Breakdowns on French motorways

[Hacksawbob]

This may be a daft question but is this only on Toll roads? or does this apply to all French motorways, .......

wiki'd

[getunder]

Re. Gruntfuttocks comments. The only gratuitously rude people I met in my travels in Europe were other English people. Say no more. On one trip abroad I travelled as a guest in their countries through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, and back through Switzerland. I have also driven in Spain. should I expect to be able to speak and understand all of them ?. Speaking it is one thing, understanding what they say is another as they do jabber so.

[Cruz]

How do you pronouce a reg number in french?

[luvlyjubbly]

I can confirm that French Police do not speak English so have your appropriate Phrases written down. Also remember some Aires are split over both sides of the motorway and make sure you tell l them which side otherwise you can wait hours until you phone up again as nobody has arrived. As foriegners you will be ripped off by the garage as I was charged equivalent to £150 for a new Bosch starter motor while the identical one was £95 in the UK. Stopping at a crash involving a UK car I found that the of the services attending 4 police, 2 medical personnel, 2 fire brigade people and the tow truck not one of whom spoke English. I was left stood in the road with a phrase book trying to remember schoolboy French from 1953.

ahhhhhhhh never go on the toll roads or motorways....stick to the N roads...always stop for a brew when u want too....and always a local garage handy...

[randomjord]

How do you pronouce a reg number in french?

Le Rég Numbre

[AdrianC]

I can confirm that French Police do not speak English so have your appropriate Phrases written down...
Stopping at a crash involving a UK car I found that the of the services attending 4 police, 2 medical personnel, 2 fire brigade people and the tow truck not one of whom spoke English. I was left stood in the road with a phrase book trying to remember schoolboy French from 1953.

you are a guest in their country, and you dont have the decency to speak at least some of their language.

I idly wonder what percentage of British tow truck drivers speak French, let alone German, Italian, Spanish and whatever else their customers may have as their native languages...

[grenjs]

*SNIP* .... the clip went through the tire, it deflated pretty much instantly at 60 mph and the wheel ripped off...

I would never have believed that a blow-out regardless of your speed would literally rip the inner wheel hub with that huge (split-pinned) castle nut off like that.

Out of interest, when was the wheel hub and castle nut last checked for tightness prior to your mishap?

[Cruz]

Can you change a wheel at the side of a French motorway or do you have to call the cops for everything?

[blacky]

*SNIP* .... the clip went through the tire, it deflated pretty much instantly at 60 mph and the wheel ripped off...

I would never have believed that a blow-out regardless of your speed would literally rip the inner wheel hub with that huge (split-pinned) castle nut off like that.

Out of interest, when was the wheel hub and castle nut last checked for tightness prior to your mishap?

Have to agree here, worked at V.W. dealers since mid 60's and can't see how an instant blowout at speed can cause a large split pin to shear and an axle nut to come off causing brake drum to detatch.....despite the photographic evidence.

[jamiehamy]

Bit late to this with my experience, but thought I'd share.

I was near Toulouse in my Corrado year before last and had to stop with blue smoke pouring out the back. Luckily I managed to get right into a layby with a SOS phone and my old Maw is a French teacher.

They sent a truck and took us to a local Citroen garage. Could see us being there for days, but I had my tools and the proprietor was more than happy for me to try fix it. Front end off, tiny nick in the oil pipe, replaced with a bit of copper pipe the proprietor found, 2 hours later back on the road.

I was charged a fee of about E100 for the recovery, which is set each year by the government acording to the garage.

[chrisbarnard]

Broke down in France last year with knackered gearbox - full details elsewhere on this forum but the pertinent parts here;

Having purchased RAC European cover I was told "English speaking assistance available 24/7" - no-one told me that when you break down on a motorway YOU have to call the police. The RAC guys can't do it for you.

French for broken down was "Je suis en panne" which the policeman got straight away.

He couldn't seem to grasp that I was calling from a mobile phone and kept insisting that I gave him the number from the emergency phone (cabin)

Once communication and location was sorted we were taken off the motorway by a local company; us on top of their flatbed and another car on the spectacle lift on the back. Back at their garage the other driver paid around €140 whilst we never paid a thing.

They garage we first arrived at expected us to have not only our breakdown cover details but also our insurance, log book etc etc. Were we supposed to take those with us?

This site http://french.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/alphabet.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; may be useful to brush up your schoolboy French pronounciation

Chris

[AdrianC]

They garage we first arrived at expected us to have not only our breakdown cover details but also our insurance, log book etc etc. Were we supposed to take those with us?

Definitely...

Even in the UK it's an offence to not be able to produce them when required - producing them at a police station within 7 days is a defence to it, though.

[Ralf85]

Broke down in France last year with knackered gearbox - full details elsewhere on this forum but the pertinent parts here;

Having purchased RAC European cover I was told "English speaking assistance available 24/7" - no-one told me that when you break down on a motorway YOU have to call the police. The RAC guys can't do it for you.

French for broken down was "Je suis en panne" which the policeman got straight away.

He couldn't seem to grasp that I was calling from a mobile phone and kept insisting that I gave him the number from the emergency phone (cabin)

Chris

Yes they want you to give the number of the emergency phone so they can track you down precisely. A French phrase book is essential so you can tell them the basics. The Berlitz French phrase book has the basics. At some point I will try and put up a few more phrases when I have a moment. I started by copying out the basics to save looking for the phrases when you have enough to think about when you break down and for when you find a garage and you want to ask for help.

Patrick

[ghop99]

I am in France and the moment, sadly without my syncro, had to travel with my passat this time, but following this thread with great interest. A cheat sheet to all this would be a great addition to the glovebox for future ref.

[oorwullie]

my cheat sheet is simply don't use the french autoroutes.

but being scots i do regularly scoot around towns on the free bits.

nearly came unstuck late last tuesday afternoon in grenoble but just managed to exit before "le bouchon" and spent an hour following my nose through parts of the town even the locals never see and emerged succesfully on the north side to get to where i was going just before they closed.

here's a pic from whit sunday of scenes you wont see driving the autoroutes.