Hope everyone had a better day than me yesterday

[Suff]

Also, when I bought my current car, I paid that extra bit for a spare tyre - not sure if the car has a jack etc so good point and I should check, but I have the kit and the spare - paid £100 extra for that tyre, but worth the money to have peace of mind

Yeah mine was second hand and the prior owner would not pay. I have a friend with the Picasso version of mine, he has a full size wheel in the boot. Takes up a lot of space but he says it has saved him several times.

The car should have a jack but it is finding it. Also things to check. Wheel spanner. The one they give you is pants and can even snap off if you use too much power on it. I carry an extending bar with a socket on the end to release the nuts and I use a spider for spinning the nuts off.

You don't jack the car up until you have released the nuts. Especially front wheels.

I have a bottle jack these days. It is compact and unobtrusive but you need to be careful when you use them as the car can rock off them.

My Wheel spanner



The Spider I give to Mrs S as it folds.



I also have one of these but that's just for my own ease of use.



Bottle jack



He turned up with one of these. I think I will buy one for home as I have a compressor there.



I will be getting a spare wheel in Jan. I will live with the lack of space.

[Suff]

Tough luck, Suff, that doesn't sound at all good.

Well it was mostly irritating. I've been recovered by the AA about half a dozen times too. But as I was often on a long journey the pickups and handovers every 100 miles or so was a pain.

This time I was really annoyed. As you know I was a trained mechanic, I just lacked the damned spare wheel and nobody was listening to a word I was saying. I was carrying everything else otherwise I would never have called them. I recall driving over the fourth bridge when a wheel trim came flying up in the air at me, it landed right in front of my drivers side front tyre and wrapped itself around the tyre and the metal clips tore the side wall out.

I got over the bridge (huge fee's for being towed off), managed to get on the footpath just past the bus bay and pulled out my spare and tools/jack/etc. I was back on the road in 15 minutes. Justifiably irritated but at least not a recovery disaster.

[cruiser2]

Not fittinhg a spare tyre is a cost and space saving exercise. Designers don't think of people like yourself stuck in the outback trying to get help
for a repaire to a non standard tyre. When I was working the firm had a contract with RAC called them out a few times to change the wheel when I had
a puncture It was in the days when you had a full spare wheel. Now it saves money and space not to fit a full spare wheel.
I was coming back from Scunthorpe on the M180 when the engine started miss-firing. Came of at the junction with the M18 and called the RAC. They couldn't
fix it and said they would take it to a garage. So I was brought home withtn with the car being carried on a pick up truck to the main dealer near where I Live.

I am now with Green Flag. It is cheaper than both RAC and AA. Have called them out once to change a wheel when we were coming home from dancing onn the M65.
They use local garages to come to you depending on the problem The last time in August 2021, when I had a Mercedes B150. I got stuck in water. The car was brought
back to my house on a low loader. The next day a mechanic came out hada a look under the bonnet but would not attempt to do any work. He said it would require major
work which he could not do at the road side. Said I could call Green Flag again and have it taken to a local garage.
I did this the following day so the garage could lookm at the engine and advise me what to do.
As the car was scrapped I got a refund for the uunused portion of the annual subscription.
With the car I got as a replacement I got free AA membership. When this expired I went back to Green Flag. Although you may be speaking to a national call centre,
it is a local garage which comes out to you who know the area and specialist recovery firms.

[Workingman]

Suff, looks as though you, like me, became a victim of the non-existent customer services we suffer today. And if you do get though it is only to speak with a script reader who has no idea what you are talking about.

Good to hear you got back on the road, but what a cost!

Cruiser, I have only ever needed roadside assistnce once since 1971 and that was Green Flag. Turned up, assessed the problem, then acted as a 'Follow Me' vehicle just in case the battery (the problem) died on the way there to get a new one. It would not take a charge on my home charger and not even with his booster pack, but the alternator was working 100%.

[Suff]

Suff, looks as though you, like me, became a victim of the non-existent customer services we suffer today. And if you do get though it is only to speak with a script reader who has no idea what you are talking about.

It was really irritating. I knew exactly what needed to be done but could not get through the layers of BS they put in place to "manage" the situation.

Lesson learned. I always carry tyre repair. If it does not work no calling the AA, straight to the nearest 24x7 emergency tyre place and see if they can help. Keep going down the list until I get one that can. I shouldn't have to do this, the AA should be able to guide and advise me and even pay call out fees for the services.

They don't and they also don't have enough patrols. Certainly not out in the boonies miles from any city.

[cromwell]

I've had a couple of punctures / changed wheels but only one breakdown.
Some years ago I had a Peugeot saloon. Driving along the M62 in the evening a stone was thrown up from a lorry (I think) and went straight through the bottom of the raadiator. How it managed that I don't know.
So with wife and two children on board I pulled off the motorway at Whitley Bridge, straight into a pub car park. Phoned a taxi and we all went home.
The next day I went back to check on the car and discovered that there was a garage straight across the roaf from the pub!
Radiator sorted and a day later I had the car back.
Lucky.

[meriad]

I've had a couple of punctures / changed wheels but only one breakdown.
Some years ago I had a Peugeot saloon. Driving along the M62 in the evening a stone was thrown up from a lorry (I think) and went straight through the bottom of the raadiator. How it managed that I don't know.
So with wife and two children on board I pulled off the motorway at Whitley Bridge, straight into a pub car park. Phoned a taxi and we all went home.
The next day I went back to check on the car and discovered that there was a garage straight across the roaf from the pub!
Radiator sorted and a day later I had the car back.
Lucky.

Very lucky! wow

[Suff]

Indeed, most of my failures have been way away from home.