Recovery services

As a Range Rover driver which recovery service would you recommend?

I'm not so much interested in how quickly they turn up or how nice the mechanic is.
Does one of them seem to have a bit more understanding of Rangies than the others?
Do any of them have diagnostics that will work on a Rangie?
If it comes to recovery is there one that appreciates the sheer bulk of a Rangie?
Then there's questions about recovering a four wheel drive, a Rangie down on it's bump stops, the electronics etc.

Or, as I strongly suspect, is it down to me to train the recovery bloke when he turns up?

Sorry, I forgot to put in the interesting bit. This has come about because I've found that I can cover me and her, for everything except international, on the RAC for £60 by using Tesco vouchers. It's normally about £140.

dogsbody said:

As a Range Rover driver which recovery service would you recommend?

I'm not so much interested in how quickly they turn up or how nice the mechanic is.
Does one of them seem to have a bit more understanding of Rangies than the others?
Do any of them have diagnostics that will work on a Rangie?
If it comes to recovery is there one that appreciates the sheer bulk of a Rangie?
Then there's questions about recovering a four wheel drive, a Rangie down on it's bump stops, the electronics etc.

Or, as I strongly suspect, is it down to me to train the recovery bloke when he turns up?

Click to expand...

No matter which you choose it depends on the guy you get. Some will be ok some will be clueless.

As above, and many companies sub-contract out their work. So there`s no guarantee that that the company you pay your money to will send out one of there own vehicles. They should all know how big a Rangie is tho`. Can`t imagine it`ll be a first to recover one!

ive ben with the aa rac and green flag none of them have had the right diagnostics for the vehicle (its only needed a relearn but all of them have tried telling me the fuel pump is f#@ked)they all got there in a resonable time and all managed to take the rr away on a truck of 1 even flat towed me 18 miles. so they are all about the same

when i passed my driving test many years ago my parents bought me member**** to the aa. I am still a member now and have never had any probs with the service they provide. They even rescued my 101 when the stearing box snapped off the chassis and we had to twist the road wheeles to get it on the lorry. I allways keep a picture on my phone incase they try and say "TO BIG MATE". A friend of mine broke down in his 90 with 2a on trailer just north of Birmingham and bought him back home to Surrey. Dont no about the other recovery services, but one lot is yellow truck the other orange, there is another one green somthing and they have wheele barrows

Just echoing the above, really depends on the guy that comes out. I'm with the AA and their code reader diagnosed that my becm was out of sync. I've also got there breakdown insurance (warranty), took it out when I got the rangie, £7 a month. Never used it, dusted off the booklet the other day to find it covers your battery (which I've replaced twice:doh Had the guy out to my van the other day and he said both the compressor and valve block would be covered, so going to be putting that to the test soon, rather than a refurbish of them both.

if you tell them is an auto and you want it recovering via flat bed rather than towing they will do it, they may have to tow it a short distance to a safer place, i.e into a layby if on roads such as a dual carriageway. remember to put fuse 11 in!!

i think the aa have a policy of not towing more than 10 miles, that means full recovery if your 10 miles away from home/destination/repair point!!

obviously dont let them try to tow it with those silly beaver tail lifts.

as for the recovery driver knowing his stuff, in fairness to them they would have to know all the makes of car on the road and all the common issues!! its unlikely that they could know all this if they are just recovery drivers!! although i would expect the rac and aa to have better kit on thier vans!!

Hi, iv'e been in the RAC for ten years and used them twice, once was when my RR 2.5 DT would not start, it started when he arrived so he did not need to do anything but he seemed very knowlagable about P38s as he said he has had quite a few call outs for them in the past, also both times the guys would have been in thier forties so obviously been around. I'm happy with them but as someone already said it depends on the guy you get, pay your money and take your chance but if asked I would recommend the RAC.
Cheers
Davie

I'm with the AA and on both occasions I have needed a recovery (most recently today!) I have had no problems with them. As soon as you say 4x4 and Auto - you'r looking at a flat bed. More important I think is where you request it to be transported to... pick your garage and get the car taken where you need it to be taken.

The AA for me is not a 'get me going service', its a 'Get my car to a garage' service.

I'd go with the RAC for the simple reason that they can automatically locate your rough position if you call with a mobile phone. With the AA, you have to tell them exactly where you are and on a few occasions, that has proven to be a difficult task.