Battery Disasters – Parent’s Worst Nightmare!

A battery failure leaves your daughter stranded alone at night. What would you do?

I was getting ready to close up the shop at Greenslopes last week when a panicked father called the shop a few minutes before 5pm.

He told me his daughter was stuck in the Mater Hospital carpark, her car wouldn’t start, and the car park was being closed for the night in twenty minutes – she didn’t want to leave the car there and if she did she’d also be charged extra fees. She was stressed and didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t able to get there and wanted to help her as soon as possible.

I drove there immediately and found her alone in the car park. I quickly checked her battery – the battery itself was very old, the terminals were corroded, I could see that it could have failed at any time over the last few months.

This meant that there was no point jumpstarting the car as it could fail again. The best thing to do was replace the battery on the spot. When I gave her the options available, she agreed that would rather have a car start reliably. I battery changed in a few minutes… she was thrilled with the service and how quickly her car was fixed and that it wasn’t locked in the carpark overnight.

I suggested that in the future she should think about getting a battery test every six months, it’s free, only takes a few minutes and gives peace of mind so she wouldn’t be stranded like this with a flat battery again.

Neither her or her dad knew that battery checks were part of the normal maintenance of her car! I told her she could come down to the shop during business hours anytime for a free test.

I wouldn’t like to think of my family stressed or stuck somewhere alone with a car that wouldn’t start. Luckily the job was done and paid for all within twenty minutes and she was on her way with a new battery. It’s good to be able to help people when they need it most, it would be great for people to check their batteries regularly to avoid breakdowns though, there’s never a good time for a car that won’t start!

— Bernie & Gavin, Brisbane Battery Superheroes