AIBU to refuse to change the car battery given my caring duties?

It's really easy to change a car battery! You can pay someone to do it for your dad but I think you should be paying the extra for getting it fit.

Love the attitude of someone who claims things are easy but has a chap to do it for them.

I wouldn’t be fanny arseing around with this myself - Use Halfords tyres on the drive. They’ll come to your house with the battery and for it for you there and then - I think it’s about £20 plus the cost of the battery.

Do not feel guilty. It’s another job for you to sort. Whose car is it? As I’m confused. Tell them to pay for it to be changed and let them get on with it.

Does it need a new battery or has the battery run down?

If you can drive it to halfords they can fit it in 5 minutes when you buy it. I'm sure it's only an extra £20 or something.

If the battery won't start and you don't want to pay the excess of getting someone out you can charge the battery with these amazing starter batteries from amazon called GOOLOO starter battery that arrive next day and are £25. They keep their charge and they are really hand to keep in the car in case your battery runs low when you're out and about. They are really easy tonuse and jump start the car in a couple of minutes.

Thechaseison71

he’s a mechanic though? Literally the only profession that don’t need to pay someone to fix their car!!

I just had one fitted 120 all in. Battery depending on car isnt going to be much cheaper. See how much they'll charge you x

I presume the car battery is completely flat so you can’t just drive it to Halfords? If you have Home Start, use that?

we had to have the AA man change ours recently as it was completely dead and wouldn’t recharge and he was there a while-it was hard to get the old battery out as the attachments were a bit crusty and then he had to code the new one into the car computer before it would work.

Well, they’re usually around 15kg.

They are bloody heavy. Tell your brother you can't lift it and he can do the battery, or you can leave him with all parent-care for, let's say, a week.

Well it's volts, innit? Must be dangerous 'cos it's 'lectric like.

No, no-one is getting any shock, not even a tingle, from 12 volts DC.

Do you really think a teenager doing a Saturday job at halfords is that experienced? They hardly to intense training

And no not everyone pays to have it done. My brother is a mechanic and certainly wouldn't dream of getting someone to change a batter

Thechaseison71

I would !!! It would be done while the kettle is boiling Maybe you have these spare £50s to waste , bully for you

It’s not wasting money, a car is a dangerous machine, if you do something wrong you can endanger lives. We all have to pay over that amount for things like regular services, if people can’t then they can’t afford to have a car and in the same way if you can afford a car you can afford to have someone experienced fix it (even though it might leave you very tight/ having to go without that week etc)

How did you get an electric shock off a 12volt battery ?

And bully for you that you find changing a car battery easy. OP clearly didn't the last time she changed one - it's in the first post.

I would !!! It would be done while the kettle is boiling Maybe you have these spare £50s to waste , bully for you

If that was the case, and I’m not sure they offer free mobile fitting, then you have still paid for it in the extortionate price that they charge. I can usually get the same battery for not much more than half of what it costs in Halfords. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t let a Halfords employee anywhere near my car.

Maybe for people with much newer cars. From what I've seen under the bonnet on newer cars, there's no way I'd attempt anything under there! I'm glad I've got an older one!

I think most people go to a garage, I’ve actually never heard of anybody doing it themselves

Usually easy to do (and you shouldn't get a shock if it's done properly) but far better to get whoever you buy it from to do it - they're used to doing it! As suggested before Halfords are usually excellent.

Halfords came to my home, I only paid for the battery, there was no charge for fitting the battery. I found them very good, they also called m when they were on their way.

£50 to change a battery is extortionate, its really easy and if you're unsure, you'll be able to watch the process on YouTube.

However its clear here that the issue is that the OP has a lot on her plate and a brother who doesn't do his fair share with their DF, so its fair to say that he shouldn't be getting away with not doing stuff because he's 'reluctant'.

I'm sure the OP would rather not have so many people who depend on her like they do, but that's life and he should be doing more and if he was a decent human being he should be more than willing to do his share with their parents as well as help his sister change her car battery and take the old one to the council recycling centre rather than her being ripped off by Halfords who are probably already more expensive for car batteries than online suppliers.

It's very easy. The battery is a little heavy but I'm older and can manage, or go to Halfords, they will do it for a small cost.

It really is an easy job if you know what your doing. I last changed a car battery two years ago in about 10 minutes, but i do have Arthritis now. I've also changed plenty of wheels before my health took a nose dive. I've also trained both my daughters to be able to carry out the basics, but the I spending an hour watching my Dad maintain the family car growing up, and I was raised is a very practical household.

Crack on then. I'd rather bung someone £50 and have a brew while they do it for me, just my choice