I’m not sure this post will help anyone, or indeed me on a practical level, but writing it down will at least be cathartic….
We’ve had cars with run-flat tyres since 2002 (the first MINI) had have probably covered 250,000 miles in various cars without ever being immobilised. That changed yesterday, when one of the front tyres on the Merc failed on the A303 just before Wincanton…. Had had a lovely weekend in Devon though…!
I called in the ‘breakdown’ at just before midday; as of now (9am the following day) I’ve made it as far as Amesbury services, where I spent the night at the Holiday Inn. Primary cause was the lack of availability of a 235/35/20 XL runflat, though that can’t have been a surprise to anyone, compounded by general incompetence or apathy on the part of MB Assist / RAC.
Timeline:
11:57 call in breakdown to MB Assist, who answered promptly and advised that a recovery agent would attend and lend me a multi-fit spare to get me home. They had the registration of the car obviously, and one assumes being MB they could therefore see what wheels the car had…
13:59 A very cheerful RAC man in a VW van turns up. He’s not keen to lend me his space saver as I was travelling miles out of his patch, and spent around half an hour calling a round for a tyre locally…there weren’t any. He was dubious his 205/50/17 space saver would fit my car, and he was right. MB technical said not to fit it…by this time 3 hours since the call had elapsed…. A recovery then had to arranged… In the mean time I ordered a tyre form National Tyres to be fitted next day at my nearest branch.
17:05 Recovery turned up and loaded the car - only after he’d done that was I told that it’d be a relay recovery, and we were only going as far as Solstice Park, Amesbury where we’d be met for the next leg
18:21 Arrived at Amesbury and offloaded…no sign of the onward recovery agent. A call to MB said they’d be there within 50 minutes. So around 19:30. 19:30 comes and goes…no recovery truck… Then a voicemail update (left while I was on hold to MB) saying recovery would be a further 2 hours…
19:35 After having a tantrum with MB Assist (not only was the new pick up time nearer 21:30, even that wouldn’t take me all the way home but would involve a further transfer near Southampton) they agreed to put me up in the Holiday Inn right next to where I’d been dumped and sort out the car the next day
So, I’m still 75 miles from home; the car is in theory being collected at 10 to be taken to National Tyres in Bognor, who can fit a tyre because I ordered one yesterday. COVID means that I can’t travel with the car (though I did from Wincanton to Amesbury) so MB are providing a taxi to get me home…though they won’t book the taxi until recovery are on-site in case it’s delayed, which fills me with confidence…!
In the meantime I’m sitting in the sun having a coffee and admiring the panoramic view of HomeBargains training and distribution centre ;)
Good job I’m not in a hurry!! Does 24 hours of disruption make up for 20 years of weight and fuel saving…? Probably not…
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