2006 GMC Yukon

I drive it twice year to take it to town to get the oil changed. Other than that it stays on the drip charger.

It's my emergency backup four-wheel drive vehicle for if we ever have a snowstorm. We've never had one.

So the deep discharge marine battery that came with it 3 years ago that was already 3 years old has finally given up the ghost. It is unchargeable.

So what's the cheapest battery I can get away with in this situation?

But don't tell me to go to Costco. They make you change your own battery and I can't even lift this thing out of the truck.

I called around for someone who could install it to start off. Those YouTube videos showed deep tool reach. There's absolutely no way I would trust myself to be able to handle this.

I called up NAPA and said what's the cheapest thing you can put in there. Of course he quoted me one of those $80 batteries but it would be insane. I said I need someone to install it. He said he could do it. Really? You guys don't do that and this particular vehicle requires some serious install work.

He told me he can handle it, just ask for him when I get in. Fine.

Takes 2 hours for my charge device to charge up the battery to the point I can start the vehicle. 30 minute drive later, I'm leaving it running in the parking lot, just in case he's not there or they don't have a battery for me.

We review on the computer and then he comes out to the vehicle and then does some measurements and then says oh no. The only thing we have starts at $189.

I cringe, he says he can work on it, I said: Please do, I'm giving you $20 for the install no matter what.

He takes it down to $139. Sounds good to me, I was expecting $150.

He went into the store a half a dozen times to find different tools. He dropped the screws while dealing with the deep reach stuff and they went down into the puddle and he had to go fish them out. He needed a specialized hook reach device to be able to pull the battery since it fits tight at an angle.

That $20 was well spent.

18-month warranty, expect it to last about 50 months according to him. He's also probably going to buy my generator from me. I don't use it anymore and I want it gone.

This was a good day, a productive day.