4X4 RAC towing cover.

today i needed a tow, the RAC turned up and told me they couldnt do it as "its a 4X4 and its also too heavy". We had told them what vehicle we had and thought they would have turned up in a loader. (not a tranny van)

Now my RAC cover says it will tow you to your destination and i was under the impression they would. Im Going on a family holiday soon and really dont need to be stuck on the hard shoulder with the RAC man refusing to move me.

Can you tell me, is this normal with the RAC and if so do they do a cover that will tow me/put me on a trailer and get me to where im going? otherwise no point having em they done no more than i can do when they arrived.

Cheers

mrnice said:

today i needed a tow, the RAC turned up and told me they couldnt do it as "its a 4X4 and its also too heavy". We had told them what vehicle we had and thought they would have turned up in a loader. (not a tranny van)

Now my RAC cover says it will tow you to your destination and i was under the impression they would. Im Going on a family holiday soon and really dont need to be stuck on the hard shoulder with the RAC man refusing to move me.

Can you tell me, is this normal with the RAC and if so do they do a cover that will tow me/put me on a trailer and get me to where im going? otherwise no point having em they done no more than i can do when they arrived.

Cheers

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If it was a patrol in a van he was correct. He couldn't put it on the RDT due to 4x4 and weight and as you are heavier than him he couldn't straight bar you either. They should have called up for a recovery truck to move you on though. I do breakdowns in a flatbed instead of a service van or spec lift. That way I can shift whatever myself. You will find the same problem no matter what breakdown club you're in. It's luck of the draw on who comes out to you.

Depends on your cover if they will take you to your destination.
In the RAC T's & C's there's no mention of 4x4 only weight and that is 3.5 tons. http://media.rac.co.uk/pdf/uk-breakdown-terms-and-conditions.pdf

The AA actually listen to what you say (describe the symptoms, etc) and take into account the type of vehicle (4x4 or normal car, etc) send out a proper recovery truck if they need to transport you. For example, when my Pajero's head gasket blew, and its wheel bearing went, they sent a recovery truck straight away. When its batteries were flat, they sent a relay van to jump start me. They'll basically send a flatbed for 4x4s instead of needing to tow them anywhere.

Its the luck of the draw who comes out to you. You can tell the RAC call centre what ever you want, but they will send the nearest patrol. When he arrives he'll say "yes, its broke, you need recovering on a flat bed", then you wait while he calls the control centre and they arrange it.

like paul c says, AA has better service.
when i had the landy and the prop fell off they sent a low loader, another time when the water pump died they said it would be a 3 hour wait for the low loader or if i was confident to be towed they would send the van- VW van towed me home with the bar

I think as long as you tell them upon calling them in the first place, they should send the right ppl to deal with the situation.

Can remember when one of the company vehicles broke down and we told them we needed a low loader, so then sent some guy in a tranny van to assess the sitution..


AA Or RAC - who cares as long as they recover me car, thats all I readly car about... did have the RAC out 18 months ago... Lambard sensor had broken... got me car started but he insisted that he followed me to the garage... thats when the car cut out again and was finally towed

daza said:

when the water pump died they said it would be a 3 hour wait for the low loader or if i was confident to be towed they would send the van- VW van towed me home with the bar

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When my water pump went the RAC patrol drove me to a local motor factor to pick up a new pump, then he fitted at the side of the road while I watched

daza said:

like paul c says, AA has better service.
when i had the landy and the prop fell off they sent a low loader, another time when the water pump died they said it would be a 3 hour wait for the low loader or if i was confident to be towed they would send the van- VW van towed me home with the bar

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I'm guesssing you were in your 300 tdi, if so he was breaking the law by towing you as your disco would be over weight for his VW van.

stchris356 said:

I'm guesssing you were in your 300 tdi, if so he was breaking the law by towing you as your disco would be over weight for his VW van.

