If your car battery is dead, you're going to need to jump it or buy a new one. But to make sure it doesn't happen again anytime soon, you need to find how why it died in the first place. To diagnose why a car battery died, you don't have to be a car expert. You just need to know what little things to pay attention to.
Remember the last time you got a new battery in the car. If it was between three and five years ago, there's a good chance your battery just died of old age.
Check to see if you left the lights on when the engine was turned off. The headlights and even the dimmer lights inside of the car can both burn out the battery.
Think about whether you were playing the stereo for a long time while the engine was turned off. While a little music isn't going to burn out the battery, that period of time when you were cleaning the inside of the car might have been longer than it seemed.
Consider the last time you drove the car. If the engine hasn't been started for quite some time, it can have an impact on the quality of the battery.
Find a weather report. If it gets cold enough, it's possible for the battery to freeze.
Take your car to a mechanic. If there is no easy-to-see reason for why the battery died, it's possible that your car has a bad alternator, which could cause you think that your battery died.
