Breakdown - heure of a day

obi604

Today for the first time in 23 years of driving, I needed to use my insurance company. I have fully comp insurance.

it was a really painful experience. Travelling from Waterford to Galway so a long trek. And had wife and 2 young kids and car full of luggage etc. Car experienced issues near Clonmel. Hard to explain but had to pull in as did not feel right. Busy stretch of n24 road so not very safe , pulled in as well as I could next to an unused house

rang insurance, 1 hour and 30 later a lad in a truck arrives out. Wasn’t sure if he was attempting to fix or just tow. Took a brief look at car (mainly at clutch) and says that's fine - will get you to Galway at least. Drive a few yards up road and no go, strange noise etc. Car just not right. Your man drives it then and says DMF gone - balls !!!!

So he has to bring it to his garage in Cashel. Out of niceness he brought me, wife and 2 kids in his tow truck to a hotel car park in Cashel, room for 3 in front only but he said we need to get ye to a safe place as we all left on side of road etc.

leaves us in car park of hotel and we take all our bags and car seats out of car. Like loads of stuff. So we in a car park with all this stuff and no car and 2.5 hours from home.

then starts a series of calls to insurance again, telling me I have to make my way to cork airport for a replacement car, another suggestion make my way to Waterford for a car, I suggest any car place in clonmel and they go oh yeah there is. Then multiple calls between car hire companies and me and insurance company with no clear info on next steps or timelines.

then finally get them to do the car hire from clonmel and then they say some lad from security’s has to come from Limerick to get you car, then more shite about driving licenses and bla bla bla.

then have to make my way to a closed car garage in the rain to meet this lad. He was late by an hour. No way to contact him and he never rang me. Arrives and then can’t open a lock to get me the key. Another half an hour of bollox here and him on the phone trying to sort

eventually got the car over 7 hours later, kids cross, wife cross etc. and this was only due to me chasing people up, if I didn’t chase, I’d probably still be stuck at side of road

drove to Galway and got home about 11 hours after leaving Waterford.

my car is now in storage in Cashel in Tipp with the man who took the car away.

I have to return the rental car in 2 or 3 days, nobody seemed sure, with full tank of petrol and had to give deposit on my credit card.

I’d say I spent about 4 hours on phone, on hold for ages. battery dying etc

overall some pain in the bollox, I never want my car to break down again.

is this the way these things normally go

Long post I know

anybody know who pays for car to be transported from Cashel to Galway.

yoshiktk

Sorry to hear that. Insurance companies are nice until You want something from them. Unfortunately You will have to call them back and ask. Most of the insurers cover the transport only from breakdown spot to nearest garage.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945308#Comment_120945308

Thanks for reading the long post and for the reply. Yeah some pain alright.

add to this the cost of replacing dual mass flywheel. Stressful.

hoodie6029

Sounds like a horrendous experience obi, sorry for your troubles. We are very poor here for out of hours or weekend cover for anything.

Worth checking DoneDeal for guys who do transport and getting a few quotes to get the car to your own mechanic.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945670#Comment_120945670

If I was on my own, would not care. But when you have kids and wife and literally left on side of the road, it’s not good.

wonder could I get the insurance feckers to cover this I am unreal pissed off with the whole experience, completely amateur

bazz26

I would have thought it's unusual for a flywheel to suddenly just go like that, usually you can feel a vibration or shudder when the car is in neutral which gets worse as time goes on. Changing gears also becomes difficult over time rather than just sudden. Was there any odd symptoms before yesterday? I know Hyundai and Kia models of that vintage had DMF issues but they also had gearboxes made of chocolate. I wouldn't rule out the issue being with the gearbox either.

yoshiktk

You could probably try but I'll be honest don't expect insurance to cover it.

In my old policy I had breakdown assistance with transport to "my garage", in new one its only to nearest one.

jeffk

You'll be glad to know you're not alone

Had something similar happen to me a few times, no amount of free towing, hotel etc will compensate what you've too indure

I will say your right to be pushy, it's their job at the end of the day and your paying enough and only want what you're paying for

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945806#Comment_120945806

On Friday, the engine management light came on, I turned off car. Waited a few mins and turned on again, light went away.

Other than that no obvious signs or noises.

I will admit changing of gears seemed a bit off but nothing major and only in 2nd last time I drove it, like not for months etc.

yeah, the DMF was just a suggestion from the car tow lad, straight away that’s what he said.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945813#Comment_120945813

True. Being honest - only for I pushed and suggested different alternatives and kept ringing them, I’d still be at side of road.

awful experience and they seem to have no clue who is doing next step and timelines.

