Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
We’re here every week to update you on audio and video about motorhomes- hiring them, buying them selling them and fixing them. There you go.
Matt Sims
Hopefully, some of it’s useful!
Keith Gooden
If you’re a new listener or watcher, where have you been for the last 18 months? We’ve been here waiting for you to turn up.
Matt Sims
Sitting here quietly in the corner.
Keith Gooden
We have. And if you were with us from the start, well done. You’re a trendsetter.
Matt Sims
We’ve got people who have listened to every episode.
Keith Gooden
I should hope so. Thank you very much. Okay, let’s get on with it.
See Motorhome Matt at the Royal Bath and West Show
Keith Gooden
Let’s delve into the news, shall we, today? The Bath and West Show – you’re there, aren’t you?
Matt Sims
The Royal Bath and West Show. We will be there, yes. We are supplying the organisers with motorhomes from our hire fleet to live into in the show, and the shop team will be there as well. So www.thatleisureshop.com are taking a stand and we will have a whole load of product on display for sale. Lovely chairs, tables, kayaks, paddleboards, loads of camping accessories. So if you’re going to the show at the Shepton Mallet showground, then come and say hi.
Keith Gooden
Will some of your hire team be there?
Matt Sims
Yes, they will. Yes, some of them will be there with a couple of motorhomes for hire, just as a sample of what you could go on holiday in this summer or next year. We’re starting to take bookings for next year now as well. So go along to the show. It’s a fantastic three-day show. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It doesn’t run on Sunday, because all the farmers are busy milking. Come visit us in the southwest at the Royal Bath and West Show.
Keith Gooden
It’ll be great. And don’t forget on the Friday afternoon as you’re travelling down, all the farmers like to take their tractors out for about 4pm in the afternoon.
Matt Sims
When you see a farmer cutting the hedges, you know he’s bored.
Keith Gooden
It’s not just the Bath and West show where you’ve got something from your fleet. You’re in show business now with the new series of The Outlaws, which has been very popular.
Matt Sims
It has been. Yeah, Stephen Merchant. I loved it some people hated it, I think it’s fair to say, but I really enjoyed series one and two. And yes, once again, they’re filming in Bristol and we’ve got a number of motorhomes being supplied to the crew. And the cast has a green room, so a place they can sit and rest and read the script and learn their lines in, and that’s happening all across the city and a bit wider afield as well. So it’s interesting to see where they’re filming this year. It’s going to be good.
Keith Gooden
Stephen Merchant – what is he, 6 foot 7? 6 foot 8?
Matt Sims
At least, yes.
Keith Gooden
Have you got a special big doored motorhome for him?
Matt Sims
It’s a very tall one! Yeah, I can tell you that he wees in the toilet while standing in the shower.
Matt’s breakdown recovery nightmare
Keith Gooden
The Motorhome Matt podcast is brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. Let’s get into the main bit of the podcast – breakdown recovery letdowns. And this is a big subject for Motorhome Matt.
Matt Sims
It’s been very close to home this last week. If you’ve been following us on any social channel, you will have seen me looking frightened in the dark as I sat in a broken down car and waited for the RAC to come out and rescue me. I was in little Alfa Romeo – there’s a clue – which unfortunately did break down. And 15 and a half hours later a man in bright orange did arrive.
Keith Gooden
How many hours later?
Matt Sims
15 and a half.
Keith Gooden
15 and a half hours?
Matt Sims
Not a great experience, I have to say. In fact, it was pretty appalling. Yeah, I was sat on the side of the road – not all night, I have to say. I’ll tell you what happened. After about six hours I called the police on the advice of the RAC. I was on a busy A road with a 60 mile an hour limit. Very fast. It was on the Mendips, so very, very dark.
My alternator had failed, so the battery had run flat. So I’d lost all lights on the car. I had no hazard lights. It was pitch black and very cold. And I said to the RAC, “I actually feel frightened sat here because someone is going to come around the bend behind me and not see me and rear end me.” There was nowhere I could retreat to short of climbing through a hedge and into a field, and that just really wasn’t practical.
On the advice of the RAC, I called 999. I said, “Really, 999?” They said, “Well, if you feel vulnerable, you should.” So I said, “Well, okay.” And I felt a fraud doing it. And I said to the telephone operator, “Look, told me to hang up if this is inappropriate. I feel fake doing this.” And bless them, whoever took the call was superb. They said, “No, no, no, Matt. It’s fine. You’ve done the right thing. We will send a patrol to you.”
And sure enough within 15 minutes there were blue lights behind me. Two guys got out and said, “No. You’ve absolutely done the right thing. You are in a dangerous position. We would consider that your life could be at risk.” So with their help we closed the road. We pushed the car across the carriageway that was opposite and into a lay by. And then they took me home in the back of their police van. And that was an experience!
Keith Gooden
Did they indeed? I’ve seen people like you on the television. Channel Five.
