Drivers more likely to suffer a breakdown that can’t be fixed when heading out, rather than returning home, says the RAC as the Easter Break is underway.
Breaking down and finding your vehicle can’t be fixed at the roadside is never good news, but research from the RAC shows the Law of Sod also has a significant part to play as more of these incidents tend to happen on the outward leg of a journey than the return.
A poll of more than 2,200 drivers found nearly half (46%) had suffered a breakdown where their vehicle could not be fixed at the side of the road, with a fifth (18%) of those saying they had been through this experience on more than one occasion.
Among the unlucky ones who had experienced this one or more times, 64% had been on their way out in contrast to 54% who were heading home. One in five have to try to make alternative travel plans themselves.
And, as if breaking down and finding your vehicle can’t be fixed at the roadside isn’t bad enough, having to make your own arrangements to complete your journey is enough to make most people feel as though they’ve just joined the cast of ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’.
For two-thirds of people questioned by the RAC who had to make their own plans, the experience of trying to get everyone and everything from their broken-down vehicle to their final destination was classed as stressful (67%) – although possibly not quite to the same level as Steve Martin’s character experienced when his flight was cancelled and he ended up struggling to get home, exasperated by having to travel with the irritating character played by John Candy.
Looking at everyone whose vehicle broke down and couldn’t be fixed on the road, 90% relied on recovery services to rescue the vehicle and 77% of those were then taken home or to their desired destination in the recovery vehicle.
Of the remaining percentage, an unlucky 18% had to do their best to sort out their own interrupted travel plans while only one in 10 (10%) relied on their breakdown company’s onward travel services.