I run a small fleet of vans, where do you buy batteries in bulk?
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I manage a small delivery business with six vans, and batteries have become my most annoying cost this year. Two of them died in the same month, one on a Monday morning with a customer waiting, and that made me realise I have been buying them one at a time from whatever shop is nearest. I have no system at all. Most of the vans are three or four years old, they do short stop and go trips all day around Dubai, and then they sit in the sun at night. Last week I started asking around for a Trusted Varta car battery supplier in Dubai, because someone told me a regular supplier can give better prices and keep a record of when each battery was fitted. That sounded smart, but I do not know how it works in real life. Do suppliers give a discount if you buy three or four at once? Will they come to the yard and change them, or do I need to bring each van in? How do you keep track of the dates so you can replace them before they fail, instead of after? I also wonder if I should buy the same size for every van, or if each model needs something different. Another question is the warranty. If one fails early, is it easy to claim, or do you have to argue about it every time? And should I ask them to test the alternators too, in case the real problem is charging and not the batteries? If you run a few vehicles for work, please tell me how you handle this, what you pay, and what you would do differently. Easy answers help me most.