's on them!
Again same issue; if they leaked and the contents hadn't been disclosed as such........
Regards, Seren Arian.

[Cret]

True to a point but you can get them posted easily enough. I've had replies from a couple of people on ebay willing to post for less than the differences I'm talking about here but not places that sell the batteries I particularly want. Still waiting for replies from others.

You're right though, places are funny about hazardous stuff but I would expect that couriers would have particular loads that are reserved for 'nasties' to all come in one bunch. I know that's how it used to work with stuff like gas bottles because I went through all that rigmarole when I got a big nos cylinder shipped over some years back.

Doesn't really matter anyway as I think I'll probably end up biting the bullet and buying a decent one locally but it does piss me off that it'll run me £80 for what's £50 or so across, regardless of the reason. Ho hum!

There's worse things to worry about I guess.

[///AMG MERCINATOR]

Woud'nt have a un-used one lying around would ya?

Nope, all used in the cars unfortunately. Got a few dead ones lying around if you want them though!

Hey, when you say dead, how dead?
No acid, wont take charge?

[Seren Arian]

For advice on quality, go for the Varta or Yuasa at Auto Electrical, they're the best makes you can get, simple as, and the back up from AEC should be second to none. The Platinum will be pretty decent to, the firm that makes them has just taken on the Lucas branding licence for batteries in the UK; but avoid the Exide like the plague! Yuck!
Regards, Seren Arian.

[Cret]

Hmmm, that's interesting mate.
The battery on there is an Exide and I've never really had a problem with them. Always thought they were meant to be a decent brand. Actually went to Express to buy the Exide off them today but they couldn't find it. Did get offered a more powerful one for a very good price but I don't think it would have fitted. Shame as it would have been a beast of a battery.

Met Unders there too and had a brief natter.

Varta and Yuasa are defo good brands yeah. I usually get yuasa ones for my bikes because I like them.
I'd gladly have had the Bosche one though if anyone over here stocked them.

Never heard of platinum as a brand. It did occur to me that if a chain like National is using them, they shouldn'e be too bad. No idea whether Lucas are any good though these days.

[Seren Arian]

Lucas used to be good, they were Yuasa batteries with Lucas labels stuck on them for years. When that agreement ended a couple of years ago, Yuasa started marketing their own car batteries in the UK for the first time in years, and the Lucas brand was licensed by US owner TRW to a firm called Energy Batteries, who folded during 2009. They appeared to be just putting Lucas stickers on any old S***e, and damaged the reputation badly. A well respected UK firm called Manbat has recently taken over the Lucas battery franchise, Platinum being their main own brand; they are going to have to repair all the damage inflicted by Energy and rebuild the Lucas name to it's former glory.
Varta are excellent, being owned by Johnson Controls, but can be a bit pricey, but that's the Germans for you, as they are OE on most of their new cars. They are more high profile now after acquiring Hella's battery business and killing off the brand, although lighting & other electrical stuff still remains as Hella.

Apologies if this bores the hell out of anyone, but I like to keep well clued up on such things.
Regards, Seren Arian.