Audi Q7 battery died at the mall - the hassle I went through was unbelievable

[mahlibeardman]

So last weekend I took my family to Dubai Mall and parked in the cinema parking. Came back maybe four hours later and the car wouldn't start, just a faint click and then nothing. My 2015 Audi Q7 has the stop/start system so I knew it had one of those expensive AGM batteries. I called my insurance roadside assistance and they sent a guy with a jump starter, got the car running, and told me to drive straight to a battery shop because once an AGM battery dies completely it's finished. I drove to the nearest garage I could find near Al Quoz, but they didn't have the right battery in stock and said they'd need to order it and keep the car overnight. I have two kids and no way to get home from there. Finally I found a mobile service online that claimed they could come to the mall parking and replace the battery on the spot, even with the coding required for Audis. I called a company offering Superior Audi Battery Installation Service from Battery Zone UAE and the guy arrived within an hour with a new Varta battery. He used a memory saver so the car didn't lose any settings, and then coded the new battery to the car's computer using his laptop. The whole thing took maybe 45 minutes and I was back on the road. Has anyone else used a mobile service for an Audi battery replacement? I'm curious if the coding they did is as good as what the dealer would do, because the stop/start system still works fine a week later. Also wondering if they tested the alternator or just swapped the battery, because I'd hate to ruin a new battery if the charging system has issues. Price was 1100 which seemed reasonable compared to the dealer's 1800 quote. Any thoughts on whether I made the right call or should have just towed it to the dealer? Thanks.

[loganhowlett]

Right call, in my view. A mobile guy with a proper laptop tool does the same registration the dealer does, as long as he entered the correct AGM capacity. Ask him for a screenshot of what he coded, and a week of stop/start working normally is a good sign.

[lukeskywalker]

Went through almost the same thing on my Q5 in a car park, and the mobile fitter saved me a tow and a lost evening. Nobody tested my alternator either, so I checked charging voltage myself with a cheap multimeter. Should read roughly 13.8 to 14.4 at idle.

[luthervandross]

Not sure I’d call 1100 a bargain without knowing the battery brand and Ah rating. The dealer figure is padded, sure, but a wrong size registered on an Audi is the usual way these jobs quietly go wrong. Did he give you an invoice listing the exact battery spec?

[macklemorelewis]

A battery that dies after four hours parked usually means either a very old unit or a parasitic drain, and swapping it doesn’t tell you which. If the new one is flat again in a month, get a drain test done. Short mall trips in this heat are also brutal on AGM batteries.

[malcolmreynolds]

Did the car show any warning lights or slow cranking in the weeks before it died? And how old was the original battery? Also curious whether the guy cleared the stored low-voltage fault codes afterwards, since those can make the stop/start system act oddly later.