Automotive Academy

Green Flag offers one of the most competitively priced vehicle breakdown and recovery services in the UK today. Since its formation in 1971 as ‘National Breakdown’, the company has grown to serve some 5 million motorists in the UK with 24-hour breakdown assistance, 365 days of the year.
 
Green Flag’s cheap breakdown cover is a result of the organisation’s reliance on a network of independent vehicle breakdown and recovery agents across the UK and Europe. When a call for roadside assistance or other breakdown service comes into Green Flag’s incident management centre, the closest Green Flag agent in the network is contacted and dispatched to the breakdown scene.

In the UK Green Flag has more than 6,000 independent technicians on call; across Europe Green Flag has some 15,000 bilingual agents ready to assist. Customers can expect a rescue patrol vehicle to arrive at their location within 40 minutes, or within an hour at most of making the call.

Breakdown teams and patrol vehicles are trained to deal with a comprehensive range of breakdown problems at the roadside, but the majority of the calls that they receive are for preventable causes, issues that with planned maintenance can be avoided. Here are the five most common preventable problems:

Flat Battery / Faulty Battery – If you’ve not got a set of jump leads and a willing ‘donor’ car, or a car battery recharger to hand, the next best thing you can do is call for breakdown assistance. Loss of voltage caused by short journeys is a frequent cause of flat batteries. To prevent your car battery running flat take the car on a longer journey every week. If this is not possible, a fortnightly overnight charge of the battery will do the trick. Loose and corroded terminal or clamp connections cause problems too.

Flat tyres – A vast number of vehicle breakdown call outs are for assistance in changing tyres and replacing damaged wheels.?Under inflated tyres for the car’s load are a prime cause of tyre failure. To prevent this from becoming an issue tyre pressure should be checked regularly. Use a tyre inflation pump and monitor to achieve the correct pressure. If a tyre is constantly losing pressure over time it may be that you have a slow puncture and need the tyre replacing.

Alternator – If the alternator is not working properly your car battery does not charge, this drops the voltage of your battery to a level that is insufficient to run the engine, and so the engine cuts out.?While there is little you can do to maintain the alternator yourself, you can watch out for signs that tell you when your alternator is faulty. Look out for a flickering of your battery warning light on the dashboard for instance, and keep an eye out for dimmed headlamps and dimmed dashboard lights when the engine is idling.

Starter motor – If the starter motor fails your engine won’t start. Regular garage maintenance can help highlight faults with the starter motor so it doesn’t become a breakdown issue.

Fuel – Every year hundreds of thousands of people put the wrong type of fuel into their cars or simply run out of fuel at the side of the road. Keep an eye of your petrol gauge and if the petrol light comes on make sure you put fuel in the car as soon as you can.

Statistics from the UK’s leading breakdown cover providers have shown that Britain’s vehicle breakdown services are called into action on an average 20,000 times each day. The most common reasons for the calls outs are flat batteries, punctured tyres and general engine troubles.

A high percentage of these breakdown issues are resolved at the roadside by the patrol cars and emergency repair success rates have risen by 85% for many of the UK’s breakdown service providers. This means that a high majority of drivers who break down and then call for roadside assistance are back on the road in their own vehicles without suffering a delay and can back on their journey trouble-free.

If your vehicle cannot be repaired by the roadside a tow to the nearest repair centre will be included as standard. More flexibility can be provided by buying breakdown cover which includes full vehicle recovery to your home address or your local garage, also you can add options which cover the cost of a replacement vehicle and emergency accommodation if it is needed as a result of a breakdown. This is a full service option that provides complete peace of mind every time you go out onto the roads.