HELP: Damsel in distress- car broken down

Chickabee

Ok looking for some advice here.
My Vauxhall has just this evening broken down on me - the alternator light came on when i was driving home and i swear i was only a mile down the road when the steering froze. Now its parked up high and dry and won't start.
I don't have any breakdown cover and i'm not sure who i should contact from here without getting completely ripped off.
I don't have any breakdown cover with my insurance either.
Any helpful suggestions?

Old_Git

who normally services your car ?
where do you live ?

Chickabee

I just work in Belfast really so normally get car serviced in Fermanagh area. I'm usually in Belfast all week but to be honest don't know much about garages in Belfast or towing services!

andrew129

Chickabee, if you are still stuck, you can join the AA now. They will probably charge you a higher membership fee but they will come out and look at your car. Their number is 0800 88 77 66.

Hope you get sorted :A

ballyblack

they will come out and look at your car.

and the AA will tell you that a drive belt is gone & give you an expensive tow-in to one of their 'approved garages'; (AA don't fix cars)


The repair, if its one of the ancillary drive belts? is not the that expensive !

Get a local independent garage or mechanic to fix





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motorguy

ballyblack wrote: »

and the AA will tell you that a drive belt is gone & give you an expensive tow-in to one of their 'approved garages'; (AA don't fix cars)

.

If you become an AA member the recovery of the vehicle would be free.

They will take you to any garage of your choice, depending on level of cover.

The AA fix something like 80% of cars at the roadside - i'd imagine one of the fundamentals they will carry would be an assortment of drive belts.

cillbill

You might have breakdown cover as part of your car insurance. Give your insurance broker a quick call and you might get it delivered to your mechanic as part of your insurance policy. I know a work colleague who got this arranged this way. Hope this helps.

shellymoo

i would double check with your insurance too, i had same problem, thought i had cover with RAC, needed towed so rang them and they told me my policy had lapsed despite it renewing every other year :mad:

When i rang my insurance they told me i wasn't covered but it was only extra £25/30 to add it on, so i did it there and then, they said it would take 24hrs to become active. Broke down at friends house on sat morning and rang breakdown services on Monday morning and they came out without a problem and towed me to garage, I normally use William at Gilnahirk tyres and exhausts, its sort of more near dundonald but they are great and really honest and reasonable.

saverbuyer

Or you might have it as part of your bank account. I do.

Chickabee

Thanks for all your help guys.
I've always had breakdown cover taken out of my car insurance as an extra because its a relatively fresh car with low mileage. Typical!
I did consider signing up for one of the breakdown services and then phoning up 24hrs later to get it towed but to be honest i just wanted it dealt with asap.
Ended up getting it towed to a garage- cost £60, and then another £200 odds to get new alternator fitted Expensive evening.

I'm definately getting breakdown cover as part of my car insurance next time!

thanks for all your suggestions

andrew129

You could join the AA now (Single Roadside Assistance) for £28 per year - or even better go via Quidco http://www.quidco.com/aa-uk-breakdown/ for £21 cashback -

Making one years cover a grand total of £7