April 2018.

Car problems:

I’m in the process of recovering financially from an incident involving my car! 

Three weeks ago I was parking behind a shopping area when, while in full right lock, my right front suspension collapsed. The ball joint fractured, leaving the car immobile with the tyre and wheel forced up against the wheel arch. Many clever bystanders offered to help me push the car out of the way, until I showed them the damage! I had to wait 3 hours to be rescued and moved away.

My car immobilised with the ball joint collapsed onto the road surface.

The car immobilised, with the wheel resting up against the wheel arch, after right susspensio had collapsed.

A thoughtful Ghanian woman bought me a litre of chilled spring water. Two other people kindly asked if I needed water. However, I had brought my own. I had been on my way home after attending our Southampton Folk Orchestra rehearsal.

The RAC sent Brendon to rescue me. He arrived first, but didn’t have a skate/dolly to use to roll my car onto his flatbed truck. Brendon called Colin, who brought his with the rest of equipment they needed. Colin dropped the car at the Southampton Mercedes Dealership, 10 minutes before they closed. 

Minah, the Dealership’s receptionist, booked me in. They could only look at my car on the Tuesday as they were busy with thousands of recall cars. There “Issues with the driver’s airbags in recent models, yours isn’t affected!” I was told. 

This breakdown happened in such a fortunate way. I was inching my car into a parking spot, no motorway driving. It was a Sunday. Businesses were quiet. I wasn’t on a busy road or motorway, as I said! There had been a sudden explosion, I thought I’d hit a car! No, my suspension had collapsed!

I spent the next three hours redirecting cars away from where the rescue vehicle would need to manoeuvre in to collect my car. 

I’m planning to replace both wishbones to avoid a similar emergency if the other one were to fail later. 

A piece of the body trim came off as Brendon drove the car onto the flatbed. My oil warning lamp had been glowing intermittently. Mercedes would need to check that out too. I noticed someone had broken the right front indicator lens. My MOT (a certificate of road worthiness) is due next month so everything will need to be done soon.

I was given a rough quote for the car repairs by John, the Mercedes mechanic who is familiar with classic Mercedes cars. It will be approximately £1,500. The car is presently valued at £6,000, appreciating every year. 

When John was busy with the inspection, the car rolled onto his hand. He was taken to hospital for further treatment. I hoped to have an update on John’s condition the next day. I tried to arrange to visit him that evening but no details were available. Fortunately, the morrow he was back at work.