# Rac recovery?????



## petalsdad (Oct 29, 2012)

Has anyone had cause to use the caravan and camping club R.A.C. european campervan recovery service and what was your experience with them?

I am asking because they abandoned us at a garage then decided my campervan was not "economically viable" to transport back to the UK even though we had paid the full ARRIVAL policy,
Apparrently its in the small print on page 26, our terms and conditions only had 19 pages when it came!!!!!!


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## 111KAB (Aug 3, 2012)

I would post your question on a forum such as MoneySavingExpert forum (motoring section) as you will receive comments regarding both the RAC response and the legal situation. If the RAC have advised that return to the UK is not economically viable this suggestes a major problem with the vehicle which may be less expensive to have repaired in Spain than in the UK.


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## jp1 (Jun 11, 2011)

petalsdad said:


> Has anyone had cause to use the caravan and camping club R.A.C. european campervan recovery service and what was your experience with them?
> 
> I am asking because they abandoned us at a garage then decided my campervan was not "economically viable" to transport back to the UK even though we had paid the full ARRIVAL policy,
> Apparrently its in the small print on page 26, our terms and conditions only had 19 pages when it came!!!!!!


Actually I have just read your other post criticising your recovery company and having just come back from Spain after 4 months with my UK car I was curious to know what kind of poor service or lack of service was your grudge. Now I know.

You don't need the terms and conditions to understand that if a vehicle is worth say £1000, RAC are not going to spend £10,000 to recover it home. I am sure most reasonably intelligent persons understand this.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Well if that is the case surely it should be made very clear in the policy so that the buyer of the policy can decide not to bother....


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## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

petalsdad said:


> Has anyone had cause to use the caravan and camping club R.A.C. european campervan recovery service and what was your experience with them?
> 
> I am asking because they abandoned us at a garage then decided my campervan was not "economically viable" to transport back to the UK even though we had paid the full ARRIVAL policy,
> Apparrently its in the small print on page 26, our terms and conditions only had 19 pages when it came!!!!!!


My husband (Whitenoiz) could probably give you a better answer than me, but as I remember it...

Although members of the RAC we could not get recovery for our camper van because it was too old.
However, when our van broke down, stranding us in a small village in the Basque Country (the trafficos actually guided us to a garage there and left us), in desperation, we rang the RAC and, although they couldn't help with recovery, they did give us phone numbers for local Grua companies, so that we could arrange the transportation of our vehicle.

So the RAC were actually more helpful than they had to be under the circumstances. So it might be worth having a word with them.


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## jp1 (Jun 11, 2011)

thrax said:


> Well if that is the case surely it should be made very clear in the policy so that the buyer of the policy can decide not to bother....


I am not sure I even agree with that. No insurance policy covers an item where if a claim is made it pays out a substantial sum greater than the item. 

*NO *policy is going to cover repatriation *at all costs* without having a very specific policy for a very specific identified car. And the premium would be expensive, not the couple of hundred quid general policy the OP had.

Take the case where it was general practise to cover repatriation *at all costs*. Some people would buy an old car for a £100, drive it down through France and Spain and then wait for it to finally give up and then get the recovery company to give them a free ride home back to the UK.

All return costs, petrol, hotels etc covered by an insurance policy on a valueless car!!


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## petalsdad (Oct 29, 2012)

*RAC recovery!!!!*



jp1 said:


> Actually I have just read your other post criticising your recovery company and having just come back from Spain after 4 months with my UK car I was curious to know what kind of poor service or lack of service was your grudge. Now I know.
> 
> You don't need the terms and conditions to understand that if a vehicle is worth say £1000, RAC are not going to spend £10,000 to recover it home. I am sure most reasonably intelligent persons understand this.


As the camper is worth £5000 and my contents £2000 it is not economically "viable" for us to lose her!!!!!
And we have had quotes for £2000 up to £3100 door to door, so far 8 quotes only started looking 2 days ago, 
The truth is they use this small print to rob people,
My question is do you happen to work for the RAC??????????