Matt Sims
I took a picture! I wasn’t actually in the back in the cage. There’s a seat for a police officer to sit and I was there. And they very kindly dropped me home. It was only 45 minutes to get home. They took me home. It was about one in the morning by this point. I then spoke to the RAC and said, “Look, I’m no longer with the car.”
They’d appointed a contractor and said, “Well, they will ring you in the next three hours to pick the car up. Can you get back to it?” I said, “Yeah, I’ve got another car here. I can get back to it.” I did that. And the contractor didn’t call me until quarter past seven.
So I spent the night barely sleeping. It was about two before I got to sleep and just… you know the thing when you think the phone’s going to ring any second? I really didn’t sleep well. I drove back to the car. And by this point I was told that a patrolman was going to attend it. And he duly did and he did relay us back to the office where we could get the car fixed.
Keith Gooden
Now, we do have to say that the breakdown rescue services do prioritise certain customers, for instance, people with children and women on their own, so you might just have been a bit unlucky that night.
Matt Sims
I think so. Yeah. Someone did comment to say, “It was an Alfa Romeo, you should have called them before you set off.”
Keith Gooden
Yes, we have some comments here. “You should have called the RAC before you set off.” “In the RAC’s defence, they had 27 other Alfa Romeos to deal with that night.” Jay got in touch with us. He’s a patrolman for a rescue service. He says, “No one shares their good experiences. Most of our time is taken up by changing headlight bulbs at 3pm. The filter for breakdown,” he says, “Is flawed.”
The RAC’s response
Matt Sims
Yeah, it’s a valid point, isn’t it? I guess that could be true. I mean, the RAC have since rung me. In fact, just minutes before we started recording this, a lovely lady called Emily from the RAC customer complaints team had rung me. And she acknowledged that it was absolutely below par, that the service was poor. In fact, beyond poor.
And she was full of apologies for the service they’d given me. In fact, they have offered me some financial compensation as well. Prior to this phone call, I should point, I asked them to comment, because we approached all of the breakdown services for comment on this. And so they did know that we have a podcast, and they had, I believe, seen some of the content on social media.
They offered me £100 compensation, which is over half my membership fee, and an apology. And to be honest, I’m happy with that. I accepted it. And I’ve this morning emailed them my bank details, so we’ll see when that gets paid. But they did decline to give any comment from their press team whatsoever, which I think is a real shame.
Responses from other top breakdown recovery providers
Keith Gooden
And did you get any responses from anybody else?
Matt Sims
We had a great response from the AA.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, I’ve got that here. They say, “We attend an average of 10,000 breakdowns per day. We do get hundreds more pothole related breakdowns following rain, as often drivers can’t spot the potholes underneath the puddles because the pothole fills up with water. We believe the number of breakdowns is likely to increase,” say the AA, “As the average age of car on the road has increased due to the cost of living crisis, and also people waiting for electric vehicles to turn up.”
So they’re sort of stringing out the ownership of the vehicle that they intend to trade in. They also say, “Many of the breakdowns we attend are caused by problems which could be solved with routine maintenance. We do, though, fix more than 80% of problems at the roadside, which is what customers want.”
Matt Sims
Yeah, well, that’s fair, isn’t it? Thank you, the AA. We appreciate you, Tony and Edmund, who I messaged who is, of course, the president of the AA. And he referred it to their PR team and they very kindly came back with these comments. We did ask Green Flag to comment as well. They declined and said they were in a closed period, whatever that means.
Keith Gooden
Your guess is as good as mine. The AA did actually give us a quite a lot of comments, including when you asked, “What’s the biggest challenge your organisation is facing at this time?” Because I should imagine their challenges at the AA are common to the other breakdown services.
They say, “There are skill shortages across the motoring industry, which does have a knock-on effect on patrol recruitment.” They say, “We’re working with colleges in our busiest workload areas on a project that could see newly qualified college leavers step into mentored entry level patrol roles.”
So they’re looking to recruit people out of college, the younger generation, to help to fill their staffing issues. But we do have to say, thanks for the response to the AA, but nonetheless, they should have foreseen whether they’ve got enough staff or not.
Matt Sims
Yeah, it was interesting. Since this episode, I have stopped and spoken to a number of RAC patrolman who I’ve bumped into. I saw one parked in a lay-by and I pulled in and said, “Would you speak to me?” He reckoned that 25% of their workforce had left. I don’t know if that’s true. That was his comment.
And another patrolman that was recovering a car to a local garage – I asked the customer, “How long have you waited?” “Six and a half hours,” he said, but it was fine. “The car was at home, I was working from home.” So he was not unhappy with that.
I still thought that was a long time to get the car recovered. The patrolman said he could earn more working in a garage than he could doing a patrolman job where his life is at risk where he’s on the side of a smart motorway or on a busy, busy road, and he could get run over. No chance of that in a garage, is there?
