Car Breakdown Discussion

mudmonkey_2

We have had Autoaid for the last year we where told that they have changed their policy and if you are more than a mile from home you don't get charged upfront. They pay the recovery people direct. Having had to call them out twice within the last couple of of months, this would seem to be the case. Very impressed with their service, will be renewing with them this weekend.

den169

mudmonkey wrote: »

We have had Autoaid for the last year we where told that they have changed their policy and if you are more than a mile from home you don't get charged upfront. They pay the recovery people direct. Having had to call them out twice within the last couple of of months, this would seem to be the case. Very impressed with their service, will be renewing with them this weekend.

Who told you that iv'e checked there terms and nothing about it there.Hope its true as long as price doesn't go up.

Consumerist

Recently received RAC renewal notice for £224. After a haggle, renewed at £68. The only loss was for At Home recovery which is not really needed any more.

Mikey17

My tale today. Went to start car outside house, found it completly dead, absolutely nothing. I admit I an clueless with cars. Rang my insurer Churchill. Last year they gave me auto renewal which seemed very high. So went online and found same company Churchill £80 cheaper with free breakdown.
Today they tell me my breakdown did not include home assistance. Wanted £108 to get green flag out.
Found myself in a pickle and agreed. Guy came out and told me my battery knackered. " What " I said " The RAC fitted that less than 3 years ago, might still be under warranty. "
So he started my engine and left quickly. Set off to garage,dashboard lights flashing, car jerking, power steering gone.I wish he had stayed longer , in case the car stalled
Man at garage thoroughly checked battery , after a while told me the battery was indeed defective.
I agreed to have a new one fitted. Which he did for half the price the RAC charged 3 years ago.
Rang RAC to see what they thought. " We will come and check the battery, but as you are no longer with us, we want £30 up front " No thanks
Been with Churchill tens years, not for much longer. As for the RAC £80 for a battery that lasted less than 3 years.( guaranteed for 4 )
Thank goodness for my local garage man, he is a saint. When i told him how much green flag charged, he said he would have come out and jump started me.
I am thinking of getting full cover now, maybe with LV- Brittania ( £90 )

Crabman

Mikey17 wrote: »

Man at garage thoroughly checked battery , after a while told me the battery was indeed defective.
I agreed to have a new one fitted. Which he did for half the price the RAC charged 3 years ago.
Rang RAC to see what they thought. " We will come and check the battery, but as you are no longer with us, we want £30 up front " No thanks

If your garage can put in writing that the battery was defective (if it's not already written on the receipt) then you could consider asking the RAC to meet the cost via a complaint. If they refuse or don't reply at all, tell them you'll escalate it to the ombudsman:

http://www.rac.co.uk/complaints

Quentin

Mikey17 wrote: »

...Rang RAC to see what they thought. " We will come and check the battery, but as you are no longer with us, we want £30 up front " No thanks
Been with Churchill tens years, not for much longer. As for the RAC £80 for a battery that lasted less than 3 years.( guaranteed for 4 ).....

RAC batteries are guaranteed for either 3 or 5 years depending on which level you bought.


If yours was still under guarantee then they would have come out and replaced it (assuming it was faulty) under the terms of the guarantee (which include the upfront £30 charge for non members they quoted you, which is refunded if the battery is found to be defective)


You should have followed the terms of the guarantee, which now may be too late to use.


I disagree you have recourse to any "ombudsman" - this looks a SOGA issue were you wanting to try and get recompense for this

Mikey17

Quentin wrote: »

You should have followed the terms of the guarantee, which now may be too late to use.

Had it been anything else, eg a washing machine, I would of.
It;s a little bit different with a car battery. For a start with a dead car, how do you know it's the battery. Then when i got the car going, I had every dashboard light flashing, lost my power steering and the car was jerking all over the place.
After I got the car to the garage , and the battery was eventually confirmed defective,I had to make a decision, do I try and take the crippled car home and wait how long ? The RAC are hardly going to make me priority as I am no longer with them. Or do I get a new one fitted and get back to normal.
The RAC had me over a barrel,pay £30 and hope it was the battery or take it to garage and get the problem sorted.
Can you imagine buying anything else,under warranty, and having to pay the seller to confirm it's defective. No

I came on the forum to look for breakdown info, and then decided to post my story. I don't want anything from the RAC or Churchill, neither will I ever use them again.

hollie.weimeraner

mudmonkey wrote: »

We have had Autoaid for the last year we where told that they have changed their policy and if you are more than a mile from home you don't get charged upfront. They pay the recovery people direct. Having had to call them out twice within the last couple of of months, this would seem to be the case. Very impressed with their service, will be renewing with them this weekend.

I was using my sons car 2 months ago when it broke down on the M18. Called Autoaid out and was recovered to home expecting to pay but wasn't presented with a bill.

So yes it does seem they have changed their policy. I have been with them for about 10 years now and they have always been 1st class.

Crabman

Mikey17 wrote: »

Had it been anything else, eg a washing machine, I would of.
It;s a little bit different with a car battery. For a start with a dead car, how do you know it's the battery. Then when i got the car going, I had every dashboard light flashing, lost my power steering and the car was jerking all over the place.
After I got the car to the garage , and the battery was eventually confirmed defective,I had to make a decision, do I try and take the crippled car home and wait how long ? The RAC are hardly going to make me priority as I am no longer with them. Or do I get a new one fitted and get back to normal.
The RAC had me over a barrel,pay £30 and hope it was the battery or take it to garage and get the problem sorted.
Can you imagine buying anything else,under warranty, and having to pay the seller to confirm it's defective. No

I came on the forum to look for breakdown info, and then decided to post my story. I don't want anything from the RAC or Churchill, neither will I ever use them again.

You make a reasonable points. Yet if you complaint to the RAC don't expect them to simply roll over, as my complaint with them went unanswered for over eight weeks and then they refused to cooperate with the ombudsman until the FCA became involved.

The £30 fee for the RAC to inspect their battery is what your garage has done so I don't think you can be criticised - the RAC could have suggested you visit an RAC approved garage to have the battery tested without the £30 call out fee but it sounds like they didn't do this.

Quentin

Mikey17 wrote: »

Can you imagine buying anything else,under warranty, and having to pay the seller to confirm it's defective.....

With car batteries you normally would go to a battery shop/supplier etc and have it tested FOC. If under warranty and found to be faulty then you need to chase up the original vendor to honour the warranty.


You did get it tested and were told it was faulty. At that point you needed to go back to the vendor (RAC) and make a warranty claim.


The RAC warranty does say clearly that there is a £30 fee payable to come and check the battery (refunded if it is found to be faulty under the warranty when they will replace the battery)


By refusing to pay them the £30 to visit you and choosing to get this all done yourself you haven't followed the warranty conditions, and a complaint looks to have no grounds.


As previously advised, you are being mislead that this matter is something you can escalate to the FOS, and if you are unhappy with the battery warranty conditions you need to seek advice from Trading standards as it's a SOGA matter, not a FOS matter