Initially the insurance person said the tow man will provide me with all car replacement details, sure he hadn’t a breeze (and fair enough, his job was to tow) It was just 8 hours of rubbish. And being on hold and talking to people who didn’t have a clue.

jeffk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120946706#Comment_120946706

I was blessed one of the times coming from Kerry too Dublin, the tow fella couldn't do enough, ringing hotel, taxi the lot

When it happens the insurance should keep in touch by text/WhatsApp whatever, I know most will have unlimited data but no calls, so be handy too chat with assigned agent thought-out the ordeal without eating phone credit

Unfortunately like most it's we have your money now f off

Only thing is when your renewal comes up go looking and then you'll get a moral victory by not giving them your business again

SCOOP 64

My last breakdown was 22 km from home but recovery driver wanted to tow me to nearest Opel dealer only 5 minutes down rd , so paid him €60 to tow me home which wasn't to bad, so imaging he got my €60 from me plus paid from insurance company.

I have now taken out AA breakdown cover me and my wife for €16 a month , cover is if we breakdown anywhere in ireland we will towed home or car provided to get home and car towed home at later date.

As i run 2 fairly old cars more chance of breakdown, my son is in College in Dublin so make a few drips up now and again ,dread to think what towage charge would be back to Wexford.

we could be in any car also as passenger and not car owner, if car breaksdown we can still call AA.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120946899#Comment_120946899

My car is currently 130km from my home. Initially was about 190km away - where initial issue happened

I had to get a taxi to pick up the car yesterday and he seems to be well versed in dropping people to this car replacement spot (which was essentially outside a locked Skoda dealership, no shelter etc, got drowned)

anyway, I said to him lesson learned I will insure with AA THE next time etc and he suggested they are all the one and being with AA will still be the same rubbish.

jeffk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120946918#Comment_120946918

You do know insurance with AA doesnt include breakdown etc (or it didnt when I got it years ago) its still a paid service

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120946986#Comment_120946986

Yep. Think you get a discount if insured with AA etc

jeffk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120947003#Comment_120947003

Just making sure you didn't make the mistake I did thinking it was included

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120946918#Comment_120946918

Tbh I had to ring AA , I was blessed that "ignorance is bliss" and was able to continue to drive , which I probably shouldn't have, and got myself the extra 50kms or so to my final destination, just with a lot of reduced power.

AA came couldn't do anything, luckily the person I was staying with knew the local garage and asked them to remain open until AA towed the car to it.

I didn't renew with AA after that as the did the exact same thing my insurance would have done, paying extra for no extra service

SCOOP 64

Did you ask the AA to be taken to local garage?, also not every breakdown can be fixed at side of road.

If you were mile's from that local garage AA would have been better the your insurance company, AA would have at least got you home.

corks finest

My God I feel for ya

thats pure fuckery, messing around like that

what insurers have u?

id leave them know what bloody messing about is.

especially with kid in tow,

broke down weibersbrunn( outside Frankfurt otw to Romania 🇷🇴 years ago,

tow truck arrived within 25 m

drove us and van to b an b and garage,

Part couldn’t be sourced ( gear box - automatic Renault traffic)

had to be flown over from Derry so we ended up staying 4 days ,

we paid for accommodation etc and we’re reimbursed within 3 weeks,

germans are organised

Princess Calla

Oh I appreciate that not everything can be fixed at the side of the road.

It was a Saturday and local garage closed in the afternoon, not sure it even opened on Monday.

While that was a balls the alternative to another garage would have been even more of a balls.

The AA guy really didn't want to have anything to do with it.

corks finest

any insurance Co that lets a client diwn should be named n shamed,

mine of us Irish folks faults.

we don’t complain when we should.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120947163#Comment_120947163

Pure balls alright. And believe or not to make it worse have been vomiting since midday 😞

I’m with chill and then Allianz, I will be letting them know first thing Tuesday as I think just skeleton staff until then with bank holiday etc

that German scenario sounds like a dream compared to my scenario

also, I made it clear from the very start and multiple times to the 10 or so people that I spoke to that I had 2 young kids, wife, loads of bags, 2.5 hours from home etc

yoshiktk

I dont know whether its cost saving but my recent dealing with insurance is nightmare as well. Hours on phone line, no answers to emails. Mess in the system, different responses from different agents.

I feel sorry for the whole situation but unfortunately for companies we are nothing more than another number in a table.

corks finest

Honestly that sounds absolutely horrible

ref Germany that was 26/7 or more years back

but compared to here they obviously were light years ahead.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120947364#Comment_120947364

Holy feck, even back in 1995, the Germans were ahead. And I guess their insurance costs are not as high as ours either.

this country of ours is an absolute joke sometimes. Other nationalities like French, German etc would not tolerate this level of sh1t

corks finest

You’re bang on

we accept everything

DoctorEdgeWild

One breakdown in 23 years is pretty incredible stuff! The rest sounds like a ballache though.

Eggs For Dinner

Some of the comments here are off the wall. If you want AA levels of cover, take out their offering. Breakdown cover on an insurance policy is a minuscule part of the overall premium, so expectations should reflect what's offered and, more importantly, are clearly out lined in your policy when you take it out.

Cover is usually 1hours roadside assistance if the problem can be reasonably resolved there, or towing to the policyholders home or nearest reputable garage, whichever is closer. There should also be the cost of onward transportation of the occupants to their destination. Aside from this, there should be courteous and helpful assistance from the call centre.

freshpopcorn

The standard Breakdown assistance is generally just handy if you breakdown near home and want to get towed to the local garage with out having to pay for it in my experience.

obi604

Would anyone have a rough ballpark figiure of how much it would cost to tow a car 150km?

