Breakdown cover: Get the cheapest roadside recovery

misterh

From 5th May, the Royal Bank Royalties Gold account includes Green Flag cover with homestart.
Obviously it costs (£12.95 per month) but you get other benefits too, like annual family travel insurance.

karena

Just got renewal from RAC £158 ROADSIDE AND RECOVERY. Looked at RAC website and its only £135, less topcashback £21 - can I do any better, dont have enough tesco vouchers (only £31.50 so far), is the AA any better?

grecophile

Has anyone found a company that will cover a motorbike, a car and a motorhome? We had cover last year through Saga who have now bought the AA and won't cover the bike anymore.....oh and we could do with Europe cover for the motorhome too....just a small quest but there must be people out there who need the same ??????

Richie_Rich_3

Warning :mad:

Decided last year to book breakdown cover on-line with Green Flag. All ok until the following year. Current insurance included breakdown cover at a good saving so went with that. Imagine my suprise when I recieved Green Flag schedule now showing me that I automatically had another years cover. It gets worse. They had automatically deducted from my card £82.95!!:mad: for the renewal which I hadn't authorised. After contacting their customer services was greeted by the most agressive and rude operative (Kim) who then mentioned that if you book it on-line the following year it is deducted automatically?? After a bit of discusssion was told that the money would be re-credited but could take up to 14 days!! i.e we will make money on the interest gained from your money which we shouldn't have deducted in the first place.
Be warned if you book on line!!!!!!!

Needless to say letter of disappointment winging its way to their complaints dept:

Green Flag House (East)
Cote Lane
Pudsey
LS28 5GF

Optimist

Richie_Rich wrote: »

Warning :mad:

Decided last year to book breakdown cover on-line with Green Flag. All ok until the following year. Current insurance included breakdown cover at a good saving so went with that. Imagine my suprise when I recieved Green Flag schedule now showing me that I automatically had another years cover. It gets worse. They had automatically deducted from my card £82.95!!:mad: for the renewal which I hadn't authorised. After contacting their customer services was greeted by the most agressive and rude operative (Kim) who then mentioned that if you book it on-line the following year it is deducted automatically?? After a bit of discusssion was told that the money would be re-credited but could take up to 14 days!! i.e we will make money on the interest gained from your money which we shouldn't have deducted in the first place.
Be warned if you book on line!!!!!!!

Needless to say letter of disappointment winging its way to their complaints dept:

Green Flag House (East)
Cote Lane
Pudsey
LS28 5GF

Yes a lot of companies seem to be doing that. I told Direct Line Insurance how annoyed I was that they were doing me such a "favour"

VIJAY_FROM_KENT

It took First Call 5 hours to get an appropriate vehicle to me to replace my tyre on the M20 last month and after I chased them half a dozen times since and they have offered no compensation! Obviously leaving me freezing on the side of a motorway for 5 hours is OK behaviour! This was my full email to them:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I spent just under 5 hours standing on the hard shoulder of the M20 today waiting for my car to be sorted out. From 9:50am to 2:45pm I had to wait for my spare tyre to be fitted so that I could drive to work. At 11am someone arrived to change the tyre. The guy was a nice guy and tried to take off the old wheel til 12pm. He couldnt do this and I then waited until 2:15pm for the next recovery vehicle. Having to wait another 2 hours 15mins is not acceptable or fair! I kept calling and was told they were a few minutes away... When the guy came at 2:15pm he was able to take the tyre off using a piece of wood to spread the pressure and then to get me moving by 2:45pm.

I also lost out on over 5 hours at work that I now wont get paid for.

I should surely be entitled to some sort of apology and compensation.

Your website states this:

"Complaints procedure

Our aim is to try to provide a first class service to you at all times, however we do recognise that sometimes problems do occur. Should you ever have cause to complain then in the first instance please write to: -

The Managing Director (Administrator)
First Call GB Ltd.
Wellington House,
90-92 Butt Road,
Colchester, Essex
CO3 3DA"

Kind regards,

codger

vjain wrote: »

It took First Call 5 hours to get an appropriate vehicle to me to replace my tyre on the M20 last month and after I chased them half a dozen times since and they have offered no compensation! Obviously leaving me freezing on the side of a motorway for 5 hours is OK behaviour!

Sorry to hear of your experience.

It's confirmed us in our decision last month not to continue on with First Call but use up some of our Tesco Clubcard deals vouchers to pay for RAC home / roadside / onward travel cover.

I'm not actually sure I'd ever recommend Tesco to anyone, but the Clubcard Deals -- if saved up only to "pay" (and of course, one isn't actually paying anything) for annual RAC breakdown cover -- certainly make life a little sweeter for Tesco shoppers.

As to First Call, we fortunately never had to call upon them. But I still have the First Call GB Ltd 'membership card' sitting here, a bit of blue-coloured cardboard with our membership number hand-inked in red. Somehow that failed to inspire us, right from the start. . .

VIJAY_FROM_KENT

Yep they still produce the same cards... 5 hours on a motorway doesnt constitute too long presumably! I not only went with First Call because they were cheap, but also because they covered the car, not the driver. I wanted both me and my mum covered...

hanu

My first post....

My AA breakdown cover is up for renewal & I have been very interested in reading comments from other posters in this forum.

I would like to share my experiences with the AA. being a member for a number of years, knowingly paying a high premium as like many other posters for peace of mind. However over the last few years I become aware AA tender out business. Experiences as follows:

Call 1
5 mins after call to AA local garage & breakdown truck arrive. Hole in radiator. Fixed with Rad weld & anti freeze ready to continue journey in under 25 minutes.

Call 2
40mins approx. AA van arrives. New alternator required towed to local garage

Call 3
Broken down on isolated country road in Winter, dusk at time of putting call through to AA. Pitch black by time help(!!) arrived 2 hours later. Mini van, equipment 1 screw driver with handle which kept falling off . Very pleasant chap but ...little English spoken & no idea on how to fix a vehicle. Luckily this time my husband was with me, with use of screw driver fixed problem himself enough to get us home.

Needless to say I have lost confidence in the AA & I am looking for another option.

I have found one post for Gem Assist. Does anyone else have experience with this service??

codger

hanu wrote: »

My first post....

My AA breakdown cover is up for renewal & I have been very interested in reading comments from other posters in this forum.

>Broken down on isolated country road in Winter, dusk at time of putting call through to AA. Pitch black by time help(!!) arrived 2 hours later. Mini van, equipment 1 screw driver with handle which kept falling off . Very pleasant chap but ...little English spoken & no idea on how to fix a vehicle.

Hi Hanu -- welcome to MSE!

I've no experience of the AA, nor any wish to acquire any seeing as how it's owned by Centrica, the outfit behind the appalling British Gas. But the AA shouldn't be 'contracting out' anything: it's a premium service, at a premium price. Had I been unfortunate enough to experience Minivan Man With Broken Screwdriver I'd have been chasing the AA for a large refund.

Then again though, if it was getting nearer renewal time, I'd ring the AA (assuming I still had sufficient confidence left in 'em after that experience) and say I would not be renewing my membership in view of its dreadful service.

Many UK companies of whatever nature and size these days are belatedly waking up to the fact that it's cheaper to retain existing customers than constantly chase after new ones. The AA is no exception. So what it "asks" by way of renewal fees is *not* what it is actually prepared to take.

You're in a strong position to haggle -- if you so desire. But getting shot of the AA altogether may be too tempting to ignore.

What a shame that would be for Centrica: customers bailing out of British Gas, motorists quitting the AA.