I bought a 2-year-old BMW 118d last May from the local BMW dealer. It is a fantastic car, but the stop-start function didn't work from day one. I reported it and waited until now to make sure there were no other faults needing work under warranty. In the last few weeks the car started showing electrical faults on starting up - the clock disappearing, trip mileage zeroing, heated rear windscreen not operating etc, so I put it in for warranty work. I am now told this is all down to battery failure, but it is not covered by warranty as my “driver profile” is “adverse,” leading to drain on the battery and therefore it is not a manufacturing defect.

My “driver profile” is not exceptional. This week, for example, I drove 260 miles on Sunday but the rest of the week has been short journeys of a few miles or 15 miles or so. This, apparently, makes the battery cells fail. The dealer says that the car is not suited to, what is in my opinion, normal driving patterns. Is it me, or has BMW forgotten what cars are used for? The dealer quoted £400 for a new battery, plus £90 for the diagnostics carried out (not recoverable under warranty as it is not manufacturing defect related). After checking online I haggled them down to £300 all in, but still feel sore and am concerned that I have bought a car that is not fit for purpose. Am I missing something? If the stop-start function is restored if will probably kill the new battery even quicker. What do I do?