As some of you may have read, the clutch gave up on my zed on the way back from LeMans. Luckily i had some Euro Breakdown cover with the RAC....................

 

It wasnt lucky, it was probably one of the worst experiences ive had in a LONG LONG TIME!!!!

 

Basically i broke down on the A28 motorway outside Rouen just after the toll booths. I called the RAC, they said that they would not recover me from a motorway and a police authorised recovery service would have to do it. So i spoke to the people at the toll booth who arranged this for me.......

 

4 HOURS later a recovery truck turns up. Knowing the car could not be fixed at the roadside, i asked to be taken to Rouen to i could find a hotel and the car could be put in the car park for the RAC to pick it up. Err No. We were taken in the opposite direction to where i wanted to go, to Brionne.

 

I was then charged 250 euros for the privilege of being taken in the wrong direction.

 

I then contected the RAC who said that they could not come out that day and would be there tomorrow. Once again, not impressed!:mad: So we managed to find a hotel in this sleepy little town, which to be honest was lovely, but was at my own cost.

 

So down to the garage to get my car. An appointed subcontracter turned up at 930am, and i tell him in my poor french that i need to go to our ferry before 4pm so i dont have pay a admin charge. He seems to acknowledge.

 

Err No:headvswal:

 

So off we go to somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the 2nd flat bed truck. No both of our phones have died so we had to use the garages phone. I spoke to the RAC and told them what the problem was. The first person i spoke to was about usefull as a chocolate tea pot. She didnt seem to understand that even tho the mechanic said he would fix it with a week, she didnt seem to understand that i would take about 2 weeks to get a clutch through Nissan directly, and i could do it much quicker if they just took me home.

 

Now this is the point I want to make very clear to be wary of when it comes to Euro Breakdown policys (and my policy was fully comp)

 

I turns out, they could can get you (the person) home with a loan car..... BUT if you read the small print of your terms and conditions it basically states that, They will transport your car home at THEIR conveneyance in a container with a load of other broken down vehicles, which will take 3 WEEKS. BUT, and this is a HUUUUUGE but for us zed owners, THEY WILL ONLY TRANSPORT YOUR CAR HOME IF THE COST OF TRANSPORTATION IS LESS THAT THE MARKET VALUE OF YOUR CAR.

 

If the cost of transporting is MORE than the value of your car, the IT STAYS WHERE IT IS and YOU have to put up the cost of repair and recovery home!:shock:

 

Some how, im not sure how, but i managed to pursuade them to take my car back to the ferry port. So onto the 3rd flat bed.

 

3 hours later, we get to our ferry, only to be told by the ferry company that if the car is not put onto the ferry by the flat bed, the car does not go on, and stays in france. At this point im not a happy bunny, to find that both jodies and my credit cards have both gone missing :mad::headvswal::hurl:. If i had a big red button that when pressed, nuked france, i would have pressed it until my fingers were worn to stumps.

 

Yet again somehow, i managed to pursuade the recovery bloke to put the car on the ferry for me. I told the RAC what time i would land at Dover and the RAC needed to be there to take me off the ferry.

 

Get to Dover............ No RAC:mad::mad:

 

Rung them up on a phone i borrowed off one of the ferry staff and went absolutally raging mental at them. Only to be told that if i didnt get my car off the ferry in 15 min then it would be going back to france, and id have to pay double price for the there and back journey!:hurl:

 

No ive really lost it, all of a sudden a recovery truck turns up. ACE i thought....

 

err NO.

 

Turns out the driver only has 45 min left on his tacho and can only take me as far as Maidstone..... where another truck will take me the rest of the way... So onto truck number 4.

 

Get to maidstone and truck number 5 turns up, with the Biggest throbber i have ever met in my life driving it. Oh, and he turns up with NO diesel in his truck. TWAT!:mad: Does he have a fuel card that works at any station.....

 

Err NO!

 

So back to Ramsgate (35 miles in the wrong direction) to refuel and then back home to arrive at 0200 this morning, 40 hours and about £400 lighter.

 

 

So to all those who take out cover. READ THE SMALL PRINT BEFORE SIGNING, you could end up in a similar, or worse situation.

 

Nick

you never know how good a service is until you need them most and that sounds like the worst experiance ever , i would send a long strong worded letter to the rac and demand some sort of compensation mate

shitty death dude... what an experience! before i left i took out euro cover with the aa and i have to be honest... she did explain most of those things you just reeled off before i paid :nono: though i didnt realise they could not recover you from motorways :(

Was the euro breakdown cover part of your insurance policy or a seperate cover direct with RAC theselves?

Rac

Bloody hell! What an awful experience! :rant:

 

I bet you were glad when you got home!

Letter of complaint and esculation in order mate, gotta get at least some compensation for that !.

indeed... a letter has gotta be worth a try!

