Breakdown in snow! Advice needed...

zxcv784

Hi,

To cut a very long and stressful story short, I broke down on the motorway in the snow monday eve (steam pouring out of bonnet) car had overheated - managed to get to hard shoulder but couldn't get through to RAC (on phone for over an hour before giving up) and some nice people picked us up and took us to some relatives...

I went back to the motorway today (tue) but car had gone, so phoned police and they said it had been towed away (the car was not obstructing traffic was safely out of the way)...

Got a lift to the company who had towed my car and had to pay £150 to get it released (RAC wouldn't come out until I had paid this) the RAC came out and said my head gasket had gone and was gonna cost £500/600 to fix at a garage, only paid £500 for the car - Rover 414 R reg (had a years motoring out of it) so not gonna get it fixed, spent whole day waiting for a truck to take us home....

Anyway my questions are...

Is there any way of claiming this £150 back? I'm covered Roadside and Recovery through RAC but couldn't get through to them, and didn't wanna spend night on hard shoulder...

The BBC story here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8426006.stm
said..."Up to 2,000 motorists either abandoned their vehicles or slept in their cars after getting stuck in gridlocked traffic on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire County Council urged owners to collect abandoned vehicles "as soon as possible". Thames Valley Police said they were causing an obstruction in the High Wycombe area.
However, all vehicles left on motorways overnight had been removed and owners must pay to get them back, the force said."

I'm not gonna pay for the car to get repaired, can I get money for scrap? I see some companies advertising this...

Can anyone recommend a reliable car for under £1000 that I could get? trying to save up for a house deposit so don't want to spend too much...

Any help would be appreciated!

computershack

In short, there is no way to get the £150 back. It is a staturory charge for having a vehicle towed from the motorway.

The fact it was on the hard shoulder and not in the way doesn't mean that it was safe to leave it there and the Police would've ordered its removal as it poses a hazard.

Cheap reliable car under £1000? MK2 Ford Mondeo. Plenty around.

zxcv784

o.k fair enough, I thought as much, thanks for the tip on the car, was also thinking bout a VW golf...

I have just renewed my car insurance 2 weeks ago (paid the ful year's amount in full not monthly) can I cancel and get a refund? or freeze it somehow so that it can restart when I get a new car?

denvore

You could ring the RAC up and explain what happened. It was down to the fact you couldn't get through to them which resulted in you leaving your vehicle. Though they are not legally obliged to do so, they may stump up a bit as a good will gesture.

avantra

zxcv784 wrote: »

o.k fair enough, I thought as much, thanks for the tip on the car, was also thinking bout a VW golf...

I have just renewed my car insurance 2 weeks ago (paid the ful year's amount in full not monthly) can I cancel and get a refund? or freeze it somehow so that it can restart when I get a new car?

Yes you can, less than 14 days ago = free
more than 14 days = you will get a refund of what ever proportion stipulated in your policy (in %)

mchale

The SOS boxes on motorways should be used for calling for any type of assistance, I presume you were trying to ring them on your mobile, next time walk to a SOS box.

Lum

You mean next time, keep the car rolling with the clutch down, and don't hit the brakes until you happen across an SOS box. Much more pleasant way to do it

If you're buying a new car soon, cancelling your insurance probably isn't worth it (most will deduct an admin fee and this can be up to 25%. When you finally buy it, ring them up and tell them you've changed your car, here are the new details.

Premier_2

Lum wrote: »

You mean next time, keep the car rolling with the clutch down, and don't hit the brakes until you happen across an SOS box. ...

Emergency phones are spaced about 1 mile apart on UK motorways, meaning you should never be more than 1/2 mile away from one even in worst case scenario

There are roadside markers about every 100 metres pointing you in the direction of the nearest emergency telephone.

Using the emergency telephone allows the operator to immediately identify the position you are calling from ... much better than a typical mobile caller advising something like they are on the M5 heading towards Bristol :rolleyes:

You will always be able to get through on an motorway phone ... and in the rare occasion they may be out of action, the motorway will be actively patrolled looking for breakdowns.