My battery died yesterday... less than a year old from "new" purchase of car, 13,500 miles
Car started quickly and ran/drove just fine into work, as it always does.
Got out of car and the doors wouldn't lock, thought that strange but didn't worry about it then.
After work nothing worked, no lights, no horn, no start, nothing.
Measured voltage at battery 5.9V.
Called VW roadside assistance which was more trouble than it was worth. Their tow truck arrived the next morning much later than scheduled with only a wheel lift and car would have bounded along on the oil pan and other plastic stuff. The driver was happy to tow it anyway "it's just plastic, it'll bend". After a brief and polite discussion we agreed, not the right tool for the job, nothing to adjust and make it work. I sent him on his way, and declined having something else sent, which would be more than an hour away.
At this point I had no faith in VW's roadside assistance, their contracted providers timelessness, or ability to do the job properly. Decided not to waste the whole day while they fumbled along and perhaps eventually got my car to the dealer. (My luck so far it'd be just in time for the service dept to close...)
Instead I arranged for a flat bed myself, which VW may or may not reimburse me for after I send paperwork to a PO box and wait for a reply...
10-15 minutes after calling my preferred tow truck we were loaded and on the way to the dealer, no damage to the car, no trouble.
Finally at the dealership they said the battery is flat dead, and the car is fine, nothing draining the battery, nothing unusual.
I was sure this would be a warranty item, it's still a very new car at less than a year old, and battery is one of the things they "checked" before selling the "new" but 2 year old car. Mine didn't get a new battery but obviously needs one now, and perhaps did then. This shouldn't be my problem.
Problem is I hadn't checked the warranty details and battery is only good for 1 year or 12,000 miles, which I'm over. So I assumed wrong... had to pay for a battery and labor.
I also thought that a new battery required coding the car to properly manage it. Another reason I was happy to have it towed and let the dealer sort it out. Some of these cars do require that, ones with start/stop feature, not my car. Read about that
here
So I could have left the car sit, bought my own battery, installed it myself, and saved better part of a day and some money.
I'll discuss the situation with VW care, but not sure what good that'll do.