82% of breakdowns fixed at the road side ?

[Participant]

Twice (AA member):

- dead battery, towed to garage as none on van.
- spark plug broken, towed to garage as it had welded itself to the cylinder head (that was a painful one).

 

[Liquidfox]

Only once for HGF in my Punto, towed obviously.

 

[Matt82]

once i WTFPWNED myself and diesel fiesta into a lamp post, about 40mph or so, sideways into a lamp post.

they scaped me up and put it on truck and took it home. the drive shaft had been punted into the diff

 

[5abr3]

Only once for HGF in my Punto, towed obviously.

Same here, with the RAC - best way to spend clubcard points imo.

 

[Siliconslave]

Four times:
- Sunday night with a flat 300 miles from home - not doing that at on a space saver... road side tyre repair sorted it.
- Cam belt broke on a very old ford escort - towed to local garage
- Big end bearing shattered <24hrs after buying car - towed back to purchasing garage for full refund
- stone stuck behind disk, sorted at roadside

So 50:50 for me in 12 years of driving.

 

[I get around]

Most of their callouts are by people who can't even do something as basic as change a tyre. This I guess could count as a breakdown to them.

Proper breakdowns are going to be slightly more difficult to fix.

 

[rsatd]

Clutch cable snapped, had it repaired on the roadside. I am amechanics tard though.

 

[Wicksta]

A good percentage of breakdowns are for lack of petrol - my dad's an RAC man and gets a bit annoyed at people doing this on the motorway without realising how dangerous it is to be on the hard shoulder.

 

[BD10NNF]

When I called out the RAC I actually fixed my car on the road side. All they did was turn the engine management light off for me

 

[Cyanide]

A good percentage of breakdowns are for lack of petrol - my dad's an RAC man and gets a bit annoyed at people doing this on the motorway without realising how dangerous it is to be on the hard shoulder.

We should follow German example and make this illegal. There's services often enough, really no excuse for putting yourself and other motorists in danger.

 

[wonder_lander]

Anyone got AA Breakdown Repair Cover? http://www.theaa.com/breakdownrepaircover/index.html

 

[I get around]

We should follow German example and make this illegal. There's services often enough, really no excuse for putting yourself and other motorists in danger.

It's illegal entering the motorway knowing you're going to run out of fuel already afaik. People are complete morons though, I don't want to be stranded on a road with people passing me at 70-80mph+, hence, always check how much fuel is in the car.

 

[Fuzz]

Not got breakdown cover, never had it either as IMO it's a flipping ripoff.

Trying to think of the times me or mates of mine have broken down PROPERLY and not been able to limp home one way or another.

Shattered a front brake disc - Drove steady and used the handbrake to stop.
Melted a piston - drove home on three cylinders
Flat tyre - Spare flat - drove home on flat tyre
Head on with a sierra - levered the fan belt off the front fan (fan was embedded in rad) and drove home in short bursts to prevent overheating.
Ran out of fuel - Walked to Petrol station with can and filled up

 

[Frenzy]

I dont have breakdown cover but my brother does.

1 - Shattered an alloy when the car span out, AA guy put the spare on and told me the rear axle was bent but followed me and made sure i got home safe. Brother was in the car so it was under his cover, i had to sign some paper but that was it.

2 - I think one of the pistons went as i was driving, again brother was in the car. Had it towed home and again just signed a bit of paper.

 

[Beerbaron]

i have called out RAC 2 times before but had to get towed due to lame peugeot electronics

 

[paulh]

2 call outs fixed both times AA.

One was my old metro the distributor cap bolt fell out so the put a new one in and off i went.

The other was on my new astra, it just stopped for no reason and would not restart, waited 2 hours for AA (was 23rd december) he turned up and it started 1st time!! He plugged his computer in and said its fine?? that was 2 years ago and its never happened since.


*** waits for it to go on the 130 miles drive to Bradford tonight!!!! ***

 

[miniyazz]

It's illegal entering the motorway knowing you're going to run out of fuel already afaik.

What did they do on that top gear episode from Basle to Blackpool then?

 

[paulh]

What did they do on that top gear episode from Basle to Blackpool then?

I've often thought this!

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

Suprised they couldn't fix this at the side of the road, they had to tow it:

Other call outs I've had with the AA:

Pug 106 - melted engine doing 90+ in 4th gear so needed towing.

Escort - idle valve broken, which was fixed at the road side.

Clio - Broken accelerator cable, which the guy impressively fixed at the road side using bits and bobs from his van.

MG ZS - Oxygen sensor wrapped round the exhaust and melted the wiring, this was fixed at the road side too.

 

[Lopéz]

Not got breakdown cover, never had it either as IMO it's a flipping ripoff.

Trying to think of the times me or mates of mine have broken down PROPERLY and not been able to limp home one way or another.

Shattered a front brake disc - Drove steady and used the handbrake to stop.
Melted a piston - drove home on three cylinders
Flat tyre - Spare flat - drove home on flat tyre
Head on with a sierra - levered the fan belt off the front fan (fan was embedded in rad) and drove home in short bursts to prevent overheating.
Ran out of fuel - Walked to Petrol station with can and filled up

Same here, I've never had cover and always been able to limp back. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Popped rear wheel cylinder, puncture, dying fuel pump, burst rad, at least 3 snapped clutch cables over the years, crash damage, drove home home 3 cylinders in my Sierra when it put a rod through the block....