Learned never to trust recovery mechanics assessments.
Had one from AA insist the timing 'belt' must have gone on it and the car should just be scrapped. Ignored me when I said it had a timing chain AND I did not notice the engine f*cking blowing up and sh*tting out piston rings, just had a slow loss of power. Turned down his offer for a lift straight to a scrapyard.Turned out to be the distributor....
Another time, the rear mounting bolt in the engine had snapped to the engine was resting on the gear linkages and was visibly sitting lower in the engine bay. Phone up AA, and told them that a mounting bolt had gone and the engine is sitting on the gear linkage and it will need to be towed.
Wait 2 hours.
Get a call from the local recovery guy they outsource to, tell him the same thing. He turns up an hour later. Tell him again and literally show him the broken bolt in my hand and where it came from and then point to the engine sitting at a 45 degree angle ast the back of the bay. He says "oh well, lets have a look". Faffs around for another 20 minutes looking at idk what.
"oh yeah, looks like the engine isn't sitting right, you need a tow truck" "...cheers"
Wait another hour for a tow truck to turn up.
Cancelled my AA service after that...