On our way back from Morzine with a car battery that’s dying... once we get the car going by jump or bump, it runs happily and we can get back to the tunnel...
... but then how do we deal with the tunnel crossing without annoying all the cars behind us on the train?
we have road side assistance, but not sure how that works at the tunnel... anyone been in or seen this situation before?
Just get on and claim ignorance.
It must happen all the time.
Alternatively. Buy a new battery. They almost definitely have them in france.
Yeah - it’s tempting to claim ignorance, but would rather get home before midnight. And not annoy the other people on the train
Turns out that roadside recovery insurance doesn’t cover the autoroutes and you have to ring them back to find this out as they just leave you wondering for an hour+
112 for the autoroute recovery onto private (non toll) roads and then call back the insurance.
Ha to buying a battery over here - from what I can tell, rural France is pretty much shut on a late Sunday afternoon
you might be able to buy one on motorway services , wont be cheap .
Or one of those power pack ?
Motorway services is a good call - I've bought a tyre from one in France before (petrol station attendant pointed out large bulge in sidewall)
From memory car somewhere in front had a flat battery last time I went, They called out over the tannoy and apologised. and then got out kit to jump start the car.
Suffered this a few years ago but o the way down. You should find a NuAuto (sp?), their equivalent of Halfords open today. The Eurotunnel terminals have a breakdown service ready to get people off but all they do is recover you to a safe place then you make your own arrangements.
We’ve been restarted, but if we stop the engine it won’t restart.
Maybe we can ask euro tunnel before hand?
eurotunnel towed us off and recovered us to the service station just outside the terminal after found out on the train that we'd we holed a radiator.
with a bit of luck you'll be able to get a tow start or jump start off them.
Alternatively. Buy a new battery. They almost definitely have them in france.
On a Sunday in France 🙂
As said mention it when you arrive at the tunnel and also to the staff on platform as you board the train. If no friendly passengers can 'bump' you assuming it's a manual, there is a recovery service that will start you with a boost pack.
Couldn’t source a battery - tried a total of 5 service stations.
Euro tunnel wouldn’t let us on with a known fault.
Recovery people are disappointing to say the least - if they were on the ball I think they could have got us home tonight and saved themselves a bit of cash and me a day’s leave
*edit
so day in a hotel enjoying a cool beer to forget about it all until 8am tomorrow, when I have to deal with the recovery people again
First, you will have to hope the police dont want to have look around your car, as you have to switch the engine off.
Good luck though. At Calais there's hypermarket thing called Cite Euope, i'd be surprised if you couldnt find a battery there. If you have time, take a look.
Edit - Sorry, that's pretty bad.news.
Next time, just don't say owt, and go on the high vehicle side, (easier to get recovery to you, and they have a big Toyota pick up, that reverses down the train and drags you put, don't know how I know this... 😁
Thanks for the advice for next time folks
... there will be a next time
... I can’t wait
I've had a jump start on eurotunnel before - they have a tow truck at each of the terminals (of the tunnel, not the battery) that works pretty much the same as an AA truck or similar. we pushed it along the train to get off (were lucky to be parked near-ish the front), so as not to really annoy everyone behind us. We didn't know the problem in advance, but I wouldn't have told them if I had..
If you're running well enough, aren't you able to bumpstart the thing? It won't work if a battery is proper dead but it'll do ok normally. Or buy one of those emergency jumpstart packs (might find one in a services)
That happened to us - I jumped out and push stared it. Bit of a queue behind. Wife got it going and didn’t stop until she was out of the train - the queue of cars formed behind me as I legged it down the train......
We probably should have gotten on and tired to look confused when it didn’t restart.
It needs a jump each time, as the immobiliser has started kicking in when we try to bump it.
Recovery people are bringing a new battery to us this morning - I believe / hope. Actually I’ll believe that once I see it.
Yes, they have portable jump start packs on the tunnel, I'd let the staff know during the journey so they can bring it to you before you need it.
That or just buy a battery on route
I've also had to be jump started off the Eurotunnel... they just reverse their truck down the train to you (impressively fast) connect the jump pack and get you started... no dramas
If you're worried about annoying people behind just turn up with 5 minutes to spare on checkin - I was the 2nd to last car on the train on the way home the other week when I timed my arrival perfectly 🙂
Finally we have a battery installed and were in the queue for the train.
Thanks everyone for the comments and tips
NorAuto was the place for batteries in the end. I suspect we’d still be here next weekend if we waited for the recovery people to sort us.