we were down in Yorkshire and stayed at Castle Howard which is a wonderful place. We left Bonnie Scotland on the Monday with the car and trailer all loaded up. Headed dowd the road and had a nice drive down. Got the the site and pitched with no problems. Spent our week there and then packed up. Everything in the trailer and car we set off. 1 Mile down the road we hear a terrible noise. not sure where it was coming from we slowed down and put the Hazards on. the noise was coming from the wheel of the trailer. It looked like it was going to fall off. Starting to panic and thinking how we were going to get everything home we crawled to the next village. I found a mechanic and he said the wheel bearings were gone and it wouldn't last 50 miles. Panic set in again cause he said he couldn't fix it.
What he then told me saved us. If you have breakdown cover and you are towing a trailer it is covered. So not sure if it would work we called our breakdown and they came and picked up our trailer and brought it home for us.
So just a thread to tell people if you are towing a trailer and caravan make sure you have breakdown cover as you just never know what might happen.
I have always had breakdown cover ever since I started to drive, and when I bought the trailer, I made sure it was added to my existing breakdown cover.
Don't just assume a trailer will be automatically included, and it is strongly advisable to ring up your breakdown cover provider to add the trailer to avoid disappointment.
DK
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Some years ago my father was head butted by one of my brothers 2 sheep. He was left unable to stand up or drive. The breakdown service took my parents and their car from Sheffield to Kent. It is not just the vehicle and the trailer that are covered but also the fitness of the driver.
My brother's last sheep died after being savaged by a dog a year ago, the owner claimed there was a right of way passing through my brother's smallholding (she walked up his drive and garden path) and that she had done nothing wrong in letting her dog run free near a sheep. She was willing to pay towards vets bills but only if my brother dropped Police complaints and took no legal action.
A dog that goes crazy near sheep can legally be shot, perhaps some of the owners should be too.
Quote: Originally posted by Bramston on 27/8/2013
My brother's last sheep died after being savaged by a dog a year ago, the owner claimed there was a right of way passing through my brother's smallholding (she walked up his drive and garden path) and that she had done nothing wrong in letting her dog run free near a sheep. She was willing to pay towards vets bills but only if my brother dropped Police complaints and took no legal action.
A dog that goes crazy near sheep can legally be shot, perhaps some of the owners should be too.
Bzzzzz: Deviation: unless that is covered by the RAC
The fitness to drive bit-does that mean you can go to pub all day then call the AA?-lol
Was told by a recovery man that in the summer some people remove some bits from their car then call recovery and get them to drive them home which is 200+ miles away as they don't want to pay for petrol themselves.
Quote: Originally posted by free-range-children on 28/8/2013The fitness to drive bit-does that mean you can go to pub all day then call the AA?-lol
Was told by a recovery man that in the summer some people remove some bits from their car then call recovery and get them to drive them home which is 200+ miles away as they don't want to pay for petrol themselves.
When my mates brother was a poor student he did that a couple of times to get back from his girlfriends and it was his brothers company RAC membership that he used.
This was the same man that drove from Oxford to Nottingham with no windscreen wearing a sleeping bag with the corners cut out for his feet and a pair of flying goggles.
You also need to check if you can be recovered if your trailer breaks down. A lot of companies will only recover car and trailer if the car fails, not if the trailer does.
Quote: Originally posted by free-range-children on 28/8/2013
The fitness to drive bit-does that mean you can go to pub all day then call the AA?-lol
Was told by a recovery man that in the summer some people remove some bits from their car then call recovery and get them to drive them home which is 200+ miles away as they don't want to pay for petrol themselves.
If you're doing that perhaps it's the other AA you need
On the way up to North Yorkshire a couple of years ago we had a blowout on our trailer, they sent out a flatback to pick up our trailer and took it to our campsite while we followed on in the car - quite an arrival!
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Interesting point this. Made me wonder about our set up. My wife has had a Skoda Fabia estate from new. It's her dog car and we also use it for camping as we had a tow hitch fitted before she picked it up.
My point is, as a new car it's under warranty which includes getting us home, hotel overnighters etc. BUT I am now wondering if it includes the trailer? And if it does not, who has a new car and then pays for separate AA cover?
Anyway - glad to see you're still around Cliff We met a few years ago. Oddly on a site me and the wife are about to re-visit this week!
Quote: Originally posted by Bramston on 27/8/2013
It is not just the vehicle and the trailer that are covered but also the fitness of the driver.
Wow, I never knew that. A couple of times I've had a migraine start while away or, even worse, on the way back from somewhere. They can be very disabling (I sometimes lose most of the vision in one eye for a while)and a couple of times I've had to break my journey and sleep in the car until it's gone.
I'll check my breakdown cover and see if it will cover me for that.
As others have said, check your policy carefully. When I was looking (after an awful experience with trailer wheel coming off on the motorway) I found aa and rac basic policies don't cover trailers. I have green flag cover, which definitely does cover car and trailer/caravan.