Had to call the RAC

martin 54

martin 54

A2OC Donor
Went to Penzance last Tuesday as wife had a week off, when we came back to the car i saw oil under the car and there was oil leaking from the rear of engine, topped it up and got to Halfords so i could get some more oil, then decided to call the RAC, who told me a patrol may take up to three hours this was 1pm, the patrol got to us at 4pm, and it was decided to recover us home, after a few more calls to the RAC in the evening the last one about 11pm they suggested i put the car keys on a tyre and make our way home which is 65 miles away, the recovery firm is based near St Austell no more than one hour away from Penzance they also have a outpost at Redruth and Newquay as well but it took them until 12.45 to get to us we got home 3.30am Wednesday, the wife has sent a very long letter to the RAC am waiting for there reply, When i got the car over the pit it was the return pipe from the turbo that had come loose, all sorted now and looking for a better recovery firm this is the first time in 25 years i have had to call for help.
 
There are a lot of recovery firms with bad feed back, will see what the RAC say, may even go on our local radio station radio cornwall and give the RAC and the recovery firm some free publicity.
 
Unfortunately most of the recovery services work rather similarly, many predicts a 3 hours wait even in their brochure, then if towing is needed and the current vehicle isn't suited for it, even longer wait.
It's stressful, especially when you're far from home, but good to know both of you and the car got back safely.
AA scores usually bit higher than most brakedown services, perhaps check them out.
 
The Webasto pump got knocked off the bottom of my AMF around 40 minutes after setting off from rural Devon on the 545 mile trip back to Scotland after New Year. At 1am, on a country road next to the A30 around 4 miles from Exeter that we had been diverted onto due to roadworks. Pothole a little before the return junction kicked up a stone that broke the inlet end off the dosing pump, resulting in instant fuel pressure loss and the engine stopping. Couldn't get onto a verge despite trying to push, so put the emergency lights and a couple of big cycling LEDs on strobe setting in front and rear windscreens, and called the AA (who I have been a member of since 2006 and used only twice, last time in 2008). Pitch black, stuck out on a blind corner with HGVs coming past at speed every so often. Eventually they got us a local recovery truck around 3am who confirmed the diesel streaming out from what we thought was the heat exchanger and that it wasn't repairable on the spot. Towed us (with no brake servo and shoes slippery with diesel and rainwater - a lot of fun approaching roundabouts) to the nearest retail park, and we then waited another 5 and a half hours until 9am when an actual AA guy arrived who realised it was the pump as we could now see. 2 6mm bolts screwed into the pipes later we had fuel pressure again so a half-tank top up meant we could drive home, nearly 10 hours late. The only piece of luck was that unusual weather conditions meant it was 12-14 degrees external air temperature overnight so we were warm enough despite lack of heating.

Before that we'd had mixed AA messages assuming the car would not be repairable on the spot- they were initially going to give us an Enterprise rental car (but it turned out there weren't any vehicles of any type including vans with Enterprise at any site within 30 miles of Exeter!) and transport car back over 48 hours .. and otherwise it would have been an accompanied relay that would have taken at least 36 hours or more to get home. And the trains were on strike, so no chance to take an alternative mode of transport home.

Lucky the guy who appeared during daylight was able to fix it so we could travel home .. but trust me, being awake 22 hours by the time I arrived home driving was not fun!
 
I've only used the RAC once - failed power steering pump - they turned up within 20 mins and took us all the way down to WOM Automotive, well over 2 hours travel.
 
Like Robin_Cox, I had a recent bad experience with Devon's road surfaces (tyre cut and destroyed), but it was followed by a good experience with the RAC. I was stuck, with no spare wheel, on a minor road. The patrolman who was given the job called me from about 40 miles away to introduce himself. I asked him to divert to my house, about 8 miles off his route to me, where I could direct him on the telephone to a shed in which was a spare wheel. He could bring it with him and thus save him and me from the hassle of recovering the car to a garage. I feared that in this day and age of rules and litigation he would not want to be seen entering a private property and making off with a wheel but he readily agreed, and it worked out fine.

I felt a bit of a prat not carrying a spare and really must get a space saver.
 
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