Roadside Breakdown Repairs

[vinuela vinny]

Hi All

For the first time today (in our thirteen years in Spain) we had to make use of our car insurer's breakdown procedures. The battery failed, and the grua arrived within twenty minutes, and restarted the car, so that we could drive ourselves the few kilometres to our local mechanic, and have a new battery fitted. No problem - all sorted very promptly - and back on the road within the hour, but €68 lighter.....

However, while in discussion with our insurers (Linea Directa), we discovered that the grua was exactly that - a flat back tow truck, which would normally take us to our local garage, rather than the driver undertaking basic repairs if they were possible - such as renewing or making a temporary fan belt, clearing a fuel pipe blockage, etc - as the AA, RAC and Green Flag for example, would do in the UK, and which is what we had been expecting here in Spain. Naive, or what!

Is our new understanding the norm or are Linea Directa being less than helpful? And do other organisations - such as RACE - offer a roadside brealkdown repair service a la UK?

Any thoughts welcomed and gratefully received

Vincent

[Parilla]

Thought about a reply, but then again, perhaps better if I don't.

Parilla

[Gasman]

Over a span of years, visiting spain from France, and then living in Spain, we have a few minor breakdowns, and one serious one - on each occasion our various insurers have sent along a grua
- one from the nearest town to take us off the motorway, to a local town to wait overnight in hotel provided to get the car into an approved garage, and for it then to be repatriated to France - that was a big job and not fixable on the roadside
- one very locally in a local beautyspot/walks area when the thing refused to start - the chap, obviously selected for his useful knowledge, got it started and followed car back to our village to the local Taller to fix it
- one at home, when the car was driveable but needed a vital part for it to go much further, to load the car up on the back and take it to the main dealer 40 km away, he negotiated with the dealer to get it fixed, and took us down into town, another 8 km to get the hire car the insurance had set up for us

None of them involved any charge to us and on each occasion the driver of the grua was competent, knowledgeable, and helpful !! However I do not think you can expect an AA type of service here in Spain - the expectation is that if you need assistance, it will probably need the services of a competent garage, not a roadside fix-it.

We paid for parts and repairs where not included in the insurance spec but nothing to the driver of the grua.

[vinuela vinny]

Thanks Gasman - useful background info.....

[TorreDelAguila]

Grua flatbed truck is standard kit here for roadside breakdown. We're with Lin-Dir, and have called them out just once (dead battery, last year). Driver was also a roadside mechanic, who jump-started the car, and gave us the choice of driving away under our own steam, or being grua'd to garage. No charge, but we did tip the guy.

[chrissiehope]

I'm not familiar with the way this all works in Spain - I know the breakdown cover is included in your driving insurance policy, but do you get a choice of different levels of breakdown cover , like roadside repair/take you to the nearest safe place within a prescribed distance of your breakdown/take you home ?

I only ask because here in UK, at one point I had a big breakdown (snapped accelerator cable), and I also had 2 different breakdown policies - one based on the vehicle, and one based on the driver. I called one (can't remember which) and they sent out a grua (obviously not what they called it ) who informed me that the policy with this insurer only covered me for about 30 miles or so & then I would have to pay for the rest - big bucks ! So I sent him on his way & called the other insurer who was authorised by my policy to get a tow truck to take me all the way home

[Enrique]

Good morning chrissiehope,

As they say in the small print, Read the Policy....................

The way modern cars are built and the complexities of the Electronics there's not much you can do at the road side, the days of borrowing your girl friends tights to make a temporary Fan belt ( now called an Auxiliary belt) are long gone.

PS: Radiator Fans are now electric, hence on a hot day they could continue to operate when you turn the engine off.

[Devils Advocate]

Good morning chrissiehope,

the days of borrowing your girl friends tights to make a temporary Fan belt ( now called an Auxiliary belt) are long gone

I suppose your fan belt broke too like mine did every time you picked a new girl friend up

[TorreDelAguila]

Stockings, my dears, never tights!

[Flexo]

If it is just a battery it is probably in your best interest to do the battery change on a workshop instead of roadside as you will have more choices and better prices than just the particular battery offered by the grua. Sometimes the prices will be the same but all car batteries are not as good as all the rest. The cheapest one is not necessarily the one you want.

