AAA technicians busy installing car batteries due to cold snap

ATLANTA — “Twenty-four different batteries on this car and we’re ready to install right away,” said Evron Brown.

Brown with AAA said that’s exactly what he’s been doing all day on Friday. “The cold can get into the batteries, that’s really low on cell capacity; it will affect that battery.”

Brown told Channel 2′s Larry Spruill they have been been busy. “We’ve been hammered. We’ve been hammered. That’s all it’s been mostly, was batteries.”

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Brown said below freezing weather can really hurt an automobile, especially in Georgia, since Georgia normally doesn’t experience brutal temperatures. “The cold weather, gets in and hurts the cells inside the battery. So when the battery is not being recharged enough, the cells inside with the cold weather, they won’t reactivate.”

And that gives you a dead battery. “So when a technician first comes to a member’s vehicle, what we do is we’ll always wiggle the terminals because if (there’s) any looseness in a battery’s terminal, a car won’t start,” said Brown.

A lot of Brown’s customers were blindsided with that harsh reality recently. Brown said the increase in calls didn’t start Friday. They have been busy over the last two years when it comes to installing car batteries. “We’ve been hammered since the pandemic with batteries, from the five factors: people who are retired, virtual officer work(ers), the ones who work from home. People with more than one car, age of the battery and weather.”

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But Brown said there are ways you can help your car survive the bitter cold. “It’ll be smart if everybody starts their cars three days a week, three times a week, for 30 minutes, because the alternator will keep that battery recharged.”

Brown also said, before getting in your car and driving off, you should start your car five to 10 minutes beforehand. That gives your car a chance to really warm up.

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