Car or van won't start? Diagnosed and started where it stands.
If your car or van won't start, tell Recovru what happens when you try. An operator comes to diagnose it where it stands and try to get it going, at the price they quoted before you chose them. If it can't be fixed there, or you are not sure it can be, switch the request to recovery.
Vehicle Not Starting
Operators nearby send one price each and you choose one. The price you choose is the total you pay, with any VAT the operator charges included. Your card is held when you accept and charged when the job is done. If no operator nearby quotes, nothing is held or charged. Cancelling can cost a charge once the operator has set off: see Cancellation and Refunds and the Cancellation Rates.
The Recovru app opens in your browser today; iPhone and Android apps are coming soon.
Recovru is not an emergency service. If you are in danger, call 999.
What happens when you ask for help
- Tell us where the vehicle is and what happens when you try to start it. Asking is free and commits you to nothing.
- Operators nearby send one price each to diagnose it and get it going where it stands, with the time they can reach you.
- Accept a price and the money is held, not taken. Follow your operator on the live map and message them in the app.
- When they arrive, you give them your 4-digit arrival code, which confirms they are the operator you booked. They find the fault and fix what can be fixed there.
Faults an operator can look at where it stands
Vehicle not starting is for a fault somebody has to find. The same request suits each of these, and the app lets you pick the one that fits:
- Won't start
- It cranks but will not fire, it clicks, or it stays silent
- Lost power
- It cut out while you were driving, or dropped into limp mode
- Engine fault
- Diagnosed, with a fix attempted where it stands
- Electrical fault
- Lights, electrics or wiring, diagnosed on the spot
- Overheating
- Coolant and temperature trouble
- Warning light
- An on-the-spot diagnosis of what the light means
- Clutch or gearbox
- Drivetrain trouble that may or may not be fixable there
The battery, the starter or the fuel?
What happens when you try to start it is most of the diagnosis. Silence usually points to the battery or the starter; turning over without firing points to fuel or spark. An empty tank feels exactly like a fault from the driver's seat, so the app asks about fuel too, and if the gauge reads empty your operator can bring fuel with them. Flat Battery vs Alternator: How to Tell goes further.
What the app asks when it will not start
After where the vehicle is and how safe it is there, whether it has hit anything and which vehicle it is, the app asks:
- What happens when you try to start it?
- It turns over but will not fire, a single click or rapid clicking, complete silence, or no dashboard lights either. It decides what your operator packs.
- Does any of this apply?
- The fuel light is on or the gauge reads empty, a key or immobiliser warning, a warning light before it stopped, a noise or a burning smell, it had just been refuelled, it went through deep water, or it had not been used for a while.
- Photos or a short video?
- Optional for this fault, but a photo of the dashboard with the ignition on helps your operator bring the right thing.
- What happened, in your own words?
- A short description is always required. You are not expected to be a mechanic: say what you saw, heard and smelled.
Have these ready
- Your vehicle's registration, so the app can fill in the rest
- What the dashboard shows when you turn the key or press start
- Whether it had just been refuelled, and with what
Staying safe while you wait
- If it went through deep water or a flood, do not try to start it again: water in the engine can wreck it.
- If it had just been refuelled and it could be the wrong fuel, do not try to start it again either.
- If the vehicle catches fire, get everyone out and well away, do not open the bonnet, and call 999.
- On a motorway, leave by the side away from traffic and wait behind the barrier, not in the vehicle. If you cannot get out safely, stay in with your seat belt and hazard lights on and call 999.
- On any other road, get the vehicle off the road if you can, put your hazard lights on if it is in the way, and do not stand between it and oncoming traffic.
- A warning triangle goes at least 45 metres behind the vehicle on the same side of the road, but never on a motorway.
Who comes to diagnose it
Your request goes only to operators our staff have cleared for roadside work. Each is an independent business, checked before they can send you a single price:
- Identity
- Photo ID, matched to a live selfie
- Right to work
- Checked before their first job
- The business
- A company, or a sole trader on record. A VAT number is checked with HMRC and must match the business
- Screening
- Sanctions and politically exposed person lists
- Documents
- The insurance and licences each service needs, read by our staff
A clearance lasts only while the documents behind it are in date. Once one expires, that operator is not sent those requests.
For roadside work, the Operator Terms also ask for:
- Public liability insurance of at least £1 million
- Motor insurance for the vehicle they work from, with a class of use that covers the work
- Motor trade road risk cover if they drive or move your vehicle at all
- Professional indemnity cover
How the price works when it will not start
Recovru does not set prices. Each operator names one price for the whole job as you described it, and that price is the total you pay: it includes their attendance and assessment fee and any VAT, so nothing is added at the end. The quote says “inc VAT” when the operator is VAT registered and “No VAT to pay” when they are not. Your invoice or receipt is in the operator's name, issued by Recovru as their agent, and shows the VAT when there is any. There is no booking fee and no card fee, and you can take any price or none.
The price covers finding the fault and getting the vehicle going where it stands, as you described it. If the fault turns out to be something else, your operator shows you why in the app, with photos, and sends a revised price.
Accept a price and the money is held, not taken, until the job is done. If the job turns out different, nothing extra is done or charged until you approve a revised price in the app. You pay the attendance and assessment fee, VAT included, instead of the price only if your operator arrives and cannot do the job because what you told us was materially inaccurate, left out something important or was misleading; the Terms of Use cap it.
Cancelling is free until your operator sets off, and for two minutes after you accept whatever they have done. After that the Cancellation Rates show how any charge is worked out, you see the exact figure before you confirm, and you never pay more than that figure. If your operator cancels, you pay nothing.
Your contract for the job is with the operator, and Recovru collects the payment as their agent. How It Works and Cancellation and Refunds have the detail.
When it cannot be fixed where it stands
Some faults cannot be fixed at the roadside, and nobody can always tell before an operator looks. That is why the form offers “Not sure it can be fixed there? Switch to recovery” on a fault like this: tap it and your request becomes a recovery, taken to a garage, your home or wherever you pin.
If you tell the app it went through deep water, it suggests recovery before you send, because cranking a flooded engine can wreck it. The suggestion comes from your own answers by fixed rules, and you decide what to request.
If your operator arrives and finds it cannot be fixed there, they record why with photos, and the app offers you a recovery request already filled in from this one. An operator who also does recovery may offer to take it themselves, for an extra fee they must show you before you agree. Recovery and Towing explains how a recovery works.
Questions
Is it the battery, the starter or the alternator?
What happens when you try to start it is the best clue. Silence or clicking usually points to the battery or the starter; turning over without firing points to fuel or spark. Your operator diagnoses it where it stands, and our guide Flat Battery vs Alternator: How to Tell explains the difference.
What if it cannot be fixed where it is?
Choose “Switch to recovery” in the request form if you are not sure it can be fixed there. If your operator finds it cannot, they record why and the app offers you a recovery request already filled in from this one.
It has been through flood water. Should I try to start it?
No. Water in the engine can wreck it. Tell the app it went through deep water, and it suggests recovery instead of a roadside repair.
My car will not start after refuelling. What should I do?
Do not try again if there is any chance it was the wrong fuel. Ask for help with the wrong fuel instead and say the engine has not run: a drain and flush before the engine runs is usually a roadside job.
Can I book help for later?
Yes. Choose a time up to 30 days ahead, and your request goes to operators an hour before it.
This page was last updated on .
Get help now
Tell us where you are and what has happened, and operators nearby send you their prices. You do not need a plan to get help.