The Walmart EverStart Maxx car battery warranty can be confusing. We’ve been buying these batteries for our cars since 2003. On this page, we will share the official warranty information for Everstart Maxx batteries, share info we received from Walmart Auto Department managers, and document our purchases.
We also summarize what we’ve learned about the Walmart warranty policy for all four of their car battery brands.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1 Our History of Purchasing Walmart Everstart Maxx Batteries
- 2 List of All Walmart Batteries with Warranties
- 3 Manager Interview: Walmart Battery Warranty Specifics
- 4 Get a Price on a New Battery for your Car
- 5 How to Make Sure You Can Afford Car Repairs
- 6 A Chronology of Walmart Battery Warranties
- 7 What To Do If Walmart Employees Deny Your Warranty
- 8 4 INEXPENSIVE THINGS WE USE FOR OUR CARS
- 9 Save By Quoting Your Auto Insurance
Our History of Purchasing Walmart Everstart Maxx Batteries
Our daughter Becky drives a Toyota Tacoma. In 2018, the day before taking a trip into the White Mountains in northern Arizona, she noticed her 4-year-old Toyota battery wasn’t cranking the engine as quickly as it did previously. We had it tested at O’Reilly Auto Parts and instead of 700 amps cranking power it registered at 200 amps.
O’Reilly offered to sell her a battery for $112 with a 2-year full replacement warranty.
She decided to take her dad’s advice and go to Walmart. She purchased an EverStart Maxx for $104 and received a 3-year warranty with an additional 2 years of prorated warranty coverage.
June 2020 –
Everstart Maxx Warranty
3 years free replacement warranty
plus two years prorated replacement warranty
Source: Walmart.com
List of All Walmart Batteries with Warranties
Warranty Details
1-Year Free Replacement
1-Year Free Replacement
2-Year Free Replacement
3-year free replacement warranty + 2 years
pro-rated warranty
Cold Cranking Amps
650
585
540
550
Source: Walmart.com June 2020
We’ve been buying Everstart Batteries since 1997 and have learned a lot about how the warranty works. Here’s what we’ve learned:
Manager Interview: Walmart Battery Warranty Specifics
We asked a Walmart automotive manager to explain how the warranty on EverStart Batteries worked. Here’s what he said:
The Walmart Everstart Battery Warranty is: If the battery fails in the first 3 years you’ll receive a replacement for free.
Does the Warranty Get Extended on Replacement Batteries?
The replacement battery warranty does not get a new warranty date. The term of the warranty on a replacement battery still has the original 3-year date.
What About the ProRated Warranty?
However, if after the original 3-year full-replacement period, the battery fails, you will be charged a pro-rated amount to replace the battery.
We once paid $15.93 to have a 51-month-old (4.25-year) battery replaced under the extended warranty (see details below).
But the best part of the prorated warranty is that if you do have to pay anything out of pocket you are not only given a new battery. This is why we love Walmart Car Batteries and specifically, the Walmart Everstart Maxx Car Battery Warranty.
Manager’s Handwritten notes on the Battery Warranty
Here’s a note (click on the image) that the automotive service manager wrote on my battery warranty envelope.
Click here to see a larger more readable version of the manager’s notes.
Get a Price on a New Battery for your Car
We want to Help you Save Money. See the complete line-up of Everstart Maxx Batteries and their current prices at Walmart.
You can Buy Here and Have it Installed at your Local Walmart!
Note: this is an affiliate link and we do receive a small commission – your price remains the same.
How to Make Sure You Can Afford Car Repairs
Do you have an Auto Maintenance Budget?
Saving money each paycheck for car maintenance is a regular part of our household budgeting process.
But whenever possible we try to buy quality products for the lowest price to keep from spending a lot more money. Over the years we’ve tried car batteries from various auto parts stores, we even bought a more pricey Interstate Battery because Paul Harvey (radio legend) recommended them.
Regardless of the brand, in the Arizona heat, the longest they’d last was about 2 years. Then we tried Walmart.
