Mobile Car Battery Replacement

A car with a flat battery is the one job where driving to a garage is not an option. We come to the car, test the battery and the charging system, and replace the battery on the spot if that is what it needs.

A car that will not start is not automatically a car that needs a battery. The battery is the most common cause, but it is not the only one, and a new battery fitted to a car with a charging fault will be flat again within days.

Before replacing anything we check:

• Battery state of charge and its ability to hold one
• Cranking performance under load, which is where weak batteries reveal themselves
• Alternator output while the engine is running
• Parasitic drain, if the battery keeps going flat overnight
• Terminals, earth straps and connections, which are a frequent and cheap culprit

If the battery tests fine, we tell you and look for the actual fault instead.

• The engine turns over slowly, particularly first thing on a cold morning
• You need a jump start more than once
• Headlights dim noticeably while cranking
• Electrical items behave oddly, or the stop-start system stops working
• The battery is more than five years old

Stop-start failing is worth watching for. Those systems switch themselves off when battery condition drops, so it often shows a battery is tiring before anything else does.

Cars with stop-start need either an AGM or an EFB battery depending on the system, and fitting a conventional battery in place of one will give a short and disappointing life. Many vehicles also need the new battery registered to the car’s management system so the charging strategy adapts to it. Skipping that step shortens the life of the battery you have just paid for. We fit the correct type and register it where the vehicle requires it.

We take the old battery away with us. Lead-acid batteries are classed as hazardous waste and should not go in a household bin or be left in a garage.

We replace batteries across South London and Surrey, including Croydon, Epsom and Kingston.

If the battery turns out not to be the problem, the next step is usually mobile car diagnostics or auto electrical fault finding. See the full list of services for everything else.

Give us the make, model and registration, and tell us whether the car is completely dead, turning over slowly, or starting but behaving strangely. That tells us what to bring. We work seven days a week.