Good morning,
on the afternoon of Thursday 21st August 2025 we (myself, wife and two teenage boys) were on our return journey to Brittany Ferries Caen (2330 departure) from the Lorient area after a 2 week break. Unfortunately our car broke down on the N24 near to Josselin at approximately 1715. This was a rather scary situation as we were towing our caravan and lost engine power. Fortunately we had our hi vis vests and warning triangle, and after some brief confusion due to the language barrier we were quickly recovered by the local recovery service arranged by the motorway authority (approved by the RAC hotline who spoke to them). We have Comprehensive cover including European breakdown through our bank.
Thankfully, the car and caravan were quickly recovered to a yard near Josselin.
Unfortunately due to the time, the RAC could not provide a hire car for us to complete our return journey until 0900 the following morning, and we were told there was no accommodation available locally within budget. Fortunately I managed to amend our return ferry to the following evening and the recovery proprietor explained we could stay in the caravan on his yard, which we did.
After a rather disturbed nights sleep, the hire car failed to arrive at 0900 on 22/08/25 as we were told the previous evening. Another call to the RAC European Breakdown team and we were told we had to make our way to the hire car centre in Vannes, 50km away. They kindly booked us a taxi which arrived promptly, but we had to pay for this ourselves.
The car and caravan were left in the recovery yard, which the proprietor said would not be able to diagnose/fix the fault with the car.
The hire car procedure then worked smoothly and we were able to make our return ferry and further hire car to complete our journey home in the UK.
We are now left with the car and caravan in the yard in France with no communication from the RAC breakdown team about our options. I did have a call from a UK based technical expert trying to diagnose the issue, who basically said it needs the onboard diagnostics checking.
I believe as the repairs could not be completed on time for our return journey, the car and caravan should be repatriated under the breakdown cover, rather than repaired in France and left for me to make a return trip.
Please can you confirm this is the case in writing on here/email and that someone will contact us with details or options as the communication is minimal.
We do realise it is also your busiest period, so some delay is understandable.
Many thanks,
Jim
on the afternoon of Thursday 21st August 2025 we (myself, wife and two teenage boys) were on our return journey to Brittany Ferries Caen (2330 departure) from the Lorient area after a 2 week break. Unfortunately our car broke down on the N24 near to Josselin at approximately 1715. This was a rather scary situation as we were towing our caravan and lost engine power. Fortunately we had our hi vis vests and warning triangle, and after some brief confusion due to the language barrier we were quickly recovered by the local recovery service arranged by the motorway authority (approved by the RAC hotline who spoke to them). We have Comprehensive cover including European breakdown through our bank.
Thankfully, the car and caravan were quickly recovered to a yard near Josselin.
Unfortunately due to the time, the RAC could not provide a hire car for us to complete our return journey until 0900 the following morning, and we were told there was no accommodation available locally within budget. Fortunately I managed to amend our return ferry to the following evening and the recovery proprietor explained we could stay in the caravan on his yard, which we did.
After a rather disturbed nights sleep, the hire car failed to arrive at 0900 on 22/08/25 as we were told the previous evening. Another call to the RAC European Breakdown team and we were told we had to make our way to the hire car centre in Vannes, 50km away. They kindly booked us a taxi which arrived promptly, but we had to pay for this ourselves.
The car and caravan were left in the recovery yard, which the proprietor said would not be able to diagnose/fix the fault with the car.
The hire car procedure then worked smoothly and we were able to make our return ferry and further hire car to complete our journey home in the UK.
We are now left with the car and caravan in the yard in France with no communication from the RAC breakdown team about our options. I did have a call from a UK based technical expert trying to diagnose the issue, who basically said it needs the onboard diagnostics checking.
I believe as the repairs could not be completed on time for our return journey, the car and caravan should be repatriated under the breakdown cover, rather than repaired in France and left for me to make a return trip.
Please can you confirm this is the case in writing on here/email and that someone will contact us with details or options as the communication is minimal.
We do realise it is also your busiest period, so some delay is understandable.
Many thanks,
Jim
