RAC.Anyone had the misfortune to use them recently for your motorhome recovery.

[Nomad.]

My wife broke down just after Stonehenge over a week ago on our return to Devon.It’s still in the recovery depot in Basingstoke.

 

[Tigger-Tim]

The scourge of private equity! I seem to be hearing many more stories of terrible RAC experiences in the last few years. eg. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-65783539

 

[68c]

Had van recovered by the RAC from near Fort William to Southampton. Given a hire car to get home. Van took ten days to reach us, annoying at the time but now realise that was not unusual as had to be moved by several different vehicles.
Over all, I feel I receivrd reasonable service from the RAC.

 

[Manxcat]

A few weeks ago we had a puncture by Stonehenge. RAC arranged a tyre service to come and sort us. 90 minutes later we were sorted and on our way. Very happy with the service.

 

[TrudeandDall]

Last week a friend (who is a lady travelling on her own in a VW Transporter camper) had a clutch problem. She called the RAC, who decided that her van needed recovery to her home - from Hawick to Near Carlisle, a 2 hour run.
It was over 24 hours before the recovery truck arrived and then it was a contractor and not an RAC truck..
Considering that she had to wait alone with the van, this was not the best example of a "premium" breakdown company .........

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[Nomad.]

Last week a friend (who is a lady travelling on her own in a VW Transporter camper) had a clutch problem. She called the RAC, who decided that her van needed recovery to her home - from Hawick to Near Carlisle, a 2 hour run.
It was over 24 hours before the recovery truck arrived and then it was a contractor and not an RAC truck..
Considering that she had to wait alone with the van, this was not the best example of a "premium" breakdown company .........

Correct.It seems that RAC relies on private recovery companies to meet demand.Standard has slipped dramatically.Have now joined Green Flag as we have had enough of RAC.How about a removal of Royal.You are Not worthy of that title.Be warned.

 

[Bubba]

My wife broke down just after Stonehenge over a week ago on our return to Devon.It’s still in the recovery depot in Basingstoke.

We had the misfortune to break down on the A42 (I think) heading from Derbyshire to Hampshire.
Called RAC and man was with us 20 mins later.
Diagnosed a broken injector connector. He didn't have one on the van but did a temporary repair and explained what to do if it goes again on the way home.
Great service and worth the money we pay.

 

[Bubba]

Last week a friend (who is a lady travelling on her own in a VW Transporter camper) had a clutch problem. She called the RAC, who decided that her van needed recovery to her home - from Hawick to Near Carlisle, a 2 hour run.
It was over 24 hours before the recovery truck arrived and then it was a contractor and not an RAC truck..
Considering that she had to wait alone with the van, this was not the best example of a "premium" breakdown company .........

A male would also have been left to wait alone with their vehicle. Isn't that what all the feminists campaigned for? Equal outcomes foe all.

 

[pappajohn]

20, years ago I worked for a contractor to the RAC.
If we had a recovery job it was actioned within an hour....no matter where.
We had 2 regular drivers on call day and night and that was the only delay.....waiting for the driver to arrive.

 

[Brains]

Unfortunately the AA is no better.

Last August I was driving a minibus loaded with a 6m canoe trailer, 12 teenage Scouts and 3 adults.
We got lifted from Glasgow to London

There were a number options the AA could have taken to deal with the issue.
Such as find a Garage in Glasgow open on a Saturday afternoon and do a fix that would have cost £50.
Or they could have hired us a minibus and we could have driven ourselves down.
Or they could have put us all up in the top hotel in Glasgow, and then flown us down by chartered jet the next day.

All of which would have been cheaper than what they chose to do.

What they chose to do (and why should I care, as it's their money)
is get three taxis to drive us down to London, £1,100 quid.... each !!!
The van then turned up 5 days later.
But they 'lost' the 7m canoe trailer loaded with 6 bright red 14' canoes.

By amazing coincidence someone we knew happened to drop into South Mimms Service station on the M1.
They sent us a photo of our canoe trailer, sitting in the public car park, unlocked.
£25k+ of kit just sitting in a public place.!!!

It had been there for at least 3 days apparently !
We told the AA where their lost trailer was and got it back next day (at midnight)
(10 days after they picked it up)

Bottom line is for the sake of a £50 repair they preferred to waste well over £5k of members money.

Had I known I had £5k to play with I could have organised my own recovery and given the £4,000 change to the Scouts.

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[swemmy666]

"My wife broke down just after Stonehenge "
been waiting a while then?

 

[Nomad.]

We had the misfortune to break down on the A42 (I think) heading from Derbyshire to Hampshire.
Called RAC and man was with us 20 mins later.
Diagnosed a broken injector connector. He didn't have one on the van but did a temporary repair and explained what to do if it goes again on the way home.
Great service and worth the money we pay.

