AA driving school forced to call out the RAC

marlot

"This AA Driving School car got a puncture during a driving lesson at Bonnyrigg, near Edinburgh, and was left stranded because it did not have a spare wheel.An appeal for help to the AA’s own breakdown service was rejected for an unknown reason, but the company that leased the Ford Focus to the AA was covered by the RAC and so the RAC’s breakdown staff were called in to tow it to a garage for a tyre change."


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359066/AAs-pride-punctured--RAC-Firm-forced-turn-arch-rival-cars-breaks-down.html

Ultrasonic

:rotfl:

A good lesson in modern motoring for the student there too.

"Oh dear, we've got a puncture. In the olden days what most drivers would do would be to replace the tyre with the spare and then get on our way in about 15 minutes. But this is the 21st century and things have moved on. So what we now have to do is phone somebody else to tow our car away, find we can't even get that done easily, and if we're really lucky end up with an embarrassing photo in the paper."

bod1467

http://tirerepairkit.com/

Saves the day every time.

Ultrasonic

Every time you have a small puncture you can find and provided you have a pump to reinflate the tyre perhaps, but certainly not suitable for all tyre failures, unlike a spare wheel.

adouglasmhor

bod1467 wrote: »

http://tirerepairkit.com/

Saves the day every time.

Dangerous and possibly illegal in some circumstances.

Crabman

Maybe I'm in the minority but I will not consider buying a car that doesn't have a spare wheel as standard... who knows what other shortcuts have been taken during the design and build of the vehicle in order to save money.

marlot

Crabman wrote: »

Maybe I'm in the minority but I will not consider buying a car that doesn't have a spare wheel as standard... who knows what other shortcuts have been taken during the design and build of the vehicle in order to save money.

In general, I agree. I made an exception for my MX-5 but I did buy a spare wheel (from eBay) which I'll put a tyre on fairly soon. There isn't space to carry it, but at least I can get my wife to bring it out to me if I'm not too far away.

Tiexen

Crabman wrote: »

Maybe I'm in the minority but I will not consider buying a car that doesn't have a spare wheel as standard... who knows what other shortcuts have been taken during the design and build of the vehicle in order to save money.

And I bet people said that about starting handles, and what will you do when they stop leaving space for a spare wheel?

Crabman

Tiexen wrote: »

And I bet people said that about starting handles, and what will you do when they stop leaving space for a spare wheel?

I don't know what vehicle you drive but mine has a battery and starter motor, hence there is no need for a starting handle. It is rare for a starter motor to fail so it is not deemed reasonable for vehicles to be fitted with a secondary method of starting the engine.

Tyres, on the other hand, are easily punctured. For safety reasons I do not particularly want to be stuck at the side of the road for longer than necessary. A wheel can be swapped in minutes. How long does it take to tow a vehicle to a garage & source a new tyre, assuming you're lucky enough to suffer a puncture during garage opening hours?

Here's some data on spare wheel provision in new cars. Hyundai is the only manufacturer that supplies a spare wheel with all models and it is no surprise that they are doing so well:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/61152/car-manufacturers-ditch-spare-tyres

Wh05apk

Whilst I agree to some degree about spare wheels, (all of my family's "fleet" have them) being realistic, punctures are so infrequent (my last one was probably about 150,000 miles ago, is it really worth carrying a large heavy spare wheel around for something that statistically only happens to most people every 10 years or so? Assuming I buy a new car today, if the spare is not rotated, the tyre would probably have perished in 7-8 years anyway.

anotherbaldrick

AA Standby Membership

… starting the day of your first lesson

When you start your driving lessons with us, you'll be able to call us for roadside assistance for a fixed fee of £80 each time. So if you break down, just call us with your membership details or your name and address, we'll take card payment for the call-out and an AA patrol will be with you shortly.
If we can't fix your car by the roadside, we'll recover you and up to seven passengers to the nearest suitable garage.
Your standby membership will be valid for a year. You'll have 24/7 access to the UK's No. 1 breakdown provider, with our outstanding customer service. You'll also be able to upgrade your cover if you wish, or cancel at any time.

Perhaps the AA instructor did not have the £80 to facilitate a call out !