Car Breakdown Discussion

SRH_2

50Twuncle wrote: »

No - "autorenewal" does though - always cancel your membership and start again as a new member EVERY year !!

Good advice.

I've been with AA for 22 years and last year they upgraded me to higher coverage without my permission and took a substantial amount of money out of my bank account.

After some wrangling I got the money back, plus comprehensive cover as an apology.

I've now just received my renewal quote... £208!!! To add insult to injury they have included the extras they gave me as an apology last year (the one and only time in 22 years I have had homestart and relay too).

Online they quote £109 for the same package, plus a £50 Amazon voucher. I've just phoned to cancel, explained why, and while they said they would match the £109 they could not offer the voucher as it's only for new customers. I did explain that I could quite easily cancel and go via cashback and still get it for cheaper than £109. So, they are quite happy to lose a customer of 22 years? I've cancelled my policy.

I'm considering taking out a policy in my partner's name instead. He drives the same car so I'm wondering if I could also use it if I break down in the car (we currently only have cover specific to our car anyway). That way we would get the new starter deal.

On the other hand, it's left me a bit miffed and I think I will just take my custom elsewhere.

lisyloo

I also want to know with autoaid do you just phone them up and they send out a pick up van and they then do exactly as the rac would but you just pay for it there and then and then get the money back form autoaid

They will send someone (local) out to you.
The difference is that it's not their own vans like AA/RAC, it'll be a local recovery firm.
Personally I'm very happy with them as are a lot of customers.

NigelG_2

What is a 'Breakdown'? Everyone I have spoken to does not realise that 'Breakdown' policies do not cover accident damage, however caused. If you get a puncture that is not covered...

Keith585

lisyloo wrote: »

They will send someone (local) out to you.
The difference is that it's not their own vans like AA/RAC, it'll be a local recovery firm.
Personally I'm very happy with them as are a lot of customers.

I used them at the end of August. Broke down on the M25 and had to get home. They sent out a flat bed truck, driver was wonderful and very helpful. Only problem was they said it would take 90 mins to get the truck to me, in the end it took 2 hours to arrive. Phoned at 4.30pm, truck arrived 6.30 - on a Thursday.
You pay the company by credit card and they send you an invoice to send with the claim form - except I could not get an invoice and you only get 21 days to submit a claim. In the end I got a copy of the transaction from the credit card online site and sent that. All credit top Autoaid, they paid up with no questions.

Quentin

NigelG wrote: »

What is a 'Breakdown'? Everyone I have spoken to does not realise that 'Breakdown' policies do not cover accident damage, however caused. If you get a puncture that is not covered...

Nonsense.

They will come and change a wheel (usually provided you have a "serviceable spare")

RAC and AA definitely will change a wheel for you.

Autoaid say this on their site, and presumably the others follow the same policy:

Although the AutoAid Breakdown policy states you are required to have a legal spare tyre, we are aware that some cars do not have this and have a tyre inflation kit instead. In this instance, AutoAid Breakdown will recover your car to the nearest tyre centre for you to get a replacement

syco1

As a very low mileage driver (my two and half year car has 1700 on clock), I am looking for cheap breakdown and home start cover which I doubt I will ever need, I don't go far from home.
However, I have looked through around 10 policies and they all state that the car must be serviced to manufacturers guidelines. This could be a problem. I had my first year service when the car had done 1000 mile, but at the second year there was only another 400 miles on the clock so it was a waste of money.
I know an awful lot of people no longer service they cars religiously, I wonder how many don't know they aren't covered if they breakdown.?
I can't see any point paying for breakdown cover if they are going to actually check if the car has been serviced. Any ideas anyone ?

den169

syco1 wrote: »

As a very low mileage driver (my two and half year car has 1700 on clock), I am looking for cheap breakdown and home start cover which I doubt I will ever need, I don't go far from home.
However, I have looked through around 10 policies and they all state that the car must be serviced to manufacturers guidelines. This could be a problem. I had my first year service when the car had done 1000 mile, but at the second year there was only another 400 miles on the clock so it was a waste of money.
I know an awful lot of people no longer service they cars religiously, I wonder how many don't know they aren't covered if they breakdown.?
I can't see any point paying for breakdown cover if they are going to actually check if the car has been serviced. Any ideas anyone ?

Iv'e only used breakdown recovery 3 times but no one asked about servicing,Most recovery companys just want to get you on your way or tow you,I doubt there interested in servicing.By the way iv'e seen more newer cars at the side of a motorway broke down than older ones.

syco1

Thanks Den. It's about ten years since I had a breakdown. Had a fair bit of trouble with the AA trying it on with massive increases and still trying to take direct debits after I cancelled. I will probably try one of these £30 deal companies, but just concerned that when you need them, they may start looking for excuses not to help - or worse still provide an expensive garage and then want proof you have complied with t+c's after the event.

Grabul

Hi, I broke down on the M25 yesterday, called the AA (this is the first time I have needed to use them since I joined in 2007), to cut a very long story short it took them 13 hours to collect me and get me back to Southampton, I first broke down at 11:15 am and I finally got home at midnight. Apparently it doesn't matter where you break down if you are a man, as at any time a woman phones up they will always divert the vehicle to them. When we were finally towed off the motorway (after a 2 hour wait in the rain) we waited another 4 hours for a patrol man who put some water in and told us we would get home OK now, 25 miles later we broke down again on the M25, after another 2 hour wait by the side of the motorway in the rain we got picked up, taken the 25 miles back in the wrong direction back to the services and left for another 4 hours. In this time 2 relay vehicles came in and one told us he couldn't take us as he was waiting for a recovery vehicle to come in with a woman who has JUST broken down to be towed off the motorway so he could load her straight on and getv her home. By this time we have been broken down for a total of 10 hours. DONT go to the AA if you are male, unless you are ready to waste a day sitting on the hard shoulder watching the AA rush to pick up all the women. Seems like sexual equality only works one way.

The_AA_Company_Representative

Grabul wrote: »

Hi, I broke down on the M25 yesterday, called the AA (this is the first time I have needed to use them since I joined in 2007), to cut a very long story short it took them 13 hours to collect me and get me back to Southampton, I first broke down at 11:15 am and I finally got home at midnight. Apparently it doesn't matter where you break down if you are a man, as at any time a woman phones up they will always divert the vehicle to them. When we were finally towed off the motorway (after a 2 hour wait in the rain) we waited another 4 hours for a patrol man who put some water in and told us we would get home OK now, 25 miles later we broke down again on the M25, after another 2 hour wait by the side of the motorway in the rain we got picked up, taken the 25 miles back in the wrong direction back to the services and left for another 4 hours. In this time 2 relay vehicles came in and one told us he couldn't take us as he was waiting for a recovery vehicle to come in with a woman who has JUST broken down to be towed off the motorway so he could load her straight on and getv her home. By this time we have been broken down for a total of 10 hours. DONT go to the AA if you are male, unless you are ready to waste a day sitting on the hard shoulder watching the AA rush to pick up all the women. Seems like sexual equality only works one way.

Hello Grabul, sorry to hear about the delay, this is something that we would like to address. Please email the details to [EMAIL="chat@theaa.com"]chat@theaa.com[/EMAIL] including your full name, address and membership number with Reference FOR56223. Kind Regards, The AA