AA Breakdown Cover

[Cobbler]

A 5-7 hrs wait isn't unusual these days I think.....can you imagine breaking down at 11pm and your rescue arrives at 6am in the morning!

Someone local to us broke down in his Voyager late at night & the AA wanted to drop him outside the dealer at about 2 in the morning. He rang up trying to get the AA to update cover to get comprehensive but they refused. From what I recall, he paid privately to get recovered.

 

[Hitch]

One of the lads gave the van a bit of a beating a couple of months ago.
Recovery requested about 11am.
Few calls, we will be with you... at 2...at 3.30... weve subcontracted it out... nearest garage rings at 4.30 to ask details...we can be with you I an hour or so... they're about half a mile down the road. Pretty fed up by then so limped it round to them and got a 3hr taxi ride home.

 

[Jack_K]

Can you not just save your money and call a towing service when required?

That's all I do but I'm a bit crazy.

 

[Jack_K]

Recently I came across a car with two flat tyres. The lady had contacted her roadside assistance company who was supposedly organising a tow truck. This occurred 200km away from any "proper" tyre stores and 350km from any major towns. She had been waiting five hours and the tow truck hadn't even been sent yet. The town she had broken down near actually has at least three different places to buy tyres from but none of them come up on the internet and the only official mechanic was closed for the holidays. Luckily I knew the details of one of those places and he also does towing. When she contacted him, he said he had been called by the assistance company but when he was about to leave the company called and cancelled it to use a towing company hours away. The call centre employees probably have no idea what it is like 800km from the city.

The whole situation was complicated by the fact that she seemed to say she had no money yet was driving 100s of kilometres. She wanted to know if the assistance company would pay for the tow that she was about to organise.

It definitely didn't improve my opinions of roadside assistance companies. None of my experiences have been good.

 

[ms08]

Odd as i have a gold card with AA and always ring then at renewal time and speak to someone who then offers me a price lower price than their usually quoted - usually about £20 increase on previous year. Tried Greenflag last time but they won't cover due to age of the cars - 20 and 30 years old for my Saabs.
Have joint membership with my lad.

 

[Kayos]

Odd As i have a gold card with AA and always ring then at renewal time and speak to someone who then offers me a price lower than their usually about £20 increase on previous year. Tried Greenflag last time but they won't cover due to age of the cars - 20 and 30 years old for my Saabs.
Have joint membership with my lad.

I tried on 4 occasions to speak to a person, was always directed to the web chat then WhatsApp to talk to a person

It would have been my preference

I think what annoyed me the most was the refusal to explain anything, why has it gone from £7 to £20 per month is a reasonable question. Even if the answer was "the call out last year" then fine, not hide behind we take the new figure then refund if appropriate

 

[Kayos]

Edited because they confirmed some personal details after this

 

[Morris]

Odd as i have a gold card with AA and always ring then at renewal time and speak to someone who then offers me a price lower price than their usually quoted - usually about £20 increase on previous year. Tried Greenflag last time but they won't cover due to age of the cars - 20 and 30 years old for my Saabs.
Have joint membership with my lad.

This has been our experience with them. Last time we used them was a few months back when my Sorento battery carked itself while out. Guy that turned up was friendly, knew his stuff and had kept us informed while we waited for him.

 

[julianf]

Rac kept my partner and daughter waiting for 8hrs once.

I would never give either rac or aa money again.


I found autoaid faultless on the two occasions I had to use them. I've got a non-compliant vehical currently else I'd be with them again.

 

[Smallfry]

I dont know if they do a car option, but when I had bike, Axa Assistance, included with insurance, was very good. They dont pretend to have a useless fleet, instead they get a local contractor out to you asap. Very short wait times if theres one in your area.
However, theres a silly age limit and my stuff is too old.

Is BR the one without an age limit?

BR does not have an age, OR size limit (within reason), and they will recover caravans, trailers, and Motorhomes. They also do motorcycles.

They do an option that is personal cover for You, the policyholder, and spouse/partner (and probably kids too) that covers you and partner, rather than one particular vehicle.

This covers you and your partner in ANY vehicle as driver of passenger. Not sure if it covers hire vehicles though.

Costs me £113 pa. Been with them for about ten years, and used the service four times in that time, always to get the vehicle recovered home, and have absolutely no complaints.

You can never expect any breakdown company to arrive in minutes, but the longest for me was about an hour and a half, shortest end of October last year was 15 minutes.

 

[Smallfry]

Can you not just save your money and call a towing service when required?

That's all I do but I'm a bit crazy.

You can do that here, but its likely to cost hundreds of £, and that's just for local.

 

[Robotstar5]

BR does not have an age, OR size limit (within reason), and they will recover caravans, trailers, and Motorhomes. They also do motorcycles.

Do you know if they do tractors?, thinking of the little grey Fergie if I happened to take it on the road.

 

[Smallfry]

Do you know if they do tractors?, thinking of the little grey Fergie if I happened to take it on the road.

No idea, best ask them.

I do know that whatever it is has to be road registered (has a number plate) taxed, insured, and have an MOT if applicable. I also believe they check when the last V5 was issued, to filter out buyers of non runners, but I think all the breakdown services do this now.