Well, it had to happen. Youngest future DiL (18) passed her test 13 months ago and just had her first accident. She rear ended a car, and in the process wrote her car off...fortunately low speed and no injuries. The attending police told her that her car could not be left at the side of the road, and gave her the number of a local recovery company. The police told her that her comprehensive breakdown assistance would not cover her damaged car to be towed home.
The following day a kindly neighbour took her to collect the vehicle and tow it away. She was informed that if she paid cash, the charge for recovery and overnight storage would 'only' be £260. Considerably more if paid by cheque/card, plus additional daily 'storage' fees! The good samaritan neighbour paid cash and has been reimbursed by the Bank of Mum. Daughter says that the police told her the recovery fee would only be £120...she was in shock and did not confirm this with the recovery driver. The police, to give them praise, ran her home...Mum was working 150 miles away at the time.
To add insult to injury, the Ka has been a money pit....bought against my advice and unbeknown to me...cost £700, with £1250+ in repairs in a 12 month period.Ouch.
Hopefully lessons will be learned from this sad tale of woe.
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But were the police correct? I always thought that your ins company WOULD pay for recovery after an accident and that your normal breakdown insurance would NOT cover you as a result of accident?
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Bobby,
What he said was the comprehensive breakdown recovery assistance would not pay for a recovery, which is correct...but....you can just use your breakdown company and then your insurance co. will pay them afterwards, much easier than the local tow company that you don't know from adam.
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Agreed - that's high.
Not so long ago the old horse lorry chucked a con-rod on the M40 on a Sunday am. It had to be recovered by a seriously big rig, despite being only 7.5T GVW. I guess we had about four hours of the rig, by the time it had left the depot, picked us up, taken the lorry off the M40 for removal of the nags, and then brought it home, and then got back to its depot. Total cost was £525, which sounds huge, but I'd not paid for recovery insurance (£125 pa) for any of the seven years we owned it.
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At one time, if there was a 'cash' recovery job in London, it was akin to an auction.
Lots of allegations of recovery firms paying, er, commission to the police to get the work.
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That is exactly what I have been told by 2 people today. Nothing to substantiate though.
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I always keep a number in my car. They are GMP's official company and charge £56 for recovery. It saves being ripped off in this sort of circumstance.
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That's probably Egerton's then Rattle?
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That's probably Egerton's then Rattle?
It would have been me 20 yrs ago !
Ted
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/08/2009 at 04:03
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The company I know is Motor Movers based in Stockport. They have the GMP place compound for the Stockport division there. I did a job for one of their staff who kindly adjusted my clutch cable for me when I first got the car.
I've seen a lot of Egerton's vehicles being called out for police work. Charles Wilson on Wilmslow Road is another one they seem to use a lot.
I can see where this is going now £££.
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That is exactly what I have been told by 2 people today. Nothing to substantiate though.
That used to be the case.
When the laguna was recovered in pieces form the ditch, the police phoned the control room, who used the nearest approved (on a list published by them) recovery agent.
Who were good as it happens, Secure compound, dealt directly with and settled bll directly with insurance company.
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i recovered a car from the polices prefered recoverer about 2 years back,it was a straight forward recovery as he (a friend) had bent the suspension arm on a high kerb about 4 miles from the yard,one night in storage and the bill was $175,i too thought they should have put a mask on when they presented the bill
most of their drivers drive as if they own the road too,very arrogent setup
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It has to be said, that buying yourself a recovery truck is a license to print money.
Hmm
now there is a way to spend that redundancy money. How much do they cost?
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I would imagine they would be a lot of hidden costs involved. Otherwise at these sums everybody would be doing it.
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going rate is a pound a mile
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Get out of it. a 10 mile trip will get you a 100 quid bill,
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The Police should not be making recommendations re recovery firms for the very reasons highlighted above as the inference could be that they were taking favours. There has been lots of allegations over the years as recovery agents vi for the lucrative business.
Unless the driver nominates the request should be made from 'next on the list' - a rolling list to show fairness.
However the problem sometimes is that there are good operators who respond quickly and bad operators who do not. Its not unknown for the driver to be given a little push in their decision making towards the operator who can respond quickly.
Edited by Fullchat on 31/07/2009 at 23:27
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Oh very sore subject
If the police in Milton Keynes have your car towed away and stored because THEY want to finger print it their garage will demand large sums of money before letting you have it back
Many dodgy dealings, and suspicious behaviour from the garage/tow firm, including screaming and swearing at me
I understand if they find your car and you are not in town they also ring you and recommend the same people tow your car to the same garage for some extortionate amount
Me I paid up and sued the police for the money back, boy were they surprised to get the summons, but they paid up sweetly as they and their garage were so in the wrong it was unbelievable
And its still going on
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At one time if there was a 'cash' recovery job in London it was akin to an auction. Lots of allegations of recovery firms paying er commission to the police to get the work.
you've got a long memory....the mid 80's the system changed to a strict call out procedure from a control room...that's over 20 years ago!
...it's the same for boarding up services
..and undertakers
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