How Old is Your Battery?
General consensus is that a vehicle’s battery should last 3 to 5 years, but how can you tell when that clock started ticking on your battery? It’s actually easier than you might think.
Follow these steps to see how old your battery is.
- Locate the 4 or 5 digit shipping code stamped into the top of the battery
- The first character will be a letter representing the month your batter was shipped. A=January, B=February, and so on.
- The second character from the left should be a number and represents the year your battery was shipped. 2=2012, 3=2013, etc.
- So, if the code on your batter reads “K6NKB,” your battery was shipped from the factory in November 2016.
Now, say you’ve been having trouble with your battery recently and the code reads something like “B2KDA,” which indicates a shipping date of February 2012. This would put your battery at the tail end of the 3-5 year period of expected dependability, and it probably means it is time to have your battery serviced or replaced.
Vehicle battery issues seems to be more common during the cold winter months, so don’t get frustrated. If you know how to jumpstart your car and you are still having issues with the battery, check the shipping date and then contact Hoffman Auto. We can test your battery to see what your options are…perhaps it doesn’t need to be replaced and just needs a cleaning and or charge!