Breakdown priority lists
Keith Gooden
Yeah, I did mention the fact that they do have priority lists when you call in, for instance, if you’re a woman on your own, or you have children in the car, or perhaps you’re disabled. But I would have thought you would have been fairly high up because as you said, when we started this conversation, that you were on an unlit country road. It was an A road, wasn’t it?
Matt Sims
It was an A road. Yeah.
Keith Gooden
An unlit A road. And per capita, the amount of accidents on country roads compared to urban roads is much higher. Even though there are fewer accidents per capita, if you compare them with the amount of people that use them, then actually the risk on country roads is a lot higher. So I would have thought that would have put you up the list.
Matt Sims
It did, and Emily acknowledged that from the customer complaints team. She said, “Yeah, we’ve noted that you were in a vulnerable position. And you were a priority call and we didn’t do anything about that.” So they did acknowledge that.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, we’ve also asked Caravan Guard, who you might recall from a few podcasts ago, the insurance company, what their biggest challenge their organisation is facing at this time in regard to this. And they’ve said, “We have heard stories of people who have been sent the wrong recovery vehicle for the size of their campervan or large motorhome.” But otherwise, they don’t see much of a problem with it.
Matt Sims
No, and the membership level I have with the RAC is called RAC Arrival. So it’s a very specific product designed and aimed at motorhome and caravan owners. So lots of motorhomes are over seven metres, which I think is the length cap that the AA will recover. But the RAC raise that limit. As far as I know, it’s unlimited. I’ve spoken about it before.
I was in a 10 metre long American motorhome. And the RAC did recover that back to Bristol from Lincolnshire. So it was a long relay through the night with specialist equipment. And I know that the RAC will send a contractor out to recover you in a motorhome that’s long, over the seven metres, as part of this cover.
So it probably cost me a little bit more. But that recovery with the American RV would have cost them probably over £2,000 to get me from all the way in Lincolnshire back home and get that recovery vehicle back north.
An experience of working as a breakdown call handler
Keith Gooden
We have had a listener get in touch with us with something very interesting. She worked in a call centre for one of these companies.
Anonymous
I actually used to work for a large breakdown company. And I started off in the services. So anybody who had broken down would ring in and we’d help them out. But then I was very quickly moved to the sales department to sell new policies, upgrade policies, add things on and stuff because there was such a high turnover of customers because the service was so poor.
And I think it did come across like it was more about the money coming in. An example of that is we used to actually take the phone calls, and I believe that they are paid to take the phone calls by Children In Need. We were actually offered double time to go and take the cause for the Children In Need donations rather than servicing our own customers.
It wasn’t the most enjoyable place to work, I’ve got to say, but I just thought I’d chip in and give my own experience because I’ve been on the end of the phone when we’ve had people calling in and complaining a lot of times. I don’t work there now. And I wouldn’t go back to working there, personally.
Keith Gooden
Now, we haven’t asked the rescue service in question about those comments, but we will put them to them. But Matt, it’s not unreasonable if you’ve got a call centre to generate extra revenue by renting out some of your operatives to take calls for a customer. But she says that actually the rescue service customers were compromised.
Matt Sims
Yeah, that’s not good listening, is it? That’s not good at all. Thank you for the message. We appreciate it. And obviously we don’t have any evidence to back this up, it’s just this caller’s comments. If you’re that breakdown service and you want to comment we would welcome it, obviously. But yeah, that’s not good. Is it not good listening at all.
Should breakdown services be regulated?
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And me, Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Matt is brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. We’re talking today about breakdown and recovery and some of the horror stories such as Matt’s 15 and a half hour wait just a few weeks ago. Now, let’s talk about the company that Matt was signed up to, the RAC. They say they’re there in 60 minutes to help in the contract. What if they don’t do this? What rights do we as consumers have?
Matt Sims
Yeah, it’s interesting. So the breakdown services from our research are all regulated by the Financial Ombudsman, and I guess it’s because they’re selling an insurance policy. But what seems to be regulated is the way they conduct themselves in terms of a complaint, your renewal and the payment of that renewal, so if your policy autorenews without your permission. And you can see everything that’s regulated on the FCA Financial Ombudsman’s website.
What doesn’t appear to be regulated by them is the service level and response time. So my experience of 15 and a half hours generated a complaint. Their response and how they deal with that complaint is what’s regulated. And I have to say that, arguably, they’ve been brilliant. So their response time to me has been really quick.
So I broke down a week ago, and I’ve had a financial compensation offer today which I accepted and I’m very happy with, as I say. So that bit they’re on probably because it’s regulated. And if they breach that, then you have some recourse with the Ombudsman. But it would seem to me, and correct me if I’m wrong, but the actual service that I’m paying for isn’t regulated by any body.
Keith Gooden
Not even the consumer acts?
