New car, flat battery: causes?

New car to me that is: 3 years old exactly; got it three weeks ago. It's
a Toyota Corolla 1.4 T2; previous car was a Toyota Yaris: best car we've
*ever* owned, hence we stuck with Toyota. The car is kept garaged when
not in use.

This car has now had a flat battery three times in three weeks. It's
going back the dealer on Monday "for tests", but I'd like to be
fore-armed against any possible bull*** they may give me.

Is it a duff battery? Is it a duff alternator? What else might it be?
Loose connection?

The car (our only car btw) is used mainly as a 'shopping trolley' by my
wife, to travel a couple of miles to town and back once a day. Once a
week it comes with me to work -- 40 miles round trip. But I don't buy
any crap about "short trips not charging the battery well enough": cars
don't do that these days. Especially not 3 -year old Toyotas. And our
previous three cars *never* had a problem with this regime.

Any suggestions to fore-arm me against the Service Department?
(Just in case I need it -- they sounded very nice and concerned on the
phone; but I've met dealerships before).

The circumstances of the discharged battery have been:

(1) Drove into town and back (2 miles one way) in the evening (hence:
all lights on). No visible dimming of lights, but battery dead the next
day.

(2) Went on holiday: left car at airport for 7 days (after a 20 miles
drive to airport). [GREAT: came back off holiday, and sat in the
airport car park with a flat battery for an hour.] [[But yes: aren't we
lucky to go on hols for a week - granted.]]

(3) Exactly the same as (1) above.


As a post-script: "my mate" says that you should always lock modern cars
(even inside the garage) because locking it ensures all systems are shut
down. Folklore? We did that anyway last night - it was still dead this
morning.

Cheers for any comments
John
.

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