gemsdad
NOT BOTHERED.
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There are a lot of variables that can effect the whats and whys of it all. If he had stuck you on his Rapid deployment trailer (RDT) and your landy had come off you would've moaned at that too. The last week or so have been flat out. An average shift is about 8 jobs. When your doing 25 jobs in a 12 hour shift you kinda know it's busy. At a guess I'd say that he got a flat bed out cos A) it was busy B) the wheels were too big to safely strap on a RDT C) It was too heavy to put on (especially given the recent weather we've had) D) the roads expected to be driven meant that travelling at a max speed of 30mph the whole way could have been dangerous.
I'm 100% with you on this one. Whatever you do will be wrong. Unfortunately there are too many know it alls out there who think they are right in defining what can and can't be recovered.
I went out to a vw polo the other day that I was given as misfiring and now a non starter. She'd driven all the way up from cornwall with it misfiring. When I got there the starter motor was shot. She'd tried cranking the engine over non stop until her battery ran out and then she'd spent the rest of the afternoon with jump leads on it cranking it over until it started making strange noises and then gone dead. Then she decided it's time to call us out. I couldn't crank it over and the bonnet had been up all day so the engine was soaked.
The original fault was simply a coil pack going down. It's a common fault so I carry coil packs for em aswell as the rotor arm she'd now burnt out and also the dizzy cap that she'd badly scorched.
If she'd not left the bonnet open I could have got her going by changing the parts needed and then bump starting her. With the complete electrics soaked and no starter motor fecked there was nothing I could do.
Last night I got sent to an out of fuel. I carry 5 litres of petrol on board (my own money) and also 20 liters of diesel (again my own money). They were adament they wanted £10 worth. I got another can filled up, got 3/4 of the way too em and got cancelled. I'n now stuck with 2 cans of petrol onboard my truck.
I carry the spares I think I'll need. Many customers don't like buying spares. They think they should get them free. For this reason many of the spares I carry are from scrap cars. I can then fit em as being secondhand and I don't charge them for it.
I'll bodge cables pipes etc on the side of the road as and when required to keep people on the road.
I went out to a diesel astra the night before last. She pulled away from a farm and then cut out 100yds down the road. Cos she was on a hill she then coasted down for the next mile or so. I got there and popped the bonnet. A rat had eaten her fuel pipe from her filter. It was a 10mm pipe and was eaten to the halfway point for a stretch an inch long. I didn't have a fixe fuel pipe with banjo connectors on board. I fitted a special pipe bandage that I carry. You get 3 in a pack and they cost £9. That comes out of MY money. The company don't supply it. I wrapped her fuel pipe up and started her car up and then followed her home. That one bandage was £3 of my wages. Now work out that I go through a pack of them a week, plus exhaust clamps, jubilee clips, filters etc etc. That a fair whack of my own wages going on peoples cars. If I try and charge people for it I get the good old 'why should I pay for that, I pay for this service' Crap off customers.
Next time you get a breakdown service out to you guys and you've been waiting a few hours. Don't give the guy who's trying to help you ****. It aint his fault. He's badly underpayed and out in this ****ty weather using his own money to help you. GIVE HIM A BREAK.
thats a good thing you do ratty,paying for stuff and not charging for it,but what you should do is buy the stuff and when it's needed explain to the punter and show them the receipt that you will have kept wont you.like you say that most of the peeps in your profession are underpaid so why should you miss out.it is you who is helping the person in trouble,not the other way round.
