There I was, happily driving my new Skyline around town, across the flyover that traverses the marina and University - only to have the car turn itself off.
I coasted up to the traffic lights, half expecting it to start a few seconds later - but to no avail. Fortunately there were some kids nearby, who after little persuasion, pushed the Skyline to the side of the road at the main roundabout. Only now, looking back on the situation do I realise that I was totally oblivious to the red lights and passing traffic - I was more worried about getting it to start again.
Luckily, within 5 minutes it fired again and was back into action. Startled by this brief encounter with the breakdown kind, I decided to head to the nearest garage - Halfords. Fortunately for me, the car happily turned off and started numerous times, so I didn't have to leave it in the (not-so) capable hands of a work experience chav.
We drove onwards to Frankie and Benny's, about 5 miles down the dual carriageway and enjoyed a meal - only to find that it wouldn't start again when we returned to the car park.
A few phone calls later and the RAC were on their way, supposedly...
But, an hour later we were approached by some 3rd party recovery service who checked it over and couldn't find any faults - though whilst it was idling it decided to again, turn itself off for no reason.
Fast forward to this evening and a lot has happened. The 3rd party (who shall remain anonymous) promised that they would take it back to their secure depot for the night and then onwards to a local tuning garage to have it checked over properly, using their computer. They did deliver it to the local garage, but in the afternoon and the garage didn't know anything about it
The local garage ran the Skyline through their computer, to check for any faults. After 30 minutes or so, it became apparent that the ignition system was faulty. However, they had no means of resolving the problem, as they weren't experienced with Skylines.
So, it was another few phone calls that resulted in the 3rd party agreeing to transport the Skyline to the local Nissan dealer - prior to them closing at 7pm. Unfortunately, due to the bone-idleness of the 3rd party, at 9pm they still aren't anywhere near it.
A quick phone call to the RAC from us and the 3rd party told RAC that they had MY Skyline in THEIR lock-up, which was picked up at 6pm and the guy was holding my keys as he spoke to RAC. Hold on a minute - we were sitting with the Skyline for long after 7pm with both sets of keys. I am currently typing this back at home, still with both sets of keys. Something fishy is going on here...
We've just got back in from checking the location of the Skyline - and it hasn't moved in over 3 hours. Another call to RAC and apparently the 3rd party mistook my Skyline for a fucking Bentley.
To conclude, the RAC have been very helpful and have arranged for the Skyline to be moved to the Nissan garage tonight, ready to be repaired tomorrow morning.
A lesson to the RAC (and AA) though, increase your fleet size so that you don't have to constantly out-source for breakdown recovery. Lesson learnt? Hardly, considering this is the 2nd time I've dealt with them - and the 2nd time they've out-sourced. At least the Fiesta rental car is fun.