AA Repair Cover Complaint

Anonymous1

Thanks for the paraphrasing my friend. I wrote my piece when I was still a little agitated by the whole thing. Can you tell? (-;

I appreciate the advice and clear paraphrasing but my illegible essay did not make it clear and given you the wrong end of the stick. I will just tweak your paraphrasing to put it right:

- Previously, I had a problem with a power steering fluid leak which was repaired

1. I put petrol in a diesel, called out AA, which cost me, he drained tank and took me to garage to refill. AA guy mentioned there might be a leak, I cant remember clearly what he said he thought it was but I think he said it was oil and advised to watch for it. I did but saw nothing.

2. AA phoned and sold you 'Breakdown Repair Cover'. (I imagine it would have excluded existing faults.)

3. Car started making knocking noise when steering. I put 2&2 together from previous experiences and came up with 6 thinking the leak may have been steering fluid again and that could be the problem. I called garage and mentioned concerns. They told me not to drive and get it recovered to them so I did this by calling AA. I also mentioned steering fluid concernhs to AA. AA man said not steering fluid, just loose bolts, suspension and gave you receipt to get this fixed.

4. Garage then produced estimate for 1700 pds. My AA cover is a maximum of £475 but AA declined my claim after speaking to them. I did wonder if the garage would consciously do anything unsupportive at this point but can't really think of a motive other than the fact it may take them longer to get payment from an insurance provider? Also the AA claimed their decision was based on
what I had previously said to them.

5. I contacted AA who referred to recording of conversation when I booked the recovery. They said I previously mentioned there AA guy had made me aware of steering fluid issues before I took out cover. I explained, this was taking what I said out of context, I am not a mechanic, the leak mentioned did not continue and ultimately there was no steering fluid leak anyway! They would not budge so I asked for complaints procedure and the recordings they used to make decision. They said they would need to dig out calls and it would cost me 10pds to do this. They already had the calls unless they lied about using them to make their decision.

I have sent off my £10 and am planning to blog like this while I wait for advice and will make them aware of this so they know their actions will be made public....

Thanks again Usignuolo

EdGasket

Keep us informed. Always interested to see how these things pan out.

blued

I'd love to see the break down of that £1700 bill. What sort of car is it?

It sounds to me like the garage that has done the repair has replaced the power steering rack, perhaps unnecessarily, because you mentioned it to them on the phone. The AA technician diagnosed the fault as top arms or suspension which would make sense if you were getting a knocking noise. You need to find out why the steering rack was replaced?

If you had completely ran out of power steering fluid and still somehow not noticed (the steering would have become as stiff as it is with the engine off) then you could have damaged the steering rack this way. I don't really see it though.

I'd get more info from the garage on what they did and why before blaming the AA. If the garage has put down "replaced power steering rack which had failed due to fluid leak" I think you're fighting a losing battle with the AA.

Strider590

Anonymous1 wrote: »

They explained they did not cover user error which I guess is fair enough but I had to pay something like £2-£300 for the AA to send someone out to take the fuel out, put some diesel lubrication in the tank (or something) and then he put enough diesel in the car to get me to the garage where I had to refill the tank

An operation that most places around here will do for around £25.

A work colleague recently did this same thing, called his "recovery service" and the chap towed his car to a local garage, at this garage there were maybe 15 cars all with the same problem, all towed there by the same driver.
Car fixed and he was charged £180, he later found that this was way too much... He also found that this garage does nothing but clean out wrong fuel from cars all day long and that the owner's brother works for a recovery firm..... I think you see what im getting at.

scots1

I broke down 17 or says days after i took out the cover...headgasket has supposedly went on the freelander.
I called AA...they turned up and diagnosed as above.

I have taken the car to a Mike Aitken 4x4, Ladybank, Fife & was informed that the AA would send an examiner to examine the vehicle.

