I'm with RAC with personal cover and they do cover everything. But their service is abysmal....truly horrific. Over the last approx. 9 years I've called them out 3 times for cars (not always mine, the advantage and never been given less than a 4 hour wait time. One was a alternator/water pump belt snapped and gone, told them the issue and they were going to send a man.... without an alternator belt of any kind in around 4 hours and then I'd have had to wait for a recovery truck. A friend broke down with a large camper van towing his race car on a trailer and then sent a "man with a van" who was going to tow it all on a spectacle lift........
A couple of weeks ago on a Friday evening blast round the Lakes, the fuel light came on so I dived into a station, topped her up with diesel and set off. Got about 300m before it just conked out. No smoke or anything, no drama, just cut the engine. Phoned MCE who said I'm not covered for mis-fueling but they could get me home for £95 + mileage (about 30 miles away so prob £115 ish all in, or they could get someone to sort it by the road for £156, and that I'd have to pay the company direct when they came. Less than 2 hours a guy turned up (Fuel Fixer) from Carlisle about 65 miles away. Nice chap from Hungry. Before he started he explained that they'd checked on the model of bike before setting off and due to the placement of the plugs etc he may not be able to fix it...'do I want him to proceed?'. Yes, crack on. Because of the shape of the tank, it took an hour to get virtually all the diesel out. Then spent about 40 minutes trying to get her started...he carried on for longer than I would've done if I was him. Eventually it kicked into life - let it idle for 10 minutes...it smoked a little at first but not much. Then restarted it and it was fine. I asked about payment and he said his boss told him it was on account. I've not received an invoice (yet) but expect to at some point. I was chuffed that it was sorted, and gave the guy a good drink for sticking with it. The bike's run fine since - did 200+ miles on Saturday no issues. Got to say MCE were pretty good...no hanging about on the phone for ages, good info and called to see if the guy had arrived. When I said no, they got hold of him and called me back to say he'll be there in 15 minutes, and he was. So while they said I wasn't covered for being a dick and putting diesel in, they organised getting it fixed and getting me home on my bike instead of in the cab of a transporter, with the bike to still get fixed.
I'd think about getting the fuel filter changed as a precaution, you may end up with injector issue in future too but good to hear you got sorted and mobile
Only misfuelling I had, I got recovered free as it wasn't my fault. I'd put unleaded in the bike, receipt showed it too. Recovery guy gave the petrol station manager a bollocking and the manager just switched off the pumps, shut the station and denied any knowledge
Little know fact. Mis-fuelling can often be claimed under fully comp car insurance, as its ‘accidental damage’ and nothing excludes the engine in the policy...
Not the same kind of claim. We had a load we managed to get process when I was at AA through motor manufacturer schemes.
I'd rather not have any claims on my record...it's just something else to have to explain instead of ticking the 'no' box.
start rescue are pretty good , saved me in the middle of Spain a few years ago. App on my phone told them exactly where I was , also covers falling off it , in Europe as well after that experience ive stayed with them. cheap as well
Well....that turned out well. I called them (the RAC) earlier to transport the bike to the Marvellous Mr Petty esq, only to be told that they won’t take it because his workshop is 10.7 miles from my house and that’s over the 10 mile recovery limit. I feel a 14 day cooling off period cancellation plus a negative review (noted today that their Google review rating is 1 star) and perhaps other ways I can make them taste the sting of the lash coming on. Is it just me or does it feel like every single effing business these days is more or less just a borderline scam, usually administered by robotic phone jockeys in some far flung call centre (spoke to two people, both with native Indian accents so I suspect I was dealing with people in Bangalore rather than by the side of the M1 near Birmingham)
They have different levels of cover. Some may offer longer recovery. But 10.7 miles vs 10 miles is nonsense. Even in london, they would normally go a bit further (it’s normally closest or destination of your choice, within xx miles). Call their complaints line and complain. Twitter is another medium. Providing you aren’t doing something dodgy (1. like it was broken, so 2. you bought cover then 3. claimed) they should support it
I don't think you have full cover there. I've had a few circa 30 mile recoveries from RAC in the past (unless they've changed a put a limit on in the last 5 years). The distance has never been an issue, it's been getting them there in the first place that's been the problem!
From home, there will normally be a lesser restriction. It stops someone selling their car, ‘disabling’ it then getting the company to ‘recover’ it the 300 miles to the new owner
I bloody well should as I selected almost every bell and whistle option there was going and it came to 200 spondoolies in the end!
I have actually owned cars which cost less than that. Around the millennium, when I was on my arse financially, I bought a Cortina with 12 months MOT and half a tank of petrol for £50. It ran more or less perfectly for the whole year but then failed its next MOT on brake discs and a shock so I scrapped it, but I have a place in my heart which will forever be occupied by that car.
They are the best, my favourite was a 12 year old 2.0 Astra GTE with 120,000 miles on the clock for 500 quid - 18 months and another 20,000 miles and I sold it for 250 - I love bangernomics