Need A New Car Battery Or.....??

[Anonymous]

Prior to March of this year, my car was driven on an almost daily basis to work & operated fine.

I still use it, however only to purchase groceries + supplies for myself.
I can go a week w/out driving it on some weeks.

Well at first, it needed to be jumpstarted w/jumper cables a few times to get it to start.
Now I basically have to jumpstart it almost every single time that I use it.

Some people tell me the battery is likely fine, that I just need to drive it every 4 days or so to allow the battery to get charged.
Others have advised me that unless my car has sat undriven for a few weeks that
it should still work when I try to start it.

I noticed that if I got my car jumpstarted earlier, my car would hold the charge longer.
Now? Not so much.

Should I purchase a new car battery?

[Anonymous]

How old is the battery? Over 3-4 years. Replace.

[Anonymous]

Go to Auto Zone. They will check the battery for free. And will install a battery for free if you buy it from there.

[Anonymous]

If you have AAA, their battery service guys are awesome! They won’t replace it unless it needs it, and their prices are really competitive. I had them out twice last year for two different cars. The battery on one was definitely shot, but on the other, they just cleaned it and replaced a terminal clamp and it’s been fine ever since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have AAA, their battery service guys are awesome! They won’t replace it unless it needs it, and their prices are really competitive. I had them out twice last year for two different cars. The battery on one was definitely shot, but on the other, they just cleaned it and replaced a terminal clamp and it’s been fine ever since.

+1.

Also, to OP's question, if your battery needs to be jumped almost every time it likely has lost a lot of capacity. If so, you're going to keep having to jump it especialy in winter. You can't bring it back by driving more.

Get it tested and, if necessary, replace.

COVID has meant a lot of dead batteries like you seem to have for the exact reason - people aren't driving as much.

[Anonymous]

Many people are having issues w/their vehicle’s battery since this pandemic started.

Unless your battery has been purchased recently, it is best to just chuck out the old one & start fresh w/a brand-new one.

[Anonymous]

Check the alternator and starter too.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you have your own garage/driveway? If so, you can run a battery minder to your car to keep it charged when not using it. We did this for the family van that we only used for long road trips, meaning it wouldn't get driven except for once every one to two months, and the battery was fine for several years.

[Anonymous]

you're not driving long enough each time.