RAC too slow Police recovered car but charged £150

Cyber-Mav

Cyber-Mav

Cyber-Mav

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2005
Posts
19,939
Location
Midlands
so today was a bit of a day:
car broke down on a roundabout so a dodgy spot.
called rac at 14:15 logged break down guy on the phone said its gonna take est 3.5 to 4 hours
rac called back at 14:54 and left voicemail update advising rac van will be with me around 6:30pm

police called me at 17:12 saying car is in a dodgy spot i advised them RAC is on the way and ETA is 18:30.
police then phones the officers at the scene letting them know when rac is coming and then call me back at 17:20 after speaking to officers and said that RAC is taking too long and they cant wait so they had to call their own recovery service.
car recovered by garage nominated by police at 17:40 then taken back to my house at 17:50 ( not far from home) i drove back to the broken down car having gone home waiting for RAC)

got slapped with £150 charge for the recovery. the recovery driver and their head office advised me this is something i can claim back from the RAC and have given me the 2 receipts, one from recovery garage and one from the police.

i rang RAC back who advised customer services is who i need to speak to but they are closed at 4pm. open 9-4 mon-fri so will have to call them on monday.

anyone been in this situation before and got money claimed back?

recovery driver was very confident in that many people have claimed back the money but wanted to know if anyone else has been in this situation?
 
Few years ago on a bank holiday, bro had broken down, was afternoon, and I was with him. They said they wouldn't be able to attend until the next day O_O And they didn't lol
 
was pushed out the way but its on a big roundabout so no where else to go.

i worked out the issue with the car though, alternator pulley is seized solid. toyota aygo 1.0 petrol. iv taken the belt of and it cranks over fine and runs. if it was as more powerful engine/starter motor then it would have probably shredded the belt lol.

with ring rac on monday and update on how it went.
 
Yes you can claim the towing costs back. From your policy booklet:-

In the event of recovery by the police or authorised motorway services, labour and towing charges may be payable on the spot and an authorised tariff is normally applied. We will cover these charges as long as the vehicle is towed to the recovery company’s depot. If the vehicle is towed from a motorway, contact us as soon as possible and, if the vehicle has not been repaired, we will arrange for ongoing cover under RAC Breakdown Cover.
Click to expand...

Cyber-Mav said:
toyota aygo 1.0 petrol. i
Click to expand...

1ltr Aygo - could you not have pedalled it home? :D:D:D:D:D
 
Correct. They were going to take it to the depot but i managed to talk the driver to take it to my house since it was less than 2 miles away he agreed.
Either way if it goes to a depot or not its the same 150 quid charge but at depot it incurrs a storage fee too.

Dunno what difference it should make but i pay rac money for over 6 years and this is the first time i call them out and get let down like this.
Not happy.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Your quoted text says:

'We will cover these charges as long as the vehicle is towed to the recovery company’s depot'

However the vehicle was not towed to the depot.
Click to expand...

Oh, I missed that the OP had had the car recovered to his house - good spot.

In that case, I think the chance of reimbursement is small.
 
The receipt from the police doesnt say where the car was taken to. It just shows the charge for breakdown vehicle removal.

Have sent rac an email so will wait and see what they say.
 
not helping you here, but a heads up about your breakdown service
RAC was on watchdog a couple of months ago
Shocking service !!
wouldn't use them EVER
 
got reply back from rac:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We've looked into your concerns

Dear Mr Cyber-Mav

Thank you for contacting us following your recent request for RAC assistance.



I was extremely sorry to hear how disappointed you were with the service you received on this occasion and I would like to assure you that your concerns have been treated very seriously.



The Police have the interests of public safety at heart when they arrange for the removal of any obstructions from the road, considered to be a hazard. This includes vehicles that have been involved in accidents, or are broken down, and is regardless of any membership the driver may have with a motoring organisation.



On this occasion, the Police felt it necessary to remove your vehicle sooner than this. Although I am sympathetic to the charges made to you by their recovery service, in these circumstances, I regret that RAC are unable to make any reimbursement.



Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us and I am confident that should you need to call upon us for assistance in the future, you will receive the first class service for which we are renowned.




Yours sincerely

I**** S****
Customer Care Executive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

so what now?
 
I wouldn’t touch them with yours. They messed me about when my car broke down by saying 60mins, then kept increasing it by 60mins every hour, for a total of 7 about hours.

I do live in the lakes so help is never going to be fast but lies and deceit are not worth investing in.

Best bet is probably the usual social media route. Also let them know you’re going elsewhere for next renewal etc.
 
Ask them what their usual response time is, because they had 3 hours.. that seems enough.
 
I quoted the terms and conditions but got this reply back:

Dear Mr Cyber-Mav

May bring to your attention our policy states on Page 11 General Conditions below

15.The cost of the following is not covered by this policy:


recovery by someone other than RAC. If the emergency services, local authority or any government agency are handling the breakdown, we will only attend and provide recovery once instructed to do so by them

Kind Regards
---------------------------------------------

So iv looked around and got some info and asked them to send me a letter of deadlock so i can take it up with the ombudsmen.

At this point i can write the money off as a learning experience. 150 quid wont shatter the earth but its something i should not have had to part with. 80 quid for new alternator and car be back in the road.
Was thinking of waiting till renewal time to tell them where to go but may ring them up and tell them i wont be renewing but dunno if it will make a difference.
 
The RAC are hopeless tbh. They took 11hrs to recover my car, mainly because they insisted on sending a man in a van to try to fix it (blown engine.....) and sending multiple recovery trucks that wouldn’t take it as it didn’t have much ground clearance, despite me telling them this multiple times. When they finally sent the correct truck, the driver’s hours were about to run out so all he could do was drop me at the nearest services and wait for another one.
 
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