Matt Sims
Seemingly not. I don’t know, maybe it is. And if you’re listening, if you’re at a breakdown service, please would you comment? Because we would love to know.
Disparity of breakdown service across the UK
Matt Sims
I would add, though, Keith, when we were in Harrogate, do you remember, we talked about the fact we put a motorhome outside the entrance to the motorhome show.
Keith Gooden
That one broke down as well.
Matt Sims
Yeah, don’t travel with me. The battery failed on it. It wouldn’t start. Well, it was less than an hour, pretty much, and it was fixed.
Keith Gooden
But that’s the thing, isn’t it? We’re talking about a patchy service. I mean, your 15 and a half hour wait does seem pretty unreasonable. And the breakdown company has put their hands up for that one. And now you’re saying when you were in Harrogate it was just an hour.
Matt Sims
Within 20 minutes, the chap was on the phone. Mark, I remember. He was there within 15 minutes. He then went off and bought us a new battery. It was a very reasonably priced starter battery. We sell them in the shop. And I think it was £160 or something, which is not a lot more than you can buy one for from a motor factor shop. And it was brilliant. In fact, the RAC asked us who the patrolman was and what the registration was because they wanted to congratulate him. And they shared our social posts on that occasion. Oddly, not this one!
Keith Gooden
But it shows the difficulties that these companies do have. It depends where you break down and what the staffing is like on the night. And it’s a bit of a lottery. And to be honest with you, when you’re dealing with a large company such as that, these things are going to happen occasionally.
Matt Sims
Yeah, of course they are. It’s people, isn’t it? And it depends what happens on the night. You know, I was told there had been a very busy night. I mean, 10,000 calls a day the AA deal with. That’s a lot.
Keith Gooden
That’s a huge amount. And when you think many of them, as the AA said when I was reading those responses to our press enquiries, can be solved just by basic maintenance. Check your tyres. Run your fingers into the tread of the tyre and feel those little dimples in the tread. Those are the markers. And if when you run your finger through the tread you come across a marker it’s level with the rest of the wheel, you need to change your tyre. And it’s these levels of basic maintenance that this breakdown company, the AA, say are the cause of most of their call outs.
Matt Sims
I’m sure.
Keith Gooden
So have to share some responsibility. And you were driving an Italian car!
Matt Sims
It had been repaired. It had been to London to a specialist to have the electric roof repaired and an MOT. The thing that went wrong was nothing to do with the repairs. And someone did comment, “I’d be on the phone to the garage that fixed it.” Well, this was totally unrelated. The alternator happened to fail. It’s an old car.
Keith Gooden
Did it rain by the way, while you were waiting?
Matt Sims
Yeah, it did.
Keith Gooden
You were lucky after 15 and a half hours it wasn’t just a puddle of rust.
Matt Sims
It’s a great little car. One day it’ll be worth some money.
Keith Gooden
You’re not a real petrol head unless you’ve owned an Alfa.
Matt Sims
No, and I can tell you I own two.
Keith Gooden
Well, let’s get back and get serious about this. Should the levels of customer services from these breakdown companies be regulated? As you say in financial services, part of the contract is regulated. But the level of customer care doesn’t appear to be regulated.
There’s clearly small print in the contract, which says if they don’t get to you, you’ve got little recourse apart from to complain to their customer service. Should we take a step up? Should there be a proper regulatory bodies such as an Ofcom or an Ofwat who do have statutory powers to fine these companies if they’re not meeting basic levels of service?
Matt Sims
But what would the impact of that be? I mean, for the RAC, if they are short staffed – we don’t know that they are – I suspect that might be one of the factors that was at play here in our region, hence this long call out time. But that would might force them to get creative, like the AA evidently are with their university scheme. It’s a great idea.
It would just mean the premiums go up, surely. If they’ve got to employ more people or pay staff more to keep them, if it’s true that patrolmen are thinking, “You know what, I can go and earn the same or more working in a garage. I don’t want to do this patrol job anymore.” It’s a tough job, isn’t it? It’s a tough gig. Then surely the premiums will go up. Wouldn’t that be a side effect of regulation?
Keith Gooden
It would be. Premiums probably would go up, but the level of service would go up. What would you rather have, something you can depend on and pay a bit more for it, or something which provides the service that you had on that occasion? And we have to balance that by saying on another occasion, they were superb. But on that occasion, would you have spent an extra £100 a year knowing that you could get a premium service?
Matt Sims
Yeah, maybe I would. I would need to think about that. And the other option for me is to not have any breakdown cover and just call out a recovery company, like the RAC were going to do with me. They didn’t in the end. And we have friends who own one, and I could have called them and they would have brought the car to the garage, which is where it is now awaiting repair. And that would probably have cost me probably less than my annual premium, but I would pay that every time.
