Best online car battery retailers 2023
We reveal your top choices for buying car batteries online, plus the non-starters
Modern cars are packed with electronics that can really take their toll on a vehicle’s battery. In addition to all the gadgets and infotainment set-ups we use, stop-start systems need a strong power source to bring the engine back into life at a moment’s notice.
Even electric cars need an old-school 12-volt battery because it’s essential for running the communications and security systems, as well as bringing the powertrain to life. And if your battery is showing signs of weakness now, while the weather is warmer, you can be sure it will only get worse once the winter arrives, and could leave you stranded.
Shopping around for a new battery will ensure you get the cheapest price, and looking online is the easiest way to compare. But where should you start? We’ve checked out the top sites to see which charged ahead with positive points and which left us feeling flat.
How we tested them
We were looking for vendors who offered good value, choice and a simple purchase procedure.
To get a selection of prices, we entered details for a wide variety of cars: a 2012 Fiat Panda, a 2014 Vauxhall Zafira diesel, a 2015 Nissan Leaf, a 2018 Nissan Qashqai petrol and a 2019 Land Rover Discovery. All except the Panda and Leaf needed a battery that could support a stop/start system.
We took an average price of the cheapest batteries, but also looked at the ‘premium’ option. Finally, we checked the cost of delivery and whether a fitting option was offered.
Reviews
Tayna.co.uk
- Prices (average): cheapest £85.54, premium (Bosch) £123.23
- Rating: 5/5 stars
- Delivery: £7.99, 1-2 days
- Website: Tayna.co.uk
This might not be the prettiest of websites, but look past the dated design and there are some useful details, hints and descriptions to try to ensure you get the right battery for your car.
Generally, there is a decent amount of choice, too, and the prices we found were the lowest in almost every case. Delivery costs a reasonable £7.99 and in most cases will be next day if you order before 7pm. There’s a fitting option as well, where the site asks you to fill in a form before linking you to local garages to book.
BatteryGroup.co.uk
- Prices (average): Cheapest £87.77, premium (Bosch) £129.56
- Rating: 4/5 stars
- Delivery: £6.99 3 days
- Website: BatteryGroup.co.uk
If you’ve looked under your bonnet, taken measurements and are pretty sure what you need, then the Battery Group might work for you. It’s very no-nonsense, offering a few choices that you can narrow down with filters.
The registration plate search function wasn’t the most accurate, but looking up the battery part number brought up some bargains, including the cheapest overall price for the Discovery’s battery. You’ll need to add the cost of delivery to the total, but it is reasonable, at £6.99.
GSFCarparts.com
- Prices (average): Cheapest £91.04, premium (Yuasa) £131.26
- Rating: 3.5/5 stars
- Delivery: Free, 2-3 days or £9.95 next day
- Website: GSFCarparts.com
We recommend that you at least try the slick-looking GSF site, because some of the prices are keen – once you’ve played the tiresome game of entering codes to get seemingly impressive discounts.
But we were left confused by the choices suggested by the number plate look-up, because they were not comparable to the part numbers we found on other sites, or the battery in our sample cars. If you find the right product at a keen price, GSF offers pick-up from a local branch or free delivery in three days.
Carparts4less.co.uk
- Prices (average): Cheapest £123.99, premium (Bosch) £202.59
- Rating: 3.5/5 stars
- Delivery: Free, 3-5 days or £4.95 next day
- Website: Carparts4less.co.uk
Carparts4less came out on top last time we tested these suppliers, but it doesn’t fare so well this year. Essentially the site is a rebranding of the Euro Car Parts operation, and the functionality and pricing are identical. In a change from when we conducted our last test, you are now able to collect the battery from an ECP store if you want to save on the cost of delivery.
The incentive to use Carparts4less over its sister site is the confusing discount code offers, which lopped £15 off our bill. But it still wasn’t cheap enough to convince us.
AdvancedBatterySupplies.co.uk
- Prices (average): Cheapest £94.98, premium (Bosch) £126.67
- Rating: 3.5/5 stars
- Delivery: Free, next working day
- Website: AdvancedBatterySupplies.co.uk
As with our winner, you’ll need to look past some of the confusing design of the ABS home page and invest some time entering the details of your car, too. This is the only vendor we tried that didn’t have an automatic number plate look-up system.
Oddly it didn’t list our Discovery at all, but there was plenty of choice for the other vehicles, with five options usually on offer. When looking at the prices, it’s worth remembering that next-day delivery is free, too, but there’s no compelling reason to choose ABS over the best of its rivals here.
Halfords.com
- Prices (average): Cheapest £138.39, premium £140.39
- Rating: 3/5 stars
- Delivery: Free, 14 days
- Website: Halfords.com
We were surprised how difficult it was to navigate the Halfords website, and it told us it had no batteries for any of our cars. But we pushed on and eventually found some results via a search engine.
You usually only get one or two choices and prices are at the top end. There’s a free-delivery option, but the quoted time was at least two weeks away on all our batteries. Yet Halfords could be attractive if you want fitting, because it costs just £20, including a mobile option. However, the company has a policy of not fitting anything to electric or hybrid cars.
BMStechnologies.co.uk
- Prices (average): Cheapest £99.60, premium (Bosch) £120.78
- Rating: 2.5/5 stars
- Delivery: Free, next day
- Website: BMStechnologies.co.uk
The Battery Megastore has had a bit of a rebrand since our last test and now calls itself BMS Technologies. But the basic offering for car battery buyers is the same.
The number plate look-up works well and the site prompts you to ask if you need a start/stop-compatible product, but it doesn’t offer nearly as many options as rivals. There was only one choice for the Panda and Zafira, for example. There were a few stock issues on our other cars too, which further limited choice. But on the plus side, the company offers free next-day delivery on all orders over £30.
Also tested:
Autodoc.co.uk
This massive site is usually competitive for car parts, and happily lists a great selection of batteries at decent prices. However, the company didn’t have any in stock for our cars.
A customer service operator confirmed that Autodoc is not currently selling car batteries in the UK, despite them being listed on the site.
Verdict
Whether you are happy fitting your own battery or would rather leave it to the experts, Tayna came out top for price, ease of website use and choice. It takes top spot in this test.
If you are confident looking up the part numbers yourself to ensure you get the right battery, then it’s worth seeing if you can save a few quid at the Battery Group site, too.
Carparts4less might be worth a look if you want the option to collect from a physical shop, and although we were baffled by the Halfords site, its offer to come and fit a battery at home or work is tempting for anyone worried about DIY.
- Tayna.co.uk
- BatteryGroup.co.uk
- GSFCarparts.com
If you need to keep the engine bay illuminated while checking for parts numbers, check out our list of the best inspection lamps…