A Chronology of Walmart Battery Warranties
In the following paragraphs, we share several different Walmart Batteries we’ve purchased and how long they’ve lasted.
2003 First Walmart Everstart Battery Purchase
We researched and purchased a new car battery for our 1997 Honda Accord in 2003. Based on a Consumer Reports review, we decided to stop using Interstate Batteries. Even though they were known for always being reliable, but rather pricey. Consumer Reports rated Walmart’s EverStart Maxx Batteries at about the middle of the pack. They weren’t the top-rated, but their Life Test, Reserve Capacity, and Cold Cranking Power were all above average.
One thing we failed to note was the warranty period — 36 months full replacement / 60 months prorated. We plunked down $47.99 (tax included) and didn’t give the battery a second thought.
October 2007 — Battery Replacement
A full 51 months (4.25 years) later, the battery started to lose cranking power. We discovered it had a bad cell, but it continued to work fairly well. In early November, Steve got stuck because the battery wouldn’t start the car. Steve went to a nearby Wal-Mart.
Normally batteries in Arizona don’t last more than 3 years, so Steve was prepared to pay full price to replace our old battery.
The service tech at Walmart offered us free installation of a new EverStart Maxx battery AND because of the pro-rated warranty we only paid $15.93 . . . $15.93 for a new battery!
Now we’ve had batteries with replacement warranties before, but they’ve never been this generous!
The full retail price (at that time) was supposed to be $73.48.
We received a savings of $57.55. Steve questioned the Automotive Department manager to make sure she was performing the transaction correctly. It just didn’t seem right. She checked it twice and then re-explained Walmart’s warranty policy. The new battery had a 36 Month Full Replacement Warranty and an additional 24 months prorated warranty.
We know that customer service varies from store to store. Just be aware that enforcement of the proper terms of any warranty depends on your knowledge of the terms and the helpfulness of the customer service person. Know the details and stand up for what is right.
Ours is not an isolated experience – read what other Walmart Battery Owners are saying.
2012 Ford Van Walmart Everstart Warranty Story
In 2012 we put a new Walmart Battery in our 1999 Ford Van. Whenever we buy a new battery we ask the manager, to confirm the warranty policy and write it on the envelope for the warranty. This is kept in the glove compartment of the vehicle along with the receipt from the purchase (a warranty requirement).
That 2012 battery lasted until 2018 — just about 6 years. There was no warranty coverage left, so we purchased a new one for $104.71 on 8/20/2018. We sold the van in 2020 with the Walmart EverStart Max still in it and working great.
Bottom line: ask questions, take notes, and keep a record.
October 2022 our 2012 Toyota Sienna Gets a Walmart EverStart Maxx Battery
We bought a 2012 Toyota Sienna in 2020. It came with a Toyota OEM battery in it that was manufactured in 2017. We started having problems with the Toyota battery, so we went online to Walmart.com and ordered a new EverStart Maxx and picked it up and traded in the Toyota battery to avoid paying a core charge.
What To Do If Walmart Employees Deny Your Warranty
We’ve had a couple of experiences where the Walmart employee we were dealing with in the Automotive Department didn’t know the details of the EverStart Maxx warranty as well as we did. We patiently listened to their take on the warranty, then explained our understanding. If we couldn’t come to an agreement we asked to talk to the Auto Department Manager or the Store Manager. In each case the problem was quickly resolved in our favor.
To Get Better Treatment: Try Kindness in Walmart’s Auto Department
We’ve read a lot of complaints about Walmart’s Customer Service. There are people ranting about how poor it is and how rude the service people are. Our experience has been much different. We don’t always get what we want, but most of the time we try to be kind and patient. We also try to relate to the service person or manager as a “Real Person with Feelings.” If we do this, even though the store employee has a job to do, they bend over backward to help us.
Be kind, be persistent, and be genuine. You’ll find that Walmart employees will respond the same way. You’ll be so happy you did this!
