If you are looking to purchase a new car battery, then you may want to start your search at your local auto parts store. Both O’Reilly Auto Parts and AutoZone offer their own line of private-label batteries. But which one is best for your vehicle?
Both O’Reilly and AutoZone offer excellent-quality batteries. If you are shopping strictly on price, then you may want to consider the O’Reilly battery. If you have a higher-end vehicle or want a better quality private label battery, the Duralast battery from AutoZone is the better choice.
This post will compare the line-up of batteries offered by both O’Reilly Auto Parts and AutoZone.
- O’Reilly batteries
- AutoZone batteries
- How do O’Reilly and AutoZone batteries compare?
- Sum Up
- Battery fitting mistakes
Before you pull the lever, check out the battery buyers category for comparisons on quality batteries.
Before fitting a new battery, check out the most common battery fitting mistakes below, some of which are spendy to fix.
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Auto Parts is one of the largest auto parts retailers in the United States. Currently, O’Reilly Auto Parts have over 5,600 locations in 47 states. The company sells its auto parts products to professional mechanics and do-it-yourself customers.
O’Reilly Batteries
O’Reilly Auto Parts offers its own line of Super Start Batteries for vehicles. Currently, there are four subbrands under the Super State private label brand from the auto retailer.
Super Start Economy
Super State Economy is the most affordable private-label battery offered by O’Reilly Auto Parts. These batteries are ideal for those on a budget and who have an older vehicle. These batteries tend to be about 30% less expensive than the average battery.
Super Start Premium
Super Start Premium is the mid-level battery offered by O’Reilly Auto Parts. Whether you have a newer or an older vehicle, Super Start Premium will provide the best value in the O’Reilly batteries line-up.
Super Start Extreme
Super Start Extreme is designed for those who have high-use vehicles or those who take their vehicles off-roading. These batteries tend to be tougher, longer-lasting, and provide excellent starting power. Super Start Extreme batteries are priced higher than Super Start Premium batteries.
Super Start Platinum
Super Start Platinum batteries are the high-end model in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Super Start brand. These batteries are designed for luxury vehicles and high-performance vehicles. Super Start Platinum batteries will have the best warranty as well as the best build construction.
About AutoZone
AutoZone is the largest auto parts-only retailer in the United States. The company has over 6,000 locations across the country and services professional mechanics as well as the consumer market. The company is known for providing just about all types of auto parts, including aftermarket parts.
AutoZone Batteries
AutoZone offers its own line-up of private-label batteries. Like O’Reilly Auto Parts, AutoZone offers four sub-brands of batteries for vehicles. Each sub-brand provides a different level of pricing.
Econocraft
The Econocraft line-up of batteries is the most affordable from AutoZone’s private label brand. This content is owned by moc.sotuaytsur. These batteries are ideal for those who need basic starting power from an older vehicle. Econocraft batteries are about 30% less expensive than the average battery cost.
Duralast
Duralast is the standard battery brand from AutoZone. In most cases, a Duralast battery will be sufficient for most vehicles. Compared to non-private-label batteries from Diehard, Optima, and ACDelco, these batteries are affordable.
Duralast Gold
Duralast Gold is the premium private label sub-brand from AutoZone. These batteries are ideal for high-use or luxury vehicles. Duralast Gold batteries will have better build construction, offer better starting power, and last longer than Duralast batteries.
Duralast Platinum
Duralast Platinum batteries are the highest quality batteries offered by AutoZone. These batteries are ideal for high-performance vehicles or those who take their vehicles to extreme-weather environments. Duralast Platinum batteries will last longer than any of the other batteries offered by AutoZone.
How Do O’Reilly and AutoZone Batteries Compare?
Here, we will compare both battery brands in terms of selection, quality, pricing, longevity, performance, and warranty.
Selection
Both O’Reilly and AutoZone offer you four sub-brands that offer different pricing and quality levels. With both brands, you will likely find the battery that will fit your needs and your budget. In this case, both brands tie in this category.
Quality
AutoZone’s selection of Duralast batteries has a better reputation and sells in a higher volume than the private label batteries offered by O’Reilly Auto Parts. If you are picky about battery quality, then you will want to opt for AutoZone.
Price
Both O’Reilly and AutoZone offer four different sub-brands of batteries at different price levels. However, it appears that O’Reilly’s line-up of batteries tends to beat AutoZone’s Duralast line-up of batteries in most cases. Here O’Reilly gets the edge.
Longevity
Both O’Reilly and AutoZone offer batteries that can provide you with a long life. However, if you want to get the maximum life from your battery, you will want to go with the Duralast Platinum battery from AutoZone. These high-end batteries are known for lasting longer and performing well in extreme weather conditions. The edge here goes to AutoZone.
