RescueMyCar.com any good?

reluctantwriter

Just seen this forum and wanted to say I have been a member of rescuemycar.com for a year now and am just about to renew, at £28.90.

My cover includes relay. I have only had occasion to call them out once during the year. No problem getting through (though I have to say an 0845 number not very satisfactory as inevitably if you call them you will be away from home and having to use a mobile).

My problem was only a dodgy battery, but they were there within the hour as I had been told, fixed the problem on the spot, and away I went. The £40 excess was paid over the phone with my initial call to them for help.

The fact that I'm renewing says it all!

Bentlestick

I took out a policy with Rescue My Car a year ago because it was much cheaper than other insurers and my car has never broken down so I wasn't expecting to have to use it.

This was the WORST decision I could have made. My car broke down a few months ago and a RMC mechanic came out to look at it. He didn't have the right diagnostics plug for my vehicle so couldn't tell me what was wrong. It miraculously started again but the engine light was on. The mechanic said it would be fine to drive until I could get it to a garage. He didn't even lift the hood of my vehicle despite the fact it was making all sorts of noises.

I drove it 15 miles to a garage the next day where I was told the engine has spat all the water out and had over heated to the point where my head gasket had blown. This was done through me driving it on the motorway with no water to the garage. This is something that could have been easily diagnosed by the RMC mechanic and I should not have been told it was safe to drive.

My car is imported so it has now been off the road for 3 months whilst I wait for parts. This has cost me over £1000, let alone the cost of trains and taxi whilst I can't drive.

RMC admitted the advice given by the mechanic was poor and offered me £40 compensation- a ridiculous offer.

Although RAC and AA may seem more expensive, they will almost definitely save you money in the long run. My advice to everyone is to steer clear of RMC. It's not worth the risk.

Ebe_Scrooge

Another vote for AutoAid. Have been with them for years, covers me and my wife in any car. Will recover you to the garage of your choice ( i.e. my local trusted independant, which is a five minute walk from home, rather than being stuck in the middle of an industrial estate somewhere ). Get a receipt, post it off, a cheque arrives within a week, plenty of time to bank it before the credit card that you used needs paying. £38 a year, it's a no brainer.

In fact, when you call them, if you already know a mechanic in the area that you trust, you can ask for him to be sent out. If you're in unfamiliar territory, then they'll just send a local firm out, but again will take you to the garage of your choice if it can't be fixed at the roadside.

whitebloodcell

Was just about to sign up with rescuemycar, but was stopped by a particular statement in their policy, "This membership covers you for up to 6 callouts in any one 12 month period of cover, unless otherwise specified on your schedule of cover. Thereafter, any subsequent incident(s) shall not be covered by this membership". Now, I am not suspecting to need more than 6 callouts, but if by chance it happened, does this mean I then have to pay all costs, as opposed to reverting back to the £40 excess fee for example?

Steve577

I broke down half a mile from home. It took me 10 minutes to get through on the phone and was told I was not covered because I was half a mile from my home.
I had no paperwork from them so no way of knowing if I paid for that cover.
I paid £20 for annual cover.
I won't be using them again.
Best to use a more reputable company such as AA

mankybikol

WOULDNT TOUCH THEM WITH A 12 FOOT POLE, cancelled my insurance, no aopology just sum sic:mad:k sick person at the other end laughing at me for asking their help for MY MONEY, MY SWEAT AND TEARS!!!:mad:



RATING -200 OUT OF 100!!!!

Billiemae1307

Wish I had read this thread a month or 2 ago!
Took out breakdown cover ready for our caravaning holiday in France.
Car overheated and broke down in Paris on 30th July, sat at the side of the road for 4 hours before being towed to a garage. Had to get friends to come and get myself my partner and our caravan to take us to our destination.
2 weeks of frustration followed whereby every time I called to find out about our car I was transferred thru to a French call centre - language barrier didn't help at all!
After 8 days we were given a quote of €800 to fix a ventilator?? We didn't really have any choice but to say go ahead with the repair....our ferry home was booked on the 16 August, had a phone call on the 15th @ 5pm to say a taxi was coming to take us to Paris - 300km to collect our car! We went, paid €808, drove 300km back to our caravan, the next morning set off for the ferry and after 150km broke down again! Exact same problem!!!
Another 3.5 hour wait at side of road, towed to a depot in the middle of an industrial estate, our car and caravan put in a lock up, after a small melt down from myself the company arranged a taxi to the ferry, a night in a hotel in herne bay? And a hire car home eventually on the 17th August!
Absolute nightmare!
We are now home, totally traumatised, a ruined holiday, skint.....
€808 for non existent car repair
€305 tow charge from peripherique
€140 petrol and peage for friend to collect us
£60 telephone call costs
Minus 1 car and 1 caravan and no idea at all of how, when or what will happen now!
This is a condensed version of what we actually went thru but I just want to warn people, I have idea how this is going to pan out but this company cannot provide the service they advertise.

Billiemae1307

Quick update on this, after taking the full allotted time to get back to us with a response, they have apologised and offered us our policy premium of £114.99 back as compensation and the €800 we paid for the 'repair' they are not paying our other expenses incurred as a result of the incompetence. Now waiting on the ombudsmans decision!

Please think seriously about using this company-they are worse than useless!

[Deleted User]

Billiemae1307 wrote: »

Quick update on this, after taking the full allotted time to get back to us with a response, they have apologised and offered us our policy premium of £114.99 back as compensation and the €800 we paid for the 'repair' they are not paying our other expenses incurred as a result of the incompetence. Now waiting on the ombudsmans decision!

Please think seriously about using this company-they are worse than useless!

How did you get the car and caravan back in the end? and did another garage confirm that the original repair was dodgy?

AndyBSG

Avoid these guys like the plague!

I've been with them for just under 4 years but as soon as my existing cover expires i'll be going elsewhere after using them twice.

First time my car wouldn't start. Took 30 minutes to get through and over an hour for someone to attend and had to pay the 40 quid callout. Not terrible but not great either.

Second time however I was fuming with their response time, service and charges.

Broke down on hard shoulder of M25 in terrible conditions, pouring rain and dark made it really dangerous being parked on the hard shoulder. I couldn't leave the vehicle though as it was freezing and I had my 6 month old daughter with me.

Took me over 50 minutes to get through despite being told I was position 3 in the queue. Can they really only handle 3 calls an hour?

Told them I was in dangerous place with a 6 month old and was told it would be at least an hour before they could get to me and someone would call me with an ETA.

52 minutes later they could and said someone was on the way and should be with me in about an hour. So at this point it had been just under 2 hours since I broke down.

20 minutes later the Highway Patrol actually turned up because they had seen me on traffic cameras and that I was in a very dangerous position so they got me back on the road.

I phoned up the recovery and cancelled it.

Was still charged the £40 callout excess and then found out I was charged another £25 by my mobile phone company because the number they use is a premium rate one.

So, 65 quid cost and 3 hours from initially dialing to them actually being able to recover me despite telling them I was in a dangerous position on the M25 in terrible visibility and with a 6 month old baby.

They are cheap because they make money up on their premium rate line, excess charges and the fact they supply a very poor service.

Will never use them again.