txacoli

Hi
We recently rented a car in Spain and got the above model. It was a particularly rainy week and rained heavily most days we were there. On our last morning, we went out to the car, put the key in the ignition, heard a click and nothing more. The battery was completely flat. We had no option but to call-out roadside assistance who jump started us. Since we've been home, I've been charged £135 for this by the hire company, which I'm extremely unhappy about as I thought this was covered by the insurance we had, but that's not the reason I'm writing. I want to see if anyone can offer any technical advice or assistance to help with my appeal against this charge.

The company are saying that we must have left some electricals on in the car overnight which drained the battery. Is this possible? The doors were fully locked and the key out of the ignition. I thought that with all modern cars, if everything was shut down as in this case, all electricals close down automatically?? The lights went off when the car was locked and the central locking kicked in. There were no internal lights on as we never used them - they only ever came on when the doors were opened. I can't think of anything else electrical in the car that may have possibly caused this.

I have read about batteries draining through the amount of damp on the battery cables. It was a particularly heavy rainy night that last night and the car was parked in a more open spot than it usually had been, thus potentially letting more water under the bonnet. The auto guy, when he came, mentioned something about an issue with these A1's, but my Spanish isn't so good as to know about cars and I didn't quite understand what he said.

Can anyone please help with any ideas as to why this car may have developed a flat battery overnight, OTHER than anything electrical being left on in the car?

Thank you in advance.