Lucky you.Our on the case man,arrived 3 hours later.Diagnosed 2 faulty injectors and realising motor was brand new every thing.See previous post on RAC European recovery.Farmed out to an another contractor.We await it’s repatriation to Devon.A week later to a pre booked garage .

 

[Dave and Jen]

I had to go to Manchester yesterday to pick up a fireplace- too big to get in the car so went in the van-Timberland pic.about a 60 mile round trip. The van went perfectly there and back.
Took it back to storage, switched it off while I drove e car out of pitch, went back to van- nothing
Dash lights very dim and no action from the starter.
Rang RAC about 5 o'clock and was told it would be about 8.30 before they would be able to get to me. so went home.At 8.0clock Irang back to get an update because no one had called to update.
Was told again it would be 8.30. I decided to make my way back to storage when I got a call from the
mechanic to say he was about half an hour away so I said thatIwould meet him at storage.
He arrived ai 20 to 9 and checked to see if the belt had broken, but it was ok. then checked the battery and found the terminals had worked loose- they are crappy bent metal ones, not the usual thick brass type. Anyway after tightening both up the van started immediately. He checked the alternator and that was working fine, so all good. I had to let us both out of the compound and when I tried the zapper nothing happened! I had forgotten the gate is on a timer and goes off at 9.oclock.
Got a call from RAC to see if everything was ok with the van I said yes, but we're locked in!
She immediately phoned the storage number- house is on the premises- and the owner came and let us out.
Overall satisfied with the RAC They are always stretched with breakdowns so you just have to be patient.
(sorry it's dragged on a bit)
Cheers, Dave, I must stop tinkering -it was me who hadn't tightened the connectors properly!

 

[Grummyb]

All the breakdown companies use contractors to cover busy times it's the only way they can make a profit, im not a member of 1 but I guess it's about 70 or 80 quid a year membership
I run a car transport company and our minimum charge is a lot more than 80 quid and that's just for car movements, it's no different to the health service if you can't afford to go private I guess you have to put up with a delay now and again

 

[daventess]

I'm completing hour 6 of a potential 9 hour wait for the RAC. Came back from a week in Ireland in the van to a completely dead car. Not the battery (storage site also tried a starter pack to no avail), and it's not any of the fuses I have a spare for.

I guess I'm just unlucky with the wait (as I'm not a priority case and I can at least wait in the van), but I'm gonna try another breakdown service when it's time for renewal. Been a member for years and never needed them until now. Reading a lot of bad things about their service, though tbh it seems all the services have someone who's had a bad experience.

Been awake since 4:30am, starting to get delirious ...

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[cliffanger]

A male would also have been left to wait alone with their vehicle. Isn't that what all the feminists campaigned for? Equal outcomes foe all.

Our son broke down at Birdlip in Gloucester at 5.00pm. Cliff said he’d drive up and tow him home to Swindon, but Rob said he’d called the RAC so all was good.

To cut a long story short, after many many calls, Rob sat in his car for 13 hours, before eventually getting a taxi home, leaving his car there. The RAC wanted him to get a taxi home and leave his keys somewhere on the car, so they could come out at their convenience, but he wasn’t prepared to do that and invalidate his insurance.

His dad went up the next day, cleared the error code on his car and he drove it home himself.

Another friend’s son was told to leave the keys with his car and get himself home, because they would not get to him before the next day.

They both paid for a service that totally let them down when it was needed.

When looking at the reviews, it’s happening all the time - I can’t believe they get any business at all!

 

[Northernraider]

I had to go to Manchester yesterday to pick up a fireplace- too big to get in the car so went in the van-Timberland pic.about a 60 mile round trip. The van went perfectly there and back.
Took it back to storage, switched it off while I drove e car out of pitch, went back to van- nothing
Dash lights very dim and no action from the starter.
Rang RAC about 5 o'clock and was told it would be about 8.30 before they would be able to get to me. so went home.At 8.0clock Irang back to get an update because no one had called to update.
Was told again it would be 8.30. I decided to make my way back to storage when I got a call from the
mechanic to say he was about half an hour away so I said thatIwould meet him at storage.
He arrived ai 20 to 9 and checked to see if the belt had broken, but it was ok. then checked the battery and found the terminals had worked loose- they are crappy bent metal ones, not the usual thick brass type. Anyway after tightening both up the van started immediately. He checked the alternator and that was working fine, so all good. I had to let us both out of the compound and when I tried the zapper nothing happened! I had forgotten the gate is on a timer and goes off at 9.oclock.
Got a call from RAC to see if everything was ok with the van I said yes, but we're locked in!
She immediately phoned the storage number- house is on the premises- and the owner came and let us out.
Overall satisfied with the RAC They are always stretched with breakdowns so you just have to be patient.
(sorry it's dragged on a bit)
Cheers, Dave, I must stop tinkering -it was me who hadn't tightened the connectors properly!

