To make a complaint about road side recovery

[Mamabear04]

DH is driving along the motorway, I'm in the passenger seat, DC with us in the back ages 1 and 4. Suddenly the engine cuts out, DH pulls onto the hard shoulder. Log a breakdown with RAC online, state there are 2 young children in the car. Get kids out and walk 50m and climb over a fence into a field as it's safer than beside the road. There are a heard of cows on the other side of the field. We logged a breakdown at 9.15am. RAC didn't turn up until about 12.30pm. Had to call DF to come and get me and the kids but took almost 2 hours to get us (faster than the RAC nonetheless).

I'm stressed and been dealing with stressed kids all morning. My nerves are shot and exhausted. Should we complain?

Ps. Think the fan belt has gone and the car is a right off so that's a huge stress as don't think the insurance will cover it and they're shut until next week so can't call. Sssttttrrreeeesssssss!!!

You are not being unreasonable, I think the RAC are awful. My husband has had two poor experiences - one with the kids in the car (8 and 11 at the time), left for 5 hours at the side of the motorway. Eventually I called a friend to collect the kids, and when the recovery truck finally arrived there was only space for 1 passenger anyway!

My husband was also left (on his own this time) overnight in a dodgy bit of a major city because the RAC said no one could come out until morning.

It's a bank holiday weekend. I imagine the RAC are flat out with breakdowns and punctures, etc. I doubt they left you on the side of the road on purpose. Shit happens and it often takes a really long time before assistance arrives (as I know ...)

Do you mean Cam belt as a fan belt wouldn’t be a write off . It’s not brilliant service but 2 adults /2 kids is a safe ratio and it is a BH weekend . I complained to the AA when I had to be recovered from south London as they outsourced my tow truck and it was hours wait , freezing cold and he was extremely uncooperative.( if you don’t want to drive a tow truck at 3 am then get a different job ) . They gave me £50

Well it all depends on how they triaged your call. If they couldn't get to you for three and a quarter hours because there were others in greater need then what else could they have done? For example if they had calls from families in similar situations to yours before 9:15am. Traffic is mad this weekend in most places because people are getting away for the long weekend, so more breakdowns are inevitable. If they gave you unrealistic expectations and said things like they would be with you within half an hour and then kept changing the arrival time that would be one thing, but otherwise it's just having to wait your place in the queue.

You are supposed to go behind the barrier and to the top of the verge - not into the farmers field!

I’ve been with Rescue My Car for 15 years and I’ve found them to be absolutely brilliant. Have never waited more than an hour. The one time I broke down in my husband’s car and had to phone the RAC we waited five hours.

Some auxiliary belts (don’t really have fan belts anymore, though yes lots still refer to them as such) drive the water pump, so if it snapped and you drove more than a few minutes it is likely to overheat and cook the engine. So would be as expensive as a cam belt going.
Either way, it is something that insurance wouldn’t cover because it wasn’t an accident/incident

How long did they say recovery might take?

I’m afraid the insurance wouldn’t cover a car breaking down no ☹️

They said 45 mins...

We're with Green flag and they've never been more than 40 minutes even when the car was in our own drive.

But I don't think 3 hours on a bank holiday weekend is that extreme. You were safe, you had two parents to control two children. Yes, it's not nice; yes, it would be nicer if it was quicker, but I suspect there were people in far worse circumstances that needed help quicker.

There was no barrier and you think restraining a 1 year old and keeping an eye on a 4 year old next to a 70mph road is the right thing to do?

If they said that but took a lot longer you might conceivably have some grounds for complaint.

Response times can be luck of the draw the quantity and type of calls are all unknown

we use the AA at work I’ve had 20 minutes to I want to say 7 hours but gave up and left key on wheel and got picked up

I'd be raging OP, two young kids at the side of the motorway that long is awful. We broke down on the motorway when ours were similar ages and tbh I was terrified. Fortunately we just about made it up the off ramp and when DD instantly needed the loo the people in the first house took us in. We didn't have breakdown cover (NI folks take note - we had breakdown cover but were down south which wasn't included) and paid privately for a tow truck which took a while to find.

You won't be able to claim on your insurance, but if the car is still under warranty you may be in luck - make sure it's only worked on by an authorised dealer if so. You should also check your statutory rights if you bought it as a used car.

Good luck, I hope you're not too badly out of pocket. It's a very stressful thing to go through.

I would have felt very very far from safe with two DC those ages at the side of the motorway.

RAC is yet another quality service that's been taken over by private equity firms and run into the ground with penny pinching and corner cutting.

There are still a few decent breakdown firms, typically ones who use local garages. Just steer clear of RAC and AA.

I would have felt very very far from safe with two DC those ages at the side of the motorway.

They weren't at the side of the motorway though. They were 50m away over a fence.
I'd have taken the buggy/car seat for the 1yo too, and most 4yos are compliant enough to be told to stay next to the buggy.

I had this last year, we'll be with you in an hour, then 2 hours, in the end 4.25 hrs. I complained as DD was 20 minutes away and if I'd known how long it would take she'd have come and picked me up but as they kept changing the time I stayed with the car. I wasn't on the motorway I had pulled into an industrial estate as I realised something was going wrong and wanted to get off the dual carriageway so I was alone on a Sunday evening with no where to go to the loo or get a drink. I ended up with my membership being extended by 3 months, a discount on the following year (I think it was nearly 50% off) and an apology.

I said I just wished they'd been honest with me from the start.

Oh we recently had a good experience with them.. we had a baby in car and was on the hard shoulder. We needed to stay in the car as no safe place to stand. Seatbelts on and sat on the passenger side. They were with us after about and hour and a half I think.