Motability, Recovery and Tyres

[Eddie864]

Driving the "girls" to a club via Seer Green, Bucks I managed to touch a low stone kerb and blow my nearside front tyre. You don't get spare wheels with my Picasso and the hole in the tyre was big enough for me to get a finger in. The Michelin Primacy tyre that comes with my Picasso has surprisingly thin sidewalls. It was nearly 1 am, raining and I was on a road well away from civilisation. So I called the RAC and they reckoned they wouldn't get to me until 2.20 so the girls got into a cab and I waited in the car. Finally at 2.30am I get a call from the recovery man (an RAC contractor) that he will be with me around 3.00am. Got home at about 4.30am.

After looking at Kwik Fit for prices for a new tyre I called them to discover that Motability have a sort of insurance that covers damage to tyres as part of the car deal. So I was able to call Motability who arranged a mobile Kwik Fit man to come who replaced my tyre in 10 minutes at my home.

So while the priority service from the RAC wasn't that great the service from Motability and Kwik Fit was top notch.

[stree]

Same happened to me. low kerb and tyre came off the rim. RAC there in 30 mins, put universal spare wheel on from his van and 5 min drive to quickfit. 20 mins and on my way again. Cannot fault it.

[Paul]

Ditto - see my post only a few weeks ago - http://www.youreable.com/forums/show...C-and-Kwik-Fit

Unfortunately I did it on a Saturday, which is Kwik Fit's busiest and so I had a 3hr wait - the RAC got to me in less than 30 minutes and I was in a rural village too!

I would make a complaint to the RAC about your treatment, you are meant to be a the priority group - the same class as a mother and young child, they really should have bucked up their ideas.

[wazza]

Same happened to me. low kerb and tyre came off the rim. RAC there in 30 mins, put universal spare wheel on from his van and 5 min drive to quickfit. 20 mins and on my way again. Cannot fault it.

Did you have to pay for the universal spare wheel?

[Flymo]

As so few cars now have any sort of spare wheel, Motability's strategy for dealing with a car with a flat tyre is for the RAC to fit a universal spare wheel, which Kwik Fit keep and return to the system when they fit a new tyre.

There are no additional charges - the RAC patrol, the loan of the universal spare wheel and the permanent repair by Kwik Fit are all part of the Motability package.

[Paul]

Slightly different up here, the procedure is that the RAC will fit the universal spare wheel, follow you to Kwik Fit and then put your old wheel back on - they have had problems with Kwik Fit returning these expensive wheels and so now don't let them out of their sight!

[carl30]

Slightly different up here, the procedure is that the RAC will fit the universal spare wheel, follow you to Kwik Fit and then put your old wheel back on - they have had problems with Kwik Fit returning these expensive wheels and so now don't let them out of their sight!

The reason they follow you to quick fit is that they only have 1 universal spare on the van. If they leave it at quick fit and the next call needs it, then they will have a problem to solve.

They will only follow you if it's a local quick fit. If your on your way up the motorway and not changing the tyre until you reach a destination 50 miles away, they will arrange for it to be collected by another patrol.

[Paul]

Makes sense - I wasn't bothered either way to be fair, it's just a shame we all get stuck having to use Kwik Fit.

[Eddie864]

Unfortunately the RAC never got to me. It was one of their contractors. Actually it's a huge firm called Friendly Recovery that hold contracts for all the major motor emergency companies. No offer of a universal wheel for me. Just a very long wait.

[paul1234]

Recently had a flat tyre (run flat) and have had problems with the Tyre pressure monitoring system. I have been to two Kwik Fits and other than the 2 hour wait to have it fitted found them OK.