I pulled the trigger on an RAC membership for me and my moped mounted 17 year old. No home recovery within the first 24 hours (which is fair enough considering MCEs “home” add on can’t be used for 10 days!). And if I can push it a quarter of a mile from my house I could use it today Thanks for the help everyone
In my worthless opinion, they are all rubbish. I was even doing a contract for the RAC when my car would not start because of a flat battery. All I wanted was a jump for my car parked in their office car park! Took so long that I phoned my ex to bring jump leads and a car! Then I went to the AA but when I needed recovery, they wanted to drag the bike on to a low loader - a bit like that video posted the other day. I was with GEM Motoring Assist last but I never called them out.
Breakdown cover in Italy was the best. The low loader operator couldn't speak a word of English and was ratcheting my uncles 1098 down to the point of implosion. Every time my uncle screamed at him to stop, he'd look up with a manwell (faulty towers) smile/expression and just say "ees better". We still say it now every time we're doing something stupid or dangerous.
WTAF? You were in their car park and they wouldn't help you? Unfortunately, I find that is the way of things these days - nobody will do anything for anyone else unless contractually obliged to do so and/or they actively seek out ways of avoiding those same obligations. It's all part of a trend in UK society away from people acting with compassion and decency or thinking for themselves towards only ever doing things strictly to the letter of the law/contract.
It was a few years ago and about this time of year. A cold, frosty night had taken them completely by surprise! Nobody there was capable of looking at a weather forecast. Normally, their would be a group of operators hanging around reception as they would come in for a coffee. As they were all on calls there was nobody about. My impression (and I may be wrong) is that most motoring associations work on the basis that most people will never call - and the few who do are just considered customers that have been lost. It is cheaper to pay for a page ad in a magazine then have enough operators to cope with busy times. My Monster did not start once when I was in Bath once. I got tired of waiting when I was right by the station. I rang and told them that I was going home but I was told that the driver was only minutes away - as I was told an hour ago. Got a train home and bought in a car the next day and sorted out the bike myself. That was through insurance with Liverpool & Victoria. Again, I got the impression that it was a promotion and you should never call. I had a problem with the age of my bikes. Most companies don't cover vehicles over 10 years old. The rest don't cover vehicles that break down. The trend these days seems to be to only cover brand new vehicles that never break down. Being a breakdown operator requires an infinite capacity for coffee with the only mechanical skills necessary are to change a wheel and fit a battery. Oh, and moan when you have customers in your truck who can't get out
True that. I can’t remember the last time a breakdown guy actually fixed the problem at the side of the road unless it was, like you say, a flat battery. They just turn up, take a load of arse covering photos and stick in on the flat bed. More than once they even wanted me to push it on there for them!
This was at the RAC centre by where the M4 and M5 meet near Bristol. Although, after 6 nobody was there, all the lights were left on deliberately in an empty office. This was to give the false impression that 'we never sleep'. They do and just waste loads of electricity.
So, having never taken out breakdown cover I haven't actually been chancing it Guess I'm going to break down on the way home now
Oh, and at the top of the tower there is just a meeting room. It is rarely used because he tower swings a bit in the wind. I used to go up there because the view is brilliant but many people would not book the meeting room because it made you feel sick if it was a windy day. I know that it is there to give the impression that they are watching traffic on the motorway - total crap. It is an empty meeting room.
You do realise that at any moment an RAC drone is going to hover into view above your house and fire a missile through your letterbox.
Hope not! Recent calls, for me, have been flat batteries, punctures, petrol (running out) and a blocked petrol filter. Nothing has ever been fixed kerbside. A 'get you home' service is the most important for me. These days, hardly anything can be fixed kerbside. I did run out of petrol on my Monster a few years ago on the M6. It would of been quicker to walk to the services myself and buy a can and some petrol. A few people did stop and offer help. Because I was waiting for the RAC to turn up sometime in the same century, I said that I was fine. If you are on a bike, then a few people will stop and offer help... Not just bikers but quite a few drivers are bikers or ex-bikers.
The only problem with that approach is that they get you and the bike home, but then if it’s not something you can fix yourself you then have to find a way to get the bike to a Ducati mechanic (as they won’t do two call outs for the same problem). Also, as I found out earlier when looking into their various services, some of them don’t cover running out of fuel or mis-fuelling. Like you said - with so many exclusions and limitations what the hell are they actually offering!?
Rac for me but only because I’ve been with them since the dawn of man and always found their prices good. Plus the orange van went well with my ktm.
That’s coz them evil solicitors have found ways to fuck over us decent chaps when we try help people out so now we don’t bother. Devils advocate is a great film lol
As a barrister, I spend a fair proportion of my professional life blaming solicitors for stuff so I’m not going to argue with you, lol. I think that’s part of it though. It seems every Tom Dick and Harry I speak to thinks they’re a lawyer or a health and safety expert, coming up with 101 reasons why either they or I can’t do something. The silliest instance of elf and safety gone mad was when I wanted to speak to a client in the cells underneath Inner London Crown Court after a hearing. The SERCO custody officers wouldn’t take him out of the cell and into an interview room because someone had dropped a cup of water in the cells corridor and this terrible slip hazard was deemed impassible until someone mopped it up. I suggested they just let me go and talk to him through the “wicket” (the little barred window on a cell door), but despite the fact that before lunch they’d felt it was safe to leave me on my own in a locked room with a guy who had only recently been released from an 11 year stretch for attempted murder, the puddle of water was deemed too much of a threat. So then I suggested they mop it up or just let me mop it up myself, but this again was an insurmountable problem, because neither they nor I were trained on or insured for the use of such a lethal device.
My eldest brother was the same, never bothered with cover. And I'd state one day you'll be charged £300+ to be recovered from a motorway hard-shoulder & then be dropped off at a dodgy garage. Instead of paying £70 per year for piece of mind... Anyone guess what happened semi-recently.
Events dear boy, events. Carbon Carla (my S4/Pani/916 spesh) has sprung a leak from her fuel pump O ring. As it’s a carbon fibre BST rather than OE steel tank it’s difficult to get it to seal properly so it’s not something I fancy doing myself. Even more so, as the last time I did the same job on a different bike I made a hash of it and me and my son ended up soaked in petrol from the waist down.
If a bike garage doesn't have a van, that'd be concerning. Yes they may charge a small amount, but for the amount of times you'll use the service it's no worry. I did once resort to a man with van advert. £25 and he turned up with a tail lift Luton and even brought his wheel chock from his house as I told him I wanted a bike transporting and he was a biker himself.
