Breakdown cover & winching

DD265

Norman_Castle wrote: »

How far were you winched onto the truck and from where?

I was parked on the right hand side of the road, facing downhill on the road itself, not kerbed. The recovery truck parked immediately in front of me, leaving enough space for me to pull round him/him to lower the bed of the truck. Maybe he made it look easy, but it seemed straightforward to me.

sevenhills wrote: »

Maybe, because your car hadn't actually broken down, they are trying to recover the cost?

That would probably make more sense to me, but they very specifically said it was the use of specialist equipment and when queried, clarified it to mean using the winch. The driver spotted the mud flap and pushed it back into place, then asked me to drive it and see if it was sorted. Cue the grating and knocking sounds, so I reversed it back into place out of the middle of the road, at which point the driver agreed recovery to the garage was the way forward and proceeded to winch it onto the truck.

If there's a next time I'll know to question it first at least!

ETA, I should clarify that I have 'Personal' cover with Action Call which includes national recovery and home assist. My policy documentation is ActionCall not Dynamo (front page of their website) but I believe the text is the same.

Specialist Equipment
Non-standard apparatus or recovery vehicles which in the opinion of the roadside agent are required to recover the vehicle. Specialist equipment includes but is not limited to winching, skates, sliders, dolly wheels, donor wheels and a crane lift.

The only thing might be that I told them I thought the suspension had gone so we went straight for recovery rather than roadside assistance, but again they didn't give this as a reason for charging.

EdGasketTheSecond

twhitehousescat wrote: »

hang on , any broken down car would need to be "pulled" onto the flatbed with some form of winch

no, I've had broken down cars just towed by the AA using a solid tow bar between their van and my car.

Nilrem

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

no, I've had broken down cars just towed by the AA using a solid tow bar between their van and my car.

Probably not suitable if there is a possibility of additional damage being done by the wheels turning.

In the op's case I'm guessing it was winched onto the truck rather than towed because if they tow a vehicle knowing it's making an odd noise whilst the wheel is turning, it'll potentially cause the problem to become worse, at which point the thread on here goes
"car broke down, we tried moving it and it was making an odd noise so it was towed to a garage and now they say the damage is worse because of the towing, can I claim compensation".

Norman_Castle

Specialist Equipment
Non-standard apparatus or recovery vehicles which in the opinion of the roadside agent are required to recover the vehicle. Specialist equipment includes but is not limited to winching, skates, sliders, dolly wheels, donor wheels and a crane lift.

Using the winch on the recovery truck is standard, its nonsense to suggest otherwise. The majority of recovered vehicles will be immobile, how else would they get onto the sloping bed of the truck?
Contact your breakdown provider and suggest they've made a mistake.

AdrianC

Nilrem wrote: »

no, I've had broken down cars just towed by the AA using a solid tow bar between their van and my car.

Probably not suitable if there is a possibility of additional damage being done by the wheels turning.

In the op's case I'm guessing it was winched onto the truck rather than towed because if they tow a vehicle knowing it's making an odd noise whilst the wheel is turning, it'll potentially cause the problem to become worse, at which point the thread on here goes
"car broke down, we tried moving it and it was making an odd noise so it was towed to a garage and now they say the damage is worse because of the towing, can I claim compensation".

Also dependent on what vehicle they send.
If they send a recovery wagon, they'll load it.
If they send a roadside assistance van, they'll dolly or A-frame it wherever possible rather than then expect you to wait for a recovery wagon to load onto.

Last time I needed to call the breakdown service, the (relatively newly fitted) cambelt had jumped a tooth. They just sent a flatbed. This was for a pay-and-reclaim service, and the bill was <£100 to attend, load, and transport the car 20 miles.

DoaM

twhitehousescat wrote: »

hang on , any broken down car would need to be "pulled" onto the flatbed with some form of winch

unless you could say , push a 2 ton car/suv on with just your back

it is normal practice to winch a vehicle if it cannot move under its own steam

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

no, I've had broken down cars just towed by the AA using a solid tow bar between their van and my car.

Probably best to take TWC's post in full to get the context ... IF a flatbed recovery truck is sent then the ONLY way to get it onto the bed (if it can't be driven) is by winching it.

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

Probably best to take TWC's post in full to get the context ... IF a flatbed recovery truck is sent then the ONLY way to get it onto the bed (if it can't be driven) is by winching it.

Depending on the bed angle when it's slid down, driving may not be easy or possible anyway - even notwithstanding the reason why the car's waiting for the breakdown service in the first place...

twhitehousescat

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

What's 'winching'?

winching is the art of moving an unmovable object onto the back of a flatbed using levers and pullys


wenching is the art of moving an unmovable female onto a bed using alcohol

DoaM

AdrianC wrote: »

even notwithstanding the reason why the car's waiting for the breakdown service in the first place...

Recovery <> breakdown ... at least not always. When I was rear-ended recently my car was still driveable, but the rear end damage (rear sub frame exposed, sharp edges) meant it wasn't safe to drive on the road so we had to be recovered. The recovery guy was able to drive my car onto the flat bed of his truck.

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

Recovery <> breakdown ... at least not always. When I was rear-ended recently my car was still driveable, but the rear end damage (rear sub frame exposed, sharp edges) meant it wasn't safe to drive on the road so we had to be recovered. The recovery guy was able to drive my car onto the flat bed of his truck.

Sure, but find me a recovery firm that don't charge following RTAs...