Mobile Car Battery Replacement, When the Vehicle Cannot Come to Us

The car started fine yesterday. This morning it clicked once and went quiet, and it is sitting in your driveway with a dead battery under the hood. Getting it to a shop means getting it to start first.

That is what roadside installation is for. We bring the battery out to the vehicle, install it where it sits, and you skip the tow and the jump start that only buys you an hour. It runs by appointment inside roughly ten miles of the Willoughby shop, Monday through Friday.

What roadside installation covers

The job is the same every time. We show up with the right battery, put it in, and make sure the vehicle starts before we leave. What changes is where we are standing when we do it.

  • Cars and light trucks at your house, your apartment lot, or your office parking lot.
  • Fleet and service vehicles at your yard or job site, including more than one unit in a single visit.
  • Equipment on a property that is not going to drive itself to us, like a golf cart parked behind the garage.

Two things this is not. We are not a tow company, so tires, lockouts, and fuel calls are not ours. And we are not a twenty-four hour dispatch service circling the county waiting for a phone to ring. Every visit is scheduled.

How the appointment works

  1. Call us and tell us what it is in and where it is parked.
  2. We confirm the battery and quote it, so you know what is coming out to you.
  3. We check the schedule to be sure a tech is actually free to leave the building.
  4. We assign a time slot based on the job. A car in a driveway and a cart behind a house are not the same amount of work.
  5. The tech comes out, puts a memory saver on so the computer never loses power, installs the battery, and confirms it starts before he packs up.

Step three is the one people find unusual, and it is the reason this works. The tech coming to your house is one of the people who would otherwise be working the counter in Willoughby. We will not promise a window we cannot staff, which is why we ask you to call rather than book blind.

Road calls go out Monday through Friday. The shop is open Saturday, but nobody leaves the building that day.

What the visit costs

The roadside fee starts at $75 and varies by application. A car is a flat $75. A golf cart on a homeowner's property runs $150, because the access, the pack, and the time on site are all different animals.

The fee covers the trip and the labor. The battery is quoted separately when you call, so you will know both numbers before anyone gets in a truck. Nobody likes finding out the price in their own driveway.

If you can get the vehicle here, do that instead

Installation at the shop is free on about nine out of ten vehicles when the battery comes from us. The roadside fee exists because a tech and a truck leave the building for an hour. If the car will start, or a jump will get it four miles down the road, driving in is the cheaper answer and we would rather tell you that now than after we have billed you.

The details are on our car battery installation page. Roadside is for the vehicles that genuinely cannot make the trip.

Where we stop

The radius is about ten miles from the shop for smaller jobs. For larger equipment it depends on what else we have running that week, so call with the equipment and the location and we will give you a straight answer. If you are outside the radius, call anyway. We would rather point you toward someone closer than take a job we would end up doing badly.

We do not install hybrid or electric vehicle traction packs, roadside or at the shop. Those run at voltages that will kill you and they need manufacturer tooling and procedure. The dealer is the right place for that work.

Thirty-five years at the same address teaches you that a vehicle eating batteries usually has a charging or draw problem underneath. If that is what yours has, a new battery buys you a few days and you are right back where you started. We will say so instead of selling you one you do not need.

Where we come out to

We work out of one building in Willoughby, and the roadside radius covers most of western Lake County and the near east side. That is Willoughby and Willoughby Hills, Eastlake and Willowick, Wickliffe, Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake, Kirtland, and down into Euclid, Richmond Heights, Highland Heights, and Mayfield Heights.

If your town is not on that list but you are close, ask. The edge of the radius is a judgment call and we make it on the phone, not on a map.

While we are out there we will look at the cable ends too. If one is corroded past saving we can build you a custom battery cable back at the shop. Equipment packs that keep dying are a different job and go through battery pack rebuilds.

Common questions

Can someone come replace my car battery at home?

Yes, that is the whole service. We bring the battery to your driveway, your lot, or your job site and install it there. You need to be inside the radius and you need an appointment.

How much is a mobile car battery replacement?

The roadside fee starts at $75 for a car and goes up by application. A golf cart on a homeowner's property is $150. The battery itself is priced separately and quoted on the phone before we come out, so there are no surprises in the driveway.

Can you come out today?

Sometimes, but not as a rule. This runs on appointments because the tech coming out is also the tech running the shop, and road calls only go out Monday through Friday. Call during business hours and we will tell you the soonest slot we honestly have.

Do you bring the battery with you?

We do. Battery delivery and installation are the same visit, which is why we confirm the group size on the phone first. If we show up with the wrong one, nobody's day gets better.

How far will you travel?

About ten miles from the Willoughby shop for smaller jobs, which covers most of western Lake County and a good part of the Cleveland east side. Larger equipment depends on what else we have running that week. Fleet locations with several vehicles are a better use of the trip for everyone, so tell us the count when you call.

Is it cheaper to bring the vehicle to you?

Yes, and by a fair margin. Installation at the shop is free on about nine out of ten vehicles when you buy the battery from us. The roadside fee covers a tech and a truck leaving the building. If a jump will get the vehicle here, that is the better call.

Does my car need the new battery registered?

Some do. A lot of newer vehicles, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volkswagen especially, track how worn the battery is and have to be told a new one went in. Give us the year, make, and model when you call and we will tell you whether yours is a road job or a shop job.

Do you take the old battery?

Yes, and we need it. The old battery is required as the core when you buy a new one, so leave it with the tech before he pulls out.