But after the breakdown, far from getting all passengers and possessions home again, as pledged, the family say Green Flag’s breakdown policy meant they had to ditch an estimated £600 worth of possessions, including 12 bottles of wine.
Green Flag did eventually agree to pay for return flights from Germany to Manchester, but after four weeks away the family-of-four had much more than the basic luggage allowance.
But the firm refused to pay the £400 excess luggage to cover essential personal items the Lawtons did not want to leave behind.
And to add to their misery, Jo and Mark never got to enjoy the planned anniversary break as Green Flag made a huge logistical error.
One of the company’s operators had originally suggested the family drive their belongings home in a hire car, via a ferry from Hamburg to Newcastle.
Eldest son Josh was not old enough to hire a car himself, according to Green Flag policy.
So the firm agreed to arrange for Jo and Mark to travel by sleeper train from Italy to Germany to take charge of the situation.
“You would expect a breakdown company to know what to do if you breakdown and become stuck while abroad. They didn’t have a clue and it has cost us.”
Full story and copyright Yorkshire Evening Post Breakdowns Consumer Beware
But it’s not just traffic that the app helps you avoid, as RAC Traffic also lets you see detailed information on any road works that are going on, so that you can quickly anticipate any traffic problems that may be coming up and find a quicker route around it to be sure to get your destination without delay.
And if you find yourself broken down anywhere (which, based on our last MOT, is sure to happen to us quite soon) you can even use the app to join and call the RAC, so that they can come out and rescue you. This feature alone was enough to make us quickly install the app on our Nokia Lumia 800.
And if for any reason you want a full route planner on your smartphone – although with Nokia Drive installed on your handset, we can’t think why you would – then you can also upgrade to RAC Traffic+ for just £0.69p and enjoy all the great free features, plus full RAC route planning on your phone for a pleasingly low price.
Full Story and copyright noknok tv beat traffic with RAC free app
The annual competition saw patrols from ten European motoring clubs assessed on their roadside repair skills followed by a written technical exam. They were judged by technical experts from the Swiss (Touring Club Suisse) and Croatian (Hrvatski Autoklub) motoring clubs.
Keith, the AA’s patrol of the year, says: “The standard was very high and we had to overcome translation difficulties, so it’s fantastic to be judged the best in Europe. The job of a patrol is increasingly demanding as we work on any vehicle on the road – car, motorbike or commercial vehicle – so we need to maintain a high level of technical expertise.”
Steve Dewey, AA road operations director, says: “People join the AA because of our patrols’ ability to fix cars at the roadside, so we are delighted that they’ve been recognised for being the best – for setting the technical benchmark – not only in the UK but in Europe.
“As vehicle technology evolves, we invest heavily in the latest equipment and training to ensure our patrols continue to give the best possible service at the roadside."
Full story and copyright AA newsroom FIA road patrolman contest
The AA said it had seen a 15% year-on-year increase in the number of people running out of fuel, with fellow breakdown company Green Flag recording a 14% rise in out-of-fuel incidents in the first six months of 2011.
With current pump prices remaining near record levels, the AA said it is on course to attend more than 23,000 dry-tank call-outs this year.
Keith Miller, AA patroller of the year, said: “Although we’re all feeling the pain of high pump prices, don’t leave it till you’re running on fumes before filling up.
“Running out can leave you in a potentially dangerous position, as modern cars often just cut out without warning, so ideally fill up before the low fuel light comes on.
“If you’re in an unfamiliar area, your sat-nav or smartphone may be able to tell you the location of the nearest filling station. Rather than chancing it, you can save a lot of money by adopting a few simple eco-driving techniques and cutting back on unnecessary journeys.”
Batteries rarely last longer than five years so replacing one near the end of its life can save a lot of time and inconvenience at the side of the road.
Avoid running electrical systems any longer than necessary – turn the heater fan down and switch the heated rear window off once windows are clear. Turn off nonessential electrical loads like lights, rear screen heater and wipers before trying to start the engine and use the starter in short five-second bursts if the engine doesn’t start quickly, leaving 30 seconds between attempts to allow the battery to recover. ANTIFREEZE: A continuous squealing noise as soon as the engine is started is a sign the water pump is frozen. The cylinder block could be frozen too. Stop the engine immediately and allow it to thaw out. This may take several days unless the car can be moved to a heated garage.
If the car begins to overheat a few miles from home it’s likely that the radiator has frozen, preventing coolant from circulating. Stop straight away to avoid serious damage and allow the radiator to thaw.
Most modern cars use long-life antifreeze, so it’s important to use the right type and avoid mixing different types. Check the handbook or ask a dealer for advice. Glycol-based antifreeze should be changed at least every two years.
