My car was hit about 4 weeks ago by my a neighbour who owned up and i got my car fixed by Direct Line.
Had a rental Golf GT TDI 2.0 all that time and is a cracking car!
Now when i went to pick mine up from repair it wouldnt start so the guy jumped it from a battery pack, he said to take it for a spin for an 30 mins or so to get sme charge back in it, which i did except it still wouldnt start when i turned it off, so i left it charging all night and still no charge in it in the morning.
Battery is buggered i thinks and ring the company who fixed the car and discharged the battery who basically told me to bugger off as its a servicable item.
Now i was quite pissed at this point as i had no car with the prospect of shelling out for a new battery that was not fault of my own.
Rang direct line who sorted me a rental car first thing and said they will sort my car out next week as their is no chance they will get anyone to sort it before the weekend.

Gotta say im really impressed with Direct Line!
Presumably the company wouldnt replace the battery as they had signed off the job as complete and it would be coming out of there own pocket so would want a fresh order from direct line to get it fixed.

Still it all hassle that i could do with out

I know this is going to sound a bit sceptical, but do you recognise the battery as being the one that was in the car when it was sent in?

Steve

This happens A LOT on batterys that have been run down.

Solution (I know I'll get flamed for this)

In order to 'rescue' a battery (if it's still serviceable, i.e. no plates welded etc etc - after a prolongued period of discharge)

Get a decent industrial battery charger, or one with a high output 'cranking' feature - connect and leave on the highest setting possible for about 10 mins - this should force the battery to then accept charge.

I've recovered about 5-6 batteries like this...

Be careful though have seen my mate blow the side out of a lorry battery

Even with old style batteries an alternator cannot recharge a completely flat battery, with new types of battery the problem is even worse because they need jolted with a a higher voltage to get the charge going. Sometimes connecting the duff battery with a set of jump leads to good battery fitted to car running at fast idle for 20 minutes and then putting it immediately on charge will do the trick

I suspect what will happen is they will offer a percentage contribution based on age of the battery to the cost of a new battery --- might actually have been cheaper just to buy a budget battery yourself.

Surely if the battery has died due to being discharged and neglected by the repairers, then that is either their failure to correctly look after the car or a consequence of the car being off the road for a month - caused by the neighbour's accident.

Worth asking IMHO

Th same thing happened to me when I sold my old BMW and had it standing for a month, waiting to be picked up by the new buyer. The battery refused to accept a charge despite having been faultless during daily use. In the end I had to fork out £80 on a new battery so that the buyer could shift the car off my drive

The moral of the story is .... trickle charge when taken off the road

The battery will not be covered in this type of situation as it was on its last legs and needed daily charging to keep it in a useable state - this happens a lot in long term parking and the only answer is a new battery unless it can be 'shocked' back into temporary life as described as already said - but that can be risky.

[Edited on 7-3-08 by RazMan]

If you don't use the car regularly it's worth putting it on charge about once a month. Modern cars draw from the battery when stationary and drain the battery. On start-up the alternator will whack in big amps to make up the deficit. Over a period of time that will lead to battery failure as the plates aren't designed to accept big charges.
That's why the batt. cos only offer a two year warranty as use varies so much.
Could be that it was on its last legs anyway.
Cheers, Pewe

quote:

---

Originally posted by mookaloid
Surely if the battery has died due to being discharged and neglected by the repairers, then that is either their failure to correctly look after the car or a consequence of the car being off the road for a month - caused by the neighbour's accident.

Worth asking IMHO

---