I have recently broken down in Spain in my 10 month old Bailey Adamo ( Ford Chassis). Thankfully we were on a campsite and not on the roadside. I called the Ford roadside support number in my warranty pack and got through to the AA, their contractor. The AA said they only supported vehicles under 3,500kg. The Ford plate on my vehicle at the time said that the gross weight was 3550Kg - like many Fords used by other converters. The AA said that they could not give support and I had a stressful argument with their poor operator until a manager at their end conceded that they could give me "minimum assistance"- basically a jump start and no more. I'm going to take this up with Ford formally and would welcome info about similar experiences from other members. I guess that Ford pay a lot of money to the AA for a comprehensive recovery service. Experiences good and bad would be welcomed.
Is your Ford roadside recovery policy worthless? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter x17ken
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The Ford plate will have been superceded by the motorhome manufacturers plate and it is that weight which should be used.
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OP
OP
x17ken
LIFE MEMBER
I agree totally. This was the basis of my argument, but the AA argued that the Ford GVM number was the critical issue. Any changes to the GVM number after conversion were not relevant. This is the point at which I got a bit hot under the collar.
OP
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x17ken
LIFE MEMBER
You are very right. The AA recover all sizes of vehicles in my experience. But in this case their contract with Ford limits them to under 3500kg - or so they said. Hence my call-out for similar experiences. It may just be that I was the "can't be bothered its Friday afternoon job"
Does the Ford scheme not operate up to 4.6 t anywayā¦..? Have you checked t and cās?
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Surely Bailey have some responsibility?
Lenny HB
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- Oct 18, 2007
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Does Ford offer a Motorhome scheme like Fiat?
Fiat have Camper assist which coves all Motorhomes built on a Fiat chassis.
I would expect similar from Ford and the AA have got it wrong, same thing happens when AA are called under the Nationwide breakdown. The AA say only cover up to 3.5t because they haven't a clue.
Fiat have Camper assist which coves all Motorhomes built on a Fiat chassis.
I would expect similar from Ford and the AA have got it wrong, same thing happens when AA are called under the Nationwide breakdown. The AA say only cover up to 3.5t because they haven't a clue.
125BEER
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The telephone operator sometimes doesn't have a clue on what service to offer.As reported on this forum many times.....
Cheers
Cheers
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OP
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x17ken
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Thanks Lenny. Yes they do. I thought I was fully covered. I do believe that the AA's interpretation of their contract with Ford is wrong. And that is why I want to communicate this issue to them. If this was a case of one inexperienced operator misunderstanding the rules I would leave it go. But my experience was based on several referrals to "managers" who said "no". Until I got out of my tree and explained that they couldn't possibly be right. You buy a vehicle with warranties - it is the same vehicle - nothing has changed - I am claiming this under my contractual rights - I don't really care about the AAs opinion about the significance of 50kg - I am stuck and need help. All of this from Spain with a dodgy mobile connection. You get the picture
What was your breakdown issue?
OP
OP
x17ken
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See my reply to Lenny. I agree with you entirely. We have all dealt with operators who have no idea about the rules they are administering. I would not have taken this up but for the insistence by the operator's managers that they were right and I was wrong. Hence I would be very interested in hearing from others. I still have a suspicion that I was a unique Friday afternoon job - please let me know if you think differently.The telephone operator sometimes doesn't have a clue on what service to offer.As reported on this forum many times.....
Cheers
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Lenny HB
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- Oct 18, 2007
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As it happens with NW customers as well either they haven't bothered informing their call centre staff or is it done deliberately hoping you will go away and they haven't got to send out an expensive recovery truck.