I have now been contacted by the garage & told that the AA are not honouring my claim as they believe the fault was there 2 days previous??? whats to say it wasnt a week old or a day old??/...i'm very confused about this......all i know is i drove it without any problem for at least 2 weeks prior to breaking down in it

Now i'm no mechanic but how can i tell if the fault was there prior to breaking down??
The car only has 42000 miles on it & full history.
Was i to guess that the problem was going to happen or have some super vision that i was able to see into engines to tell this was about to happen 17 days later??

I was not recovered by them as the AA patrol man (who actually previously worked for landrover) stated that the damage was done & instructed me to drive home as he was following.

I managed to get home but previous to driving he filled up water bottle & put in some kind of a sealant to mix with the water.....this supposedly is what the AA is rejecting the claim on as it has sealant in the barrels??

He also instructed me to retop up with water before driving to the garage.

I have now spoke to Phil as a claims technician at the AA as i was writing this.....very very abrupt & rude may i add...
He has stated that his decision is full & conclusive & he will not overturn his decision despite me stating all of the above & gave me the the address to write too of the Claims & Risk Manager for the AA.

I have called the AA again asking if i can have the details of the independant vehicle examiner they sent to examine my vehicle but they will not divulge the information to me??? can someone explain this as surely i have a right to know who they are & what they based their decision on??

How do i stand legally on this? can i get some advice from someone who can help as ive been left high & drive by the AA & to say the least i'm £2000 out of pocket & unable to pay what the garage is now quoting me on doing the car currently bill sitting at £100 for stripping the head & they want £570 all in for doing the work due to the AA refusal to honour claim

I am adding link to the terms & conditions http://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/pdfs/breakdown-repair-cover-policy-jan-2010.pdf

EdGasket

See my first post above. They will not pay up if they can wriggle out of it.

You will probably have to threaten them with a county court action as they are not listening to what you say. Give them seven days to agree (usually 14 but you need your car fixed so you can't wait that long) to honour their insurance or you will take out a summons. After 7 days; if no joy; issue a small claim summons either online or at a local court office.

Seems like the patrol man put leak sealant in the coolant to help get you home (its only good for radiator leaks anyway) and the AA insurance is saying that the fault must have pre-existed due to the presence of the leak sealant ! Incredible; but they will always try and get out of paying if they can.

Not sure how you are £2000 out of pocket when you then say its £100 + £570 ?

Queries

I've never been a fan of the RAC or the AA (especially when the AA were called out when I had a flat tyre and it took them over an hour to show up, especially when I had an urgent dental apppointment, which should I have missed, I would have been struck-off by the NHS Dentist). Anyway, I digress. I suggest that although Swinton has a bad reputation as an insurance company their breakdown cover is second-to-none, since they use local breakdown firms and at £45 home and away it's brilliant! When I first used them my battery had run flat (sorted within two minutes). The next time I used them the solenoid? switch had become dislodged - sorted within a minute. In addition, a few years ago I went to the AA for an MOT, the cost was £350, I went elsewhere for the repairs - £110, yet the AA still charged me an additional £20 to re-allign the headlights, which had already been re-alligned!

scots1

Follow up to my post #16

Matter resolved in full, awaiting cheque from AA, total bill was £544.81 so i had to pay the difference from the £500 they pay under Repair Cover warranty T&C's

Had to write to them giving full details but it was handled brilliantly by the risk department & the guy dealing with it (Paul) showed great professionalism in his approach to the problem....much better than the first one did!

So thumbs up to the AA, i'm back on the road again

scots1

EdGasket wrote: »

See my first post above. They will not pay up if they can wriggle out of it.

You will probably have to threaten them with a county court action as they are not listening to what you say. Give them seven days to agree (usually 14 but you need your car fixed so you can't wait that long) to honour their insurance or you will take out a summons. After 7 days; if no joy; issue a small claim summons either online or at a local court office.

Seems like the patrol man put leak sealant in the coolant to help get you home (its only good for radiator leaks anyway) and the AA insurance is saying that the fault must have pre-existed due to the presence of the leak sealant ! Incredible; but they will always try and get out of paying if they can.

Not sure how you are £2000 out of pocket when you then say its £100 + £570 ?

£2000 to buy the car....and the bill was going to be £570 if the claim wasn't fulfilled