[Gasman]

Chrissie
Yes there are different options in the policies available
We have included in ours, for no extra charge, a replacement car - very necessary if you are out in the sticks/campo with no bus service for miles!
Ours is also fully comprehensive.
Most people with older cars get along with the equivalent of third party but in our situation our 12 year old Defender is our lifeline to the world ....

[vinuela vinny]

Thanks one and all, including the comments re tights and stockings, and particularly thanks to Enrique.....

I've now read the small print, and had further discussions with Linea Directa, who have confirmed what the small print says, which is that -
a) the grua will attempt an emergency repair to the car for 30 minutes (with me paying for any parts); and
b) if the repair cannot be completed in that time, then subject to distance, the car will be towed to either the nearest main dealer, or my local repair garage; and
c) there are a whole range of additional t's & c's re cover for a replacement car (optional), travel assistance for people, and emergency medical care
so apologies to Linea Directa for any inferences about their cover.....

I feel a bit embarassed not to have read this basic info previously, but thanks to Enrique, I'm now much more aware.......

No fool like an old fool, eh? Or perhaps I'm just getting older!!!!

Best Regards to all

Vincent

[Devils Advocate]

I think you can be forgiven for not reading every last word of the small print Vinnie, I'm exactly the same much to the disgust of my Mrs. who always does.

The bumph that goes with some of the policies I've got would take me a month to read, and a further month to digest

[olive]

Gasman. That is an interesting Linea Directa add on (the replacement car). I will investigate that next renewal. We battle with having another car or a regular basis.

Just had a little exhaust problem with the car and tried two garages. Both wanted the car at 8 a.m. , collect at COP at night. They have to take the part off and take to a welder and then collect and refit. Found Duromas in Malaga and they do it by appointment in an hour. Used them twice now.

[Lyric]

I am insured with Liberty. In December I purchased an additional car. Just after Christmas it broke down, gearbox a six speed auto box with F1 paddles if you must. By cunning I managed to get it home in the Campo. It was under warranty from a dealer in Alicante. He asked me to use the breakdown service on my insurance to get it to the main dealer in Velez, one phone call and 20 mins later I am meeting the Grua at the bottom of the track. Now I am pretty impressed at this stage. Main Dealer pronounced new box and millions of Euro, vendor, not impressed, found an auto box specialist in Malaga could I get my insurance to take it there, that was no problem too so now I've had two gruas in a week. Specialist in Malaga pronounced new gearbox too and it would be about 4,000€. Vendor still not happy so he paid for a grua to take it to his garage in Alicante.
Liberty now paid for a hire car for me for the 31 days I was allowed, brand new Golf from Enterprise.
Car came back, vendor 4200€ poorer, Lyric not a centimo. Happy with Liberty, you bet.
Later today I will find the effect on my premium as I have changed cars.

[Wicksey]

I am with Liberty and seem to remember that there is an option for a courtesy car which I think costs extra. As we have access to a friend's car we look after that we can use in an emergency, we haven't taken up that option so have the usual breakdown cover included with our insurance.

[Lyric]

I forgot they paid for a taxi to take me to Malaga for the hire car at Maria's little station.
No change in premium with the car change either.

[El Cid]

I am with LD and once I had to have a Grua to take me to the nearest dealer. On the way the driver called in and arranged for a car to pick me up and take me home. It was a private hire Mercedes, not a usual taxi. A week later when I needed transport to get back to pick up the car, I called LD and asked what I should do. They said, "the same as you did when you took it to the dealer - we will send a car to pick you up and take you there".

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Interesting Lyric. Was that by chance an early DSG box? A friend is going through the same at present, a clutch knackered and other follow on issues ,apparently big money to put right. Warranty company arguing the toss at present.

I'm told the later boxes are far less prone to problems.

[Lyric]

What constitutes early ? 2011 car and the fix was a new gearbox computer 3900€ and change including labour. Getting a spare seemed the biggest problem hence off the road for a month.
I've just traded it in and await money transfer and traffico. Back to VW for me with 22k and 2 year warranty. The Citroen was just too cumbersome for a Mercadonna car park and The Management couldn't cope with it at all.