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x17ken
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That's a great question David and Sally. We came to Spain via Ireland from Wales. On our overnight stay in Rosslare before our crossing to Spain we experienced rain like we have never seen before - and we live in one of the wettest areas of Wales. We were soaked getting onto the ferry to Spain and our windscreen was running with condensation internally. It was only on our first night in Spain at Tordesillas that the electrics started to play up. The lights on the vehicle started to illuminate after 10 minutes of parking up. We were alerted to this by a fellow camper (thanks whoever you were
). We moved on the next day to Caceres and that's where the vehicle refused to start the next day. I checked everything for moisture and short circuits. It eventually took the recovery guy a couple of hours to get it going - its been perfect since. But I still feel very unhappy about the treatment I received from the AA in an emergency. I'm sure that plenty of contributors will talk about water ingress under the cup holders etc. |I can assure you that there was no moisture present in any of the suspect areas - I did the kitchen roll test everywhere - including inside the hook-up plugs and sockets.
- Jul 18, 2009
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When I bought my First, brand new VW T5 and went to Norway. I had to take out extra Breakdown Cover
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Was that a requirement for travel or a personal choice? For me, in future, I will go for the extra cover of the type you paid for even though I have theoretical cover as part of my new van deal.
This looks like the weight limit is 4600kg I would check your documents and put in a complaint.
The max length of 5.5 meters shown in the terms shown above would rule out most Motorhomes (and many vans) , perhaps there are different terms with the Bailey/AA cover
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OP
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x17ken
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Thanks all for the really helpful comments. I'm on the case to track down my detailed T&Cs. Some of which may need to wait until my return to the UK. I will update further with specifics and my correspondence with Ford/Bailey.
After having a quick read of the t&C's. I would ditch the policy even if it's free and take out a more suitable policy. The only breakdown policy I found you could take out whilst you were abroad was with LV. This was when we bought the UK registered car in Spain to get home after breakdown.
K9Motorhomers
LIFE MEMBER
We have Ford based Swift Voyager. Before our trip to Spain at Christmas my wife emailed Ford Assist to check our breakdown cover. This was their response.
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Lenny HB
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- Oct 18, 2007
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So totally useless for a Motorhome with a length restriction of 5.5m.
K9Motorhomers
LIFE MEMBER
Correct Lenny. Fortunately I have cover with my Nationwide Flex account
OP
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x17ken
LIFE MEMBER
I'm with Red Sonja on this. Cover that is free seems to come with a lot of "get outs" for the suppliers and their agents. It all sounds good when you are buying your lovely new van. But how many of us really grill the salesmen about guarantees of support in the event of breakdown or other problems?. IMHO the salesman couldn't give s**t as long as they get a sale. In future I will always get the best independent cover I can afford. But I am also resolute in getting some honesty from the manufacturers and their agents on exactly what they are offering in their purchase packages.
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- Jul 25, 2020
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Just checked the T&C. We have carried the original Ford assistance on each year as a free add on for continuing with Ford main dealer servicing from new. Looks as though we have been travelling with no recovery cover offered by the manufacturer of the base unit and its servicing arm. Comical really, manufacture the vehicle, sell you the vehicle, service it, sign you up for assistance but actually in reality we can't recover you! Clearly not fit for purpose. I wonder as to how many Transits are over 5.5m must be most of them. I will write to my local Ford service for their take on this.
- Jul 25, 2020
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- Caravanned for 30 years, nearly two years in with the motorhome.
Wrote to Ford this morning covering all of the above to be promptly re-directed to the AA. I have just reviewed the current term and conditions for Ford Assistance (13 pages) and under the recovery section (page 8) it makes reference to a "relevant vehicle" no other parameters referenced (height or weight etc) so does this mean that the A A's terms and conditions kick in? don't like the ambiguity of relevant vehicle! Hopefully the AA will confirm back shortly.
OP
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x17ken
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When I spoke to the AA in my emergency they said that they were very clear that their contract with Ford was only for vehicles under 3500kg. When I phoned them they did an immediate online check of my registration details on the DVLA database. That's how they discovered I was over 3,500kg. It will be interesting to see what the AA come back with now.
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- Oct 22, 2017
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I would ring Ford customer service & tell them your problem.
CAB96
LIFE MEMBER
If you bought a brand new VW now you would get VW Assist - UK and European Breakdown Cover.
In the UK, either RAC respond, or you are usually offered the option of holding out for VW's Assist vans who are better clued up with specific VW problems.
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