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## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

petalsdad said:


> As the camper is worth £5000 and my contents £2000 it is not economically "viable" for us to lose her!!!!!
> And we have had quotes for £2000 up to £3100 door to door, so far 8 quotes only started looking 2 days ago,


Considering that in 2006, we had to pay well over 4,000 euros to have our camper van transported across Spain (rather than across to the UK), I hate to say it, but I think those quotes are probably as good as you are going to get. 

But good luck with your camper van's recovery.


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## petalsdad (Oct 29, 2012)

jp1 said:


> I am not sure I even agree with that. No insurance policy covers an item where if a claim is made it pays out a substantial sum greater than the item.
> 
> *NO *policy is going to cover repatriation *at all costs* without having a very specific policy for a very specific identified car. And the premium would be expensive, not the couple of hundred quid general policy the OP had.
> 
> ...


We really did ask all the right questions first when we looked into the policy, And the camper had a brand new MOT and full service including new head gasget before we left, It drove perfectly the first leg, France. spain ect,


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## Calas felices (Nov 29, 2007)

Hardly small print is it?

Policy Details

Basic** Basic** Comprehensive Comprehensive
Benefits Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 1 Zone 2
Roadside and
Recovery in the Territory ✘ ✘ up to £300 up to £300
Temporary car
replacement £40 per day* £40 per day*
on way to port ✘ ✘ up to £1,200 up to £1,500
Roadside Assistance
in Europe up to £300 up to £300 up to £300 up to £300
Spare parts
despatch in Europe ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Additional £40 per day £40 per day
accommodation expenses ✘ ✘ up to £400 up to £400
Journey continuation ✘ ✘ £40 per day £40 per day
up to £1,200 up to £1,500
Replacement driver ✘ ✘ ✔* ✔*
*Vehicle repatriation Market value Market value Market value Market value*
to the Territory (£250 excess) (£250 excess)
Passenger repatriation
to the Territory ✔ ✔ ✔* ✔*
Collection of vehicle
left abroad for repair ✘ ✘ up to £500 up to £500
Motoring Legal


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## petalsdad (Oct 29, 2012)

*Wrong policy!!!!!!*



Calas felices said:


> Hardly small print is it?
> 
> Policy Details
> 
> ...


The policy I got was the CAMPING AND CARAVAN CLUB FULL EUROPEAN RECOVERY, "ARRIVAL" policy
This was especially because the simple RAC policy did not cover every eventuality, I was told that this is the only policy that has NO age limit on the campervan and would definately get it home if it was not repairable, If it was repairable then they would pay the labour and we pay the parts, we have since found out that the oil pump stopped working so it is in a DECENT garage being fixed now, 
The RAC recommended garage did NOTHING and declared it "Kaput" 
I dont know what level of care you are prepared to scrape off the ground but I at least expected a mechanic that took more than 40 seconds to make his "Kaput" diagnosis!!!!!
After all they took my money quickly enough, and i truly trusted them to be honest about the outcome if the camper did break down,
The Grua was £40 ans our plane fare home would have been £100, It would be cheaper to have NO COVER!!!!!


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## jp1 (Jun 11, 2011)

petalsdad said:


> My question is do you happen to work for the RAC??????????


I do have sympathy with your predicament and I appreciate it is hassle you don't want. I also had a great deal of sympathy when I read your first post. Having taking my Audi which is of little value as it has really high mileage, I knew that there was going to be a limit on what they would pay to get it back and paying more than it's market value was never going to be covered. It's common sense.

Anyway you are getting it repaired so I hope it works out well and I guess next time you will know that there is going to be a limit on the policy cover, especially when the vehicles value is relatively low. (I assume that your contents being repatriated separately is covered by the policy?)

I don't work for anyone hence why I was able to have a 4 months trip, but thought criticism of an RAC policy that has probably meet the requirements of what most people would deem it does was a little unfair.

If it was a £30,000 vehicle and couldn't be repaired in Spain, then they would have brought it home or got specialist engineers to the location to fix it and you would have put up a post saying how great they were.

I just posted to add a balance to thread and noting more and certainly not to criticise you.

And as I said I hope you get if fixed and that will be your only problem on the trip.


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## petalsdad (Oct 29, 2012)

now look at the Caravan club "arrival" policy
No age limit
Supposed to cover EVERY little thing, 
I am not some flyboy ,we had everything done before we left,


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