How Often to Replace a Car Battery

Wondering how often to replace your car battery? You’re not alone –– many drivers ask this question because they don’t want to spend the money on a battery replacement prematurely. The average driver should get about 4 to 5 years of service from their car’s battery on Matthews roads. Learn all about battery life, how to test a car battery, and more with the service team from Hendrick Porsche!

How to Know If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Replaced

When your car battery is on its way out, some of the red flags that might alert you include:

• A slow start when you turn the key in the ignition or push the push-start button
• Your headlights are losing brightness
• Strange fluctuations in power to your dash lights, interior lights, etc.
• You’ve had to rev the engine or jump-start your car more than once in recent times

What Are the Main Causes of Battery Deterioration?

• Climate: Extremely hot or cold temperatures in Indian Trail can affect your battery. Heat can cause evaporation of liquids inside the battery, while a temperature of 32 degrees fahrenheit has been known to cause a battery to lose 35 percent of its strength.
• Road Conditions: Rough roads in Pineville can cause vibrations that can break down the internal parts of a car battery more rapidly.
• Jump-Starts: The ability to jump-start your battery can be a life saver that prevents you from being stranded –– unfortunately, it can have the opposite effect on your battery, shortening its lifespan significantly in some cases.
• The Normal Passing of Time: Like most of your car’s components, your battery will eventually succumb to age. It can only complete a certain amount of charge cycles, but with proper maintenance you can ensure you at least get the full expected lifespan from your battery.

How to Test a Car Battery

You can schedule service at Hendrick Porsche to have your car battery tested by one of our expert technicians, but there are also a couple methods you can use at home. Here’s how to test a car battery on your own:

The Headlight Test: 

1. Turn your car on and turn on the headlights.
2. Rev the engine, paying attention to whether the brightness of the headlights changes when you do so.
3. If your headlights’ brightness grows stronger when you rev the engine, it means the current is too weak to maintain normal brightness when your car is idling.

If your car doesn’t pass the headlight test, you’ll know it’s time to visit a service center for an inspection. In addition to or instead of using the headlights test, you could also purchase a digital multimeter to get a voltage reading on your battery.

Using a Digital Multimeter:

1. Set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
2. Pop the hood and touch the black negative meter probe to the negative battery terminal, which is also black.
3. Touch the red positive meter probe to the positive battery terminal, which is also red.
4. Get a friend to turn on the headlights so you can check the voltmeter reading.
5. A reading of 12.5 volts or higher at 80℉ indicates a fully-charged battery. At 12.3 volts, the battery is about 75% charged. At 11.8 volts or lower, the battery has 25% or less of a charge.

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery?

If you need to replace your battery, the next logical question is how much is a replacement car battery going to cost? The price of a new car battery can be anywhere from $75 to $200, with premium batteries falling in the higher price range. If you’re driving a hybrid vehicle, however, the cost of a battery will be higher. Hybrid car batteries range anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000 because they play a more significant role in powering your car when compared to the batteries in gas-powered cars.

Schedule Battery Service in Charlotte

Need help determining whether it’s time to replace your car battery? Contact us for more information about battery service at Hendrick Porsche! Our technicians can test your battery and, if necessary, install a replacement in a timely manner. We offer a rotating selection of service specials to help you save on battery maintenance and more, so be sure to take a look at what’s available before your appointment!