Citroen Breakdown in France & AA International Breakdown

nobbytucker · Post by **nobbytucker** » 06 Apr 2008, 20:07

Hi all,

I'm having some problems working out what to do to get my Xantia fixed. (This is what happened http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=23617 ).

It's at a Citroen Garage near Dijon, and the AA are telling me they don't do written quotes in France, as once they quote they are committed to that figure?? They are saying that fixing something on the clutch will cost €1,200, but are being a bit vague about what, and this may not be a complete quote.

So to tell me what needs doing on my clutch, they claim they need to remove the gearbox (3.5 hours labour) look to see what needs doing and then put the gearbox back (another 3.5 hours labour). Of course they want me to pay to do that...

The AA messed us around getting us back to the UK, and I'm not trusting what I'm being told by them now. Can anyone comment on this please?

Post by **CitroJim** » 06 Apr 2008, 20:11

I'm sorry to hear of your problems Nobby

What are the exact symptoms of your clutch failure and is yours the 110 HDi with the hydraulic clutch?

nobbytucker · Post by **nobbytucker** » 06 Apr 2008, 20:33

Hiya Jim, well we had a great holiday and this was the only thing that went wrong

The car had a fair bit of wear on those steep mountain roads, but no clutch noise or anything unusual to report. We pulled into a layby and it started making some screeching sounds as I changed gear. I then drove for about 2 hours in 5th without changing gear, and when I went to change down noticed that the pedal was laying flat on the floor!

It's a hydraulic clutch on a petrol Xantia 2.0 exclusive petrol estate. Anything else I should have noticed do you think?

BTW thanks for the advice on changing the spheres, the ride over there was awesome

Post by **CitroJim** » 06 Apr 2008, 21:01

Pleased the holiday was excellent despite the car Nobby

Sorry I got your engine wrong Nobby

My money is on the release bearing having collapsed rather than a simple failure of the clutch hydraulics

The release bearing on these is a funny old thing and is very similar in operation to the "pull" clutch used on the 1.9TD. It is a pull clutch and the release bearing is held tightly to the clutch diaphragm spring with a snap-ring. The clutch is pulled out of enaggement by the push of the slave cylinder pushrod operating on a pivoted fork in much the same way, conceptually, as the 1.9TD/BE3 pull clutch. The main difference is that all the mechanism except the slave cylinder is all within the bellhousing.

In any case, the gearbox will have to come off and a new clutch kit fitted. Intrinsically, this is the same job as a BE3 but to re-engage the release bearing, a special tool is needed.

The risk with the quote is that they may find the clutch slave cylinder pushrod has popped out of the save cylinder and if this is the case, the whole hydraulic system will need replacing; master and slave cylinders as they are a sealed, pre-bled unit. The pushrod popping may have caused all the fluid to leak out and I don't think they can be rescued (by a dealer) when this happens. The worry here is that the clutch pedal is on the floor.

Obstensively, a quote of 1200 Euros is not bad considering the work needed. A new hydraulic system will add around another 300 Euros in parts and say, an hour more time.

Gammy leg · Post by **Gammy leg** » 07 Apr 2008, 09:18

Nobby,

Presumably the AA cover doesn't include recovery of the vehicle back to blighty? I thought that this was a standard item when getting european cover. I will definitely check my policy next time I travel.
I must say that I don't usually use AA when I go abroad as they tend to be the most expensive but I would have expected that recovery back to UK was a basic inclusion.

Gammy

Post by **myglaren** » 07 Apr 2008, 11:34

Can't say definitively and it is no help her but I'm sure Green Flag drag the vehicles back from abroad.
This based on my daughter's last trip to France, she had her SAAB covered and hadn't even got the paperwork back when she left.
She was towing a trailer full of mountain bikes that disintegrated just on exit from the Blackwall tunnel.
They recovered the trailer but recovery from France was never tested.

Gammy leg · Post by **Gammy leg** » 07 Apr 2008, 16:11

Nobby,

Having just read the T&C's of the AA recovery policy ( extract below ), can I assume that they have calculated that the cost of recovery back to UK exceeds the current value of the car? If not can, you not request they repatriate the car minus any repairs that are needed. This will allow you many happy weekends trying to fix it yourself - with the help of the forum of course.

