Since moving to Louisiana fourteen years ago, I have had one car battery give out. That was the cheap-o battery that came with my Solara when I bought it new, and it gave out after 2-3 years.
Luckily, I was at work when that happened so a co-worker was happy to jump my battery. I drove straight to Auto Zone, where they checked the battery and determined it was no good. Then I had them install their best new battery. I spent a total of 10-15 minutes at Autozone. The new battery lasted for another 7-8 years until I sold the car.
Not bad considering the heat down here, which is supposed to be very hard on batteries. I don't own jumper cables.
