RAC - Are patrolmen contracted?

[Teddye4687]

I'm speaking purely from a pleasing experience today whereby not only did RAC man arrive within 30 mins, he also took me to GSF and helped out with fitting a new expansion tank.

Absolutely class service, but I'm wondering, what're they allowed/not allowed to do? Are there mileage/time constraints?

He said if I were roadside then it'd have been a tow to a garage; fortunately I was in an industrial estate when the expansion tank went 'pop'

I've had mixed experiences in the past but wondered what drove the gent is morning to go above and beyond!?

[Swift Nick]

My mate is a Patrol Man for the RAC,they need to be able to fix a percentage of breakdowns by the side of the road as opposed to getting it recovered. Other wise they'd be scrutinised.

And as a rule if he takes you to GSF gets an expansion bottle which you're paying for and quite simple to fit gets you mobile again, there's a good chance of you bunging him a tip.

And then on to the next one....

[maniac0796]

I think they tend to contract smaller, local companies to reach a wider area and to get there quicker, but I don't know about individuals.

[Teddye4687]

Swift Nick said:

My mate is a Patrol Man for the RAC,they need to be able to fix a percentage of breakdowns by the side of the road as opposed to getting it recovered. Other wise they'd be scrutinised.

And as a rule if he takes you to GSF gets an expansion bottle which you're paying for and quite simple to fit gets you mobile again, there's a good chance of you bunging him a tip.

And then on to the next one....

Yeh, tipping was a no brainer

Makes sense about the percentage of fixes; at 8am I didn't think he'd have hit his quota!

Did say his last client wasn't the most social, had a flat battery and just sat in the car waiting!

[Dodsy]

'roadside' is their basic level of cover doesnt relate the the location of the breakdown and only includes recovery to the nearest garage.

I assume you have a higher level of cover which will include taking you and the vehicle wherever you want to go

[Teddye4687]

Dodsy said:

'roadside' is their basic level of cover doesnt relate the the location of the breakdown and only includes recovery to the nearest garage.

I assume you have a higher level of cover which will include taking you and the vehicle wherever you want to go

Roadside & Recovery (maybe onward travel too)

It was about £70 IIRC, I didn't take the home breakdown, quite fortunate in this instance that it want at home!

[fridaypassion]

I've had similar experiences with the AA. Used them twice and first class service both times.

[Dodsy]

With recovery you are paying for a higher level of service. So he wasnt being extra helpful , just delivering the service you paid for.

I've never considered tipping the RAC patrol man , seems like an odd thing to to . Do you also tip the BT engineer, sky installer , mcdonalds burger flipper etc etc ?

[Teddye4687]

Dodsy said:

With recovery you are paying for a higher level of service. So he wasnt being extra helpful , just delivering the service you paid for.

I've never considered tipping the RAC patrol man , seems like an odd thing to to . Do you also tip the BT engineer, sky installer , mcdonalds burger flipper etc etc ?

I tip dependent on the situation or what the alternative option would have been had he not been so helpful.

The alternative was to be towed to a garage (of my choice) and be subject to £100 + VAT. I called the garage whilst I was awaiting recovery; fair price for a £55 expansion tank and £45 p/h labour.

The fact that he put in the call to GSF (trade price, or at least cheaper than retail), took me there, spent an hour(ish) sorting the problem and seemed like a top bloke, was happy for me to get stuck in, I was happy to bung him a few quid.

I won't tip the Sky installation man, no, not unless he went above and beyond the expected service. Let's just say he went out of his way to conceal some rather ugly cabling, or replaced a broken roof tile whilst up there, for example.

[Motorrad]

Teddye4687 said:

I tip dependent on the situation or what the alternative option would have been had he not been so helpful.

The alternative was to be towed to a garage (of my choice) and be subject to £100 + VAT. I called the garage whilst I was awaiting recovery; fair price for a £55 expansion tank and £45 p/h labour.

The fact that he put in the call to GSF (trade price, or at least cheaper than retail), took me there, spent an hour(ish) sorting the problem and seemed like a top bloke, was happy for me to get stuck in, I was happy to bung him a few quid.

I won't tip the Sky installation man, no, not unless he went above and beyond the expected service. Let's just say he went out of his way to conceal some rather ugly cabling, or replaced a broken roof tile whilst up there, for example.

are we talking in the region of 20 quid here?

because if we are then that seems like a reasonable amount to tip when they could have just recovered you to somewhere that would have charged you 50 quid+ an hour....