Secondhand electricity?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Anyone else buy their car batteries secondhand?

I've replaced my old, knackered car batteries with good secondhand ones for a number of years now, and have never had any issues with them. It's always been a good saving compared to the price of a new battery as well.

However, when I replaced the battery on my old daily tdi mile muncher recently, my local (and now only) breakers yard wanted £30 for it, as it was one of the largest output ones they had in stock. Fairy snuff, I understand that dervs need a decent battery for cranking, especially when cold. However, at £30, I pulled some faces, make some comments and walked away thirty notes lighter, thinking to myself that I really can't justify more than £30 on a secondhand battery if I need another in the future. Yes, it has a 30 day warranty, so if it's cack it'll have shown by that point. However, it seems top end for what it is. Being in deepest, darkest Cornwall, there are no other local breakers left who I could go to as an alternative.

Anyone else do the same?

[cobblers]

I couldn't make myself pay much more than £15 for a 2nd hand battery, they might start the car for a month but there's just no way to easily test if they are going to last very long.

When you can buy a brand new 096 with a 4 year "warranty" for £42 there's nothing to be saved with old ones.

 

If I wanted to save money I'd rather go with a new battery that's too small than an old battery of the right size.

[Bobthebeard]

Not me... I appreciate that a used battery for less ££ may be a worthy purchase but not worth the risk IMHO. A 30 day warranty may be ok until day 31 when it leaves you stranded in the rain... At midnight etc... Plus even if it fails on day one the warranty is no use if you are stranded..

[lisbon_road]

I like to buy as much as possible secondhand to save waste, within reason.  Batteries often have the date of manufacture marked on them.  

 

I am still using a massive one I got from a car that went for the scrappage scheme.  I drove over with the friend who was handing it in, ostensibly to give her a lift back, then while she was in the garage sorting out her new car, I swapped the battery for a dud.

 

I wonder how I look at myself in the mirror some mornings really.

[gordonbennet]

Nope, places like Tanya Batteries and Batterymegastore online sellers are so well priced for decent batteries it just aint worth going second hand.

 

Also i start work most mornings between 4 and 5am, the car not starting is not an option.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Agreed on the day 31 theory, if you are stranded. I would have thought if it were crap though, it would have shown signs pretty quickly. As for the fitting a smaller, new battery instead of a larger, s/h battery, I'd not be trusting it with longevity either.

[gordonbennet]

Agreed on the day 31 theory, if you are stranded. I would have thought if it were crap though, it would have shown signs pretty quickly. As for the fitting a smaller, new battery instead of a larger, s/h battery, I'd not be trusting it with longevity either.

Agree with that, always buy the highest spec i can get in the carrier with the longest warranty, usually Yuasa Silver which have 5 years.

[Bobthebeard]

Agreed on the day 31 theory, if you are stranded. I would have thought if it were crap though, it would have shown signs pretty quickly. As for the fitting a smaller, new battery instead of a larger, s/h battery, I'd not be trusting it with longevity either.

A peace of mind thing really... A daily car? Needs to start at 4 am? For a few quid I know what I would do.

[dollywobbler]

I've not found anywhere local that does decent batteries for a decent price. Second hand would make a lot of sense with my turnover. With the Dyane, I swapped a weak BX battery for one that fits the Dyane and seems to hold charge. Not bought one for a while but I reckon the one on the XM will do well to last the winter...

[Bobthebeard]

Buy another secondhand battery and keep it in the boot with your leads?

Two second hand batteries plus jump leads? Or one new battery?

Man maths

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Unless they're a funny size, I get most of my batteries for a tenner a go from a friend who scraps cars for people. He charges them and checks if they hold charge and what-not. Most of the time they've come off a car that's been crashed or recently failed the test, so the battery itself isn't usually the problem. They can be pretty nice or even brand new (once found a receipt in the glovebox for a battery bought a week prior).End of the day buying new doesn't necessarily mean it's any good, the ones sat on the shelves at motor factors can often be there for absolutely years before they get shifted. If you can get used batteries from a place that tests them properly I'm all for it.

This is what I'm getting at. I've never had an issue with their s/h batteries and like everything, if it was decent when new and has been well looked after, it's probably a better proposition than a new, crap one.

 

Having said all that... I'd not previously heard of the battery websites mentioned above, so had a quick look. Turns out my car runs a '096' and Tayna batteries supply one with a four year guarantee for a touch under £68. Nowhere locally can get near that price, especially with a decent guarantee like that. I'm glad I asked - I reckon that's where I'll source a battery next time. Cheers!

[Bobthebeard]

You don't need to factor the cost of leads into this calculation, anyone who doesn't already have a set of leads in their car can go suck a lemon. The only accepted excuse is that you've left them in the boot of something else.

Fair enough...

😊 I haz no argument

[vulgalour]

I've never bought a brand new car battery.  Scrapyard finest when I've needed one and I don't think I've ever paid more than £15.  I also have some Lidl-bought jump leads in the boot that I'm yet to use, they'll likely catch fire the first time I need to.

[beko1987]

Ive only ever bought one new car battery. Dont intend to buy another one for a good while now!

 

If anyone wants to resurrect the merivas old battery the back gate is open!

[phil_lihp]

I have one which I bought for £12 from a local scrapyard over 2 years ago and it's still working perfectly.  This morning I bought 2 more big ones from the same yard for £18 each, one for the 940 (coincidentally a Volvo-branded one) and a nice Bosch one for a friend's VW T4 van.  Both came tested, I had a selection to choose from and they have a 30 day warranty.  There's always a gamble of course but you can usually tell which ones are old by the state of them, I turned down one because it was caked in a thick layer of oily muck which must have taken years of neglect to accumulate.  It's not perfect but if you have a good supplier I reckon it's worth the saving,

[mat_the_cat]

Tayna batteries supply one with a four year guarantee for a touch under £68. Nowhere locally can get near that price, especially with a decent guarantee like that.