Performance
When it comes to performance, the clear winner is going to be AutoZone. Their line-up of Durlast Gold and Duralast Premium are among the best private-label batteries that you can find on the market. If you want a great battery for your high-end car and don’t want to spend more on a Diehard or ACDelco battery, then going with AutoZone batteries is going to be your choice.
Warranty
AutoZone’s Duralast battery comes with a two-year warranty, while AutoZone’s Duralast Gold and Duralast Platinum battery come with a three-year warranty. O’Reilly Auto Parts offers a two-year warranty on its Super Start Premium battery and a three-year warranty on its Super Start Extreme and Super Start Platinum battery. Here, both brands tie in when it comes to warranty coverage.
The bottom line on O’Reilly and AutoZone Batteries
So which battery brand is best for you? Shopping strictly on price, you may want to consider O’Reilly Auto Parts. However, if you own a higher-end vehicle or simply want a better quality private label battery, you will want to look at the Durlast brand of AutoZone batteries.
Overall, both O’Reilly Auto Parts and AutoZone offer excellent choices when it comes to private-label batteries, but do check out Amazon.com for great deals before you pull the lever.
Battery Fitting Mistakes
Can you fit your own battery? You sure can. But you should know three common battery fitting errors.
1 Removing car’s computer power – Some cars won’t like to have their batteries removed. It causes the computers to lose track of the sensors they use to manage various systems.
2 Connecting a battery up backways – This is a really common issue and can be spendy to fix.
Anyway, we will avoid these common issues because we will follow some basic battery fitting tips.
3 Failing to calibrate the Battery control module
1 Removing the car’s computer power
This doesn’t tend to be an issue with regular family cars, but the more sophisticated the car, the more computers, and the more likely removing the battery will cause issues.
What type of issues? Mostly irritating type stuff like inop HVAC systems or erratic window controls and poor quality gear changes. And in most cases, these issues fix themselves by just driving the car. (my favorite type of problem)
But sometimes, you have an erratic idle that won’t fix itself and may require a visit to a dealer to set it straight again.
I advise folks who are going to change a battery to use a KAM (Keep Alive Memory) tool; it sends a small voltage to the car’s computers to keep them alive while the battery is disconnected.
2 Connecting up the battery backways
In many cases, connecting up backways just blows a fuse, no biggie, right? And hooking up backways is an easy mistake to make, and it often stems from trying to fit a battery that isn’t suitable, poles on the wrong sides, etc.
But for some unlucky folks hooking up backways can result in some spendy repair bills.
I wrote a post about hooking up your battery backways, and you can check that out here – “Battery sparked now won’t start.”
I also wrote a post about battery terminal identification, and you can check it out here Unmarked car battery terminals.
3 Battery Control Module
Modern vehicles use a computer specifically to manage your battery health; when you replace the battery, the battery control module (computer) should be calibrated – You tell the computer, ” Hey, I’m a new battery, and you don’t need to charge me at the same rate you did the old battery.
If the control module isn’t notified of the battery change, it may overcharge your new battery, which will shorten its life. Anyway, I wrote a post about swapping out your battery, it covers all of the above in more detail, and you can check it out here – “How hard to change a car battery?
Check out Tools to replace car battery also.
About the Author
John Cunninghamis a Red Seal Qualified automotive motive technician with over twenty-five years of experience in the field. When he’s not writing about car repair, you’ll find him in his happy place – restoring classic cars.
Helpful Battery-related Posts
Batteries drain and fail for many reasons, including old age, alternator issues, battery drain, or simply loose battery terminals. And below, I’ll list some posts I wrote on common battery-related issues, from troubleshooting & repairs to buying advice.
Battery Troubleshooting
- Battery issues
- Alternator issues
- Unmarked car battery terminals
- How hard to change a car battery?
- Car won’t idle after battery change?
- Car battery dead car won’t unlock
- Tools to replace car battery
- How long to charge a car battery driving?
- Car battery drain
- Is ground same as negative?
- Battery troubleshooting blog section
Battery Buying
- Are AC Delco batteries good?
- Are cheap batteries worth it?
- Are Rockauto parts any good?
- Best battery tester for home use
- Advanced Auto Parts vs AutoZone
- Are AutoZone brakes good?
- Does Walmart replace batteries?
- Battery buying post section
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John Cunningham
John Cunningham is an Automotive Technician and writer on Rustyautos.com. He’s been a mechanic for over twenty-five years and has worked for GM, Volvo, Volkswagen, Land Rover, and Jaguar dealerships.
John uses his know-how and experience to write articles that help fellow gearheads with all aspects of vehicle ownership, including maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting.
