So my daughters latest car (Corsa) broke down at her grandmas o Wednesday night. She's in the AA and came out and fixed it. Some pipe blocked that was to do with the engine cooling system. They wrote a report which stated that the thermostat should be replaced (I only had it done a couple of months ago) plus they also advised on replacing the water pump at some stage.

So I have just had a call from her hysterical at the side of the M62 near Trafford centre (we live in Leeds) saying she's broken down again and the AA man is wanting to charge her £150 to tow it home as the water pump is totally knackered now.

Do you think I have any come back on the AA for this?

You need to read the T&C's inside out.

If its not in there in your favor and if you have as a family had years of no claims and membership I would be doing the threat of a letter to the CEO. As the car had the thermostat done recently you can introduce the mis-diagnosis argument.

A suggestion of having something done soon is a case of what is soon. Its a far cry from immediately. As a young motorist running some rough cars years ago I would carry a gallon of this and that to include water to make sure I got home. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Cheers Yorky.

With the amount of Macdonald wrappers, discarded pepsi bottles and makeup in her car there's no room for things like spare water bottles

At least they are in the car and not thrown in my hedge 😀🚾 FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

True. I have raised my kids well lol

Am I missing something here? The AA advised getting the water pump changed and you didn't do it straight away so why do you think there is a claim possible against them?
I assume that the water pump failure has thrown the cam belt. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Hi Dorset have you made a Quantum leap there.

The charge of £150 seems to be the issue and as they condemned a part just changed recently it was a poor diagnosis to say it was goosed and then make that charge possibly.

If there was a question about the serviceability of the thermostat its a cooling issue not a water pump collapse issue I would say so not sure where the cam belt comes in ? My assumption was a leak from the water pump gland and as such it should motor on for a while while the water was topped up. Lots of water pumps are only changed with cam belts due to cost you have again to remove and bin the newish cambelt. Hope that helps. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

OK but a guy in the trade once told me in his experience cam belts rarely fail, it's usually the tensioners or water pump that goes and then throws the belt with the usual consequences. It happened to us once on a Renault Clio when a water pump went noisy and leaky then a few weeks later it failed and the cam belt came off and £1300 later....... 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

I will be first to admit I'm not a mechanic so when the word 'advise' pops up I (wrongly on this occasion it appears) think 'oh its due a service soon I will ask them to do it then'. Not for it to fail after 2 days and 60 miles after the advice.

I mean the word 'advisory' pops up on the MOT certificate.

The AA got it working first time. What would have happened if it had been 200 miles away. You can't just pop in somewhere on the way home.

Anyway let's hope it's only the pump.

What gets my goat is although I can sort of understand them charging £80 to join Relay for the remaining 4 months of the membership and I wouldn't have an issue with that they are then charging a further £70 to tow back for 'excessive mileage'.

Just looked at the T&C's and Roadside will get you a tow to the nearest AA approved garage but to upgrade to Relay takes 48 hours to become live so in effect it seems as if they are making her take Relay but actually charging her £70 to tow her home form her Roadside cover

No idea what the AA charge for basic cover but just read in the 2016 conditions.

"Each Basic Breakdown Cover Policy is limited to 1 call out per Policy Year. "

So if you have as an example a well maintained car and have 2 punctures in a year and if you are not able to change a spare wheel due to whatever reason you will be charged for them attending ! Pretty poor in my humble opinion. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current