Warning for those using A-Frames

None that I observed. The safety brake cable did not part because the whole front came off. I think one can argue it should have still worked but even if it had there would still have been considerable damage to the front of the car. It is something I intend to discuss with the fitters when I see them and show them the photos.

peedee

Insurance covered me fully for the car which they wrote off. Money was in my account 8 days after the incident. Full marks to LV, I could not fault them at all over the handling of the claim.

For the time being I have decided not to replace the car. Age is not on our side for continued touring so for the time being we are going to tour without towing a car. We will just have to be more choosy about where we tour and with picking sites. If necessary we can always hire a car but there is only one place we frequent where we might do that.....Cornwall

peedee

Glad it was all sorted without any loss to you.   Still wondering about the whole situation as it may well apply to many other cars being towed.  Have you any comment from the fitters? 

One thing I would querry is using the crash bar for attachment. It is desiged to resist forces coming towards the front of the vehicle, not away from it.  The retaining bolts are parallel to the length of the vehicle so are put into tension when towing but are not high tensile bolts.  They would work better if parallel to axle as they would be in sheer, but that was not envisaged by the vehicle designer.

PeeDee, I'm with LV for a number of things but I have never needed to make a claim so it's nice to hear that your claim was dealt with quickly.  Did they also deal fairly with the payout?  

Did they also deal fairly with the payout?

I think it was a fair market valuation and I was happy with it.

I did speak to one of their sales staff at the Malvern Western Motorhome Show, the business owner was not around. I intend to email him for a response. He did take copies of my photos and claimed that they did not do Suzukis any more. He also claimed that for each model they do, the fixing method is put on a test frame and stress tested by a company in Liverpool. Hard to believe that was done for my Suzuki.

I did look at an alternative supplier's offering but although apparently a stonger method of attachment, (they didn't use the crash bar) it was mechanical rather than electronic braking and was very heavy to carry around and attach. His lighter electronic version would break the bank and I think it would be cheaper to buy a trailer even if inconvenient to use!

peedee

Good to hear you got a fair market price from LV, thanks.