Wow you should write a book nick that was very interesting reading, what a bad time you had mate.

Problem is, its all in the small print, so i will give it a run, but im not expecting anything.

Did you not know your clutch was on its way out b4 you left to take it to Le Mans?:confused:

unlucky tho mate sounds like you had a bad experience:mad:

No, nothing when i left.

 

I did manage to sneak onto the track after the race a do a full lap of the closed curcuit, and the first sign was it would slip if i made a quick down change from 5th to 4th and then floor it, but it was only a slight slip, maybe 500rpm slip before settling.

 

Ive never known a clutch to go so quickly!

 

Oh btw, if you got a phone call asking for Karen when you were in lemans, it was me using someone elses phone and it didnt show names up on who i was calling, sorry :D

No, nothing when i left.

 

I did manage to sneak onto the track after the race a do a full lap of the closed curcuit, and the first sign was it would slip if i made a quick down change from 5th to 4th and then floor it, but it was only a slight slip, maybe 500rpm slip before settling.

 

Ive never known a clutch to go so quickly!

 

Oh btw, if you got a phone call asking for Karen when you were in lemans, it was me using someone elses phone and it didnt show names up on who i was calling, sorry :D

 

Odd, changed mine not so long ago and is already slipping very occasionally in 5th, guess I better keep an eye on mine...dont know why cos its only prob 6 months old:rolleyes:

ye i did get a call from a bloke but that was on monday morning?

 

Oh and lucky ba**ard getting on the track with your z, think i might have to call the police...lol

yep about 11am ish

yep about 11am ish

 

Ye was you then, I'll send the bill for me answering it,lol:slap:

Holy poo Nick.. That's one hell of a day (or 2) :eek:

Damn!

 

Unlucky with the clutch! That 'service' the RAC provided was a complete joke imho.

 

But you're a lucky bugger to get a lap of Le Mans :D What was your laptime? :rofl:

Id suggest you play the lottery today you may be in for some luck:D

 

That is some serious bad luck there.

Fooooking 'ell, I have always had respect for the RAC, and I'm in it cos they cover the person and not the car..........how many cars can you have on it I ask ? but your saga is a total nightmare. I am sorry about your trouble Nick but glad I read your post. I think I will give Euro Cover a miss then !!!:shock:

Fooooking 'ell, I have always had respect for the RAC, and I'm in it cos they cover the person and not the car..........how many cars can you have on it I ask ? but your saga is a total nightmare. I am sorry about your trouble Nick but glad I read your post. I think I will give Euro Cover a miss then !!!:shock:

 

I wouldnt say completely give it a miss, to privatly flat bed the zed back to the ferry port i was using would have been about 1500 euros.

 

What i will say is, im sure there must be options for getting your car home in an emergency that would cost a reasonable amount and would be a dam site less hassle. For example, if they insisted the car was to stay for RAC to container it home, i got a quote to trailer it to Le Harve, which was only 320 euros, and a ferry ticket to P'mouth would have been about £100. So for the same amount of money, i would have had a dam site less stress

Nick I'm sorry you had such a crap experience. I have to addmit to having crappy service whilst in France via the RAC's Agents myself. Took the 5 hours to come out to me. fortunately they took us to a BMW dealer 40 miles away who re programed the ECU and we could get on our way. Having had to call them in both Holland and Germany all I can say is they were brilliant. Quick and efficent.

Problem is, its all in the small print, so i will give it a run, but im not expecting anything.

 

Even though it is in the small print it still has to be reasonable that you can read it and understand it.

 

It would seem to me that the level of service was not reasonable for the price you had paid so you should still be able o claim something off them.

 

You were left stranded in France despite having euro recovery so what was the point in having the cover in the first place. etc etc.

 

Had a similar problem when i tore a tendon in France, had to have an extra week there before I could drive back, the insurance only covered the accomodation and ferry crossing, no food transport etc so despite getting an extra week in the sun it still cost a fortune having to get a cab to the shops all the time.

 

Good luck with it.

 

Darrell

It all depends on the cover you take as well. if I recall there is several different levels of service offered

Sorry to hear that saga Nick.

I had a similar but not as bad experience in France once when I broke down on a Motorbike. Had European cover with the AA but similar story, recovery truck maybe there by tomorrow they said blah blah blah. oh Great!

Luckily I was just outside Calais on my way home only about 2 miles or so from ferry port.

So not wanting to miss my crossing and leave the bike by the side of the road only to have it lifted by thieves. I pushed it all the way to the ferry, up the ramp on to the ferry, off the ferry at Dover and all through the port out to the roundabout outside the port (sweating like a glass blowers ar*e by this time) and then rung the AA again. :mad: they got there in about an hour and got me home. not fun :nono: