All back from France

[Mash]

For those of you who seen our pleas for help when our gearbox broke last month in France, the van is finally back home this afternoon.

Being worried about the breakdown cover repatriating the van I thought I'd refrain from posting until the van was home.

In the last week of July our van got stuck in gear on the site and refused to change gear or go into neutral. As second hand 5 speeds are like hens teeth my preferred option of swapping boxes and continuing on wasn't going to happen.

We had breakdown cover from Brittania Rescue and phoned up for assistance. From then we dealt with their European people, IMA. A breakdown truck was despatched and arrived at the site. The driver was convinced it was the gear selector and the local VW garage would be able to sort it. I tried to say that I'd already checked the linkage and selector but he knew best.

The VW garage was only 4km away which was lucky as the driver only had a 2 seat cab so me and Ash had to travel in the front of our van on top of the breakdown truck, the only H&S concession was making sure we had the handbrake on.

Managed to arrive in time for the famous 2 hour long French lunches so got to spend more time waiting. After lunch the mechanics seemed to be avoiding us until someone drew the short straw and had to speak to the 'Anglais'.

3 hours later we got the confirmation that the box was knackered. The breakdown people were convinced that they could find another garage to fix the box despite us telling them it was useless. Problem we had was if the van could be fixed within 8 days we had to wait for it or pick it up later. Cheaper for the recovery but leaves us with a large French repair bill.

Wee problem on the first night because the breakdown people didn't twig that as the van was a camper we had no accomodation. 2 hours later we managed to get put up in a hotel after the worlds shortest taxi ride (600m).

Long story short next day we had to leave the van at the VW garage and leave town on a hire car for a late rush to Calais. Note for anyone who might breakdown, our cover only allowed us to travel as foot passengers, this meant we had to cancel our booking with DFDS (no foot passengers) and get rebooked with P&O. We could only take what we could walk with and easily carry. Was quite worrried about leaving our tools, valuables and bikes in the van but we couldn't carry that much once we had a couple of changes of clothes.

Finally arrived back in Scotland on 31st July, but that at this point the resuce people were still gathering quotes for repatriation and hadn't decided if it was financally worthwhile. Very worried leaving the van without knowing when we'd see it again.

Amazingly it took until about the 6th August before anyone called me to confirm the repatriation had been approved.

Was a relief to finally see the van again this afternoon. It was in good company as it came over with 2 other T25s, both with knackered clutches.

In review despite spending a lot of time workng on the van before we left you can't cover every eventuallity and still need the back up of breakdown cover. Our biggest worrries were the level of cover as our policy only covered accomodation or hire car, which isn't useful when you use your van as both and having to leave the van without knowing if it will be repatriated under your policy.

For our 3rd European tour we've been lucky so far this was our first big breakdown. Hasn't put us off though. Refurbished gearbox will be going in soon, new stainless steel exhaust then over to Belgium and Germany before christmas.

Matt

[Taw Cottage]

Hi Guys

Really pleased to hear you've got your bus back home , your experience should make us all realise how valuable European Recovery cover is.

The lesson endeth with "Don't cross the channel without the necessary cover"

Steve

[Louey]

Sounds bloomin scary leaving your van hundreds of miles away and not knowing when it will be back. Glad it hasn't put you off though

[Mickyfin]

Great news all ended well, can't imagine how you got through those sleepless nights not knowing when you would see your bus again!

[MacWilliam]

.......
The lesson endeth with "Don't cross the channel without the necessary cover"
Steve

Or you could register on T3Zone.com where I have opened an English speaking "salon". Volonteers members drove from Paris free of charge and have successfully managed to change a gearbox on an Irish T3 stranded in Roscoff 2 years ago in less than 24 hours.
Last year we rescued a Danish van, found a replacement jx engine and fitted it in Orleans.
Rescue insurance is great, but self-help, networking and friends are golden.
The T3 community does not stop in Dover. 700 T3 owners are registered as St-Bernards on this site and will help you if you also register. You do not have to be a skilled mechanic, but your help would be top class for a non english speaker in distress needing the address of a reliable mechanic in your area.