Rac Breakdown Service....

[gness]

My car died today......on a country road....middle of nowhere on a sharp bend.
I let it roll down as far away from the bend as I safely could....and before I neared the next sharp bend.....
If I'm going to break down I'll do it between two close sharp bends.....in the winter and in the dark.......☺

This was at five o clock....I called the RAC......one hour they said.....a woman alone was their priority.....they said.....they did tell me to stand on a verge...there were no verges....just a skinny road and very high hedges....

Eighty minutes later I called again....they said they'd called my mobile to say that there would be a delay....they didn't.....but he was ten minutes away.....they said.....hmmmmm......

It was pitch dark...raining and my hazards were failing so I called a friend who came and put some hazards on for me....now there were two of us on this road......

I kept phoning the RAC and can't believe the guff and lies I got.....I'd rather they'd said it'll be three hours...I'd have known what I was in for....

I was there for two hours and fifty five minutes......my car is now on my drive and needs an alternator......according to the rescue chap who told me they had just had the job given to them twenty minutes before he arrived....about two and a half hours after I phoned the RAC......

My new shoes are ruined...my hair has curled.....so I'm having another hot toddy and a long bath......before I compose a letter to the RAC.....

This is the first time I've ever used a breakdown service and would appreciate recommendations for a good one please......Gx

[tonyav]

By the sounds of it any breakdown company except the RAC, gness. Give them the boot, very poor shoddy service leaving you in a dangerous situation like that for so long.
Green Flag are pretty good.

[gness]

Thank you, chaps....I've been noodling online as I drink my toddy.....AA promises to be with a lone woman in twenty minutes wherever they are.....can they do this do you reckon?.....

Green Flag has been recommended....I was with them once but never had to use them......

Think I'll stick the bike in the boot in future.......x

[gingejbee]

There are only four breakdown services that Which? recommend as a "Recommended Provider".....Start Rescue, Saga Breakdown, LV=Britannia Rescue and the AA. I'd look at those for starters....and choose the one that covers what you require at the lowest cost.

[Buenchico]

I'm with the RAC because I get a good deal with them through my insurer. On the few occasions I've called them out they've been there in under half an hour.

The RAC and the AA are the only breakdown services with their own staff out on the road. Other services use local garages to come to your aid; they might not be as good at providing roadside repairs as the AA and RAC are, as they can sometimes be in rather a rush to get your car onto their low-loader to take you home or to your destination.

However I've used Autonational Rescue in the past (who are among the cheapest providers) and I was generally very pleased with the service that they provided:
https://www.autonational.co.uk/

[gness]

Thank you, Ginge....I did get a good deal on price with my insurance company....but I really am not too bothered about price.

My car's well looked after but at my age and gadding about as I do I want to know I'm safe......and rescued if necessary....not listening to the owls for three hours.....

Thanks for your recommendations.....especially Saga.....that's interesting......x

[gness]

I will look at that too, Chris, thank you........the rescue people who came to me were from a local garage.....not RAC.....they were fifteen minutes up the road....I could have walked and fetched them quicker.....

Half an hour would have been bliss.....so full of tea and cake was I..... :-(

[jennyjoan]

I don't know much about accelerators - but did have trouble in my hey day with them. I am wondering Gness - when you got the "roll" on the road could you have started the car.

ie when your car is rolling forward and trickling along - you (in seat) put it in second gear. Mine always started. (Next time mind you.) Yes 3 hours was very long.

[Cloverjo]

I've always found the AA to be very good.

[jennyjoan]

I am with whoever my insurance's break-down service (I think like somebody that works for them (ie the insurance people) I certainly have made a note of their number in the dashboard of my car.

It is an awful thing to happen

[gness]

Dive.....I will look at connections and leads tomorrow....it may be that....or a new alternator which is fine too......there was no way to look at it tonight in the position we were in....it was get off this dark, wet and suddenly busy road and home quickly....I like many "tears" ago.....☺

Conne....I've bump started many a car in my youth.....there was no bumping this one.....there was nothing in the battery.....locked steering...no brakes......it was dead and if luck had started it it would just have died again......xx

Clover....hearing good things about AA.....especially their rescue time....x

[jennyjoan]

dead car then

[gness]

As a dodo, Conne....but it'll recover......☺

[Buenchico]

It's over 15 years since I was a 'trade plater' (delivering cars across the country) but the company I worked for used the AA and I had to call them out many, many times. (Three times in a day once, to three different vehicles!). At tha time they were extremely good but I've no recent experience of using them.

[gness]

I think what I will do, Chris....is phone a few companies and ask what their response would be in this situation.......daytime in a better area I wouldn't fuss....but this was a really scary situation...for me and for the drivers coming round the bend to find me and a car in front of them....x

[shoota]

AA for me - for the last 40 years...

[shoota]

Yes, you go along to their meetings, stand up and say 'Hello, my name is shoota and I've broken down...'

[Buenchico]

At the very least, Gness, I hope that you carry these in your car:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/122045227608?lpid=122&;chn=ps&adgroupid=38904455432&rlsatarget=pla-278029157934&adtype=pla&;poi=&googleloc=9046700&device=c&campaignid=738208994&crdt=0