Turboteeth

Last Tuesday my MY96 turbo broke down on the M5, within walking distance of the RAC control centre.

I stopped at 6:50pm and waited in a field in the pouring rain for 2 hours before ringing again to check on progress. I was told they would be 45 minutes - the tow truck finally arrived at 10:30pm - over 3 and a half hours from the original call.

The bloke wasn't interested in looking what was wrong and just loaded it on the back and took me home.

I complained the next day and arranged for a tow to the Subaru dealer for 8am this morning. As yet they haven't arrived (it's 9:40) and aparently won't be here for another hour.

Total time spend waiting for them for 1 breakdown = over 6 hours.

They certainly won't be getting my membership next year

MarkO

Make sure they bring a flat-loader. Last time I called them out, they sent a front-wheel tow truck, despite me explicitly reminding them that the car is 4WD.

red_dog104

I've gone with Direct Line this year. Still yet to call them out but almost all breakdown companies are sh*te IMO! The only time I have had someone come out quickly was when I was with Green Flag (a good few years ago!) and they were only speedy cause I was a woman alone at night!

medders

AA are just as bad. When I had my TVY and the crank shaft seized I knew it was terminal, so I rang up and said, please send me a flat bed truck. Theres no point in looking at it and don't send a front lift as you cant tow a griff with one of those.

Hours later i get a man in a van to "look" at the problem. I say the crankshaft's seized. Oh he says - I'll get you recovered. Don't send a front lift I tell him - It won't work.

i wait some more hour.

Front lift arrives.

Wtf ??? I say.

He goes away.

More hours later flat bed arrives.

pr1cks.

Won't ever get my business again.

MarkO

About 6 years ago, not long after I bought my first UK Scoob, I had a blow-out after hitting some debris on the road. Unforunately, the car being new, it was only then that I discovered the garage hadn't given me the correct key for the locking wheelnut. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Anyway, luckily the car came with roadside assistance/recovery cover, courtesy of Subaru Assist.

Amazingly, though, despite being a Subaru scheme, with the make and model of the car registered with them, they still sent a tail-lift tow truck. The guy pulled up and immediately said "I can't tow that - it's 4WD. I'll phone for a flat-bed, but it'll be another 45 minutes. Subaru Assist, you say? What a bunch of losers!".

DOH!

IanW

Over the time i have owned cars 4wd cars i have been with the RAC and Direct Line Rescue, Direct Line Rescue when i called them out last insisted on sending out a 'Spec Lift' recovery vehicle as this was capable of doing an initial inspection of the car to make sure that the car did indeed require recovery via a flat bed. Also by them sending out the smaller vehicles first it means they can keep their response times lower.

Have to say the 2 occasions with my old car that Direct Line Rescue were called out I had an initial response of under 30 minutes!

chrisp

Rung AA once half a mile from home and they came in 20 mins, just enough time to walk back .

Rang subaru assist from work one morning and guy appeared in 30 mins, said he had never fixed one though as they dont break down .

Chrisgr31

I used to be with Green Flag pre the Scooby. Called them out when I broke down on the A27 just north of Brighton at 11pm one Saturday night. Took nearly 2 hours for them to arrive. They couldn't fix the car, and didn't want to do a front wheel lift (had a Saxo at the time). Had to wait for a flat bed. I finally got home at 5.30am. As I was only 40 minutes from home when I broke down I was impressed!

However they did at least collect the car at 8am Monday morning as arranged. However when it broke down again on Wednesday afternoon the dealer having failed to find any fault the guy who came out after 90 minutes refused to accept that it had ppetrol in it, (especially as I was at a petrol station). When he accepted he wasn't going to get the car going he called a tow truck. That took 90 minutes to arrive too. It then took me to a car hire place, well it would have done but the road was one way and we were at the wrong end. So I walked up, only to find the car hire place had moved 2 years earlier!

When the car hire peole who came to collect me complained to Green Flag about them giving the wrong address Green Flag denied doing it. I heard the receptionist tell them "Do you really think your member is going to go to an old address to pick up the car hire you arranged? Course you f ing told him!"

Have used Subaru Assist when in France and apart from them failing to call me back I must admit the service was good.

wrxrob

seams to me that the people on here moaning about recovery services have no f-----g idea how recovery companies work,i work for one of the above companies and my response time is normally 20-30 mins per job do members think thet we have a truck or patrol for every job straight away just waiting for them(no we dont)and to be totally honest most of the delays are due to the member giving a bag location and not knowing where they are,oh and as for members asking for flat beds to be sent the members do not request the trucks (we do)the company will always send a roadside assistance unit first to try and sort the problem or tow it also your loving scoobs can also be flat towed as long as all driving wheels are left on the ground and all guide lines as to speed and distance are kept to so when the next time you break down please help and flat tow the vehicle to the repairer (if locall)instead of tying up a £150,000 truck thjat could be doing proper jobs,hope this clears up a few things and i am sorry but the public think every thing is every one elses fault and i am fed up with the same old crap from people,oh and did you know that most breakdowns are due to poor maintence,bodge jobs and jobs that have just left main dealerships think about that!

m18use

Bit touchy arent you

Toad

I'm with the AA and when I broke down on the M3 in my metro they were pretty quick...took about 30 minutes to pick me up.And soon after that I broke down on the M3 and they had a 30 min responce time again,overall I was pretty impressed.


