RAC Mobile Mechanics
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Long story short ( or not ) .
Long story short ( or not ) . Logged a breakdown at around 9 AM at a regional airport car park barrier. Initial assessment was for a patrol to be with me within 2 hours. This never happened and it was necessary to get a kindly passing motorist to move me away from the closed off car park barrier to a delivery vehicle lay-by adjacent to a nearby hotel, which had parking fine notices posted ( I await the outcome of that scenario). In the meantime, patrol arrival time slipped further on several occasions allegedly because I was not a high priority ( not a lone female and not parked on a high speed route, although I was a lone pensioner sitting in a tin box on what was the hottest day of the year so far), until after eventually receiving a telephone call from the assigned patrol man by telephone, who decided upon hearing my vehicle symptoms that he wouldn’t be able to assist anyway and would contact his control to have vehicle recovered to my home address ( as it was now after 5PM on a Friday evening and any garages who might be able to assist would be closed for the weekend). Eventually, after a further delay and after having to telephone the RAC control room myself to enquire what was happening, I was contacted by a 3rd party vehicle recovery company tasked by RAC who advised me that they could not collect for a further 2 hours. They actually arrived within 15 minutes! Vehicle loaded onto flatbed recovery lorry, and journey home commenced, only to find myself stranded once again some 50 miles later, as the transport vehicle lost 2 of its nearside rear wheels and Was itself in need of recovery. After further delays while alternative transport was arranged for the car and myself, I eventually arrived home some 13 hours after the initial breakdown. I have stalwartly been a member of the RAC for many years as the last time my wife and myself used the service some 40 years ago we were left impressed with how things progressed. We have had no need of RAC recovery services since then. However, my recent experience has left me questioning what we do moving forwards when it comes to breakdown service suppliers.