82% of breakdowns fixed at the road side ?

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).
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
Wicksta said:
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.
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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.
 
Cyanide said:
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.
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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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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!!!! ***
 
Suprised they couldn't fix this at the side of the road, they had to tow it:

Disco_01.jpg


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.
 
Scubascorpion said:
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
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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....
 
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