Five hours

We got in the hire car (brand new Renault Clio, since you asked) to drive back home and it wouldn't start. Well, the engine would, but the power steering wouldn't. Rang up the usual numbers and it turned out to be the RAC who had responsibility for this one. Spent the whole day waiting for them - initially they had predicted a 90 min wait, but rang up three more times postponing their ETA. Eventually got to us around 16:15, at least five hours since I'd first rung them. Of course I should have pretended to be an old woman on her own with the car on the highway (instead of an old woman at a friend's house with the car on his driveway).

And D and S didn't have any wheels between them and spent their day talking to recovery firms, insurers, etc etc.

By the time the RAC man had got the car working (although, worryingly, he wasn't sure quite how) the daylight had gone and we were utterly exhausted with waiting and inertia. So we went to the pub along the road for a meal and some beers, and stayed over another night.