Dealership Battery Replacement Cost?

[kb5zcr]

I would do it in the Autozone parking lot, take your tools with you.
Folks are always replacing batteries in their parking lot.
I would never pay someone $900 to replace $300 worth of batteries.

Sponsored

 

[Tommyd]

9 is a bit steep…. I paid just over $425 for Autozone AGM platinums. So with the dealer rates being $160-210 an hour I wouldn’t be too blown away if they said $7-800. No way I would pay it ??‍ but between labor and materials going sky high for everything.
We pay $18 a gallon for hippy grass fed cow milk ??‍ nothing left to pay the dealer for labor…. ???

All cows eat grass

 

[gonzoy5]

2020 Gladiator purchased in May 2020 - I asked my dealer to check my batteries while it was in the shop. They called me today and stated the batteries were "a little weak". They stated to replace both was over 900 dollars.

Is this normal these days? I know it takes some effort to get at the aux and I assume it's half OEM parts cost and half labor probably? (maybe more in labor)


This is not a gripe, just checking. I can easily do the main myself. The Aux will take some sneakiness as I am an apartment dweller and they don't allow us to work on vehicles on their property for good reason I suppose.

I can probably handle it at a friend's house when they have time for me.

However, back to the question at hand. Is this a normal charge these days for a dealership to replace both batteries?

Batteries will cost about half from Autozone plus a 6 pack to change batteries with a friend and be done. Avoid that oem garbage battery at all costs!

 

[RobbertCole]

i spent 189 replacing both AGM batteries with amazon.

 

[Hootbro]

Full retail alone is going to be around $500 just for the batteries from the dealership. So $900 installed is really not unfathomable. High? Sure, but about what I would expect from them.

As mentioned, way cheaper to try and do on your own.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

All cows eat grass

?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

All cows eat grass

Around Ames, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids, they smoke it.

 

[me_ccie]

I just replaced mine with a battery from Costco. Can’t beat the Costco warranty.

 

[aldo98229]

?

Yeah I told them to pass on it. The question is, is this a normal charge at a dealership?

Sadly, we live in an age when ridiculous = normal.

A couple years ago I replaced both batteries on my 2018 JL with Super Start batteries from O'Reillys; paid $107 for the auxiliary battery and $199 for the main one. It took about 3 hours of my time to drive to O'Reillys, pickup the batteries, swap them out, and drop off the old cores.

Even if prices have gone up since then, you can swap out both batteries for half the dealer's quote. Plus, the quality of aftermarket batteries, even from store brands like those from O'Reillys and AutoZone, is far superior than those crappy Mopar batteries.

Good luck.

 

[BlackOak]

I'm going to stick to the OEM setup. I just want to understand if this is the normal, everyday cost of the dealership to do this work in the forums experience.

I changed my main and then at an oil change they said my AUX was bad estimated $359.00 to change so I passed. Went home and pulled it out, Batt+ checked it before I would by a new one checked ? went home and did it all in reverse when I had my Ford desiel utility van Batt + always treated me right on those two batteries only the Ford engine left me on the side of the road but that's another forum ?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bottom line - go buy a couple of quality batteries, the highest CCA A/H you can get in the size you need.
IF you do NOT have factory aux switches, it came with a smaller battery and a spacer in the tray. Remove that spacer and put a larger battery in place of the crank battery.
JTs used two different batteries for the crank battery - those with factory aux switches got a slightly larger batter than those without. So get the biggest one for that tray.
It's not that big a deal to swap them IF you take just 2 or 3 precautions.
*Charge them before installation
*Reset the IBS by disconnecting it from the crank battery and the ground cables and let it sit a few minutes.
*Make sure when you pull the cables off the crank battery, neither the ground cables or the hot/positive cable can touch anything else - especially that positive cable as with the aux battery still in place, that positive cable will blow things if you let it touch ground! If it blows the high current fuse array, you are spending a few more minutes and something like $150 bucks for a new HC fuse array.

It's been explained how easy it is to swap the aux battery by turning the wheels hard left before shutting things down, and accessing it by going behind the wheel and under the fender liner.

When you consider that shops around here are $175 to close to 200/hour for labor then 200 of that number is labor, maybe a bit more.
The MOPAR batteries aren't the best and are pricey for what you get.

If you want to know just how trust-worthy MOPAR batteries installed at the factory are, visit the 4xe forums. A lot of people have seen their 12 volt batteries go crap anywhere from a month to a few months to a year or two later.
You can't blame the aux battery for it because there IS NO AUX battery in a 4xe!
The batteries are just that bad.

Try to keep the batteries charged.
If you do mostly short drives, short commutes, or it sits a lot, strongly consider a battery maintainer. I use a BatteryMinder on mine. I have it rigged to connect using the trailer 7 pin connector.
I even have to watch the battery on my wife's JLU 4xe because it's got the same electronics that drain the battery and after 4 or 5 days of sitting, the 12 volt battery is down to 12.2 or so - NOT good to let them sit at a lower than full charge.
Can't blame the alternator, can't blame the aux battery - it doesn't have either of those.

 

[hepcat]

The MOPAR batteries aren't the best and are pricey for what you get.

If you want to know just how trust-worthy MOPAR batteries installed at the factory are, visit the 4xe forums. A lot of people have seen their 12 volt batteries go crap anywhere from a month to a few months to a year or two later.
You can't blame the aux battery for it because there IS NO AUX battery in a 4xe!
The batteries are just that bad.

I never had to replace my original '16 JKU battery in eight years. It was still going strong when I traded it in. They had to put a new aux battery in my '22 JT after sitting on the lot 611 days. It'll be interesting to see how long the main battery lasts.

 

[starrskream]

If you buy the battery from them, literally every auto parts store in the U.S. WILL INSTALL IT FOR FREE IF YOU ASK THEM.
tip the guy a 10$ bill and call it good if you want someone to install it

 

[Advntrbound]

2020 Gladiator purchased in May 2020 - I asked my dealer to check my batteries while it was in the shop. They called me today and stated the batteries were "a little weak". They stated to replace both was over 900 dollars.

Is this normal these days? I know it takes some effort to get at the aux and I assume it's half OEM parts cost and half labor probably? (maybe more in labor)


This is not a gripe, just checking. I can easily do the main myself. The Aux will take some sneakiness as I am an apartment dweller and they don't allow us to work on vehicles on their property for good reason I suppose.

I can probably handle it at a friend's house when they have time for me.

However, back to the question at hand. Is this a normal charge these days for a dealership to replace both batteries?

$200 ish for batteries, 20 minutes of time. Do it yourself if you know how to spin a socket.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If you buy the battery from them, literally every auto parts store in the U.S. WILL INSTALL IT FOR FREE IF YOU ASK THEM.
tip the guy a 10$ bill and call it good if you want someone to install it

HOWEVER, it's been shown that many of those untrained people at parts stores don't realize that when they take the cables off the crank battery to replace it, that positive cable is still HOT and SPARK and they blow one of the high current fuses.
I'd frankly not trust a parts store person to do it without my close supervision.
Some don't realize these have the setup they have.

Sponsored