Interstate Battery Scam

Over 4 years ago I fell for the salesman at the oil change place telling me that my battery is going to die any second and I should buy one of their Interstate batteries that comes with a 75 months warranty. I did the deed and after 4 years and 5 months, the battery died without any warning. That is 53 months later than the purchase date.

I went to that dealer and asked them what they could do for me. They said they would have to call Interstate to ask. After checking the purchase date and a few minutes of waiting, the shop owner came to me and said Interstate representative is on the phone and you can talk to him yourself because they are telling me that they won't honor the warranty. They will only discount a new battery by $10 and this new battery will carry no additional warranty unless I forgo the $10 discount and buy a new battery at full price.

I took the phone and listened to the representative telling me the same thing and that even though the sticker on the battery says 75 months warranty, Interstate has since reduced the warranty on their batteries to 5 years (60 mo.) and also reduced the length of pro rate. He said my 53 month of owning the battery makes it too close to the current 60 months and there isn't much prorated discount he can give me because my warranty is under the old system and they no longer follow the rules of it.

I mentioned to him that when I bought the battery, I bought it under the old warranty and it should be as such but he would not listen. The shop owner was pretty horrified too and said he would consider not carrying the battery any more because it puts them at odds with customers and makes them feel like they have lied to them.

So, be aware, Interstate has no problem selling long term warrantied batteries and then turning around cutting the warranty length and not honoring their word. Who knows, if you buy a battery that is warrantied for 5 years now, they may change their warranty terms to 3 years and you would be hooped so heads up! Choose another brand. There are plenty of other battery manufacturers that stick to their warranty.