Keith Gooden
That’s what people are afraid of, because these breakdown services were set up originally in response to people many years ago who were recovering vehicles and overcharging. Again, there’s that balance there, isn’t there? These recovery services promote themselves as experts. Usually, their customer service is pretty good when you’re in trouble. They do prioritise vulnerable customers, but they take away that doubt of saying to somebody, “Can you come and tow me?” And they say, “Yeah, that’ll be £600.”
Matt Sims
Yeah, that’s the risk, isn’t it? I’d love to know what your experience has been if you’re listening or watching this. What’s your break down experience been in this country and in Europe as well? I mean, that’s a whole other layer of concern for me. But as the owner of a motorhome hire business, at the moment, we’re doing very, very little European destination hire.
So if you want to hire and go to France, generally, we would say no. We’re reconsidering that at the moment. But the only reason we’re doing that is because of our concern about breakdown response times and the ability to get a family recovered to another motorhome, to a hotel or even back home. And that worries me.
What to do in the event of a breakdown
Keith Gooden
Okay, let’s wrap this up now with some advice from you, Matt – preparing for a breakdown. According to the AA, most of their call outs are due to things that actually are just normal, regular maintenance that you should be doing, like tyres and oils and stuff like that. Running out of fuel is another one. Incidentally, there’s a change the Highway Code coming. If you run out of fuel, you could be liable for a £1,000 fine in future.
Matt Sims
Really?
Keith Gooden
Yes, from the police. So if you’re on the motorway and you’re low on fuel, there’s a rumour that in the next Highway Code update that if you run out of fuel and it’s avoidable, it’s a £1,000 fine. Frankly, I agree with that one. It’s different if you’ve got a hole in the petrol tank. We’re talking about people who just didn’t fill up.
Matt Sims
Right. Wow. Okay, I didn’t know that. One to watch. What happens if the service station’s got no fuel?
Keith Gooden
Well, precisely. I mean, clearly somebody has to make a considered decision about it. But if there’s a petrol station two miles down the road and you’ve driven past it and run out of fuel because you don’t have a method of payment, then clearly that causes a lot of issues not just for breakdown services but other road users as well.
Matt Sims
I know if you’ve run out of fuel the RAC will make a charge before they even turn up because they have to take your old fuel away… or if you misfuel this is, sorry. So if you put diesel in a petrol car, they will… that’s different. I know.
Keith Gooden
It is different. Yeah.
Matt Sims
They will charge you £250 before they even start.
Keith Gooden
Another quick one before we move on from this. I was driving up to The Belfry last weekend up the M5 around the Cheltenham area. And we must have just got past this accident literally as it happened. A very large lorry with Arris fencing had a flatbed with that piled up on to it. Clearly it had shifted and the lorry had gone off the motorway onto the hard shoulder.
It hit some trees which were overhanging because it was a tall load and lost one of their rear wheels and it came to a stop. And the first thing that I saw as I went past was some debris in the road which slowed people down and people coming around it and this poor lorry and people getting out of the lorry. But also the RAC van was coming up to help, even though it was probably not one of their customers. But he was there pulling over to help in the event of an accident, so I must say that.
Matt Sims
Good for them. Well, they’ve got equipment to do it, haven’t they? Lights and a bright van. People see that orange van or the yellow AA van, whichever breakdown company, and they’re alerted to it.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, absolutely. So some of your tips, then, for preparing for a possible break down. So you’re setting out on your journey. You’re in your motorhome, you’re in a caravan or whatever. What should we be doing? What should we be checking? What are the useful little widgets that you flog to help at www.thatleisureshop.com?
Matt Sims
Well, some of them we do flog! That’s true. In that particular incident when I broke down, I didn’t have any of this stuff, it’s worth saying. I’d gone to London on the train and brought an empty car back, but a high vis would have been very much appreciated. I’d recommend having those in the car.
That’s of course a requirement on the continent. It’s not here, but it’s a very sensible addition to have. I got really cold, so a blanket and then some outer garments. It was amazing how cold and windy it got. I was in a T-shirt and a sports jacket, a work jacket. Outside when I was with the police I was shivering. So gloves, hat and maybe a better coat or jumper.
Keith Gooden
And this is the beginning of May we’re talking about.
Matt Sims
Yeah, that’s right. I was on the Mendips, so it was pretty exposed. We sell a V16 beacon. So we’ve talked before about the warning triangle. My Alfa didn’t have a warning triangle. I did look in the boot for one. It didn’t, but it does now. In fact, it has one of these beacons. So in Spain, the warning triangle is going to be discontinued and these little orange beacons are replacing them there. They’re are legal alternative now to a warning triangle. Lots of reports of people being injured or worse putting out the warning triangle, let alone people not seeing it.
And so with these beacons you don’t even have to get out of the car. You just lean out. In a car, this would work. You place it on the roof, and it turns on. There’s a magnetic switch and it starts. It’s a white torch or a flashing orange beacon. The V16 bit means they can be seen from a kilometre away. They are incredibly bright. I’m giving them to all the family that drive and asking them to put one in the boot or the glove box.
