So... you're in the AA. a cautionary tale

[Foul hooked]

If you don't have home assistance all the recovery company's will charge, the missis car recently was less than the the stated distance rac wanted an additional 150 pounds to collect it, so I drove it gingerly the 4.5 miles to my mechanics, it felt like a miss fire due to spark it was a coil pack, 400 quid later the 4 coils and thermostat and housing and fluid all sorted, cars who would have em .

unfortunately a very costly necessity. There is something to be said for just buying old nails and running them into the ground or until they fail an MOT. My brother once bought an old Humber for £20. Road tax dirt cheap as it was classified as a vintage model. when it needed a couple of new tyres he scrapped it.

 

[MrBen]

Mine was saying brake not applied. further to your original query as to why the belt should break, well i found out and its not good.
Apparently the main pulley has sheared from its rubber mount on the drive shaft. got it to Jaguar and they are saying could take weeks if parts not in stock.
Expect i will need to be sitting down when they give me the bill too.

Thank you for the update, thought there would be a reason why the belt had broken. Yes in your case park brake wouldn’t be applied as you was still moving and when you did stop there probably wasn’t enough charge left in the battery to apply, it’s surprising how many amps they draw when applying.

 

[John Step]

I presume its still the same now. When I owned a Ford recently the full comprehensive AA cover was free if you had the car serviced at a Ford main dealer.

 

[Trogg]

Mine was saying brake not applied. further to your original query as to why the belt should break, well i found out and its not good.
Apparently the main pulley has sheared from its rubber mount on the drive shaft. got it to Jaguar and they are saying could take weeks if parts not in stock.
Expect i will need to be sitting down when they give me the bill too.

Depending upon the type it is, they are as little as 30 odd quid, complete kits with the belts and tensioners are around 70/80 quid.

Just the pulley, around an hour to fit, complete kit, if everything goes to plan and there's no problems it can be done in 3 hours.

Main stealership will charge the maximum price for everything even though they'll be made in the same factory but put in a box with the car manufacturers logo on it.

Just to give you a rough idea of the price of a crankshaft pulley.

FITS FORD MONDEO TRANSIT JAGUAR X-TYPE CRANKSHAFT DRIVE BELT PULLEY TVD 7426970961609 | eBay

Crankshaft Pulley Torsion Vibration Damper TVD. Ford Mondeo MK III 2000-2007 Diesel: 2.0 Di/TDDi/TDCi, 2.0 TDCI, 2.0 TDDi/TDCi, 2.2 TDCI Hatchback, Saloon, Estate. Labour claims and consequential loss claims are never accepted.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Louis D]

The thing is that AA etc are really insurance providers. The price of your cover increases every year from an introductory offer. I jacked it in the end, now I use RAC via Tesco clubcard which was about £85 for me, my wife and daughter on a personal basis i.e. any vehicle for home start, relay, hire car and various other bits under their ultimate cover. That's a good deal to me.

 

[Tinca Steve]

At least RAC is British, owned by Aviva PLC.

 

[Foul hooked]

Just the pulley, around an hour to fit, complete kit, if everything goes to plan and there's no problems it can be done in 3

Haha yeah and there lies the rub. They charge.... wait for it...£198 per hour labour on breakdown repairs. It’s daylight robbery but they have you over a barrel.

 

[Fugley-fisher]

I would be looking for a decent independent mate, mine is 49 an hour, but our cars are about 10 year old now.

 

[Trogg]

Haha yeah and there lies the rub. They charge.... wait for it...£198 per hour labour on breakdown repairs. It’s daylight robbery but they have you over a barrel.

Er no mate they haven't got you over a barrel, even if it's warranty work so long as the garage is VAT registered you are allowed to use them instead of the dealership and that's law no matter what the dealershio may tell you.

 

[Trogg]

At least RAC is British, owned by Aviva PLC.

Aviva only own the insurance side of things, the breakdown/recovery side is split between two companies, one is British the other is the Singapore government.

 

[RedhillPhil]

The AA? I Have a tale of horror about that lot. For many moons I was in Green Flag. Last year luscious lady friend was renewing her AA membership and said, "Ooh look, I can have an additional person free". So I cancelled Green Flag and got signed up. Fast forward to Friday lunchtime. I'd been out in my little Tranny to Jewsons to collect some stuff, delivered said stuff then came home for lunch. Went back to the van....it wouldn't start. Ignition switch problem I reckon. All the dash lights come on, the radio works but no whirr of a starter motor. I know that the battery is good and that there's fuel. Sat pondering for a while and bingo! The AA. Called them and, " I'm sorry but you don't have homestart". OK, I'll sign up for homestart now and pay the difference. "That's not possible, only the principle card holder can do that". But I'm paying and it's to her advantage I can't disturb her because she's at the practice with patients. I know, I'll sign up and join now to include homestart then your man can attend right? So I get passed to the joining department where a girl explained that it would e £150 to include homestart and my Saab. So details were given then finally payment time. "So that will be a total of £387 please". Whoa, whoa! It was £150 three minutes ago. "Yes, that's for the patrol man to attend the vehicle, the remainder is the joining fee". But assn AA member surely I get a free call out? "It doesn't work like that because your vehicle is at-home".
I'll get my son to tow me to the local garage on Monday. Goodbye.
There's more.....
1 The van started when I tried again 30 minutes later.
2 As I was about to pull away an AA van arrived.