Car Breakdown Discussion

Babycakes

I am about to auto-renew AutoAid for a second year and I notice on MSE that owners of cars older than 15 years have to pay a higher price.  My car is over 15 years, but my wife's car is less than 15 years.  I was not asked this last year, so how does this work?  If I auto-renew, will my older car not be covered?

clive764

I'm really surprised MSE has never championed Breakdown services that are on Comparison Sites such as Confused.com.

I have full Breakdown cover, including the "at home" option for just under £30.

The company are based in Wales and I have had to use them just once when my battery was flat. They despatched a local (10 miles away) company and everything was done within the hour.

murphydavid

clive764 said:

I'm really surprised MSE has never championed Breakdown services that are on Comparison Sites such as Confused.com.

I have full Breakdown cover, including the "at home" option for just under £30.

The company are based in Wales and I have had to use them just once when my battery was flat. They despatched a local (10 miles away) company and everything was done within the hour.

I'm surprised you don't tell us who this company base in wales is and save us the effort of going to Confused.com and maybe finding it. If the £30 includes vehicle recovery I would really like to know who they are.
MSE does suggest we try moneysupermarket in his article, So does suggest use of other comparison sites.

theshed

Well, I contacted the AA last year to discuss renewal. I explained that RAC where offering £217 for equivalent cover through Quidco. Making it £151.
AA said they could offer me a price freeze of £238 for two years. I asked 'so I will be paying £238 for two years'.
But on renewal they say I was told it was '£238 for this year and next'. I lodged a complaint which was rejected.
I ask who would renew for £238 when £151 was on offer ?
Needless to say I have taken the RAC up on their Topcashback offer this year.

UncleJoes

I have had my renewal through for Green Flag but when I went to two comparison sites both of them said they had 0 results. I find this very odd. I then went onto Green Flag's website as a new customer, usng my husband's details instead of mine (same car, same address and he's the main driver so I figured it made sense for the breakdown to be in his name not mine), and the result was not only cheaper than the renewal quote but also cheaper than what we paid last year!

theshed

I also noted that AA was not on cashback this time either.

Grumpy_chap

No advice needed, but bit if a rant and letting of steam 

In December I took out RAC membership for the start date early January - primarily because RAC were the cheapest cover plus the added bonus of being one of the larger players in the field so would give a reliable service.

Anyway, this morning, my car decided not to "go".  After faffing around to check things myself, I remembered I had call-out cover so at 11 am did an online breakdown report.  

No reference number, e-mail or text message was received to confirm the report was logged so at 11:45 I called them up and was advised I was logged but to give it another hour or so before I'd expect to hear anything.

No contact from them so 13:20 I called again to be confirmed that I am in the queue to be scheduled, some explanation about priority and more / less vulnerable cases and I should not expect to hear or call for at least 24 hours.

Now, I full understand that services such as the RAC need to prioritise and my call-out under "at home" cover is lower down than a vulnerable user in a dangerous location but when does a "call out response" service cease to be such?

pje

I had the misfortune to shred a tyre on the M90 on the way to Perth last week

I called Rescue my car

https://www.rescuemycar.com/

they give you very good advice about where to stand if you are on a motorway (which I was)

and from the call to being picked up was 60 minutes

If I had broken down 250 yards further on, the driver would not have to have driven 15 miles south before he get back on my side of the road

Anyway the proof of the pudding is what happens when you need them, and they were excellent

 

Grumpy_chap

So, from reporting my car as non-starting at 11 am on Friday morning, the RAC attended 15:45 this afternoon, Sunday.
I know that "home start" has to be prioritised lower than "vulnerable person stranded in a dangerous location" but what type of service is it reasonable to expect in the event of a "home start" call out?
I am asking for the sake of interest really as I have not suffered anything more than minor inconvenience and was, of course, safe, comfortable, fed and watered in the interim.

pje

I would hope that home start can get you going or if it's something more major diagnpse it for you

Good luck