Broken Down Car - Homestart Package

CliveOfIndia

How far away is the garage?  If it's not too far, could you not just get a friend to give you a tow?  That's probably going to be the cheapest option, even if you have to buy a tow-rope to do it.

Bigwheels1111

I  helped tow my mates car half a mile away so he was covered.

My next door neighbour helped me push my car down the road and I gave him a £10.

Bigwheels1111

Mildly_Miffed said:

ps124 said:

Hi All, I've already got another post going about purchasing a new car to replace my broken down car. This post is about my broken down car.

I've had AA memberships for over 20 years, with the gold member thing. To reduce the price, I've removed homestart over the last few years. Sods law, my car is broken down on my driveway!

I believe have to be 1/4 miles away from my home. How seriously is that taken? If I do a call out, will they just charge me for it and what can I expect the cost to be? Any experiences would be appreciated.

(PS - I'm struggling to drive the car - I could move it a few hundred meters around the corner max, but I doubt its 1/4 mile).

Quarter mile = 400m

It wouldn't surprise me if their call-logging computer automatically calculated the distance.

There will also be an element of likelihood. If the car is running but very badly, it'll be more likely to be accepted than if they take a quick look and realise there's no way on the face of the planet that it could have been started and driven.

The AA are massively overpriced - you could have got cover at least as good, including homestart, elsewhere far cheaper.

Not if you get a deal or cashback on Family cover.

This year for four people, Home start, Relay, Onward travel and National Recovery all for £23.75 a person

ps124

I’ve got a tow rope off my neighbour. Will try and reverse the car from my driveway and see if I can tow it down the road...never done it before! 

Ps I have family cover too on the gold membership but the home start was really expensive so had it removed. Regret it now. 

alanjones60

I pushed mine to the next street once. They came out to it, no problem,nothing was mentioned to me about it being in the next street.
Thats 1 reason why iv stayed with the aa

Alfrescodave

ps124 said:

Hi All, thanks for the replies. I do have a garage in mind, I had agreed with the garage to drop the car off tomorrow (Thursday). The garage have a recovery vehicle but they will charge me £120-£150. That will probably be the same price to add home start so that would be better then paying for the recovery via my garage.

You need to look for a garage that actually wants your business - charging that for a home pickup is crazy.

How about looking for a mobile mechanic who would come to the car to fix it. There are some really good ones around. 

Nobbie1967

What about using a mobile mechanic? What’s wrong with the car?

marlot

ps124 said:

I’ve got a tow rope off my neighbour. Will try and reverse the car from my driveway and see if I can tow it down the road...never done it before! 

Ps I have family cover too on the gold membership but the home start was really expensive so had it removed. Regret it now. 

Make sure you put the key in the ignition (only to the first stop), so you unlock the steering.

Remember that your brakes will be very poor (no servo assistance) so brake early when the tow car slows.

Remember the steering will be very heavy (no assistance).

ps124

 I managed to get the car moving, wouldn't go over 20mph but got to the mechanic's myself. Looks like a problem with the car's turbo but the mechanic is investigating. Thanks all for the replies.