Full story corkman.ie Prepare for hash winter
But despite carrying out all the usual checks, he was baffled why power could not be restored to the vehicle’s engine.
It was only when Mr Smith dismantled the air intake system that he discovered the root of the problem – hundreds of acorns that had been hoarded there by a squirrel.
The car had been parked under an oak tree at Micheldever, Hampshire.
Mr Smith said: ‘The motorist said he couldn’t get the car started but there was no obvious fault.
‘Eventually I wondered whether the air pipe was blocked and when I started to dismantle it, I found the pipe and airbox were rammed with acorns. The squirrel obviously thought it made the perfect secret stash.’
If you are looking at insuring against the perils of vehicle breaking down midway, then there are many who offer those services. MyTVS provides 24 by 7, assistance in most of the states of India, except J&K and north eastern states. The current membership can be availed from silver to platinum which offer breakdown assistance 3 times a year to unlimited times a year respectively. The fees range for a yearly Rs 750 (currently available at Rs555) to Rs 2500. the range of services include Jump Start and battery check, lockout keys, wheel change, car towing facility, taxi arrangement, wrecker facility and fuel arrangement. There are minor repair works that are also included. The response time within the city is around 60 minutes and in villages around 120 minutes.
Website: http://www.mytvs.in/, toll free numbers 1800 425 2002
If you have arrived in Delhi and looking to ensure that you are not stuck anywhere due to breakdown of your vehicle, then RACE is the answer. Rapid Action in Car Emergency (RACE) provides joy to many in the northern part of India. This month the company which has good presence in north and NCR region has shifted focus to South as well. Currently the company provides service to around 25000 customers in the Delhi NCR region. RACE provides its customer annual membership of around Rs 750 for different services which include towing, fuel filling, flat tire help, and jump start etc. RACE this year started operations in major cities of AP, Karnataka and Kerala.
For more information log on to www.prjgroups.com/race/faq.html
If you are planning your trip to India or have reached here, and are moving around on your own vehicle, then knowing about the breakdown services really help. A look on the web about breakdown cover services would throw up many options. One of the nationwide options is MYTVS 24X 7 Emergency Services. You are offered help throughout India except locations like Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the 7 northeast states. There is a silver, gold and platinum membership. The services provided range from break down assistance to fuel arrangement. This provider ensures 24 by 7 call centre access, which allows you to conference call with ASPs (authorized service providers). The help should reach you within 60 to 120 minutes, depending upon your location.
For more details log on to www.mytvs.in/
Believe it or not tommorrow celebrates 50 years of motoring driving when the first stretch of the M1 was openend. For most of us the goal of driving is to get from A to B in the shortedt possible time allwoing us to get one with our lives or see and vsit things just not possible without a car. The motorway brought the south closer to the North and then as time went on, just about every town and City to each other on the fastest roads possible.
It is hard to rembember (i am not old enough) what it was like to be driving on roads where 3pmph was as fast you were going to get, even if there were countless vehicles on the road. As more vehicles hit the road the traditional motoring clubs found themsleves expanding to deal with the extra demand, to the point where today insurance companies manily own the interests of the main breakdown cover providers.
The AA show in their press release a fact file on th M1 and celebrate in the general success of the motorways, even if we hate the traffic jams and roadworks that take us from 70mph to 5mph in some cases. It would be great to read the RAC’s opinion of the motorway system and Green Flag’s also, although this organistion was not around in that name back in the fifties.
We al want the roads to be faster and safer and even though we all want new cars, we hate it when othere buy cars and clog up the roads. Well thats life and until we have spaceships, it looks like motorways are here to stay with no alternatives.
It is not just us motorists who need breakdown cover, but also those heavier vehicles we see on the roads. In this case it looks like a road sweeper wanted to sweep something other than the road and finds itself in what looks like a ditch. I suppose the ecovery truck is not your normal breakdown cover operator also, but heh! it is all related.
We all need help in times of need and in this case something bigger and heavier was needed to get this roadsweeper on the road again.
It has been a while since we have shown any new TV adverts, so we need to get back in the swing of things. Here is the latest RAC breakdown cover tv advert, even though it is at least 6 months old. The theme is close to you, showing stricken cars in what appears to be winter months with the music “Close To You” played alongside.
There is not words to be said, letting the vehicle do the talking, but there are quite a lot of exhaust fumes coming off some of the cars giving the impression of how cold it is, but also showing us, how much C02 can leave these older cars.
Being close to you means shorter average call out times, which the RAC have realised is just as important as price and all 3 large organisations looking at just over 30 minutes as average, but how these figures are measured we still don’t know. Are they measured in quiet times, busy time as the extreme figures removed? (ie. Breaking down right next to a parked patrol van). Anyway here is the video.
