Is it safe to buy a car from a dealership 100 miles away?

Ganga

It sounds like a dashcam fault ,surely the AA checked this ,if it goes wrong again get the AA out and ask him/her to check and verify what is causing the battery drain.I would have thought that Hyundai would repair or replace.

Grumpy_chap

GoldenOldy said:

 AA had no idea, but the man said they are very small batteries? 

The 12v battery on a full hybrid car tends to be of lower capacity than a regular petrol / diesel car because the battery does not need to provide starting load to the engine.  The hybrid car will start rolling on the hybrid battery and the already motive car will roll onto the petrol engine when required.
I am surprised the AA Technician did not have knowledge of that arrangement - hybrid technology is not that new.

I thought you had now confirmed in your other thread that the fault is the incorrect installation of the dashcam and nothing to do with the car per se.

Are you now feeling a bit happier with the car overall?

photome

GoldenOldy said:

They opened it by taking a little white cover off the door and putting in a little key which was part of my key fob. AA had no idea, but the man said they are very small batteries? When i first got the car, I tried all the bits and pieces with the engine switched on, but then i drove home 97 miles or so. Surely you have time to tune a radio or what have you without draining a battery?

Are u sure you had the engine switched on, ie in “ready” mode.  If you didn’t , tuning then radio ,trying air con etc will not take long to drain the 12 v battery…if it was in ready mode as soon as the 12v starts to drain the engine would cut in to prevent it from drawing completely 

Did the AA guy ask you those questions

at least now you know how to get in the car , as suggested by a few posters 

ps I had the battery drain in my hybrid , but once started by the AA it was fine going fwd altho the fact you drove home after doing everything is a concern 

GoldenOldy

I am now feeling a bit happier thanks. The dealership is taking it away after xmas to see what happened, so thats good. They feel its not the cameras, but something in me tells me it is. I shall keep you posted. Thanks

Goudy

It's actually quite common.
Forums seem to be full of owners that have had a similar experience.

Someone buys one of the more recent hybrids new, they only have it a short time and the battery dies.

I suspect it's down to a few things, one is like already mentioned, the 12v battery is tiny.

Another is the car has been sat around for a while unused which wouldn't have helped the battery.

And perhaps more importantly, these cars are now so clever they actually smart charge, so learn when and how much power to generate to top the battery back up and as it's so new, it's learnt nothing yet and on some iffy default setting!

GoldenOldy

Photome, dead certain the car was on thanks. And could be the dashcam but may not be, esp now i have discovered the aa didnt disconnect it, the bit they pulled out just connected it to the back cam. Interestingly i have bought the camera indoors as it wasnt working. Charged it up. Saw the fitter fitting it, but it didnt record the journey back, or any journey since, but it does now record static moments. V strange