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Topic: Holiday (Read 318 times) |
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ColinE
Junior Member
I'm a YaBB newbie!
Posts: 94
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Hi Guys
Just returned froma weeks fishing trip to Britainy in France, it rained from day of arrival to the day we got home 12 straight days, went in the Scorpio, 500 miles has averaged 30mpg, until the last day when we broke down, had not eaten from the previous day so went to a super maket to get some sandwichs, stopped for a picnic, as we finish it it started raining again, legged it to the car, turned the key nothing, the windows and sunroof radio and lights on the dash were ok, it was like the inhibit switch on the gearbox had gone faulty, as though I was not in park, called the breakdown insurance people, about an hour a truck turned up, when we had the car loaded, I asked the gut to take me to the farm where we were staying, would you believe the truck would not start, the old boy had no telephone, so had to loan him mine, he telephoned his garage one of his crew brought out a battery and jump started the truck, I then saw this guy trying to put the battery on the back of the truck trying to force it under my front bumper, so I am now short of some paint on it.
The garage telephoned in a couple of hours to say the problem was the starter motor, it was 2.30pm Saturday they said they had tried to get one locally with no luck,
I told him I thought any modern motor would fit, thinking of what I read on here a couple of weeks ago, when scorpioman answered some one question about starter motors, but this guy would not have it, it was difficult as he spoke no Engish an me no French, anyway I did not think this was the problem, as I have had no trouble at all in the 6 months I have had the car.
We missed the ferry, my mobile would not charge, I think from cold and wet, used the farms phone to call my daughter, for her to rebook the ferry, which she did, another £10, on Tuesday 5pm. They got a starter motor and we got the car back at 11.55am Tuesday finished up with a bill for 414 euros, all in French, I can claim most of it back but it does not appear to show the cost of the motor, anyone got any idea of price 2 litre 16 v.
Had another thought, is there any emergency number on this site where one could talk to some one for advice, as I do not want to tow a computer around on holiday, would a list of people willing to give advice over phone be an idea.
Apart from this the car ran very well I have another question but will leave it for another time.
Colin E
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1995 2 litre Scorpio Ultima
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Highlander
Moderator
Expert
13 Scorpios, XR4x4, Suzuki SJ413 for off road :)
Posts: 8244
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Re: Holiday
« Reply #1 on: Jun 28th, 2007, 11:22am » |
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Yes. pm me and i'll give you Scorpioman, Snoopys and Simmo's home numbers 
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on Oct 17th, 2011, 12:35pm, Simmo wrote:I give up !  Too much for an old boy!  |
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Spannerdemon
Guest
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It's an interesting idea Colin, but I personally don't think you can beat having a good breakdown company arranged which you seem to have done. Baz had problems in Paris last year, and most good companies will get you a replacement car, and get your own car sent back to the UK whilst you get on with your holiday.
The problem with trying to diagnose faults by phone, and giving advice is that you STILL have the problem. OK you MAY be able to fix it, but in most cases, you'll probably need parts of one sort or another.
Best advice I can give to anyone going abroad with a car is this.
NEVER leave the UK without FULL BREAKDOWN COVER. OK , it may cost a bit, but without it, you are stuffed if the car has a major breakdown.......and it happens, as Baz unfortunately found out last year through no fault of his own!! 
NEVER hammer your car whilst abroad. Drive it within speed limits, and you stand more chance of it not letting you down. Calling the English-speaking friendly AA over here is one thing, but doing it abroad is a different ball game.
Try and imagine yourself in the middle of Europe , on the motorway, and the car packs up, steam. smoke, etc etc....... you've got lousy breakdown cover, the kids need the bog, and the wife's saying 'I told you so'.... and you can't speak the language.......Oh Joy!! 
A good breakdown company will deal with EVERYTHING, including talking to garages on your behalf, and sourcing parts, and they will have local people who are multi lingual.
BEFORE you even leave the UK, and whether you do it yourself or have it done by a garage have the car fully checked and serviced. Go under it, and make sure that everything is running OK. Change the oil and filter, and check ALL hoses. The VERY hot summers in France will soon seek out dodgy cooling and overheated engine issues, the first time you get into a long traffic queue.
If you KNOW you have a problem with the car, then don't even put it on the ferry. Hire a car for the holiday either abroad or in the UK. Taking a defective car abroad is just plain stupidity.
Take a sensible toolkit and basic spares with you. Wire, waterproof gaffa tape, electrical connectors, a spare wiper blade, fan belt, a long ignition lead (which will reach to any plug/coil), radweld, oil and water, and make sure your spare tyre is OK. A loop of wire can support a dropped exhaust for a good few miles for example. Radweld can be the difference between heaven and hell. We also carry a brake bleeding kit, and several lengths of various size fuel and cooling hose.
Most big hypermarkets carry a good range of routine car accessories/fluids, which can be bought as cheaply as in the UK. But ALWAYS carry WATER and OIL.
Make sure you've got the details of your breakdown firm to hand. We put ours in the centre console. You don't want to have to unpack half the car in a thunderstorm to find them.
My wife and I travel to both Nice and Munich quite often, and these are the guidelines we follow. We use GEM breakdown cover, which has served us well over many years.
Safe driving.
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ferretmobile
Full Member
2.3 saloon S reg & all the toys. mmmm toys
Posts: 343
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Re: Holiday
« Reply #3 on: Jun 28th, 2007, 11:49am » |
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 I often go to France and without a shadow of a doubt you must have european assist or the like.
I have RAC european cover. It is peace of mind and hopefully you will never have to use it. I also buy personal cover that I buy from the Post Office...again you never know.
You dont want to end up like Rupert Brooke once wrote,
In a corner of a foreign field, that will be forever England...a rusting Scorp.
Appoliges to RB
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ferretmobile
Full Member
2.3 saloon S reg & all the toys. mmmm toys
Posts: 343
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Re: Holiday
« Reply #4 on: Jun 28th, 2007, 12:18pm » |
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From bitter experience, even having a simple thing like a puncture in France can be a big problem.
500 kilometers away from Calais and its the day before you go home and you get a fence post staple in your tyre and with the space saver on and the flipping big tyre sitting in your boot. Not enough room for all of your kit now and you can only go 50mph or less...ohhhhhhh
what fun that was.
As has been stated you dont speak much of the lingo and you are the first englishman that they have ever seen! This happened! and if you drive to a very off piste village you can be very sure that they are all related to one another and that they have webbed toes and play the banjo.............well it sure felt like that
But without the euro assist you can be sure that you can be up that certain creek without your paddle.
Been there done it and had a lot of time to rue it.
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