A question often asked is what happens about breakdown cover when you lease a car, after all, the car does not belong to you, but the leasing company. Well first most lease cars are bought new and as most manufacturers offer breakdown cover for at least the first year, you are protected. But then it is up to you to make sure you have purchased breakdown cover for that vehicle. If there is a manufacturer issue with the vehicle then you should still be able to return the car to the leasing company, or at least get them to deal with it. But as most callouts for these patrolmen, tend to be things like being locked out or a flat tyre is unlikely that anything a patrolman will do will affect your leasing contract or require any further action to be taken.
However there may be some conditions to do with your leasing contract including damage to the vehicle. So if you have clipped a curb or the paintwork got scratched breaking into your leased car, you may need to get this fixed under the contract of you lease deal.
It happens every year; the rain comes down as hundreds of thousands go to the popular Glastonbury festival. With this sort of numbers many coming by private car ands sometimes long queues it is very likely that the odd vehicle may just have a breakdown. Then when you add up the lost keys, flat batteries and small collisions that occasionally happen, they the local breakdown cover guys may have a busy time this week. The AA breakdown cover service reckons they helped 200 cars last year just on site.
But it is not just the breakdown cover they offer during festival time, for the AA it has also meant months of preparation. The AA are responsible for putting up the signage that gets these music lovers to the right car parks or where they needs to be. The AA claims it will take 1000 AA signs this year and a month to put them all up safely. Some volunteers also look after the car parks and they also patrol the small roads on motorbikes looking for any stranded motorists to ensure the traffic keeps moving.
All this planning for next year will start as soon as this festival will finish, this show how much preparation is needed for events outside the festival, to ensure more people spend their time watching bands, not sitting in cars.
As the number one in breakdown cover and a claimed voice for motoring issues it made sense that the AA, would go down the environmentally friend route when it can]me to breakdown vehicles. We have not see the first breakdown cover van run on chip van or even electric yet, I suppose for the mileage and the hammering these vehicles get, but the AA has invested in Vectrix Bikes for quick response within the capital.
As we know most call outs are for things like a flat battery, or flat tyres or being locked out of your car. So having bikes that can get through traffic quicker than a car or van for these call outs make sense. To have electric bikes makes even more sense and plays its part to save the world, especially in a heavily polluted are such as a city.
Not only do these bikes work well but they also look good, especially painted in the AA colours., here is a video to show.
With tough spending budgets expected to dominate the budget today, the motorist sits and wonders how it will affect him or her. This is probably the most awaited (or not ) budget for some time as it is expected that the chandelier will want to claw back some of the moneys spent on keeping or attempting to keep the economy going.
There may be rewards for motorists intending to buy a new car, providing they scrap their old car over 10 years old and maybe some other measures thrown in to get the new car market going again. Of course new car sales also benefit the breakdown cover market also, as most new cars come with free breakdown cove for the first year. It is true that older cars are more likely to breakdown, but with new cars it was a guaranteed membership per car.
Fuel has just gone up a few p per litre so we hope this stay static. The truth is we don’t seem to know what it coming unlike previous years. So let’s keep our fingers crossed.
We have no idea if this is a new documentary series of something new on the box, but we discovered Breakdown Buddies last weekend on Men and Motors. It follows the day to day callouts of local breakdown recovery guys from what we can tell a couple of smaller companies.
The programme is presented on Men and Motors on Sunday afternoon, and you can be sure that we will be watching to write notes about the programmes and the tips that are presented through the series.
On saying that we cannot find out any information on the web about the series, so it could as old as a Mark 1 Escort and there does not seem to an official Men and Motors website that used to transmit some dodgy TV programmes a few years ago, but now seems to have settled down with more family orientated stuff.
In fact we don’t even know how many programmes have been made and if there is much longer to go with the series. Anyway, breakdown buddies is on our radar and you are sure to see a few more posts on the subject here on our breakdown cover blog.
We may speak the same language but the breakdown insurance market seems to have developed in a different way to here in the UK. For a start few Americans know the term breakdown cover and roadside assistance seems to describe it better for them, but if you were look at what is markets the most, the car warranty seems to be a forefront.
I suppose the difference between warranties and say breakdown cover, is the first covers the parts, often covers any work done within a garage, where the UK’s breakdown cover, is purely a service to get you going from the road, or transport your car to a place of your choice depending on the level of protection you have.
Of course even in the UK, new cars are covered by warranties, but it is rarely combined with a recovery service and the work normally has to be done by the correct dealer who has the contract with the manufacturer. Things seem to be more flexible in the States. You can buy warranties, even if your car is over a certain age, and they are prepared to use third party garages to repair the problems.
Warranties can be for a selection of areas on your vehicle of for everything. The example we have below is from a company called Automotive Protection, which focuses on the mechanical side only. So for instance suppose your stitching on your seat were to come away, this would not be covered, where on a new car warranty it would be.