Another Car Battery Option
Check out Amazon.com’s Best Selling Car Battery Listing (especially if you’re a Prime Member with Free Shipping). The Optima Brand has some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any battery.
1. A Battery Charger Is A Must-Have in your Garage:
We’ve found the top-rated battery chargers at Walmart to be a good deal. They cost between $25 and $50 and are great protection against battery mishaps.
The 3 top-rated battery chargers are:
- Speed Charge – 6/12 Volt 1.5 Amp Maintainer (529 reviews, 4.5 stars) less than $26
- SuperSmart Battery Tender Plus 12-Volt 1.25 AMP Battery Charger (181 reviews, 4.3 stars) less than $50
- Stanley 15A Battery Charger with 40A Engine Start (141 reviews, 4 stars) less than $40
2. Jumper Cables
We can’t tell you the number of times we’ve pulled out ourCartman jumper cables – usually to help someone else who is stranded. But, of course, we’ve had to use them when our car battery has failed too. We have the 16-foot-long version. It always reaches as far as we need it to. And we love having the storage bag to keep the cables in. It keeps the back of our van nice and tidy.
3. No Corrosion Terminals
We put theseInfinite innovations Felt Terminal Protector Padson all of our cars. In the past, we had to deal with corrosion and build-up on battery terminals and battery cables. Now, they stay perfectly clean without any hassle. They’re inexpensive and totally effective.
4. Dial Tire Gauge
Years ago we read a Consumer Reports article that rated tire gauges. The top-rated ones were dial gauges. Since that day, we’ve tossed out all of our pencil-type gauges and only bought dial-type gauges for our cars and for our kids. We have one that looks just like this Accu-Gage 60 PSIversion.
We’ve found that dial-type gauges are much more accurate than the pencil type.
Our Favorite Sources for Car Parts and Accessories
We have two go-to resources when we’re buying parts and accessories for our cars.
- JC Whitney – one of the largest online auto parts distributors. We’ve purchased floor mats, a van spare tire cover and van running boards from them.
- Rock Auto – we purchased a hard-to-find intake manifold from Rock auto and loved their pricing. Our son-in-law Collin and an auto mechanic friend of ours told us about this resource. Huge savings!
Our Favorite Place to Buy Tires
For more than 20 years we’ve purchased all of our tires from Discount Tire. They’re known as America’s Tire in Oregon and parts of Washington and California.
They will price-match other companies on the same tire … one time we price-matched Costco’s price at Discount Tire and saved $500.
They offer free flat repair and will fill your tires with air for free.
Our Favorite Garage Door Opener
For many, many years we had a Sears, Craftsman garage door opener. It was a chain drive and it was noisy. When it finally stopped working we upgraded to this super quiet and easy-to-maintain belt-driven LiftMaster/Chamberlain. It costs about the same as all the other garage door openers out there. We wish we’d switched from Sears to Liftmaster/Chamberlain sooner!
Check out all of the Chamberlain ultra-quiet belt drive wi-fi garage door openers on AmazonA Portable Car Battery Jumper and Phone Charger
These are great things to have to keep you from being stranded.
For more ideas to save money on your car, check out our money-saving tips page for car insurance!
Save By Quoting Your Auto Insurance
Buying the best battery for your car is a smart money choice that you can make every couple of years. But you could save money every month by quoting your auto insurance. 75 percent of people automatically renew their auto insurance without even blinking an eye.
If you get quotes from several companies, every 3 years could be a game-changer for you.
Insurance companies base their annual rates, in part, on their losses in each zip code they serve. There have been times that we’ve quoted our insurance and saved $100 per month and other times we’ve saved $180. It’s an amazing way to stretch your income.
Insurance Companies We Like:
We like Esurance (the online division of Allstate). We also like using Gabi’s Insurance Quoting service. Gabi is an insurance broker representing 20 to 30 of the top insurance companies in the country. Just submit your information and you’ll get multiple quotes without having to make a bunch of phone calls.