Toad.

bros2

RAC were excellent the one time I've needed them in the last 2 years. But 5 years ago I had to use them, and they took 6 hours.

Luck of the draw, I'm afraid.

Best of the lot (by MILES) are BMW Assist. Seriously good mechanics, excellent response.

bros

MarkO

Erm, sorry, but that's totally irrelevant. I the story I quoted above (the Subaru Assist sending a tail-lift tow truck) it was the driver himself who slated the recovery centre, and told me that they should have sent a flat-bed in the first place - particularly as being a Subaru scheme they should have been aware that the car was 4WD. TBH, it was my first 4WD car, and had the guy not told me it was the wrong kind of tow-truck, I wouldn't have known to say anything.

BTW, Try using a fullstop now and again - then your readers won't be out of breath!

DrEvil

(wrx)Rob - mate, of course there is a 1-to-1 ratio of flat bed trucks to 4WD cars, I've seen a whole fleet of AA employees/flatbeds up at newlands stuffing their faces with bacon sarnies all day!

Seriously though, has anyone ever had a scooby fixed at the road side for anything other than a flat tyre? Surely if the check engine light is on, the roadside assist people can't do anything and a suitable vechicle for towing a scoob should be sent initially? And a realistic ETA given?

The problem we now have here in the UK, is the police can tow your car and charge you for the pleasure if you don't sort it out yourself in 30 mins (isn't it?? correct me if I'm wrong).

Alex

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Had the same trouble with the RAC when I told them my engine had blown up years ago(xr4x4) and they sent a bloke to look at it then a tow truck then a flat bed [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] I then had problems with mmy Lancia and it went off the road and they said I could suspend my cover because I had just taken it out (and I hadn't used it yet) and when I went to re-activate it they wanted £60 just to put it back on [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] even though I had paid up in full only 2 weeks before quote suspending it. I told the to f*ck off literally and got cover through my insurance [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] I will never use them again

Paul

snowcrash

shall i get subaru assist then for another year????

??

Stuart J

If anyone reading this works for Green Flag can they mail me off line, I currently have a car waiting to be recovered from Italy via Green Flag & they wont give me details of who is doing the recovery so I can contact them to try & get a recovery date, all they keep saying is "within the next 21 working days in accordance with the small print in the policy"

Andy W

Last time I called out the AA it went mostly like this.......

Three phone calls including 1 to AA Europe in France.......
Got speaking to the call centre manager..........
"of course you are covered"
"of course we will recover the car"
A third party recovery company was there in about 1 hour.......
Lovely thats that sorted.....


3 days later the <insert own profanity here> sent me a bill for 163 quid
Several phone calls later (this time no international calls)..........
Of course you weren't covered..............Of course you must pay the bill........!

Luckily it was renewal time and they can stick their 125 quid renewal right up their bright yellow <insert another profanity here please>

The Rascals!!!!!!!!!

ricardo

A few weeks ago I had to call Subaru Assist (only time ever) since the engine on my 98MY would turn over happily but not start. I called from the car-park of a Wickes DYI store, and spent the next 20 minutes stopping people from parking directly in front of me, expecting the car to be loaded onto a trailer.

Then the bloke arived (Oakmount Recovery) and started working on the car ! After a while he'd established that there was no fuel coming though, so out with the back seat and into the fuel pump wiring. Wiggled the connector and we were back in business.

So they don't always tow, this guy had basically diagnosed the fault and fixed it.. Now we both know where the fuel pump connector is !

Snowcrash:
For me at least the extended warranty has paid for that and also a new clutch master cylinder a couple of months ago, so well worth it.

Turboteeth

WRXRob, your comments are a load of bollocks

In my case, I called from a motorway telephone so the RAC knew exactly where I was.

I also did not request a flat bed - I just told them it was 4 wheel drive and let them take the decision as to what they sent.

When the bloke did arrive he didn't have any intention at investigating the fault because it was "too wet" and he had another job to go to. In any case he wouldn't have been able to fix the problem.

As for poor maintenance...lol...how many Scooby owners can be accused of that? Most of us still use the main dealers and stick to the service schedule rigourously.

Anyway, my original post was aimed at the RAC (bunch of w4nkers that they are) and NOT the contractors who they send to pick up their unfortunate members.

Andy W

WRX bob,
I just reread your post and I have just one issue, if someone is paying already for a recovery service then why on earth should they bother to get someone else to tow them even if the repairer is local? you wouldn't have a 150k truck if people didn't pay for it.

A

Mr evolution

I used to be a member of the AA when I had crappy metro's and fiesta's and almost every time I called the service was promt and good(they have even fitted a new alternator for me in the rain) . The only time I have had poor service was in London on a saturday evening after driving over broken glass and getting two flat tyres. This took 6-7 hours to sort out but in balance the I think the service is pretty good.

pslewis

Brittannia Rescue is the only way to go - £46 as well!! Sorted

Pete

Andy W

I have used the AA before my last encounter and well they were OK, once when I got a flat on the motorbike and once when the Electric window on the scoob gave up ( for this they charged me an extra 40quid for 'homestart' and the chap that came out made the problem worse but that is hardly the fault of the AA)