Does this look like a brand new battery?

Posted by KJTorres_WasTaken@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 8 comments

My male friends insist that I’m always getting scammed when I have work done on my car. I had a new battery put in yesterday and have driven less than an hour since then. My friend is insisting that this is not a new battery and is pushing me to take my car back to the shop.

First pic is the old one and second pic is the new battery:

https://imgur.com/a/tioy6oB

[-]

Blue8Evan@reddit

Absolutely not. The battery is covered in corrosion, not just the terminals. Probably just some old junk battery they had lying around. A new battery should look, well, new. That one looks like it needs to be replaced too!

[-]

Frosty_Mammoth5488@reddit

This person batteries

[-]

DefsNotRandyMarsh@reddit

No, that's not a brand new battery. I would 100% bring that back to where you got it and raise hell.

[-]

KJTorres_WasTaken@reddit (OP)

Thank you! I was warned against going to this shop by my friend, so I thought he might be overreacting simply to be right.

[-]

Frosty_Mammoth5488@reddit

Your friend is correct

[-]

Frosty_Mammoth5488@reddit

Most certainly not a new battery. The plastic on the new battery should be free of anything discoloration. As pointed out by others. It should be shiny plastic

It’s poor work. They should have cleaned the terminals during replacement .There should be nothing but clean metal on metal where the terminals are connected

Sometimes, batteries have markers/stickers on them indicating month/year of when the battery was installed. Sometimes stickers or dots that are punched out that are marked when the battery is sold or installed

Tell those clowns you had a friend “check the battery with a multimeter and it’s not putting out the voltage that a new battery should and it’s not holding a charge. A fully charged car battery when new should be 13-14 volts minimum”.

Be assertive and tell those clowns to give you a brand new battery. Not sure if I’d let them even touch your car again.

Go to an auto parts store.
Tell em you need a new battery but aren’t sure which one.
They should at least take a peek at your car to “help you” choose the correct battery
Once they see the battery, they should be able to tell if it’s new or not.
Buy new battery (there is usually a “core charge” for giving them the old battery)
Go back to the old shop and with the new battery and give them a couple options: A. You swap out this shitty used battery for free, clean the terminals proper with the new battery and return the shit battery they gave you to the auto parts store and give you all the money back … no charge B. I’ll have my mechanic give you a call and will be filing a report against you for fraud. (Yelp. Better business bureau, etc).

Batteries aren’t particularly hard to swap if you have a crescent wrench and are willing to YouTube “how to change a car battery” B. 7.

[-]

PositiveMiserable84@reddit

What's that yellow sticker say?

[-]

BoredCraneOp@reddit

I'm not sure. It looks to me like they installed the battery and then did a very poor job cleaning the terminals over top of the battery. So all the junk they cleaned off fell on the battery. I'm not saying it's a new battery, but it could be. What little i can of the side looks shiny and new. If they used brake clean to spray off the junk on top, it would dull the plastic.

Either way, it is very poor work. The terminals are dirty and still covered in corrosion, which leads to more corrosion. There's debris still on the battery. I would go back and complain. And if they can't take care of a simple battery they aren't worth whatever they are charging. Do not go back.