How do you complete a warranty for a motorcycle battery purchased over the internet? Two humorous thoughts stand out as to why it would be highly inconvenient and next to impossible to ride your motorcycle over and let us look at it. A) Apparently the battery is not working. B) You may not be able to get the 6 days off work, nor have the funds to ride 2200 miles from California to Kentucky. But don’t you worry, we have come up with a series of questions and tests that allow us to evaluate and process your motorcycle battery for warranty despite the distance between us.

This is part three of a three part segment on motorcycle battery testing and warranties. Consider reading segment #1 on the importance of testing as well as the second segment on parallel charging.

Not All Warranties Are Created Equal

Most all motorcycle battery manufacturers do not handle warranty issues directly. They rely on merchants and distributors to fulfill this obligation. Each manufacturer has their own warranty criteria and set warranty period. To make it a little more interesting Yuasa Battery, Inc., the undisputed OEM power sport battery manufacturer, allows its distributors to set their own time frames and terms of the warranty. MotoBatt, a premium aftermarket brand, sets the warranty period at the corporate level. However, they have a 24 mo. warranty period for North American sales and provide 12 months for the rest of the world. In the case of Yuasa, which chooses to punt the ball to their distributors and merchants, means the same identical battery could have a 3 mo. warranty on one side of town while the store across town provides a 12 mo. warranty!

Yuasa Battery, Inc. does not handle warranty issues directly. All inquiries should be directed to the dealer where the battery was purchased. The dealer's distributor sets the warranty period and handles all warranty claims. The motorcycle battery warranty time frame and terms are not specified by Yuasa.

Impact battery does not stock or distribute any motorcycle battery with a warranty that is less than 12 months. We try our best to provide premium replacement brands with extended warranty periods and great track records for long term performance. Below are the brands we carry and their warranty period.

Manufacturer Warranty Term
East Penn Deka (Magna Power) 12 mo.
MotoBatt 24 mo.
Moto Classic 30 mo.
Kinetik 12 mo.
Braille 12-24 mo.
Odyssey 12-24 mo.
MotoCross (Yuasa) 12 mo.

If you are joining us after reading the first two segments concerning Motorcycle Battery Testing you would have discovered some interesting statistics and learned the value and necessity of parallel charging. We share our philosophy and why we do things the way we do. Our goal is to take a sour situation and try to remedy it as quickly and honestly as possible.

Impact's Motorcycle Battery Warranty Procedure

Our goal is to try and get you taken care of as quickly as possible. If at all possible we avoid requesting the battery to be sent back to us for testing. That just ads expense and extends the time needed to validate the request. Many motorcycle battery warranty requests are completed within 24-36 hours. Yes, sometimes it will take a little longer than expected and yes sometimes we ask for more information if the numbers provided to us are inconclusive or don’t make sense. But for the most part, we can determine what is going on by listening to what you say regarding the batteries performance, getting some voltage readings and going through a charge cycle. Generally, if what your telling us fits within the probability of what we know to be true about batteries we can solve your battery warranty request quickly. We rely on past data and the principle of the Law of Large Numbers to make a determination. In some cases we may ask you to get a Load test done at a local auto shop or battery store. We don’t necessarily like to does this (read the first story in segment one to find out why), but if we do, it is necessary to validate what is going on.

When a warranty is approved there is currently a $15.95 flat rate shipping and handling fee that needs to be paid. This is one of the after-the-purchase-realities of finding lower purchase prices via the internet. Manufactures do not reimburse us for shipping and a lead brick is not cheap to ship. If the manufacturer requires us to turn in a top plate we provide two methods to facilitate its retrieval and complete the transaction.

Two Options To Get Your Warranted Motorcycle Battery
Option #1 We provide you with our return address and wait for you to send the top plate to us. You can include a check for $15.95 with the top plate or instructions to charge a credit card. Once the fee is paid and the top plate received we will send the replacement battery. This process, in most cases, will take between 5-7 business days, but could take longer to receive your motorcycle battery.
Option #2 Using this method, you will receive your battery in 2-4 days depending where you live. To do this we will place a temporary charge on your credit card and ship the battery immediately to you. We will also include a prepaid shipping label and envelope for you to return the top plate. Once it arrives back here, we will refund your card less the stated flat rate S/H fee.

Hopefully this series on Motorcycle Battery Testing has been useful. If you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to post them below.