That's why folk are waiting hours for recovery because people don't check the basics before phoning them.

Personally I'd have checked under the bonnet, battery, terminals , starter etc before calling breakdown.

 

[GAVLAD]

I once had my steering wheel pinched out if my car in Leeds. RAC wouldn’t recover me even though I had the top level of cover. Said it was classed as a car crash. My wife called her insurance which at the time was through Marks & Spencer’s where she had breakdown cover included through the RAC. Needless to say that an RAC truck came out. Funny looking back but I vowed never to use the RAC again because of it.

 

[Northernraider]

Our son broke down at Birdlip in Gloucester at 5.00pm. Cliff said he’d drive up and tow him home to Swindon, but Rob said he’d called the RAC so all was good.

To cut a long story short, after many many calls, Rob sat in his car for 13 hours, before eventually getting a taxi home, leaving his car there. The RAC wanted him to get a taxi home and leave his keys somewhere on the car, so they could come out at their convenience, but he wasn’t prepared to do that and invalidate his insurance.

His dad went up the next day, cleared the error code on his car and he drove it home himself.

Another friend’s son was told to leave the keys with his car and get himself home, because they would not get to him before the next day.

They both paid for a service that totally let them down when it was needed.

When looking at the reviews, it’s happening all the time - I can’t believe they get any business at all!

Standard procedure with all the breakdown services, same when relaying your vehicle they will leave it at a service station with the keys sat on one of the tyres till the next vehicle collects it.

They're too busy to sit waiting for the next truck to meet them.


Too many folk call them out for stupid stuff. So everyone suffers delays . A bit like the NHS to be honest.



I'm with the aa and I've been recovered a few times , had courtesy cars etc etc .

Let's be realistic , for the price the average person pays for breakdown down its an absolute bargain compared to what you would pay to be recovered if you didn't have it .

A mate of mine was recovered from kendal to livingston ... no breakdown cover. £1400 bill

 

[cliffanger]

That's why folk are waiting hours for recovery because people don't check the basics before phoning them.

Personally I'd have checked under the bonnet, battery, terminals , starter etc before calling breakdown.

That’s fine until you get error codes that tell you to stop immediately/ take vehicle to garage/ etc etc.

Unless you have a gadget that erases the codes you’re stuffed- and left waiting for 13 hours before getting yourself home in a taxi!

Our Rob’s problem happened while he was driving. An error code came up which he couldn’t possibly have interpreted or fixed.

It’s a breakdown service. 5.00pm on a sunny day shouldn’t have seen them inundated with calls.

You pay for a breakdown service that’s supposed to take care of you. It isn’t fit for purpose.

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[cliffanger]

Northernraider - why would you think that was funny?

 

[Northernraider]

Northernraider - why would you think that was funny?

The crazy idea that you somehow think people don't break down on sunny days around 5pm


You know how many breakdowns there are in the UK every minute?


They have to attend the ones that are the most dangerous etc first. They're also attending crashes etc .

But they're also attending people who can't change a tyre , or ran out of petrol etc etc .

As I said it's like the NHS, people rely on breakdown to fix cars they don't maintain so everyone else suffers.

People would complain if the cost of breakdown escalated to £500 a year so the alternative Is you have to accept there will be a wait.

I've required them myself quite a few times for serious breakdowns and whilst its annoying having to wait I also appreciate the fact they don't have one patrol for every member .


Your son could have left the keys and got a taxi as they suggested . It's done daily with breakdown services and the insurance company's are fully aware of it.

 

[Northernraider]

Breakdown warning for UK’s ageing vehicle parc, says Green Flag

Car breakdowns increased year-on-year by 12.7% in 2023 due in part to an ageing UK vehicle parc, according to Green Flag.

www.am-online.com

 

[cliffanger]

But he waited through the night for 13 hours!!!!

I’m sure if people were quoted those sorts of waiting times when they were signing up, they wouldn’t sign up.

I’m sure if they were that busy you’de see their vans zipping about all over the place, which I don’t.

He’s a mental health nurse, and whilst he can do his own routine maintenance jobs on his car, he was unable to fix the error codes which caused him to park up for the night.

I’d like to know how many people would happily leave their keys somewhere on the car and walk away, happy in the knowledge that most insurance companies are aware of the practice!