A motorhome, of course, is plastic, so there’s nowhere to stick it that would take the magnet. Just put on the floor behind. That would have been a really, really good investment of £20. In the shop we’ve had a load delivered from Spain.
Keith Gooden
And you mentioned them and we’ve discussed this in a past podcast. But if you have a breakdown and it’s battery related or electrical related, you can’t put your hazards on. So these little widgets are a fantastic idea.
Matt Sims
Well, that was my problem. My hazard lights, were just going click, click, slower and slower and dimmer and dimmer. And eventually, they stopped working altogether. And that’s where a beacon would have been ideal. And equally, my phone was going flat. I kept phoning the RAC. I was in a poor network connection are, so the little iPhone was working flat out trying to keep a connection. So a phone charger would have been really useful.
I was fortunate I had my MacBook with me so I could plug the phone into that to keep it charged. But a little portable power pack – we sell a Maypole one. They will actually jumpstart a car. They’re that clever. That would be really useful, and some really obvious stuff like a bottle of water, something to drink, and maybe a bar chocolate or a flapjack or something just to keep your sugar levels up.
Keith Gooden
You’ve got to concentrate on what’s happening around you, even though you’re not going anywhere. And remember, if your hazards have gone and you’re sitting there on an A road like Matt was and you can’t have your hazards on and it’s dangerous to place the warning triangle, because you’ve tried and people are coming up that road at 60 miles an hour – remember on country roads, you don’t have a hard shoulder and there are usually stinging nettles on both sides. If you can’t make yourself obvious, the people coming down the road don’t know that you’ve broken down. They’re doing 60 miles an hour. They’re doing everything right. And then a tragedy happens.
Matt Sims
Yeah, that’s right. And on this particular road, I know there are people travelling at three figures – 100 plus.
Keith Gooden
Well, they shouldn’t be, should they?
Matt Sims
There are often accidents on this particular road where youngsters are driving at a hell of a speed and they get it wrong. And that’s the thing – what do you do when you break down? Well, get out of the car if you can. I couldn’t, as you say. It was just hedgerows and just a big drop into a field. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to go.
Keith Gooden
The ditch? There’s a ditch for drainage by the side of the road.
Matt Sims
There was on this particular road. It was cold as well. I wanted to stay warm. I took the decision to stay in the car.
Keith Gooden
That’s probably not the best advice.
Matt Sims
No, probably not. It was when the hazards went completely that I rang the RAC and said, “Look, it’s been nearly six hours, I need an update.” And that’s when I called 999.
Keith Gooden
Now, imagine if you were a woman on your own and had kids in the back. Before we started recording this, Matt mentioned that people just lie. They just ring up and say, “I’m pregnant,” or, “My wife is having a heart attack.”
Matt Sims
Or, “I’ve got kids in the car.”
Keith Gooden
Don’t lie. Because if everybody lies, the people who really need help aren’t going to get the help. And it could be you.
Matt Sims
Yes, true. Had I lied, would I have received a quicker response? Maybe.
Keith Gooden
Probably, but don’t do it. No, don’t do it. I mean, what if you lie and somebody is killed or abducted, or a child runs into the road and is severely injured? You do care about that. Everybody cares about that.
Matt Sims
Of course. I was in a vulnerable situation and still, you know, that was the level of service I got. So maybe lying wouldn’t have made any difference in my circumstance. But I would say if you can get out of the car and get to safety, then you should. This brings back Edmund King’s comments in the conversation I had with him, the chap who’s president of the AA, about smart motorways.
And I was sat there thinking, “Gosh, if this was on a smart motorway, I would rely on the red X turning on and someone acknowledging it and getting out of the carriageway.” And that’s an even faster road.
Keith Gooden
You would but you do have the option of getting over the barrier, at least, saving your life. We mentioned this before.
Matt Sims
Provided there is one. The M4 has just become a big smart motorway going past Reading. And there are a big lengths of it where yes, there’s a barrier, and it’s a foot, 18 inches behind the barrier and there’s a big wall. So you’re not really protected, are you, behind that barrier? We were driving up there the other day to Campervan Campout. And we were discussing it as we were driving. We said, “Look how little space there is to find safety.” A car hitting that or lorry hitting that – elements of that vehicle are going to bounce over into that void.
Keith Gooden
There’s a tragic story, actually. A friend of mine, a guy called Gus Dudgeon who was a record producer, was travelling back from London to the Reading area with his wife after a party. It must be said, he was over the limit and came off the road in a convertible soft top and went over the barrier. It turned over and ended up in not a ditch but a culvert which carried water away, which happened to be full. They both drowned. So you can’t guard against every accident, but when you’re on the motorway, get over that fence. It doesn’t matter about the car. It just matters about you and the family.