 

I'm lucky enough that they're a few minutes away from work, so saving even more with no postage. Used them for quite a few years now, and just bought a replacement for the van. Last one managed 8 years, so no grumbles!

 

However, I'm one to keep vehicles long term, so £60 over 8 years (say) is better value for me than £20 every two years - if I wasn't to keep something that long a second-hand battery makes more sense.

[primeradoner]

I always use secondhand batteries from cars we drag in however last week Miss PD had a ftp in her MX5 Didnt have a battery to fit so had to buy new from ECP. As it is daughters get to work car splashed out for a Bosch.Two days later car would not start. A bit of time checking revealed battery was knackered. To be fair to ECP they delivered a replacement within 30 minutes but I wont be buying new again if I can avod it.

[lincolndanny]

I don't think I stick by a certain theory-If I haven't got a spare hanging around in the garage I'll go and buy a new one and not really think about it. On the other hand every time you buy a car it comes with secondhand tyres and a secondhand battery!

[Eddie Honda]

Fair enough...

😊 I haz no argument

Indeed you don't.

 

A couple of handy batteries and some leads saves messing with the starting 'andle:

IMG_20150522_175040_578 by E Honda, on Flickr

IMG_20150522_174907_294 by E Honda, on Flickr

[Peter C]

The battery in my Boxster was starting to show its age. If I left it another couple of weeks I doubt the car would have started.

 

I was at rugby practice with my son, had a mobile phone signal but no 4G. I called my local ECP and was quoted £78+VAT for their cheapest suitable battery (£130+VAT for their best). My Boxster is a keeper but there's no way I'm spending £100 on a battery! Once home, a quick Google search revealed a current discount code, which combined with ECP's online price resulted in a total price (inc VAT) of £53.

 

My nearest ECP is a five minute drive, they had the battery in stock, 3 year guarantee, job done.

 

I never buy over the counter at ECP, their online service is not amazing and their parts numbers don't always make sense but it makes for a cheap shopping experience.

[gordonbennet]

I've had bad experiences with new Bosch batteries over the past 6 or so years, short lived, fings aint wot they used to be wiv once good names, Varta seem to last as do Yuasa, the latter not so easy to find though.

[purplebargeken]

I've bought a new battery twice in my entire life. The last one was a 6v for a Daf. I haz jump leads in the boot. 

 

I also have a bloody good charger that seems to be able to resurrect anything (almost).

[nigel bickle]

I buy around a dozen at a time, from Billy Bridges, breakers near Crawley.

I pay £8 for " normal" sizes,& £12for large/ unusual ones.

 

I tried buying new, in bulk from Pavillion Wholesalers, near Hove - but found them to be no better, often worse, and taking them back was a major hassle., with much teeth sucking etc.

A lot of cash to tie up - for no foreseeable improvement.

 

I buy second hand tyres, I see no issue with batteries, subject to the usual rules!

[DeeJay]

Bobthebeard

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Posted Yesterday, 11:04 PM

Hirst, on 05 Dec 2015 - 10:59 PM, said:

You don't need to factor the cost of leads into this calculation, anyone who doesn't already have a set of leads in their car can go suck a lemon. The only accepted excuse is that you've left them in the boot of something else.

Fair enough...
I haz no argument 

Made me laugh, appropriate avatar.

[dave21478]

I used to buy second hand ones a lot when Persley scrappy in Aberdeen had a big pile by the office old Transit van the guy sits in at a fiver for a small one and 8 for a big one.

 

Now though....eh, it doesnt seem worth it. Nowhere local charges less than 30 euros for a start. 

It doesnt affect stuff so much up till the 90's but newer stuff is very sensitive to voltage so if a battery isnt tiptop they can cause all kinds of problems. 

Also, I have noticed that batterys seem to fail differently now - you used to get a few weeks or even months warning of slower cranking in the mornings as the battery died, but now it tends to be a more sudden "LOL nope" one morning with little or no warning.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Would rather have a secondhand varta than a cheap new one

 

I've always got plenty of decent secondhand batteries in stock, any local shiters can have one for free if they give me their old one for scrap

[Richard]

the office old Transit van the guy sits in at a fiver for a small one and 8 for a big one.

 

 

It's still there, and so is he.

[dave21478]

They are part of the scenery - He was never much of  conversationalist. I used to get a nod of the head as I went in and buying something only ever got an "....eh...fiver" out of him. I was most surprised when I got a "nice weather" out of him one day. maybe he decided he liked me?

[dave21478]

What really gives me the shits is the price of decent jump leads. 

Years back doing some digger work the bucket snagged a monstrous cable buried about 4 feet down....uh oh. turned out to not be connected to anything and I managed to pull out several meters of this thing which was as thick as my arm.

Its got 5 or 6 cores in it, each thicker than my thumb. I stripped two out and made a set of heavy duty jump leads that are long enough to reach while parked behind the car needing jumped and heavy enough cable to start the Titanic, but they are not the most portable things. Ideally I would have a set in the boot of each car but the costs to buy them are astonishing unless you buy some crap that would start smoking while starting anything bigger than a lawnmower.

[Richard]

Everything I've had out of there has been free. He just shakes his head and waves me out.

 

I wouldn't buy a used battery unless it was pocket money cheap. If it was going to be more than about £20 I'd want to see it in the donor car so I could make a judgement about its condition.