Battery Warrantee

A little over a year ago I bought a battery from Kragen with an 84-month warrantee.

So, I go to Kragen today with my dead battery. I present the battery and the receipt to the kid behind the counter. He tests the battery and the battery is indeed bad. The warrantee on the battery indicates that if the battery goes bad in the first year, they will replace for free. If it goes bad in:
13 to 21 months, I will pay 25%,
22 to 42 months, I will pay 50%
43 to 63 months, I will pay 75%
64 to 84 months, I will pay 95%.

Kragen rings me up on the replacement for my 14month old battery and charges me 50% on the new list price instead of 25% on the old list price. It turns out that in reality, I bought a new battery 2 years ago for 70.00 and had received a replacement battery for free 14 months ago. First battery lasted 10 months, second has lasted 14 months.

As I do the math on this I realize that at the beginning of the transaction, I purchased a battery for 70 bucks that should list for 84 months – 7 years. This means that every 7 years I should cough up 70.00 or the current equivalent and every 7 years or so I have to wrestle the battery out and change it out. Including the trip to Kragen, this is about 2 hours of my time.

Under the Kragen plan, the thing that they call a warrantee is shaping up to be a racket. Under the Kragen plan instead of spending 70.00 and 2 hours every 7 years, I get to do the following:

Day 0 Spend 70.00 and 2 hours
End of year 1 Spend 0.00 dollar and 2 hours
End of year 2 Spend 35.00 + sales Tax and 2 hours
End of year 3 Spend 35.00 + sales Tax and 2 hours
End of year 4 Spend 52.50 + sales Tax and 2 hours
End of year 5 Spend 52.50 + sales Tax and 2 hours
End of year 6 Spend 66.50 + sales Tax and 2 hours

And finally as should have happened any way, at the end of year, 7 buy a new battery.

As I see it I go into the deal thinking that this is a 2 hour 70.00 plus sales tax = 75.16 event that will hold me for about 7 years.

I come out at the end of 7 years with a situation that contains 6 extra events, has cost me $311.50 plus sales tax of 22.97 = 334.47 and 14 hours.

How come, a new battery will sometimes last for only a few months and others will last a decade. I have a 1992 Ford Truck that sits out on the street and occasionally goes months without being driven, only gets about 300 miles a year and it will start right up in zero degree weather. My 512tr battery is 7 years old and I do not use a tender and it will start whenever I want it. I am running 1 battery a year in both 400i’s. The 76 Corvette just needed a new battery about a year ago; the old battery was 12 years old. The last time I put a battery in the e-type was about 10 years ago.