CCC & RAC Arrivals Breakdown Cover, I am cancelling after 11 years

sallylillian

sallylillian

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Palace Liner 90LO
Exp
2011
I am in Portugal on the Algarve Motorhome Park at Tavira. Well I was until yesterday. On Thursday morning we packed up and got ready to depart. I went to start and the electronics went through the checks and a passing message was 4 events on the dash, I saw that the air pressures were showing dashes instead of a PSI reading and then a big red warning icon, "Brakes may not be effective". I was unable to clear the icon with the steering buttons in fact none of them worked so I was unable to review all of the computer data. I started checking some fuses but there are some 50 or so and even with the manual I was not sure what I was looking for.

Mercedes have a European breakdown number which I called and got an English adviser who found the vehicle on the system. They arranged for the local Mercedes dealer in Faro to send a breakdown guy. Unfortunately he was on another call and got to us mid afternoon. He was a spanner not an electrician and made a valiant attempt using the MB computer through the OBD port. By the way MB have an unusual plug fitting.

Anyway to cut this shorter, a breakdown truck came on Friday morning and loaded our 12 ton Morelo onto it and we followed in a taxi the 20 miles to Faro.

Their electrician was not available until after lunch and he was able to confirm that there was a failure in the CAN bus, somewhere but unable to identify exactly. It might take 1 hour or it might be days!!!!

So we had to get a hotel as the van was disabled and inside the workshops and we could not stay on it over the weekend. So I remembered my RAC arrivals cover and called them. After 3 calls and debate where they initially said that I had not renewed and subsequently retracted, they told me that because I had not called them for the breakdown call out they would not provide the hotel and hire car cover!! So I argued well it has saved you the call out and the recovery truck already so you are benefiting already. I told them I called Mercedes as it was an electrical fault which I had hoped could be dealt with over the phone. No deal, they would not provide the hire car and hotel.

I have been a member since 2011, and never ever made a call to them. I have paid high premiums for my cover as it is a large vehicle, circa £260 per year. So these highway robbers have had likely £2500 from me and now the first time I come to get help that look for a reason to refuse. So I organised my hotel and got car hire from the on site Hertz at €15 plus tax a day!! I do not have all my paperwork so cannot see if it says you have to get them to spend a bundle on recovery before they will cover your hotel and hire car costs.

My advice is be very careful with CCC RAC Arrivals cover, what other sneaky reasons will they have to avoid providing the contracted cover?
 
Terrible service Michael, just when you require assistance they let you down badly. Any policy is only ever tested when you need to claim, which you have just found out.

I hope it can be sorted quickly for you, good luck.
 
Seems fair to me, they could argue that hd they been called out initially, they may have fixed the problem, without the consequent knock on costs, as the repairs are outside of their control, why should they be responsible?
 
Wh05apk said:
Seems fair to me, they could argue that hd they been called out initially, they may have fixed the problem, without the consequent knock on costs, as the repairs are outside of their control, why should they be responsible?
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So I called Mercedes in the hope of a quick fix. No problem we will have a Mercedes technician there to hopefully fix it. I had no idea that the problem became what it was. Should I have said sorry no can do, you need to let me call the RAC who are bound to have a more competent technician than a Mercedes Main Truck dealer? Of course Mercedes dish out their OBD management software to every Tom, Dick and Harry, apart from which these things talk directly to Mercedes before they let anyone play with the electrics. A detailed record is stored on their main servers so if there is an issue they can say to the dealer you did this and that. Who would they have called seeing as its in Portugal, surely Mercedes! I have read the document now and can see the get out. Justifying it in this case is difficult in my mind. However it does not detract from the fact that having this policy is for me a liability not a benefit.
 
Although it seems very harsh I expect Safeguard, Comfort etc would do the same. When we broke down in our first van in France on a campsite we were with Safeguard. We called them and a chap from Liverpool turned up in a yellow AA van. We were astonished. Apparently it is cheaper for them to have their own vans at strategic sites throughout France in the Summer as they can often repair motorhomes at the roadside and avoid hotel costs whereas the French and Spanish nearly always want to tow to a garage with all the additional costs. They will rarely attempt a repair.

No consolation I know at the moment.
 
Breakdown cover is like any insurance policy.
If house catches fire you would be unwise to tell a builder to rebuild it and then expect the insurance company to pay without challenge.
 
