RAC told me I was ok to drive AND forged my signature on the call out job sheet!

marlot

SDougie17 wrote: »

... my BMW had broken down, steam coming from engine the temp gage was on red...

...after 45 minutes ... within [another] hour...

... a pinprick hole in radiator tube, so did a temp repair filled it up with water and said as we were driving only 20miles or so he was happy for me to drive the car straight home and to the garage...

... As i was in no position to wait longer for a vehicle that should have been sent in the first place ...

... car conked out, smoke coming from engine and needed recovery again. My head gasket had blown!

... a signature box with my name above it and a very poor attempt at my signature in the box! Surely this is not acceptable?!

My car has been wrote off due to me driving on the patrols advice...

I've separated out the salient points from a technical perspective.

The damage was probably done by the first time the car engine stopped. The car had a couple of hours to cool before the patrolman got to it.

The patrolman can see that the car is low on coolant, so the obvious thing is to fill it up. He finds a small leak and effects a temporary repair.

He then has to make a decision - does he call for a recovery truck, or will the car make it home. Faced with a very stressed customer, he suggests she drive home - probably saying to keep a close eye on the temperature guage. That's not necessarily bad advice - I know that I've driven journeys like that - I once drove a car with seizing big end bearings over two hundred miles by driving carefully, stopping to let it cool frequently etc.

But this time it's gone wrong. Where he's really gone wrong is not getting the signature - and he may lose his job over that.

Your final comment 'My car has been wrote off due to me driving on the patrols advice' may or may not be true. The failing head gasket may have been the cause of the overheating. Or it may have been caused by the overheating. ie. it may have been failing for the last few days/months. And writing the car off - only if its a very low value, end of life car. You can pick up decent enough engines from scrapyards.

However ... if you push the RAC hard enough, I would think they will make a financial contribution.

facade

marlot wrote: »

He then has to make a decision - does he call for a recovery truck, or will the car make it home. Faced with a very stressed customer, he suggests she drive home - probably saying to keep a close eye on the temperature guage. That's not necessarily bad advice

But it is bad advice to most people. They will drive literally until the wheels stop, and then tell you about the lights that came on 10 miles before, or the noise that they turned the radio up for.

But this time it's gone wrong. Where he's really gone wrong is not getting the signature - and he may lose his job over that.

100% correct, because if he did forge the signature, they might be obliged to make a "goodwill payment" when they could have just said "tough", as the customer is complaining that none of the obvious caveats were issued when he let them go, and they now have no proof that they were.

However ... if you push the RAC hard enough, I would think they will make a financial contribution.

Hush money. Depends on how the case manager is feeling.

SDougie17

Thank you for the reply marmot. Yes it's quite an old car. 04 plate. Basically I've been told it's going to cost more to repair than the cars worth. I was just wondering if my head gasket had gone prior to the call out wouldn't the RAC guy have spotted it? I was told my the RAC that there was a pinprick hole in the radiator tube, the garage has told be there's a crack on the radiator cap and the car should not have been driven from that point. There's nothing to 'make my mind up'.

I don't know very much with regards to cars so of course I am going to take what the patrol man says as gospel, no questions asked. Nothing about a failing gasket etc BUT had It been made known the statements on that disclaimer form Ithe would have pointed to the severity of what could happen and I would have no way but my son in that danger and it's obsurd to suggest i mention him to be emotive. I was stating the facts.

Thanks

angrycrow

Sometimes head gasket failure is immediately obvious to the trained eye but not always. As already mentioned they can go in a number of ways. Between two cylinders which results in no power and heavy missfire but very easy to spot. Oil gallery to cylinder, dropping oil, blue smoke and loss of power. Water into oil, contaminated coolant and oil.

Water gallery to cylinder, white smoke loss of power and coolant dropping, can also pressurised the coolant system causing old hoses or coolant tanks to split. This sounds like what has happened to your car suggesting hg failure had already happened prior to rac arriving. Should the rac man have spotted the hg had failed, probably not, he was told the car overheated, clear hole in pipe and lack of coolant. His job is to get you home or to a garage not to diagnose every fault on your car. Don't know about bmw's but normal price for hg at independent is £300-£600.

marlot

SDougie17 wrote: »

...I was just wondering if my head gasket had gone prior to the call out wouldn't the RAC guy have spotted it? ...

Not necessarily, especially as the engine will have cooled in the two hours.

As angrycrow says, there are lots of factors - a head gasket (when its working) keeps three things separate: Oil, Water/coolant, Cylinder pressure. And indeed, the pressure from one cylinder away from the others. It could have failed at any of these.

fred246

At the end of the day you need to give the RAC opportunity to sort the problem out to your satisfaction. If they don't you then have the option to take them to court (Think Judge Rinder or Judge Judy). You would have to claim the price of the repair or the value of the car you have lost. The judge is a regulated professional who would take a very dim view of forging a signature. The judge knows the motor trade is not known for honesty. You take them to court via moneyclaimonline and the fee is only about £30. When the RAC gets the claim form they will try to settle out of court. If it goes to court you may win on the basis that the patrolman is an obvious liar. Or the judge may say they can't be certain of the causation of the failure. Depends on the mood of the judge on the day. You have to decide if it's worth spending the court fee that you MAY lose.

Muscle750

I too would imagine the head gasket was gone first time round, Really if the RAC man has done a temp repair he should have run the car etc to check all was well which he obviously didnt and repairing a pipe is very suspect. I would pursue it thou youve got nothing to lose plus threaten some free advertising for them and such like