Tales of the AA (no not alcoholics anonymous)

[yorkieowl]

Was away in the van at the weekend, just as we were setting off for home (after dark) one of the headlight bulbs went, usually we have a full set of bulbs, but sods law we couldn't find them anywhere :idea:, drove to the local garage which had plenty of bulbs but not the one we needed, drove another 5 miles to services just before motorway, they didn't have one either, as we had a 130 mile journey home we decided to call the AA (through Safeguard), as other half was on phone to them we spotted an AA van 4 spaces away, so my other half went to ask if he had a bulb,' no sold the last one last night', states the AA man, oh well only to wait estimated half an hour for them to arrive, I said to other half the AA man's gonna look a right prick if its him that attends us, and he then comes to us to fix ours and suddenly magics a bulb out of thin air, approx 20 mins later thats exactly what happened Oh well £7.50 for the bulb and on our way within 10 mins. Must admit I was pleased with the service from them. (Ordered two bulbs off ebay for £1 pair delivered!)

 

[RichardHelen262]

I once had some of those cheap Chinese bulbs off eBay they lasted about as long as it took to fit them,
Five minutes, but it was easy to see them blow as they did a strobe effect first, which just takes you back to the old saying of You get what you pay for

Richard

 

[sasquatch]

I once had some of those cheap Chinese bulbs off eBay they lasted about as long as it took to fit them,
Five minutes, but it was easy to see them blow as they did a strobe effect first, which just takes you back to the old saying of You get what you pay for

Richard

My dear departed dad used to say 'buy cheap, buy twice'!
Yorkieowl, why did you feel it necessary to call out the AA for a replacement bulb to travel home, couldn't you drive with a bulb out? Even if you didn't have spot lamps to drive on,you could have driven on main beam and be alert when approaching vehicle or if you could adjust the light angle from the cab put them right down. For future reference keep the spare bulbs in a glove locker in front in future.
Some years ago I lost all but sidelights in Greece and 'hot wired' my spotlights to travel, I tried not to drive after sunset and drove off at first light. That way I got to destinations earlier. We left at sparrows cough and stopped at rush our for breakfast we then arrived at the site early enough to see some unscheduled sightseeing especially as it was only a transit stop.

 

[Deleted member 12539]

I once had some of those cheap Chinese bulbs off eBay they lasted about as long as it took to fit them,
Five minutes, but it was easy to see them blow as they did a strobe effect first, which just takes you back to the old saying of You get what you pay for

Richard

I did a similar thing by buying cheap... on the next MOT, it failed because they could not align my headlights. It turned out that the filaments in the cheap bulbs were off centre, enough to put the headlights out of alignment. You get what you pay for.