Thursday, 01 May 2008
Hmm. Bit of a mixed bag of a day. Got off at 10ish having said good bye to everyone and had a really good run. Until about 150 in when suddenly I could hear screeching. Looking in the mirrors I could see tyre smoke coming from Paolo, the MX5. Pulled over straight away and kind hearted chap pulled in and said the rear wheels kept locking. My immediate thought was that the brakes had come on suddenly, so I checked everything – fine. Moved on a bit further, but same again, so pulled over and unhitched the car. Mind, it was a busy road near a roundabout. Perfect – not! Said to Amanda drive behind until we get to a layby and we’ll sort it out. It was at this point we became suspicious that there was something was amiss when he kept going backwards in neutral. And wouldn’t go forwards. So, one buggered gearbox then. Rang Mazda Assistance and they sprang into action and sent an RAC van to tell me what I already knew and that we’d need a flat bed, which I’d already told them. Apart from this little breakdown in communication, we cannot fault the service. Everything was arranged and I rang a dealer in Bognor Regis to take the car in. The chap with the flatbed loaded Paolo up and took him away and we made our way to Angmering to our site. Courtesy car is booked for the morning and then we’ll have a chat with the garage after brunch with my aunt who lives nearby.
I suspect I may have a little battle on my hands with Mazda over a towed vehicle, but when we ordered the car, we made sure that they were happy with the fact it was being A-framed and that the warranty would stand. Watch, as they say, this space.
So, it looks as though we’ll be having a week or so in and around Worthing to enjoy. An unexpected surprise, but we’ll make the most of it and see family and visit childhood haunts. My Nan lived here and we would visit regularly and go the sea and play on the green adjoining. We had a holiday caravan down there for years and I have a lot of very fond memories. Happy times. I’m sure a lot has changed, but one thing that won’t have ( I hope) is the amusement arcade on Worthing Pier. We’ll have a trip down the boards and memory lane with that one! Whilst we’re jaunting about, we’ll see about a trailer for the car. I don’t want this happening again, especially abroad. A trailer was the last thing I wanted to have as they are cumbersome and a pain to deal with. But, I guess we’ll have to go down that route to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Yet another expensive lesson, although this shouldn’t have happened I don’t think. There are hundreds of cars being A-framed, including MX5s, so we have just been desperately unlucky. But could it happen again?
Hmm. Bit of a mixed bag of a day. Got off at 10ish having said good bye to everyone and had a really good run. Until about 150 in when suddenly I could hear screeching. Looking in the mirrors I could see tyre smoke coming from Paolo, the MX5. Pulled over straight away and kind hearted chap pulled in and said the rear wheels kept locking. My immediate thought was that the brakes had come on suddenly, so I checked everything – fine. Moved on a bit further, but same again, so pulled over and unhitched the car. Mind, it was a busy road near a roundabout. Perfect – not! Said to Amanda drive behind until we get to a layby and we’ll sort it out. It was at this point we became suspicious that there was something was amiss when he kept going backwards in neutral. And wouldn’t go forwards. So, one buggered gearbox then. Rang Mazda Assistance and they sprang into action and sent an RAC van to tell me what I already knew and that we’d need a flat bed, which I’d already told them. Apart from this little breakdown in communication, we cannot fault the service. Everything was arranged and I rang a dealer in Bognor Regis to take the car in. The chap with the flatbed loaded Paolo up and took him away and we made our way to Angmering to our site. Courtesy car is booked for the morning and then we’ll have a chat with the garage after brunch with my aunt who lives nearby.
I suspect I may have a little battle on my hands with Mazda over a towed vehicle, but when we ordered the car, we made sure that they were happy with the fact it was being A-framed and that the warranty would stand. Watch, as they say, this space.
So, it looks as though we’ll be having a week or so in and around Worthing to enjoy. An unexpected surprise, but we’ll make the most of it and see family and visit childhood haunts. My Nan lived here and we would visit regularly and go the sea and play on the green adjoining. We had a holiday caravan down there for years and I have a lot of very fond memories. Happy times. I’m sure a lot has changed, but one thing that won’t have ( I hope) is the amusement arcade on Worthing Pier. We’ll have a trip down the boards and memory lane with that one! Whilst we’re jaunting about, we’ll see about a trailer for the car. I don’t want this happening again, especially abroad. A trailer was the last thing I wanted to have as they are cumbersome and a pain to deal with. But, I guess we’ll have to go down that route to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Yet another expensive lesson, although this shouldn’t have happened I don’t think. There are hundreds of cars being A-framed, including MX5s, so we have just been desperately unlucky. But could it happen again?
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