The devil is in the detail as they say and no one knows the detail of insurance policies better than the insurers themselves. Can they vary the Ts&Cs to suit individual cases? Not really, there would be a minefield of precedents for them to negotiate so I am not surprised at their position in this case. I guess you could raise a formal complaint with them and ultimately take your case to the financial ombudsman to see if there is any sympathy to be found there.

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sallylillian said:
One added point my Mercedes chassis is still in warranty. So I get someone to come look at it who isn't Mercedes approved and then Mercedes say that part was buggered by the guy you had come to it.
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I was worried about this with our Fiat IH motorhome because we only had Fiat Assist for 1year but the base vehicle warranty is 3 years. It’s a PVC. It’s a funny little quirk. IH aren’t on Fiats list of converters and yes we have checked.

I spoke to a couple of insurance companies including Comfort and they said they use approved mechanics but couldn’t guarantee they’d be Fiat but it was likely. I said about invalidating warranties. All they said was it was unlikely but check with Fiat. We did and they said it was ok if they used approved parts and you had records but if no records it might be best to replace them! They did say it was unlikely to invalidate the warranty as you had acted in good faith and the replacement was for safety. A bit vague I know.

In the end we decided to take the chance and cross our fingers.
 
Nothing worse that breaking down but when its in another country it just magnifies it, i hope you get it resolved as when we broke down a couple of years ago it was a very stressful experience. With the incompetence of the people on the other end of the phone who are supposed to be trained in this situation but only cause more stress and then the people or trained engineers that come out to fix the job who are nothing more than car mechanics and not used to large vehicles like Motorhomes or even Vans for that matter.

Best of luck anyway, hopefully it will be a simple fix and you will get back to your holiday.
 
Do Mercedes warranty not cover your costs I know Fiat's warranty would cover these costs ( most probably after a lot of hassle trying to get paid)
 
Bessy765 said:

look under section (remember) item 2, bloody cop out.
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My parents broke down on the Barcelona ring, called them they were flown home within 48 hours with a hire car waiting at the airport which was later collected from the house. They would have been home that day but mother needed time to get herself together. The van arrived back on a low-loader 11 days later . Although a breakdown truck pulled in and offered help father politely refused until the job was assigned to that breakdown truck who had sat behind them beacons flashing to protect them until it was authorised within minutes.

He always felt he was paying a high rate until he needed it , father having read the small print carefully (and probably more than once) was aware of what he needed to do and also what not to do the void the obligations.

The devil is in the detail, the point of this is father always insisted on reading the everything carefully when not in a crisis situation, as we do not always do the best thing for ourselves.

Mother so desperate to get off the road se would have done a deal with the devil. father knew by signing the insurance papers he already had. :(

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I hope you get sorted and can continue on your holidays.
I've experienced similar in the past with insurance.
Believe it or not, someone broke into my car years ago and stole the steering wheel!
Window smashed and steering wheel missing, due to the age of the car it was going to be a write off.
RAC would not attend because I had not broken down. They saw it classed similar to a road accident and they refused to attend - even though I had paid the highest cover premium.
My wife had breakdown cover through M&S. She called them and M&S said leave it with us. who should turn up? the RAC!
Save your receipts and submit copies with your letter of complaint upon your return.
Unfortunately, virtually all insurance companies will not want to get involved if you have started a process through alternative means.
Same with private medical - I went to see my GP about my knee who referred me to a specialist.
Specialist said you need an Op. I can fit you in next week if private or 4 months if on NHS.
So I called my private medical insurance who said that they would not pay for the Op because I was now already in the system and that I should have called them first before calling my GP.
Any which way of avoiding paying out for something and they will exploit it.

I'm a member of both clubs and as much as I moan about the CAMC faults, I must admit that their partnership with Green Flag is excellent.
My motorhome is 5000kg and 9m long and they have no age/weight/length limits on their policies.
The downside is that you have to pay a supplement for overseas cover to what they call Red Pennant.
I also have European Breakdown cover as an option with my insurance, so would rely on this when going abroad.
Maybe it's time that you had a shop around upon your return.

As a thought, have you checked your house insurance to see if there's any cover under that policy?
Sometimes, some levels of cover will provide assistance when abroad on holiday.
Or personal travel insurance cover.
Good luck anyway and hope you get the problem fixed.
 
