When does all of the damage happen to your vehicles batter?  Summer or winter?

Most people will say winter because that is usually when it lets us down but in reality most of the damage happens in the summer.  In most vehicles the battery is located under the hood and there is a tremendous amount of heat that gets created under the hood in the summer.  Having your battery checked is something shops will do either at every oil change or as part of their winter maintenance package.  What the technician is doing is using a tool to check what is often referred to as the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA).  Basically this is the juice that is needed to start your vehicle in the cold.  If the battery is weak and we get a cold snap our battery may not be strong enough to start for us on that cold winters day.  It’s a good idea to get a weak battery changed before the winter so that we don’t get let down.  The average life of a battery is just shy of four years, after that you are on borrowed time.