Dirty Nails

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956121#Comment_120956121

Probably €300/350 maybe plus the vat depending on the tow agent/payment method :)

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956462#Comment_120956462

Christ. Right. Thanks.

Dirty Nails

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956497#Comment_120956497

Normal run is flat charge + mileage. Distance is doubled because the truck had to come & return to base. It's still costing time & more importantly it's still burning diesel @ 20 mpg.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956534#Comment_120956534

Noted. May be more cost affective for me to try and fix at local mechanic near Cashel and then drive to pick it up. Problem is I have no clue of decent mechanics in that area.

jeffk

This is the fella who couldn't do enough. Maybe woth a try

passatman86

@obi604 just something I remembered after reading your post the other day... A neighbour in my old estate got a grant from the social welfare towards fixing his car couple years ago.. Not sure what he done but I remember him saying it was some sort of supplementary allowance.. Also not sure if it's for anyone to claim it... Just thought I'd mention it - might be of no help but how and ever

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956462#Comment_120956462

got 5 quotes during the day, all 400 Euro plus 😤

RosieJoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956462#Comment_120956462

I broke down outside Birdhill in Limerick en route home to Dublin at 11pm at night with the family. Insurance paid for a taxi home, car towed to local garage for a few days and then towed to my local garage. This cost me nothing.

Try get the insurance company to pay for the towing, no harm asking.

Toots

I broke down just as I pulled into my parents' driveway in Dublin and I live in Roscommon. It was Stephen's Day so nothing doing with the car that day. My insurance arranged to have the car towed as soon as the towing company was back open - I thought they'd only tow it to a local place/place within a certain radius, but they towed it all the way to my local mechanic and I didn't have to pay for it, it was covered in the Breakdown Cover provided by my insurance. I know not all companies do this, but it would definitely be worth a shot asking to see. I'm with Axa with AIB as broker.

_Kaiser_

I learned many years ago that insurance is not to help you when things go wrong. It's a legal requirement we all have to pay for, but if you do find yourself needing to call them or claim, be prepared for a lot of back n forth, wasted time and frustrations.

You will need to push them every step of the way and they will try and get away with the minimum if you let them. Part of the problem of course is that these places are fragmented internally so the person you talk to first won't be the one who decides on the claim, or looks after the interim hire car etc etc. Every person you deal with will have to be told the story again and dealt with as if it's the first call.

Plus there's the prevailing "Ah shure it'll be grand!" half-assed approach that exists in any company here. They're not used to being pushed to do a decent job and most Irish people will accept that in my experience, but I've worked for American companies several times in my career and have learned how to push through the nonsense we get saddled with here.

Hope you get sorted OP but be prepared to have to fight for it.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120959773#Comment_120959773

thanks.

This is what I am trying to do. on phone again now on hold trying to get through, some farce, I have wasted so much time on hold and being transferred from billy to jack, asking multiple times to speak to team lead/manager/supervisor whoever and getting the run around.

Best thing of all then, an Allianz girl informed me Tuesday my car was moved from tow man to a local garage, I told her this was the first I heard of this, why wasnt I informed of this, I didn't give any permission for it to be moved etc etc she was adamant it was, I then ask her, ok what garage was it brought to and she could not answer, "the towman will have all theses details, best to ring him"

turns out a complete lie, I rang tow man and he said car still at his place and no one rang him about moving it .

yoshiktk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960136#Comment_120960136

From my recent experience, there's one big mess in insurance companies. I don't know whether it's lack of agents or poor database system. I meant to have my own agent to sort everything, already talked with few different ones, with different information. Now it meant to be sorted out, probably will wait another week or so to see how it ends.

Push then all the time. It's a service for which You pay. Make then work for it.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960574#Comment_120960574

trust me I will, the issue is time, I could probably have got the vehicle towed yesterday and booked in with my local mechanic to fix. And payed for the tow myself.

Thing is I want the insurance company to pay for this but I have to wait for 5 business days for them to review my case, so time just dragging on and all this time I am without this car.

my risk is if I pay for the tow myself - they will probably say you should not have done this and you have no chance of getting money back now etc

jeffk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120959985#Comment_120959985

I had this when herself car brokedown en route too Derry in Ardee

Long story short it was like pulling teeth to get a 50 taxi refunded (I am sure you can fill in the blanks over rentals, taxi is/isnt paid, ringing left right and centre etc)

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120949330#Comment_120949330

I broke down in Derry a few years ago. Breakdown cover paid for a mechanic to come out to the car, couldn't start it so they towed me to a mechanic the next day. Car was fecked. The ECU went Kaput. The insurance paid for a rental car to get me home. The rental car company picked me up in the city and drove me to collect the car and I used that to brink my family home to Clare. Had to drive back to Derry to return the rental car but needed to collect the other car anyway.

Decent service to be fair