I see so often here this or that insurance company is less expensive than A N other.
Until you research the companies claims handling history or read the policy fully, you have no idea if it's good value or a low price with little value at all.
Buyer beware
 
I had an experience with RAC Arrival through the CCC, my clutch failed at 2pm on a minor road. My kids were with me (one of them is disabled and needs a wheelchair) I had a callback at 4pm to say a RAC van hd been dispatched, he arrived but, as my clutch had completely failed, could do nothing. He contacted "control" who dispatched a recovery truck, this arrived at midnight. He contacted the RAC to say that my vehicle was over 21ft long, he then told me that he could not recover me and drove off. I rang the RAC again, they told me that I was covered but they had sent the wrong truck abd shouls have rung RAC commercial recovery. At 4.30 am the correct truck arrived. A disabled taxi was also arranged. My vehicle was taken to a repairers, omly a mile from my home. My family and I got home at 5.30 am, all I got after complaining was an apology. we were lucky we were in a motorhome with its facilities.
 
We had to call out Fiat Camper Assist whilst in France. We had the low oil level light come on and could not clear it, also the low pressure oil warning light failed. The chap turned up with a big enough truck to take the van. (7.5 mtr 4000kg) but check the system and cleared the fault. If he had had to recover us he would only have taken us to an independent garage. I explained the van was only 2 moths old and under Fiat warranty and assist. He explained his boss had told him to take it to (XXX) garage as the kickback for taking it there was more than the Fiat approved one which was nothing.

to put another slant on it when we had our flight cancelled from Stansted owing to a severe storm I booked a hire car direct and quickly because of the number of people stranded, my insurance company said I should have contacted them first. I explained that their number was constantly engaged and as my wife suffered from COPD and I was unable to contact them within a reasonable time I acted accordingly. They said ok send us the receipts and they paid in full. (LV)
 
My clutch flywheel went in France. Being with Safeguard (so AA Europe cover) I called the number given and less than an hour later a local garage turned up. They wanted it at their garage so I bunny hopped it there to be told it would be an expensive repair. Still under the WildAx (second hand vehicle) warranty I phoned to ask if I could get it repaired there and was told no, it would have to be repatriated. The AA told me to contimue the holiday, they would give me a hire car and would pay £1000 of hotel fees. Returning to Calais they had a UK reg car (with only 17 miles on the clock) to get home in. I couldn't fault them. In Spain however with a caput windscreen wiper motor in torrential rain they didn't want to know and we had to replace it ourselves. If you have to break down with AA cover, do it in France, they were brilliant!
 
I can see it from both sides Michael and I think that you have become a victim of your own attempts to save them a call out by going straight to the Mercedes truck dealer which I am sure would have been the result if you had called the RAC first.

Of course their argument is going to be that their roadside recovery might have found the problem straight away so saving themselves any more expense.

A timely reminder for anyone with RAC or any breakdown cover though.

Hope you get sorted PDQ.
 
funflair said:
I can see it from both sides Michael and I think that you have become a victim of your own attempts to save them a call out by going straight to the Mercedes truck dealer which I am sure would have been the result if you had called the RAC first.

Of course their argument is going to be that their roadside recovery might have found the problem straight away so saving themselves any more expense.

A timely reminder for anyone with RAC or any breakdown cover though.

Hope you get sorted PDQ.
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Hi Martin,

Its difficult, at the time you are trying to decide on the easiest route to getting it fixed. Calling Mercedes is the obvious shortest route, RAC does not even come near the top of my options list.

Here is the report that the visiting Mercedes engineer got on the laptop. It was in Portuguese but I used Google Lens to translate it. He did not see me take it. Not sure how it helps me but at least I have something to work with. I note he had lost internet access.

Morelo OBD status report breakdown.jpg
 
Have had no trouble with Green Flag or RED PENNENT, well worth the extra for peace of mind!

With the AA had a mate call them, he'd been with them for years, when the fella arrived he got a tape out and measured the M/H , then said he would not recover it because it was 200mm too long!
Have heard other horror stories about the RAC along the same lines

Been with Green Flag for about 13 years now, and they have been brilliant.

Not quite sure about this next bit, but I have noticed, that if you don't have a callout, then your premium stays the same for the next year.
Don't quote me on that! BUT! my premium (all the bells and whistles) has stayed the same now for the last 3 years! I hav'n't called them out during that time.!
 
We were with RAC for years. one bank holiday our catalitic converter was stolen and i could not get a replacement until Tuesday. I had to be back for work then so called the RAC for help. No can do as it is vandalism go through your insurance. Insurance sent recovery. It was the RAC told the driver what had happened. He asked if they offered a pay for recovery it would only be about £75 much cheaper than excess on insurance. No this was not offered. I cancelled my membership. I had been with them for years. about 6 members of the family cancelled as well. There customer service stinks and I told them so when they asked for a review.

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