Roadside rescue services, do they actually repair anything these days?

[Captain Furious]

Whilst the efforts to get them going at the roadside is to be applauded, there is no way I'd let them launch any of my cars off the back of a beavertail or attempt to bump start them at all. It's bad news for timing chains, which are typically not under tension until the engine has oil pressure.

 

I have to say I'm surprised by some of the replies just how far they will go though, changing a water pump and cambelt at the side of the road, you can't argue with that for commitment.

[sierraman]

I wonder if they'd do the same if it was a Rover 75 V6? Swap the belt for you?

[Rocket88]

What happens if a winch fails one day then? Will you have to have a hiab then to make sure no one else is killed ever again moving a car onto a beaver tail?

we use a safety line

[overrun]

I had to call on them in the summer, when I blew a hole in my gearbox a mile or two from home, and the old fella wanted to see if it would drive back.

Err, no. Look at the oil on the ground. Look at the hole. Look at how shiny my car is, I'm not breaking it on your command (only mine!).

[beko1987]

I had an AA guy fit a new accelerator cable to the zx on the hard shoulder of the M40 a while ago. He turned up, started to think about what he had on the van to run a new cable (after expressing joy that it actually had a cable), then practically wet himself when I pulled the new cable I had out of the boot, and helped him fit it (me in the engine bay, him in the footwell.)

 

He then followed me off the motorway to do the paperwork, chatted a bit, him saying that the pedal clip is half broken so make sure you get a new one... (which I didn't) and job done.

 

When the xantia had it's aux belt issue they sent a man with a van at first, who asked me what happened, and halfway through me explaining agreed with me that it was the cambelt. He then looked up on the big tablet if he could tow it, which he couldn't without the engine running so called for a low loader, who turned up within the hour and took me home (again, thoroughly great bloke, had been up in Perth from gatwick, then over to me on the way back to gatwick where he is based). He helped me park the xantia by taking it off the truck quite far back from where I wanted it, let the line out as he drove right forward then 'winched' me into the space as I turned the wheel.

 

He took loads of photo's of the car too, the dented wing, rust hole etc. I did jokingly say not to bother m8, but apparently it's the rules, so I let him carry on. He then spent the whole drive home saying he's never picked someone up who had a crack at fixing something like that on the side of the road before, but had to give up due to lack of tools...