Matt Sims
No. And the reason that wall was there was because there was a huge drop. We looked at it and thought, “Why is the wall there? That’s ridiculous.” Well, it was just the way the landscape was where they had extended the motorway up to the edge. But it just made me think, “Gosh, there’s no space to actually hide away here.” And those refuge points are a long way apart, aren’t they, on the smart motorways.
Keith Gooden
And also it’s coming into summer now heading up towards the longest day as we record this. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s brighter for longer. Accidents can still happen. You’re still at risk, even though it’s not dark. So your list there, that’s a good list – have high viz. Now, I went to France. I’ve been talking about it for ages. I went for a few days. I did. And they insist on a little kit that you’ve got to bring with you. And it is a spare bulb kit, which you can buy for a few pounds, a high vis for every passenger in the car – so if you’ve got a five seater, five high vis jackets.
Matt Sims
Everyone that can walk, yeah.
Keith Gooden
Yeah. Also the triangle you talked about. A first aid kit, just in case you’ve had a bump and somebody needs a plaster or some painkillers. But also, interestingly, and I think it would be good for over here – a little bit off subject – a portable alcohol testing kit to see if you’re over the limit.
Matt Sims
But that’s not a legal requirement anymore. It was a law introduced by the French. It was promptly ignored.
Keith Gooden
I bought them and I thought, “This is a good idea.” When you’re at a party or whatever, just take it. Over the limit? I know it’s a little bit off subject, but I thought that was a good idea.
Matt Sims
They are a good idea. But yeah, that’s a contentious one. We’d all be self-regulating our alcohol intake, wouldn’t we? Basically if you’re driving, don’t drink – simple.
Keith Gooden
It’s as simple as that. And I never do. I never do.
Audience Q&A
Paul: AA success stories
Keith Gooden
Paul Gleave is in Wales. He says, “Matt, this is truly shocking, your experience. I can’t understand how it could possibly take that long to get to you. I insure my van with Comfort Insurance and opt into the recovery service offered by them. I’ve had to use them three times for breakdowns and every time the AA have been with me within the hour.
It doesn’t specify that it will be the AA in the insurance documents, but they must be the preferred provider. I can’t fault their service – they’ve always been excellent.” I must quickly say, just to balance that, I was thrown out of the AA. I had a Skoda Superb, and when the headlights go on the old versions of that, you had to take out half the air conditioning ducting. So I had to call them every time. After three times they sent me a letter saying, “We really don’t want you to be a member of this organisation anymore.” So thanks for your comments.
Matt Sims
It’s struck me as an odd name for a car – Skoda Superb.
Keith Gooden
A very good car! A very good car.
Matt Sims
Heated windscreens to keep your hands warm when you’re pushing it!
Mick: Breakdown services and blue badge holders
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden and Motorhome. Matt. You’ve been getting in touch on this subject. Mick Collier is in Barnstable. “Hi, Matt, regarding your troubles, which breakdown service would you advise especially as I’m disabled and a blue badge holder?” I mentioned this briefly earlier on. But what’s your advice? And I suppose he’s asking you which one to sign up to? And that’s not really our thing. We shouldn’t really be doing that, should we?
Matt Sims
No. I mean, you’re a blue badge holder, Keith.
Keith Gooden
I am indeed. Yeah.
Matt Sims
Does have any bearing for you on a breakdown service?
Keith Gooden
I’m a blue badge holder because I was born with two club feet due to my mum taking a drug called thalidomide, which affects how fast and how far I can walk. And I have a blue badge for that. However, if I broke down, I wouldn’t necessarily say I was disabled because I’d be sitting in my car waiting for the breakdown service to arrive. So I think there’s light and shade here. Just because you have a blue badge doesn’t mean to say your disability precludes you from waiting in a queue.
Matt Sims
No. And I guess it depends what the disability is and the reason for the blue badge.
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. People might need to take medicines, for instance, at specific times, and their medicines are at home and they’re stuck on a road. It might be that you have somebody with bladder or bowel problems, which are difficult problems and issues, and have mitigations which need to be seen to every few hours. So there are lots of different reasons, but for me as a blue badge holder, it’s to do with mobility. And actually, the situation you were in, it wouldn’t have affected me.
Matt Sims
No, and I think it depends on what vehicle you’re driving as well. For me, I have RAC Arrival because it is motorhome specific cover. So that’s important to me. It covers cars and motorbikes as well, as we know. So I would consider, Mick, what are you driving? And if you need cover for a motorhome that’s over seven metres, then I think RAC arrival is probably the best product for you on paper.
Nick: Should I wait to buy an electric leisure vehicle or go with diesel now?
Keith Gooden
Okay, we’ve got Nick Bannister, who has actually recorded something for us.
