Disagreed with recovery guy over temporary fix - could I receive a bill?

RainbowLaura

Hi everyone,

Last night I broke down for the first time, and it was very scary (complete loss of power, including steering). I was pretty shaken by the incident itself, as well as it being in a dodgy area with lots of suspicious looking people loitering around!

The recovery guy did a "temporary fix" and said I could drive the car. However, the car was juddering badly and he wrote that it was still "very rough" on the form. The mechanic I use was about 16 miles away and I certainly didn't feel confident getting the car there myself, so I persuaded them to arrange for the car to be towed. At this point, I asked whether I would be charged for this as the callout guy had deemed the car driveable. He told me I would not be charged. Within an hour I was safely at the repair garage, where I left the car outside.

This morning I have looked through my documentation and am very conscious that the wording says that towing is covered IF the car is deemed not driveable. It also says they will tow to my home address, original destination or NEAREST garage. The location I asked to be taken to was quite a bit further away than my home, and there were many garages closer that I could have been taken to.

My concern is that I could now be faced with a bill for the recovery of the car, particularly as the recovery guys were sub contractors and not from the breakdown company itself. Would this be a possibility or have I been lucky? I am generally finding the terms and conditions of the policy very confusing, especially as many of them seem to refer to breakdown insurance (which also covers the cost of any subsequent repairs by the garage, which I don't have anyway).

Many thanks,

Laura

Silver-Surfer_2

There is a possibility you could be charged, however this is unlikely as the usually request payment before releasing the car.

RainbowLaura

Thanks Silver-Surfer, fingers crossed then. Do you have any idea at all how much I might be charged if it did come to that? I know it would vary a lot but just a ballpark guess, as I have no clue about these things...

Silver-Surfer_2

RainbowLaura wrote: »

Thanks Silver-Surfer, fingers crossed then. Do you have any idea at all how much I might be charged if it did come to that? I know it would vary a lot but just a ballpark guess, as I have no clue about these things...

All I know is those working for the police charge £150.

Quentin

RainbowLaura wrote: »

Do you have any idea at all how much I might be charged ...

In your OP you say you were told there was no charge for towing you.


So your bill will be £0.00 if you get one! Or rather you will be paying £0.00 whatever bill they subsequently send you!

RainbowLaura

The thing is Quentin, the guys who assisted me were sub-contracted by the breakdown company (so wouldn't know what kind of policy I had or anything). So I'm not sure they could really have given a valid answer to my question anyway. I was thinking that their verbal "no" might help my case if the breakdown company were to bill me, although it would still be my word against theirs. I only really thought it this morning when my head was a bit clearer

I know it's my own fault really, I was just a bit shaken at the time.

facade

Most likely they will simply tick the
"Vehicle not driveable, needed recovery" box, and add a sentence about extreme rough running/missfiring.

That way they get paid without having to chase anyone.

Most people take the path of least resistance rather than make trouble for themselves.

RainbowLaura

Thanks facade, that's a good way of looking at it... I have a copy of the form the guy filled out actually, and he was very very vague (which will hopefully help)! He's ticked none of the boxes at all (eg. was it temporarily fixed or un-roadworthy) and has only written the basic car details along with the comment "temporary fix but still running very rough" - which could be taken to mean that he fixed it but not well enough to drive... Hopefully I'll be okay! I suppose the only thing they might question could be the locations (where it broke down, where it was taken to and my home address which is in the middle of the two). Fingers crossed.

arcon5

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

All I know is those working for the police charge £150.

Not sure how that's relevant...

WellKnownSid

In my experience it's not normal to make a charge unless new parts are fitted, and gone are days when all you needed was two different types of rotor arm in the van.

16 miles isn't exactly far. Most main dealers are a four hour drive away for us, which causes no end of surprise for tourists who break down (usually a non-gooflatable puncture) and insist that their recovery is "guaranteed" within 30 minutes according to their rental paperwork

It's quite common for people like the AA and RAC and others to subcontract out in the parts of the country they don't want to go. I wouldn't worry about it - they'll just claim for the recovery off of whoever you are with, at the end of the day the repair failed and it wasn't safe to drive.

loskie

I think you are worrying over nothing. Wait a few days and see but I would guess no charge.