Bought a used 1915 reg.Skoda Fabia in March this year . It went in for a health check yesterday ( Sept 3rd ) and they reported that the battery was ‘worn out .’ Spoke to the Head of Sales at the dealership and he said that we had not done enough miles in 6  months causing the battery to die . I have done 3and a half thousand miles . The previous owner did 13,500 in the 3 and a half years they owned it . He conceded that their low mileage had contributed to the battery’s demise but said that we would have to fund  a new battery . He would not be moved on this point . I am considering my options . Anyone had any experience or knowledge in this area? Any advice welcomed . 

Milage over any time period is totally non-related to battery life................he's full of sh.....t to be honest.

 

What kills batteries "in use" is short journeys running high loads, like winter driving heaters / demisters headlights etc, but even then a good charging system should cope.

 

The only other things to kill batteries are a faulty charging system, going flat or most likely age........thats it...going flat on older batteries makes them often fail quicker.

 

If the vehicle sat at the dealer for a long time and the battery went flat, then it would be damaged permanently even though it was most likely recharged before it was sold. A standard vehicle "starter" battery is easily damaged by going flat. Add to that the age of the battery, for example anything over 3 years can often fail.

 

Not sure on your reg info / what you mean in your post. If its a 15 plate, then its four years old and the battery has most likely just had it irrespective of mileage.

 

He either replaces it under warranty providing decent customer service, or he's a typical wheeler dealer and will fob you off with bull, either way it needs a battery, if you have to replace it, atleast you know it should be good for 3-5 years + sometimes.

 

Edited 5 September, 20196 yr by UrbanPanzer

Did it have the health check because it had problems; or just because they marketed one at you?

Your car might have sat at the dealers for a while in the time between the first owner selling it and you buying it

In that time it could have gone flat and depending for how long even when recharged the battery will never be 100% again (reduced life)

8 hours ago, Windy21 said:

Spoke to the Head of Sales at the dealership and he said that we had not done enough miles in 6  months causing the battery to die

I smell Bull$hit. Based on your description and in good fairness, you should pay only half of a new battery, the other half should be payed by the dealer. He sold you a car with a badly worn battery. In reality you'll pay entirely for a new battery.

Thank you all for your helpful feedback .Really useful ! Urban Panzer yes it’s a Sept 2015 Fabia 1200.I felt he was talking rubbish(  just cos you say it over and over doesn’t make it right Mr Wheeler Dealer.) I have heard that start stop batteries have a reduced life expectancy of about 4 years so when we bought it at 3 1/2 years old it would have been at the end of life . Does anyone know how they test batteries ? The dealer said it was tested and ok in the presale test ? Would it have shown warning signs then ? Are we able to request details of the service log ? I was talking to the dealer on the phone and he mentioned something on a past test about the battery requiring charge . Wino . I couldn’t find the VIN code in the handbook but will check in the car .It was a scheduled check as required by Skoda . DC2990. Thanks I hadn’t thought of that.Ricardo I don’t think we should pay anything but the dealer is not willing to negotiate.

To be honest I'm not sure I'd hold the dealer to account, batteries do wear out and its a 4 year old car. They can last a lot longer but 4 years isn't ridiculously short for a stop start vehicle used for round town driving. 

 

A decent Bosch battery (Euro car parts 444770125) for you car is just under £70. A budget battery is £55. Probably cheaper from carparts4less too. (It is, just checked. Bosch batt £64) Easy to fit, takes minutes. How much does the dealer want to fit a new one?

Edited 5 September, 20196 yr by VRS_White_Hatch
Checking price - updated

7 hours ago, Windy21 said:

Does anyone know how they test batteries ?

Nobody knows how "they" test batteries.

A reliable battery test is using a battery load tester. Any garage should have one.

 

1 minute ago, VRS_White_Hatch said:

To be honest I'm not sure I'd hold the dealer to account, batteries do wear out and its a 4 year old car. They can last a lot longer but 4 years isn't ridiculously short for a stop start vehicle used for round town driving. 

 

A decent Bosch battery (Euro car parts 444770125) for you car is just under £70. A budget battery is £55. Probably cheaper from carparts4less too. Easy to fit, takes minutes. How much does the dealer want to fit a new one?

I agree with you about the 4 years being standard for stop start batteries . My gripe is that we have only had the car 6 months and I am trying to acquire info as to whether they should have seen signs that it was failing before selling it to us . On the service site it has a price of £210 . I am not sure of our options re fitting it ourselves or getting it done elsewhere . It’s a hire purchase contract . Need to check the small print . 

Thanks both 

Batteries slowly loose the ability to hold power, if they checked it and say it was ok at the time of sale - and it has done the job for 6 months - how would you prove it was not up to standard at the time of sale? On a contract nobody is going to moan if a decent new battery has been fitted. What make of Battery is fitted now? It really is a simple job swapping a battery. 