Vehicle recovery to the UK or onward to your original destination
If repairs cannot be completed in time for your planned return home.

What we will cover
The cost of unaccompanied recovery for your vehicle, up to its current market value, to a single destination being either a) your UK permanent home address or b) your nominated vehicle repairer in the UK or c) your original destination within the European Breakdown Cover territorial limits, providing the cost does not exceed the cost of repatriating to your UK home address.

We will also cover any reasonable storage charges incurred in the recovery.

What we will not cover
Recovery of your vehicle if we calculate it to be beyond commercial economic repair. We will never pay more than the value of the vehicle to bring it home. If we advise you that your vehicle is beyond commercial economic repair, we will give you up to 8 weeks after the original incident to agree suitable alternative arrangements with us for the recovery or disposal of your vehicle. If we have no agreement after 8 weeks, we will consider you have authorised us to dispose of your vehicle.

Gammy

citroenesque · Post by **citroenesque** » 08 Apr 2008, 10:53

Last year I had a Toyota TownAce and we took it to France on holiday. On day one, after 300 miles driving in France the torque converter went. We had AA Five Star cover (cost nearly £100 for two weeks

) but what that got us was:

• the vehicle was recovered to a local garage.
• We were offered a hire car (took up the offer - a new diesel 407sw with sat nav and everything 8) ) for the rest of our holiday.
• unsurprisingly, the garage said they couldn't fix it so the AA offered to either a) recover the car to the UK with me accompanying it straight away or b) wait a couple of weeks for it to be recovered, unaccompanied, to the UK. I chose the latter of course.
• At the end of our holiday, at Calais I swapped the 407 for a brand new UK registered C4 Picasso (don't bother BTW

) and drove it home. I had to return the car the next day.

Cost? The fuel - oh and the inconvenience (OK, I guess!) of going to pick the hire car up... (and we elected to take the optional damage waiver on the car hire which cost c.£100 over two weeks).

We never had anything but exemplary service from the AA in this instance (in fact - and I may be lucky - it has always been the case over the last 20 years when I've had cause to call them).

bencowell · Post by **bencowell** » 08 Apr 2008, 22:09

citroenesque wrote:• At the end of our holiday, at Calais I swapped the 407 for a brand new UK registered C4 Picasso (don't bother BTW ) and drove it home. I had to return the car the next day.

What was wrong with it?

Ben

nobbytucker · Post by **nobbytucker** » 08 Apr 2008, 23:10

Thats very helpful, with that amount of work required, getting it back here to repair sounds like the best option. (I'm waiting for the AA to confirm what's wrong).

They will recover if as you say the value is higher than the cost. Strangely they have opted for a high value for the car (£1,600) while Parkers value it as £1,600-£700. They also told me it will cost £1,060 to recover it.

citroenesque · Post by **citroenesque** » 09 Apr 2008, 10:25

bencowell wrote:C4 Picasso (don't bother BTW ) What was wrong with it?

Ben

Well, for a start it's got one of those awful electric handbrakes, the auto box was awful and lurched when changing, the seats were too short in the base for me (tall) and the visibility - although better than the Picasso it replaces - was not good rearwards. Also, surprisingly sluggish off the line.

Not a BAD car per se, just not a GOOD one. We may well have been unlucky. The car had 14 miles on it when we picked it up so may have loosened up over time. Even so, if I'd just driven out of a Citroen dealership having coughed up £X,000's for it I wouldn't have been that happy.

Build quality was good, it was quiet and well-designed (mostly).

Thing is, I guess there are better MPVs out there.

On the other hand I would have been more unhappy driving out of a Peugeot dealer's in a new 407SW. That was very long and wide considering the limited cabin space. It drove well but was just too gimmicky. Huge, out-of-sight front overhang made parking, well, interesting.

But it would be churlish to complain. The AA facilitated the car hire, and I can't really moan that Hertz only had those vehicles for me at such short notice. It got us out of a very deep hole. Shame the weather and accommodation conspired to make our stay in Normandy a bit of a damp squib. but that's another story.