Battery Help!

[Smileybug]

Hey guys. So I know my battery has been on its way out for a few days. Its at least a 4 1/2 year old battery so I'm not shocked. Well, today it finally died. At least it was when I was leaving to go to campus instead of in the parking deck at 7pm tonight.

Is there a good brand of battery to go with? There is a Duralast in there right now and its seemed to work fine for the past 4 1/2 years. Also, does anyone know if Autozone or other places like that will replace the battery?

Help me please!

[Magiko]

My wife's bug's battery died a few years back, and Autozone had a replacement.

Battery brands may be like "mac vs pc" for some folks, but I didn't bother learning why that's the case.

Whatever they sold has been fine.

Also, they can confirm it really is the battery (and thus not your alternator) if you can get the battery to them (in or out of your car). They'll hook it up to a machine and you'll know pretty fast.

They also will take the old battery. I don't recall if there's a core replacement discount for leaving the old one, but it doesn't matter, since environmentally batteries should be disposed of properly.

An amusing note: No matter what battery you have, you'll get someone who looks up the car and say "A <insert your car here> huh? Those take a non-standard type of battery... they're a bit extra". Swap out battery for "tires", or whatever part you happen to be buying.