VRS - Whte - hatch . It’s the original Skoda battery with a date of 30 15 on the battery terminal . The car was not cheap and we expected a battery on an expensive car to have a battery to last longer than 6 months. 

Yeah I can see your point, Just be wary, if the dealer offers you a 50% goodwill reduction it will still be dearer than a new battery elsewhere. I got a quote for an oil service the other day, £199.99 - the oil and filter cost £32. The dealers charges are a bit steep imo.

Yes thanks for the advice . I am trying to arm myself with enough info to argue my point . Dealer been trying to confuse me with details . 

You haven't yet said whether the car is actually showing any symptoms of the battery being in a bad condition?

Having a car dealer tell you something isn't necessarily 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'. Quite often it's more like 'half-truth, vague hint of fact, or pure upselling'

 

The time to get the battery replaced is when it struggles to start the car.

 

By the way, the stuff about engine code is in an area of my posts called the signature. It's not addressed to you specifically, it's more of a general remark to anyone who reads my posts. In this case it wouldn't be particularly useful info, but in very many cases it would be.

 

9 hours ago, Windy21 said:

we expected a battery on an expensive car to have a battery to last longer than 6 months. 

And it's lasted 4 years, plus however long it was from build date to first registration.

I agree that you don't really have a good case for getting a FOC battery fitted, just bad luck and being typical of batteries being fitted to small cars with stop/start, in your case the battery will be EFB - you can check that is the case from the writing/labelling on the top of the case.

Typically it will also have battery monitor unit clamped to the -ve terminal, if all this is true, then you really do need to get a compatible battery so that the smart charging continues to work as intended - though maybe that battery monitor unit is not let this happen.

Some people throw away the battery monitor unit, or at least unplug the small signal lead from it, this reverts the car to not being a stop/start and might help with battery health, so for what it is worth, I just check the battery health at service time and will replace it when that check shows its taken a drive to health, so far on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI the capacity has only dropped down by about 10%. When it is time to replace that battery I'll consider fitting an equivalent GEL or AGM battery and recode the car's controller to reflect that change.

If you do buy a new battery from another source, and lots of people plan ahead and buy online from places like Tayna Batteries, remember to get somewhere like a VAG Indie to recode the car for that battery so that it works best in terms of fuel saving etc.

 

Edit:- remember that that car will "tell" you when that battery is not up to doing its job, to start with stop/start will stop operating, but if you are keeping this car for maybe another 4 years, then maybe to avoid/minimise the possibility of being "stuck" with a car that will not start in deepest winter and in a remote spot, if that car is not enabling stop/start when you expect it to,  replace that battery.

Edited 6 September, 20196 yr by rum4mo

2 hours ago, rum4mo said:

I agree that you don't really have a good case for getting a FOC battery fitted, just bad luck and being typical of batteries being fitted to small cars with stop/start, in your case the battery will be EFB - you can check that is the case from the writing/labelling on the top of the case.

Typically it will also have battery monitor unit clamped to the -ve terminal, if all this is true, then you really do need to get a compatible battery so that the smart charging continues to work as intended - though maybe that battery monitor unit is not let this happen.

Some people throw away the battery monitor unit, or at least unplug the small signal lead from it, this reverts the car to not being a stop/start and might help with battery health, so for what it is worth, I just check the battery health at service time and will replace it when that check shows its taken a drive to health, so far on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI the capacity has only dropped down by about 10%. When it is time to replace that battery I'll consider fitting an equivalent GEL or AGM battery and recode the car's controller to reflect that change.

If you do buy a new battery from another source, and lots of people plan ahead and buy online from places like Tayna Batteries, remember to get somewhere like a VAG Indie to recode the car for that battery so that it works best in terms of fuel saving etc.

 

Edit:- remember that that car will "tell" you when that battery is not up to doing its job, to start with stop/start will stop operating, but if you are keeping this car for maybe another 4 years, then maybe to avoid/minimise the possibility of being "stuck" with a car that will not start in deepest winter and in a remote spot, if that car is not enabling stop/start when you expect it to,  replace that battery.

Yes rum4mo it’s an EFB  though I don’t know what that stands for .I am going to switch the start stop button each time I start the ignition. It seems more trouble than it’s worth . Yes I have heard others mention an AVM battery as being better than the standard fitted battery.How do you test the battery’s capacity please? Can you do it in situ? I do feel the dealership has a responsibility . The dealer was reading out parts of the earlier service history and mentioned that the battery had ‘required charge.’ Surely this indicates some dip in the battery function and possibly an indication that the battery is on the way out. It was an expensive contract and we expected bette4 after sales support . We didn’t wreck the battery in six months . 

32 minutes ago, Windy21 said:

We didn’t wreck the battery in six months .

No-one has said you did. But, for the second time, that battery is over 4 years old.

