Roadside Recovery: AutoAid Feedback

skintmostofthetime

Am seriously considering these but have questions - If I break down on the way to an airport do they take me/passengers to the airport? & then what? When we get home where will the car be ? Do they get it repaired and we collect it? Sorry - bit long winded but am paranoid about getting stranded going on hols but equally worried about no car upon return to U.K.
HELP

lisyloo

AutoAid does cover "onward travel" which means it covers train or hire car or taxi or hotel. So you would be fine getting to the airport (I always allow some contingency in my travel times for this eventuality as clearly it's nt going to be instant).

Yes you car would be recovered.

I haven't had any experience with AutoAid but I don't think you would be covered for any subsequent journeys. So I think that both getting back home and collecting your car would be up to you.
You would either need to pay for public transport or hire a car or get a lift to get back home.

That's my understanding.

Have you tried reading the policy or calling Autoaid themselves and asking?

meno_2

I had a recent breakdown and they took me and 2 passengers home with the car, then came back next morning and took me and car to my local garage, waited untill car was booked in then took me home. garage dropped car off when repaired.

If i was that paranoid of breaking down on route to the airport id get a train:D

quickstepqueen

cslogg wrote: »

How long should I have to wait before getting any documention?
I signed up around three weeks ago for cover to start on August 18th and have so far received nothing.They do not reply to my emails and the three times I have tried phoning I have given up after being on hold for twenty mins each time.
cslogg

Hi cslogg

I posted on here a while back about the same thing. I'd taken out the policy but 3 weeks lster and nothing. Once the money was taken from my account, 2 days later and the handbook etc arrived. It must have been almost 4 weeks from taking out the policy before I got everything. Like you I was panicking a bit in case I wasn't covered. I had also emailed but did get a reply from them where they assured me I was covered and gave me my policy number just in case. Sorry that you've not had any response...IMHO, that is bad customer service. Perhaps they only send out the handbooks, get paperwork done once a month or something, not sure but I would suggest hanging on just another week max and hopefully, like with me, the stuff will arrive.

lisyloo

If i was that paranoid of breaking down on route to the airport id get a train

If the train breaks down en-route you will be locked on it.
(They won't let people jump out because they might get sued if someone gets hurt).

All that is required is sensible insurance and sensible planning.

I tend to leave an hour or so early to allow for breakdown or traffic holdups.
If there are no problems then you can use that time for a leisurely lunch when you are almost there.
If you don't leave any spare time then the slightet traffic holdup or delayed train will make you late which isn't a good plan at airports these days.

daniel_j_h

Been with autoaid for a nearly a year and just (sort of) had to use them this weekend.
Waterpump died on car on the way back from the Isle of Wight to Manchester Sunday evening and was leaking fluid. Gave them a call and they said it would be an hour before anyone could get to us to start the tow home. Half hour later they phoned and said they didn't have enough operators in our area and it would be another 2 hours min before they could get to us. This was now 8pm Sunday evening and we had a 1 year old baby on board, also they said they didn't have info about the change overs and we may be dumped and left until another person could take over for the next stint. The guy on the other end of the phone was really unsure about what would happen and pretty much said they would make it up as they went along.

This was completely unacceptable in our circumstances, and we canceled the call out and took our chances limping home by stopping every 1/2 hour and topping up the water. Luckily we got home fine without damaging the car but it has made me seriously question renewing.

Personally I would say go for it with autoaid, service may not be great in certain parts of the country and at certain times, and can you really afford (family, job etc) to be stuck miles from home? If you do not travel too far and are around populated areas you should be fine!!!

Hopefully this helps someone!

lisyloo

You were lucky and I understand why you did it, but I've had this problem before and was told that you can blow a head gasket this way i.e. do much more expensive damage.

I think you were unlucky, but I would caution about driving cars (if there is any option) when they are broken.

If I had blown a head gasket on ine it would have written it off and I still have the car over 3 years later so it would have been very costly.

daniel_j_h

Thanks for your reply. I do know a decent amount about car engines (I do as many repairs as I can - not being able to afford garage rates - a £15 haynes manual and a few tools and time is all you need for most jobs). The leak was slow enough that using it was an option (although admittedly a risky one) - but yes - you should not drive if your car is leaking fluid etc!

meno_2

It sounds to me like Auto Aid was trying hard, just no recovery firms that they know of.

Before a long journey i always check out the recovery firms around the area, no need to call Auto Aid they have a list of recovery firms but NOT all of them.

When i broke down once i called one of them 118 companies who text me the nearest recovery garage, much quicker.

leighv

I have just received the renewal on my top banana AA cover (Home Start - Relay and Relay Plus). It's shot from 125 to 175, so I'm looking at Autoaid.

Is it correct that they cover the person rather than the car (as I have both a car and a scooter).

Thanks in advance.