I guess at some point or other most of us have had to call out the breakdown guys. Last time I had to fess up for running out of petrol! Doh! Anyway, do you tip them? I do. Usually just a fiver or so, but I did get rescued off the motorway once and was extremely grateful so I bunged him 20 quid. Worth their weight in gold them blokes.
Sackable offence if caught. Used to be they would expect it and often(seen vid footage) imply if you want it repaired a donation was needed ;-) thankfully less so now
If they've done a PARTICULARLY good job or have been particularly helpful I'll offer to "buy them a pint" i.e. a fiver. If they do something "off the books" to save me money, then probably more. But if it's a run of the mill job done in a run of the mill way, probably not. I assume they're being paid a decent wage for their time and I'm certainly paying for the service so.....We don't want to get into a US situation where it's EXPECTED that you tip every Tom, Dick and Harry!
When my car refused to start after meeting a customer in Petersfield and I was recovered by Greenflag I gave the driver a tenner, when I had a chain go on the 900SS punching a hole in the crank case I was recovered by the RAC and gave him nothing apart from my thanks. I suspect the Ducati breaking down on a country lane and the car breaking down in a pub car park with me spending the 2 hours it took to get recovered pouring IPA down my neck probably has more to do with the size of the tip than anything the recovery drivers did.
Where do you draw the line? they are doing a job, and a job that actually doesn't pay too badly at all. They are indeed a very valuable service, and on the couple of occasions I have used them I have been very appreciative of them, but its their job. The recovery driver is just one of a chain of people who have got your car or bike recovered, but of course no one tips the control centre staff, or the admin staff working in the background.
Not me I already pay for breakdown. Now if he had just been randomly driving along and stopped to help and recover me home I would give him some money for his trouble Same as when I have been to the garage and asked them to look at something they have usually corrected the problem if it was easy and wavered the charge then I always give them something for their trouble The last time I took some nice cookies and cakes which they were made up with
I ran out of fuel once and found out by trial and error that the engine had a cut off that required the reserve light to go out before the engine would restart. The AA guy didn't know this and their central support didn't either, so 3 runs to fill up his fuel can and the one I bought on the 3rd run as I was getting really pissed off. He deserved his cup of cappucino I bought him as he did all this with good humour and it took him 2 hours!
I havent yet, but thats not to say that I won't in the future. To be honest, I'd never really thought about it
I was a Thruxton with my Dad a couple of years ago and his car wouldn't start when we went to leave. He got the RAC out and the guy was good but nothing exceptional but got the car going again....I forget what it was but it wasnt anything too major. Dad gave him a fiver and I nearly fell over......I guess it might be a generational thing?