How long was your warranty? The seller MUST have supplied one. Additionally, the vehicle must have been sold as "Fit for purpose". A severely worn battery will not have been but they still may wriggle and state that the battery was not covered by the warranty! Small print needs to be checked here and also, perhaps the a advice of trading standards officers. Tell the seller you are seeking legal advice from trading standards and they may well suddenly find the battery was covered under the initial warranty. It is, after all, their job to prove the battery was fit for purpose, along with the  vehicle.. A worn out unit on a stop-start tech vehicle may well not have been. I would have thought they would replace this and cost it into the sale!

Always worth a try but if no joy, a new battery will be a lot cheaper elsewhere!

Edited 6 September, 20196 yr by mrgf

2 minutes ago, mrgf said:

How long was your warranty? The seller MUST have supplied one. Additionally, the vehicle must have been sold as "Fit for purpose". A severely worn battery will not have been but they still may wriggle and state that the battery was not covered by the warranty! Small print needs to be checked here and also, perhaps the a advice of trading standards officers. Tell the seller you are seeking legal advice from trading standards and they may well suddenly find the battery was covered under the initial warranty. It is, after all, their job to prove the battery was fit for purpose, along with the  vehicle.. A worn out unit on a stop-start tech vehicle may well not have been. I would have thought they would replace this and cost it into the sale!

Always worth a try but if no joy, a new battery will be a lot cheaper elsewhere!

Thanks to everyone that posted advice . Thanks for your input Mrgf . I am now in a more knowledgable position about stop start  technology, battery degradation and the best types of battery . Thank you . Just heard from the dealership to say they have agreed to fit and pay for the battery . Think I will disconnect the stop start facility though! Bit of a liability if you ask me . I will keep a printed copy of the advice . 

...Wait until the job is done, then ask them how long the new part is warrantied for. Don't do it first, unless its too late or they have already stated it. They may say we will replace but it is not warrantied. Many things replaced under warranty only have the remainder of the original part. I had a Bosch 5 year battery the started to die at around 4 years. Carparts4less swapped it for a brand new one but this one only had the remainder of the first one. 

Still, it would most likely still last another 4 or so years. (I now usually take the unit off and fully charge it on my intelligent charger, around once every 3 to six months. It usually only takes half a day).

@Windy21 it will not be financially beneficial to buy a battery tester to just check that battery, I was in the unfortunate position of needing to prove  what was causing a battery drain in a car I was looking after so I opted to be independent and buy a CTEC battery tester, otherwise I would just continue through life checking a battery's voltage  under differing conditions to make my mind up as to if it was Okay or Duff.

 

EFB just means Enhanced Flooded Battery this slight update to a normal lead acid battery ie Flooded Battery was to provide a cheap and cheery upgrade so that cars with auto stop/start function could survive a reasonable length of time before needing to replace the battery, I'm guessing here with the figures, but from slight memory, a normal lead acid battery will last 1500 engine starts and only tolerate a charging voltage of 13.4Volts, these EFB ones will last 15,000 engine starts and tolerate roughly 17Volts charging for short periods. That ties in with what is now required now with smart charging systems and stop/start conditions.  The more expensive AGM version, again just rough questimate figures, will last 45,000 engine starts and a similar charging voltage/treatment.  Modern cars with smart charging don't seem to aim to keep the battery fully charged, they sacrifice that for well "undercharging" and "supercharging" and in normal usage that seems to work for most people, at times stop/start will get inhibited to protect the battery charging.

From your picture you will see at the -VE terminal, there is a ribbed black plastic part with a small connector plugged into - that is the battery management unit that communicates to the charging controller what is happening to the battery - removing that disables stop/start for ever, but I just stick with playing it by ear, if I land at lights and know they will be changing soon, I'll switch the stop/start off.

 

Edit:- if I were you, and you feel that your dealer is grudgingly replacing that battery, I'd be noting the capacity and CCA rating of that battery and not accepting any lower numbers appearing on the replacement one!

 

Another, yawn, Edit:- also make sure that they fit these covers onto the replacement battery, a well as plugging the battery management lead back in, my wife's Polo came back from its second service and it took me a couple of days to work out that the stop/start was not enabled and it was summer weather, so I had a quick look and found that the battery management signal lead had been left unplugged, so plugged it back in and stop/start started enabled again.

Edited 6 September, 20196 yr by rum4mo

mrgf . No I haven’t asked about the warranty . That’s a good call . I will do that when it’s been fitted . Is your car a stop Start? I don’t know much about intelligent chargers but I will research . I don’t have a garage so was considering getting a solar panelled charger to top it up. The idea of taking the battery out regularly is daunting. Do you have to reset stuff like the radio afterwards?

Rum4mo Thats very interesting about the different types of battery . I think the AGM. Sounds preferable but I will be happy to get one fitted FOC . Beggars can’t be choosers!