BATTERIES

Yes, I’m well aware that I’ve said this every single winter since 2004, but it’s bloody important because the cold weather really is a killer for your car battery. It’s all due to what the AA refers to as the ‘triple whammy effect’. Even a brand-new battery is less effective in the cold because the temperature drop will always reduce both the power output, and the battery’s ability to accept a charge. At this time of year too, we tend to use all sorts of extras in the morning. Heaters, wipers, lights, arse warmers, the lot. So, that’s the three main reasons why your battery will never be as good as it was in the summer… and, if it happens to pretty knackered to start with, it’s easy to see why flat batteries are the biggest cause of annoying winter non-starts.

But there is hope, and while we admit that most of us don’t replace our batteries at the recommended intervals (every 3-4 years), and simply wait until they die a