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yep in the 300, was a good 7 or 8 mile as well

daza said:

like paul c says, AA has better service.

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I have been with both RAC and AA and found the RAC to have better service.

I had a Jeep Cherokee 4.0L (Sorry!!!!) the water pump went, the RAC sent out a flat bed within 25 minutes, I had a disabled person with me. The car was transported 150 miles home on a Sunday and they came back on th Monday to take it to my repairers as obviously they were closed on th Sunday.

Up here it doesn't really matter which organisation you are with - I work for an independant garage and we cover AA, RAC, Mondial, Green Flag, Britannia.....
Mrnice - when you say "needed a tow" - do you have Recovery cover? or just Breakdown? If Recovery then the patrol should have arranged for a flatbed to pick you up - if Breakdown then they are only obliged to get you to a place of safety, or to a garage etc within a 10 mile radius.
What was the final outcome?

Beneagles said:

Up here it doesn't really matter which organisation you are with - I work for an independant garage and we cover AA, RAC, Mondial, Green Flag, Britannia.....
Mrnice - when you say "needed a tow" - do you have Recovery cover? or just Breakdown? If Recovery then the patrol should have arranged for a flatbed to pick you up - if Breakdown then they are only obliged to get you to a place of safety, or to a garage etc within a 10 mile radius.
What was the final outcome?

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Hi, its in my mrs name (she was driving) and i think its called "personal, roadside, recovery accident care". thats what it says on the card.

mrs was driving, i was in work, she described the symptoms of the car to me over the phone which i diagnosed as a dead serpentine/fan belt, as she wanted to go shopping and i was still at work i told her to call the RAC and tell them to bring a new belt with them. when he arrived 3 hours later he had no parts. car was about 2 miles from home, and half a mile away from a friends garage. At 1st he said he couldnt tow me home but eventually said he would tow me the 1/2 mile to my mates garage but for some reason kept asking if it was definately less than half a mile.

Hmmm...sounds like end-of-shift-itis. I would write to RAC and ask them to clarify what action should have been taken.

When our transfer box failed, an AA patrol attended in a Ford Transit van, told us he's tow us home/to our preferred garage so long as it was under 30 miles and we were happy to be towed by him, any more distance and it would would have to be a flat bed recovery.

Beneagles said:

Hmmm...sounds like end-of-shift-itis. I would write to RAC and ask them to clarify what action should have been taken.

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I'm and RAC patrol and I would urge you to ring customer care 0800 056 4482 and ask the same question.
If that was me I'd arrange a recovery truck to lift it as it would be against the law to tow due to the weight, that said I have done if short distance and I'm confident the person is able to be towed due to no PAS to save further delay, and also ask why they left your wife waiting for three hours, that's not acceptable.
I've already posted about buying bits on customer demand on here, I'll see if I can find it and repost.
Here it is:-
I'm an RAC patrol, and I've lost count how many times I've been told "it's only the fan belt mate" only to find the alternator seized or a tensioner hanging off.
As much as I'd like to have a part for every car in the back of my van I'd need the Tardis model to carry them.
Once I did collect a part en route to a job on the insistance that the member who claimed to be a mechanic was adamant the belt was the only fault.
On arrival I found the PAS pump pulley hanging off and when I asked him for the £15:20 for the belt which I purchased out of my own pocket he refused to pay for it as it won't fix the car (although his old one was knackered).
It's still in the back of my van a year later, won't be doing that again!

As for sending the correct vehicle first time, if we send a patrol we get "I asked for a truck( sorry but were not going to recover you 200+ miles 'cause you never had your spare tyre repaired and you can get a part used one for £10 at home).
Or we send a truck and we get "I asked for a patrol as I have a spare cambelt in the boot for my V6 Vectra"

Guy's I don't claim were perfect but I do believe were the best as I've worked for the AA,Landrover Assistance (Mondial), and now the RAC
and we genuinely try to do the best for the member with the resources available at the time you breakdown.