How Do You Know If You Need a New Car Battery?

Signs Your Dead Car Battery May Need To Be Replaced.

The Mobile Battery Squad replaces hundreds of batteries every year.  We will give you some signs to look for that your auto battery needs to be replaced.

How To Know You Need a New Car Battery

Automotive batteries power every moving vehicle, yes even Teslas, around the world.  After a few years, automotive batteries in car and trucks require replacement.  Now we get the question more frequently than we like of “How long does a car battery last?”.  Well, that is not that always an easy question to answer.  There are a few different things that can cause a car battery to fail.  Is it used frequently?  Is the battery subjected to high or low temperatures frequently? As you see it is just not a simple.  The best way to test a battery is with either a voltage meter or a automotive battery tester.
Corroded car battery terminal covered in blue-green and white residue.
Car battery covered in blue corrosion, held in place by a strap, in engine bay.
Top-down view of a dirty, rectangular car battery with attached black cables on an outdoor surface.
Pile of used car batteries on a concrete floor, some with labels visible, possibly for recycling.

Age of The Battery Can Indicate If Your Battery Needs Replacement

The general rule with our technicians is that most Lead - Acid automotive batteries last at least (2) years in most cases.  It is not frequent we see a car battery last less than two years or even worse a year.  From time to time we do see batteries fail even less than (6) months that a warranty may replace.  If your car battery is older than (2) years then this is a good indicator that the battery may need replacement.

Slow Starting Is a Great Indicator Your Battery Needs Replacement

Our customers let us know that before their battery completely failed that the car or truck started slowly.  This is a excellent indicator that your car battery may need to be replaced.  We see this often in cars that are not push to start.  These are the car or trucks that require a physical key to turn the ignition on.  The push to start automobiles take a larger amperage to start and if the battery has failed it will either click multiple times or not attempt at all.

If you are experiencing slow starting, this is a warning sign to replace your car battery before it fails.  Most people just shrug the slow start off and then are left stranded later on.

There Is Green or Blue Stuff On The Battery Terminals