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RAC Advance

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RAC Advance

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I've read about this in a couple of places, now... -- and yet I remain terribly unconvinced. :rolleyes:

I admit it would be nice to have something like FES/MES permanently connected... -- but £10 a month seems a high price to pay. And how will they ensure it works with all makes and models...? :confused:

I'd therefore be interested in other people's opinions, please.... :eek:
 
I'd never heard of it,
presumably a code-reader / broadcaster,
however , most fault codes appear to be pretty broadranging,
and the chance of the van picking up the correct replacement part to fix the fault properly will be pretty low in my estimation,

£120 a year get you VERY good conventional breakdown cover,

Charlie
 
all new cars have to be OBDII compliant, as such the fault codes produced on a ford for say a dodgy injector will be the same code generated on a range rover for the same problem or a fiat 500 so if OBDII compliant the device will work.

you can buy OBDII data logger which is permanently plugged in while you drive and you can check it periodically to see if there are or have been any problems recorded which the ECU may not have stored.

this RAC device has a build in sim card and can report any faults to RAC who can then inform you to act upon the information.

in theory its all good but if you look after your car well with regular maintenance then its not going to do a great deal to help you avoid break downs, it might tell them in advice whats gone wrong so if they need to they can pick up parts on route
 
"One-in-three-cars-will-break-down-over-the-next-12-months"

I have two cars, am I more or less likely to breakdown?

If I had four cars would the fourth one be immune to breaking down?

Stoopid statistics :mad:

I have good breakdown cover included in my NFU insurance, I wouldn't pay for separate cover no matter how technically advanced.

Won't they just ring you up and tell you to take it to the garage anyway?
 
Last edited:
Place I used to work at had a monitored alarm system.
Every time the alarm went off, I had to attend & hang around for ages to wait for an engineer to come out just to tap in a couple of numbers - evwen for false alarms.
This cost a fortune.
When we whinged about the cost & threatened to move alarm company, they came and installed a special keypad - so whenever thre alarm was activated, I could simply ring the company & they would give me a reset code - this 'service' still cost, but nowhere near as much as having an engineer out.
But I noted the number of false alarms increased!

There was an incident with a local alarm company who made and installed systems. Trading standards had a large number of complaints from people saying that the alarms went faulty just out of warranty. A proper engineer pulled a system apart & found a timer built into the circuitry. The purpose of this seemed to be to cause a random fault at a random time after 12 months had passed.

I couldn't help wondering just how much communicating our alarm system was doing with the company?

A sim card in a mobile phone enables 2-way comms.
A sim card in an OBD2 plug?

Call me an old cynic but . . .
Isn't the job of the digital dash to warn drivers of impending problems?
 
sludgeguts said:
A proper engineer pulled a system apart & found a timer built into the circuitry. The purpose of this seemed to be to cause a random fault at a random time after 12 months had passed.
Click to expand...

Most industial alarm systems have this in the programming menu..... Used on contracted system but must be informed consent from the customer before installation
 
sludgeguts said:
Isn't the job of the digital dash to warn drivers of impending problems?
Click to expand...

driver sees light, checks handbook, handbook says take car to fiat dealer.

you pay rac for a box, they see light is on they ring you and say take car to rac service centre, they make money out of box, money out of repair and save the cost of sending a man out :chin:
 
dave said:
driver sees light, checks handbook, handbook says take car to fiat dealer.

you pay rac for a box, they see light is on they ring you and say take car to rac service centre, they make money out of box, money out of repair and save the cost of sending a man out :chin:
Click to expand...
Indeed.

You pay rac for expensive box, rac ring you at random intervals giving you some scare story, worrying the bejeesus out of many who know nothing about cars. they take to main dealer who says there are no faults, gullible owner rings rac & tells them what the dealer says, rac tap on a keyboard & advise driver to take to one of their approved centres - who, amazingly, find an intermitent fault (hence why the dealer couldn't find any).
 
sludgeguts said:
Seriously? Who on earth would agree to a chip being installed specifically to break the device?
Click to expand...

It is a requirement under some BS code and some act to do with "red care" type systems where its monitored and the monitoring station or alarm system connects to the police in event of activation..

Part of that standard requires the system to be serviced annually from memory If not the system is programmed to disable itself due to legal reasons that the police dont want to be swamped with Distress calls from a old system which throws a fault due to low battery voltage dusty detectors...


But the Owner of the system should be made aware of this before contracting the alarm company to install and maintain the system (y)
 

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Andy Monty said:
It is a requirement under some BS code and some act to do with "red care" type systems where its monitored and the monitoring station or alarm system connects to the police in event of activation..

Part of that standard requires the system to be serviced annually from memory If not the system is programmed to disable itself due to legal reasons that the police dont want to be swamped with Distress calls from a old system which throws a fault due to low battery voltage dusty detectors...


But the Owner of the system should be made aware of this before contracting the alarm company to install and maintain the system (y)
Click to expand...

Ahh, see. but the system TS were interested in were simple domestics & not monitored. the systems weren't being disbaled, they were going completely wrong.
The system we had at work WAS monitored & regularly maintained, we even had an agreement to update components as and when. In 15 years every PIR was replaced and the panel was replaced (twice) as well as a complete rewire. And yet we still had false alarms!
 
sludgeguts said:
Ahh, see. but the system TS were interested in were simple domestics & not monitored. the systems weren't being disbaled, they were going completely wrong.
The system we had at work WAS monitored & regularly maintained, we even had an agreement to update components as and when. In 15 years every PIR was replaced and the panel was replaced (twice) as well as a complete rewire. And yet we still had false alarms!
Click to expand...

Ah right fair enough the sneeky sods...


On this RAC box thingy how long before they start using it to monitor your driving it will have access to speed engine speed data.. imagine if your insured with RAC as well... Think black box that rats on you if you have a heavy right foot moment :eek:


Suppose if you saw this stalking you for mile after a mile you might get suspicious that your about to break down :p

8010367716_805576166b_z.jpg
 
Andy Monty said:
On this RAC box thingy how long before they start using it to monitor your driving it will have access to speed engine speed data.. imagine if your insured with RAC as well... Think black box that rats on you if you have a heavy right foot moment :eek:
Click to expand...


we will attend your break down however our data suggests that in the hour before your car had broken down you were driving at 80mph for extended periods on the motor way on which you are currently stranded as this is illegal we are going to have to charge you extra as you've been mistreating your vehicle and your RAC car insurance policy is under review.
this information will also be shared with your RAC warranty
 
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