Don’t Face a Tragedy, Check your Battery

Don’t Face a Tragedy, Check your Battery

The truth is that most people don’t worry about their battery until it dies on them. When this happens, your day is pretty much shot; You are late to work (if you can even get their at all) your kids are stranded and your errands get left unaccomplished.

Even worse, you can potentially face long periods of time in a parking lot or driveway in freezing temperatures waiting for a tow truck. Or, a good samaritan who happens to have a set of jumper cables. Even then, you are not out of the woods; hopefully there is a service center around you that is open to get it replaced.

Not fun.

Doylestown, PA and Pennsylvania generally experience cold, windy winters, and batteries take a beating during this cold winter months. Cold weather essentially slows down the chemistry that allows batteries to create and maintain their charges. Worse yet, your battery has to work harder to turn your engine since the oil and other fluids in your vehicle has thickened due to the cold.

A battery that is old or poorly charged likely won’t make it through the winter. Don’t shoot the messenger.

There are ways that you can help your battery during winter:

1. Store your car indoors in warmer temperatures.
2. Turn off your radio, cup warmers and any other accessory that might bog things down when starting your car. Wait a couple minutes before you start turning on your climate control, GPS, etc.
3. Make sure you have the correct size/power battery for your car. Too often, folks end up having batteries that are insufficient for their car, especially with the amount of technology and features that are being added and plugged in to today’s cars.
4. In extreme temperatures, you can get an engine blanket which is essentially a heated blanket for your car’s engine. While it is unlikely that we will face temperatures so low in Bucks County, it is an option nevertheless.
5. You can also do yourself a favor by having your battery tested and, if necessary, replaced before the winter months really start to set in.

Testers are readily available online and you can test it yourself. Most auto repair shops can also test your battery for you. If you are at your mechanic shop soon, it’s worthwhile asking them and see if it’s in good enough shape for the winter.

BBack Car Care performs a free battery check as part of its complementary care package with each car visit. Their expert technicians can tell you how old your battery is and where the charge level is. They can also provide top of the line batteries that make sense for you and your car based on the amount of power needed to run your car and its accessories.

A relatively inexpensive battery replacement may be well worth the investment when you think of the potential for lost time and work. Not to mention the potential danger of you and/or your family being stranded in cold weather for long period of time.

As a reminder, ensure you have jumper cables and other winter weather accessories for your car. You can even consider a portable car jumper.

Not sure when your battery was last checked? Call now or schedule an appointment online and we will be happy to get your car checked out.