Roadside Recovery: AutoAid Feedback

lisyloo

if you breakdown, Can you simply elect to be recovered to home and that’s it?

I think it might depend on where you are.
If you are hundreds of miles away from home, then no, I doubt they would do it. They'd either fix it or drop you at a local garage.
If home is nearby then I'm certain they would.

derrick

carl555 wrote: »

Thinking of signing up for AutoAid but after reading the policy docs, etc, I have a question:

If you breakdown, Can you simply elect to be recovered to home and that’s it?

Contradictory statements in their documents; -

On page 3; - "Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers.We will refund the reasonable cost of taking the vehicle,you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken-down to any one place you choose."

Then on page 5, (exclusions); - "3.The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down."

carl555

derrick wrote: »

Contradictory statements in their documents

On page 3; - "Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers.We will refund the reasonable cost of taking the vehicle,you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken-down to any one place you choose."

Then on page 5, (exclusions); - "3.The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down."

Exactly! Thanks Derrick.

Where it says - “if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down” - I wonder what is a reasonable period and are you at the mercy of the breakdown mechanic and his price of parts?

I don’t mind a mechanic attempting a quick and cheap repair, but it would be a very rare journey indeed where I want the car fixing there and then at any cost.

Anyone with any experiences – Is it easy enough to opt for recovery if that’s what you choose to do? :question:

GTG

carl555 wrote: »

Exactly! Thanks Derrick.

Where it says - “if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down” - I wonder what is a reasonable period and are you at the mercy of the breakdown mechanic and his price of parts?

I don’t mind a mechanic attempting a quick and cheap repair, but it would be a very rare journey indeed where I want the car fixing there and then at any cost.

Anyone with any experiences – Is it easy enough to opt for recovery if that’s what you choose to do? :question:

I have n't had any experience of this but I would always go through Autoaid and let them pick the recovery outfit. I'd imagine they have a list of garages in every part of the UK which they trust and appoint on behalf of customers on a regular basis.

I have only had them out once for a home start and the garage they appointed was about 10 mile away when I had expeccted someone from a local garage. It was well worth the wait as they dealt with me quickly efficently and the chap was extremely friendly and helpful. With previous experiences - AA and RAC I was used to getting some unsociable person with a face as long as a fiddle.

It would n't be in Autoaids' interest to arrange a dodgy garage to recover you and by the same token it would n't be in the interest of the garage to rip customers off of a big recovery company. Put it this way, if it does happen you aint going to go back to Autoaid. Prevention is better than cure though so if you don't get an answer here you're best emailing or writing to them about your query quoting the inconsistancies in the policy wording. Well spotted though.

dacouch

derrick wrote: »

Contradictory statements in their documents; -

On page 3; - "Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers.We will refund the reasonable cost of taking the vehicle,you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken-down to any one place you choose."

Then on page 5, (exclusions); - "3.The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down."

They are basically saying if they cannot get you going within a reasonable amount of time eg 1 hour they will tow you to a place you chose. They would not just tow you home without trying to fix the problem as the towing costs quite a lot of money

derrick

dacouch wrote: »

They are basically saying if they cannot get you going within a reasonable amount of time eg 1 hour they will tow you to a place you chose. They would not just tow you home without trying to fix the problem as the towing costs quite a lot of money

That is your interpretation of the wording, some one else's,(including Autoaids), could/would be different, and as I doubt you work for Autoaid, you cannot possibly have the definitive answer.
The wording is ambiguous and needs clarifying, as we all know that "reasonable" has no legal definition, e.g. same with the Sale of Goods Act.

dacouch

I agree "Reasonable" does not have an exact definition within the Policy wording which is no doubt intentional.

The poster asked whether you can simply elect to have the vehicle recovered without giving the mechanic the oportunity to try and fix the vehicle.

Under the Policy General Exclusions which you refer to Section 3 of Page 5. It states "The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down"

The above is in the General Exclusions which apply to the entire Policy. So they are in effect saying they they will not pay the costs of recovery if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period at or near where it has broken down.

So basically you cannot elect to not allow the mechanic to not try and repair the car at the roadside and go straight to having the vehicle recovered.

derrick

dacouch wrote: »

I agree "Reasonable" does not have an exact definition within the Policy wording which is no doubt intentional.

The poster asked whether you can simply elect to have the vehicle recovered without giving the mechanic the oportunity to try and fix the vehicle.

Under the Policy General Exclusions which you refer to Section 3 of Page 5. It states "The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down"

The above is in the General Exclusions which apply to the entire Policy. So they are in effect saying they they will not pay the costs of recovery if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period at or near where it has broken down.

So basically you cannot elect to not allow the mechanic to not try and repair the car at the roadside and go straight to having the vehicle recovered.

As I said in my reply to the OP!

But in the same General exclusions, (as already quoted), it says on page 3; - "Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers.We will refund the reasonable cost of taking the vehicle,you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken-down to any one place you choose.". So this statement appears to give the policyholder the choice to be taken onwards, but the other one does not!

So as I have already said, their statements are contradictory, and therefore need clarifying, and ideally put better in their T&Cs

No point us going round in circles, the only people who can give the definitive answer are Autoaid, and it needs it in the T&Cs, not just via a phone call from an individual.

dacouch

But Page 3 is not General Exclusions, it lists the benefits under the policy eg emergency roadside repairs, recovery etc.

The General Exclusions clearly state they won't pay recovery charges if the vehicle can be repaired in a reasonable period at the place or near it breaks down.

The wording is fairly water tight in my opinion. It even states recovery is only available on the "How it works page"

"Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers

If the vehicle cannot be repaired at the scene of the breakdown, we will arrange and reimburse any reasonable cost of taking the vehicle, you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken down to anyone place you choose"

http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/works01.htm

derrick

dacouch wrote: »

But Page 3 is not General Exclusions, it lists the benefits under the policy eg emergency roadside repairs, recovery etc.

The General Exclusions clearly state they won't pay recovery charges if the vehicle can be repaired in a reasonable period at the place or near it breaks down.

The wording is fairly water tight in my opinion. It even states recovery is only available on the "How it works page"

"Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers

If the vehicle cannot be repaired at the scene of the breakdown, we will arrange and reimburse any reasonable cost of taking the vehicle, you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken down to anyone place you choose"

http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/works01.htm

Page 3 is the benefits of the policy and includes; - "Recovery of the vehicle and its passengers.We will refund the reasonable cost of taking the vehicle,you and up to 5 passengers from the place where the vehicle has broken-down to any one place you choose."

Page 5, Exclusions, states; - "3.The cost of recovering the vehicle and its passengers if the vehicle can be repaired within a reasonable period of time at or near the place where it has broken-down."

One say yes, the other says no, contradictory in anyone's language, and we still have no definition of "reasonable".