Walmart or Costco batteries?

[Chris142]

My Jeep has had it's first major defect. So it's going to be parked a while while I gather funds to fix it.

Will be daily driving my 87,f250 for a while. It needs batteries.

Walmart has them for $55 each with a 1 year warranty. Made in Korea.

Costco has them for $99,3 year warranty. These appear to be made by Johnson ( or whoever bought Johnson) and labeled as interstate.

Only thing being interstate is the green sticker. No more green battery case which was an interstate thing .

I'm on a budget but also want the best value.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Costco. I brought the weak Interstate battery out of our TSX in; the guy looked it up on their database and found it had a month or 2 left on the 3 years.
He pulled a new Interstate off the shelf, put it in my cart and said thank you.

 

[CDX825]

What size battery are you running? I'm sure you know most guys run group 31 batteries in these trucks. I haven't bought any in awhile but they always seemed to the best bang for the buck.

 

[Chris142]

What size battery are you running? I'm sure you know most guys run group 31 batteries in these trucks. I haven't bought any in awhile but they always seemed to the best bang for the buck.

Group 65. Going to a 31 requires battery box and cable mods. Not something I want to mess with. The 65's work fine.

 

[bbhero]

Just me Chris....

I'd go with the Valuepower group 65s.

$110 vs 200... And you really are just paying extra for the warranty. Which I don't think is really worth that extra money. Especially this being your second choice vehicle.

We have had a number of people on here run those 1 yr free replacement warranty Valuepower batteries for 3-4 years.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Costco.

 

[brianl703]

If I want a cheap but good battery, I go to the Interstate store and get an Econopower battery.

 

[Chris142]

If I want a cheap but good battery, I go to the Interstate store and get an Econopower battery.

I don't have a store near me.

 

[Lubener]

A Walmart Everstart Maxx has been powering my 87 F150 since 2016. It's worth getting the Maxx with the three year replacement warranty. I will always buy at WM because they move a lot of volume. You are pretty much assured of getting a fresh battery and not one from an auto or battery store which has sat around for many months.

 

[joegreen]

I would probably go with the Walmart battery considering it’s a second vehicle.

 

[mrsilv04]

Since the cost of the Costco is nearly double, I'd be going to WM.

 

[billt460]

A Walmart Everstart Maxx has been powering my 87 F150 since 2016. It's worth getting the Maxx with the three year replacement warranty. I will always buy at WM because they move a lot of volume. You are pretty much assured of getting a fresh battery and not one from an auto or battery store which has sat around for many months.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I would buy from Wal-Mart, and give the battery a good slow charge on a Battery Tender, to bring it up to 100% charge.... Or as close to that as you can get.

I agree with the fact a LOT of these high priced batteries sit around for months. And that isn't doing ANY battery ANY good. I don't care how wonderful it's made. I'll bet on a fresher, low cost, fully charged battery every time.

Say what you will about Wal-Mart, they move a lot of product. And batteries, much like produce, are always better when purchased fresh.

 

[SHOZ]

I needed a new battery for my Gen Coupe and WalMart had the odd size in their Maxx lineup. But the battery had been sitting on the shelf for over a year at my local store based on manufacture date.

So I ordered it online, waited a couple days and canceled it. But they had ordered some new replacements so I went in and ought a newer one.

 

[tblt44]

Walmart Maxx 3 year warrenty.

 

[eljefino]

Walmart. My RV has a 460 and cranks over with a single couple-year-old group 35 value battery.

 

[y_p_w]

Costco has them for $99,3 year warranty. These appear to be made by Johnson ( or whoever bought Johnson) and labeled as interstate.

Only thing being interstate is the green sticker. No more green battery case which was an interstate thing .

Interstate has multiple suppliers, including Exide. There's really no way of knowing unless someone can figure out the specific markings. Most of the new batteries at Costco seem to be labelled as being assembled in Mexico, although it's not clear if that's Clarios (former JCI) or Exide, since both do assembly in Mexico.

When Costco was selling their own Kirkland Signature brand, it was labelled as made by Johnson Controls. So they were dealing directly with JCI. But now they're dealing with Interstate and I suppose it's up to Interstate.

Regardless of what we'd like to think, the car battery business is more or less a commodity business. The marketer isn't going to care that much if the battery is made by Exide, Clarions, East Penn, Yuasa, Panasonic, etc. There seems to be a good deal of misinformation, including some who believe that Johnson Controls purchased Interstate.

Yuasa/Interstate Batteries

www.hondarebelforum.com

 

[RitcheyRch]

Walmart out of sheer convenience with one always being close by

 

[KGMtech]

Costco. Warranty is that good.

 

[sky jumper]

the costco warranty is being abused by many. but I guess you have to blame costco for allowing it to happen. my take is JCI got sick of losing money on costco's returns and walked away from the business. so its interstate now and we'll see how long that lasts. if your margins are negative you can't make it up in volume. at some point the warranty will become more restrictive or the price will increase. otherwise costco will run out of battery suppliers who are willing to subsidize their policy.

even so the walmart value battery is still a better deal. unless you plan to drain it dead annually and bring it back to the store for a new one, claiming its defective somehow. and even then you could just charge the value battery it will still last 3+ yrs, beyond which the costco warranty doesn't help.

 

[FZ1]

Walmart. Free or cheap install.