Left stranded by RAC/Aviva in a broken car by the roadside for the night

softekcom

Hi All:

My husband drove from London to Altrincham today to collect some furniture I had bought on ebay. After he had collected the chairs, he met with an accident at about 6 p.m. just outside Altrincham. The car wheel was damaged and the car could not be driven. He called RAC, with whom he has a £750 p.a. comprehensive plus insurance, and was passed from number to number without being offered any assistance apart from a lift to the nearest train station at an unspecified time of their choosing, conveniently ignoring the furniture he had just collected. As I am typing this (10:30 p.m.) he is settling in to spend the night in the broken car as RAC has turned him down for a courtesy car that we were assured of when we took the policy out, or accomodation for the night, or arrangements to tow the car to a garage. In other words, they have left him to his own devices as good as no insurance at all. Does anyone have similar experiences? How did you get RAC to provide the services they are surely obliged to provide?
Thanks in advance.

gordikin

What does your policy say?

softekcom

I don't have the policy to hand as my husband has it with him in the car. It's the Comprehensive Plus cover which I recall the sales guy said would provide us with a car in case of accident.

softekcom

At 11 p.m. tonight the police arranged for the car to be towed to a nearby car park. The private company that towed the car seemed to have some connection with the RAC. So my husband is off the road. He'll spend the night in the car and wait for the RAC to turn up tomorrow morning (hopefully). Still can't believe how they've let us down.

adamc260

It's disgusting because Aviva's policy says they'll take you and the car anywhere in the UK.... not leave you to sleep in a damaged vehicle overnight in a carpark! I'd be on the phones tomorrow kicking up a huge fuss! Mind you, I'm sure the Indian Call centres will get confused and ask you to call another number to talk about vehicle recovery! (No offence to them!)

gordikin

Can you not download a copy of the policy? 11pm...I'd be really surprised if any breakdown companies would supply a car at that time.

softekcom

The accident happened at around 6 p.m. Had RAC/Aviva not spent all their time fobbing us off by referring us to various phone numbers, they'd have had the time to organise a car. If they can't organise out of hours breakdown service, the policy should state that: 9-5 services only - if you have an accident outside these hours, you're as good as uninsured, God help you.

dunstonh

Providing a courtesy car during repairs is different to getting you home in the case of an accident.

However, things like towing costs and alternative travel arrangements are the sort of costs he recovers from the other party when he puts his out of pocket costs claim to his legal team.

Quentin

adamc260 wrote: »

It's disgusting because Aviva's policy says they'll take you and the car anywhere in the UK....

Where does it say that?

In fact it says (comprehensive plus policy):

Transport home after an accident - anywhere in Great Britain

That is quite different from taking you and the car anywhere! The OP says they offered to get her husband to the station, and this seems exactly in line with organising "transport home". Presumably they will reimburse train fares etc.

softekcom

When they offered a lift to the station, there were no trains for several hours. Nor did they say what could be arranged for the furniture in the car that my husband had just collected. No arrangement to either repair the car by the roadside or tow the car off the road to a garage/safe location. Surely, no one in their right mind would accept a lift to the station before properly handing the car to be repaired or towed to a garage. The situation last night was as good as not having any insurance at all - it was the police who sent a recovery van to move the car to the safety of a car park. I don't have the policy to hand, but in all probability they could have given my husband a bicycle or a horse or a lift to the local bus stop and claimed to have fulfilled their obligation - alternative transport. But that's not what you get a £750 p.a. comprehensive plus cover for. That's not what you should reasonably expect. It's 9:30 a.m. now, and he's still in the car park in Altrincham.

Freddie_Snowbits

If it was an accident, this comes into effect

If you’ve had an accident We can arrange for your car to be recovered and you and your passengers taken home or to your destination safely within Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. You don’t need to worry about estimates as we have our own approved repairer network and will instruct them within an hour of you telling us that your car needs repairing. PDF Document here >>> http://www.aviva.co.uk/library/pdfs/car/NMDOC5616.pdf

If it was not an accident and recovery was not part of the policy, I cannot help. Also, as you have said, DH was collecting furniture and if this was in a trailer, then the same thing occurs as if you have a caravan, if you were not covered for the caravan, they just leave it on the side of the road.

Note, you will only get what you pay for.