FWIW - Varta & Bosch automotive batteries are exactly the same inside, made by the same people in the same factory.

Try www.carparts4less.co.uk/

They're the same company as Euro Car Parts but are cheaper!

Google motor factors, choose a couple close to you and ask them for their price. I've just done this and am waiting for an opportunity to take my old battery to a scrap metal yard, where I expect to get around a fiver for it.

Another vite for Tayna.

Replaced Jazz battery from them after 8 years.. Yuasa battery for under £50 delivered.

Local motor factor - £80 for a Platinum battery with three year warranty. Versus £48.50 for the Varta - delivered next day.

Local metal dealer will take the old one but only pay out if the amount is £10 or more .. but will issue credit note for sums under a tenner (or give the money to one of four charities they support). Saves queuing at the tip so will go there.

Ta for recommendations and advice.

I have one. I used it. It makes no difference.

In my experience when a car battery starts playing up it means you're gonna need a new one sooner or later - and when your car won't start because you've left your lights on for ten minutes it changes from being a useful means of getting to your planned destination .... to an annoyingly useless lump of metal sat on your driveway., and you're going nowhere.

I'm thinking five years service for an item that costs under £50 (delivered by courier the next day) ain't bad. It's less than a tenner a year.

It's due to arrive today courtesy of DHL.

Edited by KB. on 04/03/2021 at 10:51

....and in my limited experience, batteries used to fade away gradually with oid age, but now they die quite soon after showing signs of senility. Change the battery as soon as it starts to misbehave, otherwise it'll spring a surprise on you just when you least want it to (pouring rain, in the dark, Sunday evening, far from home, in a hurry....you can just imagine the battery writing the plot for this disaster......)

OK, to finish up :-

Battery arrived from Battery Megastore. As mentioned, I got the (Varta Blue) battery for my Yeti from them 18 months ago and their service was good ... and it remained so this time too. Ordered yesterday, arrived this afternoon and there were staff answering the phones without delay plus invoice and dispatch advice emailed promptly.

Also as mentioned, ECP would have charged £76 for the identical Bosch version. Battery Megastore are virtually the same (within 50pence) as Tayna, so it was one or the other - both good companies.

Battery Megastore use DHL for deliveries ... I did see mention that Tayna use (or did use) UK Mail and that UK Mail weren't as good as DHL - but that may not be strictly true, I don't know. I do know that mine was delivered by DHL and I was given a time slot that they adhered to.

I did also say, yesterday, above, that I'll use the local scrappy rather than the tip.

When side by side the Bosch S4 030 is abolutely identical to the Varta A13 054H. The difference being the price and the label - Bosch being more expensive.

Have put the new one on charge just in case it had lost some it's flavour in storage (probably not necessary but start as you mean to go on).

As an afterthought, with the benefit of hindsight a Yuasa battery would have been as good, if not a better option. They do a 5000 series with 5 year warranty. Tayna and Battery Megastore were both out of stock - and it was out of stock at the majority of other suppliers too, but there were one or two places showing it in stock. It was a bit more expensive but might have been a good buy?

Ta for the advice given.

Edited by KB. on 04/03/2021 at 18:47

I started out in pursuit of a new battery not knowing that Bosch and Varta are as one. And now know that DHL acquired UK Mail.

Any more mergers or takeovers before the thread fades into obscurity?

I did just look on one or two forums and, as is to be expected I suppose, there are those who have had poor experience with Bosch Customer Service regarding warranty. But I believe that's fairly academic as he warranty is with the retailer not the manufacturer.

I asked Battery Megastore about warranty cover and they said I'd need to go to somewhere like Halfords or KwikFit and get them to test it and hope they would agree to providing a printout of the figures and send that to Megastore as well as sending the battery back to them. I confess it sounded as though the odds are stacked in their favour and there are hoops aplenty to jump through in order to get a battery replaced if it "apparently failed" during warranty. I've never claimed on a battery warranty so have no tales to relate. But with the advent of more and more dependance on batteries in cars maybe it's time to research a bit deeper where to invest your money. I'm partly thinking of EV's here and partly "stop and start technology". I shall be resisting EV for as long as pratically feasible myself. Others may well not, of course.

That's handy to know - roughly what bits of scrap (and batteries) are worth.

My battery isnt as weighty as yours, but I'll have a sort throught the plumbing box and see if it needs a clear out.

I won't hold me breath though.

I'm quite disappointed, just back from the scrap yard and only got just shy of four quid for the old (12 kg) battery. However, I did take all my old taps, tap heads, radiator valves and ball-cocks and got thirteen quid for them (4 kg).

I weighed my old 68ah battery (17kg) in earlier this week and got £6.80. I also weighed in a small (1kg) copper tank which was less rewarding at £2.60. Still better than taking to the tip!