Nick
Hi, Matt, thanks for your excellent episode on the future of motorhomes which I’ve just listened to with regard to electric motorhomes. I’m thinking of buying one, a Chausson 640. But this just made me think really whether this is the right time to buy a diesel Euro 6 version of that vehicle, or should I wait for the Euro 7 version to come out?
Also, is it worth waiting for an electric motorhome to be developed and come out? How long will that be? Or shall I just go ahead and buy the current diesel version? And how many years use am I going to get out of it, bearing in mind that more and more restrictions and zones are going to come in as diesel is phased out. Is now the right time to invest in diesel or wait for something better to come along?
Keith Gooden
Well, Nick, we’ve listened to your question for many hours. It was a long one. Thanks very much, by the way. Next week’s podcast is going to answer all your questions, isn’t it, Matt?
Matt Sims
It is. Yeah, we had a visit from Ryan Bowdidge. Nick, you would have encountered Ryan at the Campervan Campout future of electric motorhomes episode, because Ryan was on the panel with me. And Ryan is in charge of Ford Pro, which is all leisure vehicles from Ford. And Ryan came into the studio just a few days ago and we recorded a brilliant episode on the future of electric transit and where Ford is going on this journey to zero emissions. So Nick, I actually asked Ryan to answer your question, and this is what he had to say.
Ryan Bowdidge
I mean, first of all, the first question is, is now a good time to buy a diesel motorhome? And I think the answer to that is yes, of course. It’s absolutely fine to to buy a diesel motorhome today. All of the powertrains are to the latest emission standards. Of course, the question is, what do you want to do with your vehicle, right? How far do you want to go? Where do you want to go with it?
And that will probably then drive your decision as to whether an electric motorhome is appropriate. Is it going to work for what you want to do with it? Or are you okay to stay with a diesel? Of course, things change. There’s lots of government legislation that’s moving around all the time in terms of where you can and can’t take your diesel vehicles or diesel motorhomes. But I think it’s fair to say that for a significant amount of time, yes, you’re going to be able to go away in your diesel vehicle. That’s not going to be a problem.
Matt Sims
And this is what’s prompting his procrastination if I can call it that. Should I hang on for electric? I mean, in reality from Ford’s perspective, a transit van that’s electric, so the Chausson 640, is some years away, isn’t it?
Ryan Bowdidge
So E-Transit is out there today. And there are various converters, working with E-Transit to see how the future of electrified motorhomes is going to work. And there’s lots of work and lots of understanding and learning to be done there. Again, I think it will be a time before we see a mass market approach to E-motorhomes.
Again, leisure vehicle customers are at the bookend spectrum of what they want to do with their vehicles, right? They’re big, heavy vehicles, they want to go on long distance journeys. And so the technology and the infrastructure has got a way to go before you really get what you want out of a e-motorhome.
Matt Sims
Ryan’s back with us next week. A really interesting episode is coming up. If you’re interested in what the future of motorhomes might be, then we get the Ford perspective on it. And it’s very interesting. There are some exciting things coming. Not all electric, interestingly. We discuss alternative zero emission fuels as well, because I think they’re going to be part of our future. So stay tuned for that.
Dave: Do they make extendable porta potties?
Keith Gooden
Okay, then – we’ve talked death and destruction, long waiting times, money, all sorts of things. Let’s finish on a toilet question, shall we?
Matt Sims
Back to normal.
Keith Gooden
Dave has dropped one of the paper forms from one of the shows into us. Thanks for the question, Dave. “Do they do extendable porta potties? The pot is quite small.” What does he mean, extendable?
Matt Sims
I guess he means taller. I’m guessing that’s what you mean, Dave. I would say one of the tallest ones I know is the Thetford 565P, as it’s a little bit taller than the normal 165P.
Keith Gooden
P for pee and poo?
Matt Sims
If you want it to be. Well, that’s what you do in it! So yeah, I would look at the 565P. You can find one at www.thatleisureshop.com, obviously, but that’s one of the tallest ones I know. They are low to the ground, though. It’s true. I guess it’s so they can be put into a cupboard. It may be worth making yourself a little wooden box to put underneath it and making it less of a crouch.
Keith Gooden
Is that a technical term?
Matt Sims
That’s it. That’s the official term.
Keith Gooden
Less of a crouch.
Get in touch with Matt and Keith
Keith Gooden
Well, there you go. That’s us done and dusted for this week. Thanks for staying with us right to the end. How do people get in touch with us, Matt?
Matt Sims
We would love it if you did. You can go to our website, www.motorhomematt.co.uk/askmatt. And there you can record your question. Please tell us where you are. We love knowing where our listeners are in the world. You can record your question there and you’ll feature on the podcast, or you can just enter into the form and press submit.
You’ll also find us on YouTube as Motorhome Matt, where you’ll find a lot more content and some longer extended content as well. So go and check out the YouTube channel. Whilst you’re there, make sure you hit subscribe and hit the little bell and then YouTube can tell you when we release new content!
