vehicle breakdown in Europe

[malumbu]

Probably best not to break down in France on a weekend in July. This is not an anti-France comment but a statement of fact. Mechanical advice is severely lacking. RAC wanted to scrap the vehicle in France as they said it was uneconomical to repatriate. Paid over ?200 to get it off the motorway - first breakdown company suggested it was ok to continue the journey. By the time the second came along the engine was seized. The money is purely to get it off the motorway, not recover it anywhere useful.

A bit of luck making Chatres to get to Paris by train for the final quarter final, and that we were so close to a Peugeot dealer (being a Citreon Berlingo van) and that a young and helpful chap had good enough English (my technical French isn't good enough). Managed to cut a deal with RAC to get it to Caen, and then my policy to get it back from Portsmouth. Hats off to Britanny Ferries for towing it on and then pushing it off at Portsmouth.

The final recovery in France was awful - three hours late, a breakdown truck that was in worse condition than our van, a driver who clearly wasn't a professional driver, took 40 odd calls on his phone, changing gear with the wrong hands, didn't have a map and couldn't work the sat nav so we ended on the wrong side of the estuary.

Great to hear of others experiences breaking down in Europe. Ie the bit on the other side of the channel to our small island.