USA does have breakdown cover services as well, or should we say roadside assistance, with triple A being the best known. But the warranty side is much bigger than here in the UK and it is surprising that the big 3 breakdown cover providers, namely the AA, RAC and green Flag have not entered that market in a large way.
This month sees very competitive deals from all 3 big breakdown cover players. Although the price the AA promotes on TV is when you ring the number which id £6 more expensive than online.
Here are the bottom line facts today.
Green Flag from £25: Although this depends on car and mileage factors. You need to fill in the form to find out the correct price.
RAC: They offer cover from £29
The AA: If you buy online they have cover from £29, not the £35 they advertise on TV.
Well lets be honest those who travel on two wheels also need roadside assistance too. If you are fortunate to be a member of the American Motorcycle Association you will now be able to benefit from free roadside assistance.
This is clearly not a marketing video and aimed at the membership rather than out side it, but it does give an inside to AMA membership and how being a part of a group can give benefits, beyond a magazine.
The benefits also include discounts from several retailers relating to motorcycles products, when you subscribe to AMA champion. The real benefit is that this can also be breakdown cover for family members for other vehicles including RV’s. The amazing price for the ideal is only $39 a year. Sometimes we wish we were born on the other side of the Atlantic.
The AA is full of history and although we still see this organisation as breakdown cover and insurance experts, how they formed and their purpose was very different then than now. There was a time when you joined the AA, you were seen a member of a club and was awarded a metal AA badges that you would display proudly on the front of you car, in the days when you had chrome gills to take a metal badge.
The motoring badges have now become collector items, sometime going for tidy sums at collector’s fairs and auctions. The AA badges were used from 1906 right up to 1967, when the traditional square logo that is used today standardised the logo. As usual progress and the need to reduce costs meant that the badge was an unnecessary product, that in later years were just not used even when they were allocated.
Today, even if we wanted to there are very few cars which have the ability to show a metal badge even if we wanted to. So the Automobile Associations collector items are just that, for collectors only and a bit of nostalgia.
The AA website has an article explaining the various badges that were produced over the decades. Now most of us are not bothered about membership of a motoring club. All we want is someone to give us breakdown cover in our time of need and it is down to cost and quality of service that gets our custom, not the design of our badges.
We talk about the history of the Automobile Association but some take it more serious than others. So much so there is are collectors who take pride in locating and collecting badges and anything else related to the old AA motoring club.
There are also AA memorabilia books oriented which detail what was used in which motoring era, from metal badges to the telephone boxes that were every few miles or so on public roads before mobile phone made them obsolete just about.
Some collector items can fetch a tidy sum when sold.
This also expand for the Royal Automobile Club too who although always deemed as the second largest played a huge part in motoring development and road safety. Somehow they also had a reputation for sponsoring motorsport, with eth RAC being a favourite for many years.
The history of the RAC is equally interesting and it on reflection it does seem a shame that everything is about economies of scale and how only by being big can you deliver a real cost effective service. Lets be honest, the price of membership in the 21st century is the cheapest it has ever been in real terms.
A good place to search for motoring club memorabilia is Ebay, where international items can be found also. We should not forget that both the AA and the RAC have a presence in Australia too, so they also have a history to reflect on.
Remember the time when you would see the AA patrolman attending some call outs on his Norton motorbike during the golden age of motoring. Well the guy on the bike is back, once again offering breakdown cover on two wheels. There is a difference though, the AA are now using electric bikes within central London to be more environmentally friendly. The motorbikes are called Vectrix Bike, the claim is they can be quicker in heavy traffic and of course not be seen as contributing traffic or co2 problems.
The AA believes that the bike still has its worth because that so many breakdowns are due to flat batteries, flat tyres and being locked out their car, in better words callouts that do not need a large set of parts or tools.
The AA are also keen to suggest that one persons breakdown could cause other motorists problems, especially if the breakdown on a busy street. The improved attendance time within city areas, could ease congestion and get both the car that has broken down and possibly many other motorists on their way much quicker.
The breakdown cover service provider Gem Motoring Assist have put together a small video with skid control UK on how to avoid a skid. It goes through the basis from under steer to over steer and explains that nearly every accident on UK roads will avoid a skid of some sort, no matter what the weather conditions are. Of course it is the loss of control that kills people, so it is good to see a motoring organisation like this, giving instruction in how to drive more safely.
We can’t tell if it is a fake but it is funny, as we see the attempts to recover a small van from a harbour in Ireland.
Someone has put a few photos together and made in into a sort of slide show. It does not represent what the UK breakdown cover organisation do, as they would get in these heavy cranes from a third party, if at all. Anyway watch and enjoy. Or by the way w love the Irish and have no control of the writing or music added.