Sadly the RAC who we are with charge you for Accident Recovery, if anything my son would have got cheaper recovery if he had gone direct to the tow truck company rather than via the RAC but when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere in freezing conditions you don’t have a lot of choice. A hard lesson for him.
All our cars have cover for breakdowns
Told you I had bad experience with the RAC...
Back in the days before mobile pones and internet, when my cam belt went in the fast lane of the M25 at a little bit over 70MPH, I just managed to coast on to the hard shoulder. This was about 17:45. I walked to the motorway emergency phone (how is it, you never stop close to one, and are always right in the middle between two) to get the police to call the RAC, who eventually sent a man in a little van at 19:00 to confirm what I had already told them, that the engine was fubared... He then called for a recovery truck, that took another 2 hours to arrive so by the time I was loaded up, it was nearly 21:30, on a freezing winters night, and by the time they got there, the battery was also flat, so I was sitting in an unlit car, on a busy section of the M25, freezing my man parts off.
It was then that I found that the "Gold" cover that came free with my car insurance, is not all it is cracked up to sound like, and is actually a very basic policy, that only covered a road side fix, or recovery!! What was not immediately clear was that recovery was only to the nearest RAC approved garage.
So, at 21:30, the recovery truck driver tells me that all the garages are shut now, and he would need to take the car back to their compound and I would need to arrange for a garage to pick it up from there. He then drives down to the next exit, turns round, and drives back the other way, taking me to a yard in the middle of nowhere, where I was now actually further away from home, than when I started my journey. I was young, skint (I had just paid for the service and cam belt change), and as this was the first time I had ever been let down by a car, I had never thought of the consequence of a break down, so I had only about £3 on me, no credit cards, and no coat.
Once at the yard, with the car unloaded, which really was in the middle of nowhere down a dark country lane, with no pavements or street lighting, the recovery driver sent me to the portacabin office, and as he drove off, told me that there was a train station 3 miles away!... By now it was just gone 23:00.
Luckily, there was a lady in the office who was just getting ready to go home, and she said she would drop me at the station.
Once at the station, I found the last train that stopped there, was at 22:30, and then next one was not until 06:45.
Now at my wits end, and really not sure what else to do, I decided to call my "Rock", Dad, and ask his advice. I did not want to drag him out at that time of night, as he had Cancer, and especially as I was now over a 100 miles away from is house, but like the true star he was, he set off to come and find me, and get me home.
By the time he got to me, about 01:30, I was so cold, and I have never been more happy to sit in those nice big heated comfy leather seats of a Volvo....
After that, I have never graced the RAC with my money...
