Car Breakdown Discussion

TheGraduate

Signed up with Green Flag as so many people raved about the company - somehow & I confess I have NO idea how, I clicked on the box stating that the car was registered AFTER 2003 - even entering my registration number (that other breakdown companies websites recognise & complete all the car's details) I was allowed to continue & to purchase a policy. As soon as it arrived it stated that cars over 9 years old are not covered. I appreciate that your website warns about this but I believed I had read all the questions & answered them honestly so was really miffed to find I had a policy for an 8 day trip to France that cost me £34.99 that was worthless & rubbing salt in the wound, I am now being charged a £10 cancellation fee. Had I wanted to upgrade to cover for my car - they asked for another £29 - pretty steep when other companies cover you for ONE year with 90 day European cover for around £65!!!! Let other buyers beware.:(

mozzers

Can anyone tell me if it's only AA and RAC who offer one off payment for breakdown cover? By that I mean once you've paid your fee, depending on the level of cover, if you need them there's no further charge. We need cover for the 2 of us, for 2 vehicles as we do monthly round trips between Cornwall and Leicester but have quite old vehicles. We're not in a position to b able to pay someone at the side of the road and then claim the money back as a lot of these companies seem to offer. The AA have quoted us £224, and that's with a discount allegedly, which is for roadside and recovery to get us home rather than just dumped at a garage to suffer whatever cost they choose. Please help, due a Leicester trip in 2 weeks!

den169

mozzers wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if it's only AA and RAC who offer one off payment for breakdown cover? By that I mean once you've paid your fee, depending on the level of cover, if you need them there's no further charge. We need cover for the 2 of us, for 2 vehicles as we do monthly round trips between Cornwall and Leicester but have quite old vehicles. We're not in a position to b able to pay someone at the side of the road and then claim the money back as a lot of these companies seem to offer. The AA have quoted us £224, and that's with a discount allegedly, which is for roadside and recovery to get us home rather than just dumped at a garage to suffer whatever cost they choose. Please help, due a Leicester trip in 2 weeks!

As far as i know only Autoaid and Gem reclaim need you to pay at the roadside take a look at Gem recovery extra though covers 2 people in any car £96.

bethanyhen

Just to add my experience of Boncaster and their AutoAid product. I needed them for a home-start. Instant pick-up when I called them, efficient handling of the policy details check, recovery arrived within 40 mins ... on a Sunday morning at 9 a.m.! Mechanic was extremely courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. problem sorted within 15 mins. I submitted the invoice to Boncaster and the cheque arrived within 3 days. Brilliant service! :j:T

Travi

Hi all....first post. Not sure what I am doing.
I currently have breakdown with Auto Aid and thankfully not needed to call them. Going on a short trip to France. Has anyone used their sister company Euro Rescue or what is your experience of Start Rescue (Their quote is only £25)

Fair_Comment

2010 car - 6700 miles on clock- 2 yrs no claim -
Renewal increased by 15.9%
Tried phoning four times on National number - (Quick auto response, then waited up to thirty minutes for an operator each time, at my expense before giving up and hanging up).
Went to web site and found e mail address-
Sent E mail categorically forbidding renewal of policy on grounds of unreasonable increase and Customer Contempt of phone system.
couple of weeks later received the renewal policy documents, They had renewed despite my telling them not to.
Tried phoning again-again, auto response good, but no operator response until 12 mins at my expense, then another 23 mins sorting out cancellation of the illegal renewal.
Negotiated a £10 compensation for my phone calls, which their immoral action had necessitated.

Cancellation notice arrived within a few days, but no phone refund.
Took it up with Financial Ombudsman Service - Cheque for phone calls soon arrived .

I would not touch any Green Flag associated Company with a barge pole again, nor UK Insurance who underwrite the policy.
They treat customers with contempt.

loopdaloop

I just rang up the AA as I haven't spoken to them for a couple of years so I wanted to make sure I was getting the best deal.

So I rang them and they told me my monthly payment (for the full set) is going up in september from £26 to £28 as thats my renewal date.

So I asked them to take off the breakdown repair cover and it went down to £17.

I go onto their website and enter my details and without breakdown repair cover its 9.99 a month and my with breakdown repair cover its £17.

I rang up to complain about it as I was not told this a minute ago when I rang and they transfered me to the retentions team where I was told that they can price match the price online!

I should hope so!

They haven't called m back yet, but just for the rudeness of the whole system that tries to catch people unawares I'm thinking of changing.

Lesson has been learnt.

Never ever auto-renew.

you pay for being lazy.

loopdaloop

SueC wrote: »

Over the past 13 months, the AA have sent me three pieces of mail by post:

1. A very decent 'rejoining' offer as I had previously switched away from the AA.

2. Some Boots vouchers which were part of my reward for rejoining the AA.

3. A renewal letter telling me that, unless I objected, they'd be helping themselves to money out of my account to the tune of 33% more than I paid last year.

No prizes for guessing which was the only one of the three to actually make it through my letterbox.

Strange, no........?

In fairness though, they did agree to cancel my membership and refund in full so I can shop around for the best deal. Not exactly what I had planned for Easter weekend, but hey ho...........

They did not send the renewal letter through the post to me either!
Very convenient!

mutty_hc

hi all,

My renewal is coming up and I was wondering if people still consider autoaid to be worth it?

I've been with them for a few years and never had to use them. But I like them for all they offer for so little per year.

Are AA/ RAC or Green Flag worth considering over them?

Thanks.

Kirri

I went with RAC this year, online via TopCashBack.
£99.99 less TCB of £25.25 which tracked within 24 hours for rescue, recovery and at home on an under 10 year old car.

RAC are still a little more than I was paying with Quoteline Direct but I get a plastic membership card (instead of a print it yourself bit of paper), freephone call out number and their own RAC patrols, which was something I wanted after last year's experience of Quoteline Direct's offering.

Quoteline only charge £59 for the year which is great value esp as it covered Europe trips but each year the company they contract to changes and most of these subcontracted companies seem to use local garages and that's where they failed me with an appalling call out, long wait in the dark with no updates, multiple lies over the call out time and what they supposedly checked on my car and a lying, useless mechanic that didn't have a clue and didn't seem bothered to find out what was wrong even though I told him what I thought it was (and I was right..). The lying *really* irked me and they didn't even apologise. Quoteline also had an expensive phone number to call so each call out really added up on my phonebill! Bit of a shame really all round, I was probably unlucky with the mechanic, but as a female it was what switched me back to a bigger name breakdown company.

Will see how I get on this year.