How Often to Replace a Car Battery

According to many experts, your battery should be replaced every 4-5 years, however, battery life varies considerably depending on numerous factors. Review our guide for all the details on car batteries, and if you have any questions, contact our service center near Monterey and Watsonville!

How to Know If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Replaced Soon

Wondering how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced soon? The following are some warning signals that your battery may be on its way out:

• Dimming headlights
• More often, the car must be jump-started or its engine revved
• When you turn the key/press the button, it takes longer to start the engine.
• Unusual power fluctuations

Why Do Car Batteries Breakdown?

• Heat: If your battery is hotter than usual, it’s because the liquid inside has evaporated. Because of this, if you reside in a more consistently hot environment, the life of your car battery will be shortened.
• Vibrations: Internal battery components will wear out faster if your battery’s hold-down clamps are loose, or you drive over rough roads frequently.
• Needing a Jump: If you’ve done something like left your lights on overnight or permitted your engine to idle for too long, this may seriously reduce the life of your battery.
• Time: Your car battery will eventually die, but you may preserve it for a long time by taking good care of it. Car batteries have a limited number of charge cycles before they reach the end of their useful life.

For the best idea of how long your car battery should last with proper care, consult your owner’s manual or maintenance schedule. 

How to Test a Car Battery Yourself

You can have your vehicle battery checked at your Monterey area service center twice a year during routine maintenance. Many businesses also provide free checks, or you can test your battery at home with a few easy methods if you don’t want to wait. Find out how to test a car bettery below:

The Headlight Test: 

1. Turn on the ignition, keep the car in park, and make sure the headlights are on
2. Rev the engine and check whether the headlight brightness changes
3. If the headlights get brighter while the car is idling, it indicates that the current isn’t powerful enough to maintain the lights at normal brightness
4. Take your car to a service center at this point for further assessment

Using a Digital Multimeter:

1. Set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
2. Touch the negative terminal (black) with the negative meter probe (also black)
3. Next, you’ll need to touch the positive terminal (red) with the positive meter probe (also red)
4. Have a buddy turn on the headlights and check the voltmeter reading
5. At 80℉, 12.5 volts or higher means your battery is fully charged. 12.3 volts means it’s at about 75% charged.11.8 volts or lower means you have 25% or less charge. 

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery? 

The most common car battery costs between $75 and $120, with a premium battery costing up to $200. Hybrid car batteries have a more demanding job, thus they are more costly and might cost anywhere from $1000 to $6000 depending on the model, but this is usually offset by lower gasoline usage.

Replace or Recharge Your Car Battery in Seaside

Now that you know how much a replacement car battery costs, and how often to replace your car battery, you can find affordable batteries and service thanks to the service and parts specials at Victory Toyota. We carry genuine OEM parts and have certified factory-trained mechanics ready to take care of your vehicle!