How do broken down cars get out from multistory car parks?

fionajbanana

My friend broke down whilst she was on the ground level of a multistory carpark.

Fortunately, she and a couple of others, including the RAC patrol man pushed the car outside to get it repaired.

How do car breakdown companies cope with when cars are unable to drive, when its parked on a middle level of a car park or cannot move it at all.

This must have happened to someone here or someone they know.

I thought of a crane, but that's only useful if the car is on the roof of the car park, not like 4th floor of 7.

SailorSam

I suppose it depends upon the carpark. If the Aa/Rac man went up to the attendant in one and explained he was on a breakdown call one guy may say just go in. whereas the bloke in charge of the next carpark might insist he wants a couple of quid first.

lemontart

I had mine towed by the AA couple years back, scary stuff that.

OddballJamie

Jack it up onto a dolly under each wheel and push it, I've seen them do this at car shows and shopping malls.

Dunno what happens when you get to the ramp, fun finding out though.

fivetide

OddballJamie wrote: »

Jack it up onto a dolly under each wheel and push it, I've seen them do this at car shows and shopping malls.

Dunno what happens when you get to the ramp, fun finding out though.

Wheeeeee! (possibly into the trousers)

RichardD1970

SailorSam wrote: »

I suppose it depends upon the carpark. If the Aa/Rac man went up to the attendant in one and explained he was on a breakdown call one guy may say just go in. whereas the bloke in charge of the next carpark might insist he wants a couple of quid first.

I think they mean how do they physically move the car given the size of recovery trucks, not how does the AA/RAC (or whoever) man get into the car park.

Herzlos

The recovery trucks generally stay outside.

Generally a car will still be able to roll/brake when broken down (unless the gear box/brakes have siezed or an axle has been wrecked), so it should be possible (and terrifying) to push and coast one out of a car park.

colino

It may have changed, but years ago AA didn't recover from car parks. When my Dad returned to his car, a Princess 1.7 (told you it was years ago) and after trying to select reverse, no gears, just the gearstick floating about. The attending AA patrolman diagnosed a "broken gearbox" and while Dad had Relay, said he had to get it from the 5th floor to the road so they could recover it. Dad plus helpful passers-by pushed it out of space and to the downramp and he freewheeled it from there. Fun.
When it was recovered home, didn't take long to find real fault and replace the 20p gear-change roll pin.

TrickyWicky

OddballJamie wrote: »

Jack it up onto a dolly under each wheel and push it, I've seen them do this at car shows and shopping malls.

Dunno what happens when you get to the ramp, fun finding out though.

They're called GoJaks



and no they don't work very well with a car on top that is going down a ramp in a multistorey. They're fine on level ground but if you got to get a car down a ramp don't bother or there will be damage.

Not all recovery companies will touch multistorey car parks.

Those that do will either leave the truck outside or if it's low enough they'll bring it in. If they can't bring it in then if you're in a difficult position they may need to get a van to come instead so it can pull you with a tow rope / bar. Other times the vehicle can be simply pushed.

There is an urbann myth too that you can't move an automatic gearbox from park into neutral without the engine running. In reality you can on most models - just move the shift. For some reason people think that it needs to be running.

If you have a physically broken vehicle (as mentioned, gearbox jammed, brakes jammed, broken axle etc) then it's a case of bodge it out the door any way possible. We had a car stuck on top of a bollard once so I grabbed my own personal 3T trolley jack (one of the proper workshop ones not a £20 argos one) and jacked up the car. It was front wheel drive so the owner just drove forward very slowly with jack holding up the rear of the car. At that point I lowered down the jack and she was on her merry way.

At the end of the day though, if the car is shot and won't physically move then the recovery company will either have to strip it down and fix it to get it rolling or a mobile mechie will need to be called.

anotherbaldrick

Saw one that was blocking the undocking of a cross channel ferry, driver probably still fast asleep in his cabin. Did not stay there long , they whistled up the tractor they load the trailers with and in a cloud of squealing tyre smoke it went down the ramp.

OddballJamie

GoJak may be the brand name but it's basically a dolly, used for moving furniture and large items for many years.