AA Breakdown Repair cover. Is it legal?

spartadomingo65

Beware, AA Recently turned down my legitimate claim - am I missing something?

Several months ago, I returned from holiday and my car would not start so I called the AA, as I had full breadown cover plus the repair warranty.

Repair man got it going claiming it was just down to a flat battery fair enough but I pointed out that a warning light on the dash - ESP - had not gone out.

His response was to tell me to ignore it - as it was not uncommon for warning lights to stay on after a jump start - He then said it would probably go out after a few journeys.

Less than a month later ( Sunday night) I had to have the car recovered - under the breakdown cover by the AA - to a local garage after the window wiper motor gave out.

Next day the garage contacted me and asked if I had been aware that the ESP warning light was on and if so why had I ignored it as I had a major problem with my steering rack.

Cut a long story short, Although all steering is covered under the warranty, the AA would not authorise the repair as - wait for it - The car had been recovered for a faulty wiper motor so under there small print that rendered my steering problem inilegible.

Despite pointing out that I had highlighted the Fault code being displayed on the previous call out they would not budge.

Do you think I would be likely to win if I went down the small claims route.

Advice appreciated

LeeSouthEast

What do your terms and conditions of the warranty say in relation to claims made following recovery?

waynedance

So the AA man said the light may go out after a few trips. Why did you leave it for a month??

Surely the chap did not say ignore it forever. What is the fault with the steering?

The first call out was for flat battery so why would they cover a warning light being on? Read the t & s's.

George_Michael

This exclusion from the AA breakdown & repair policy will be the reason why your claim was refused.

General Exclusions applicable to all of the policy:

[FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light]1. Any Mechanical or Electrical failure, that: [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light]existed prior to the purchase of this cover; or was caused by faults, which You were aware of prior to the start of the journey on which the breakdown occurred;[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light]http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/breakdown-cover/breakdown-repair-cover-policy-current.pdf[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light][FONT=Frutiger 45 Light,Frutiger 45 Light]




[/FONT]

[/FONT]

[/FONT]

spartadomingo65

waynedance wrote: »

So the AA man said the light may go out after a few trips. Why did you leave it for a month??

Surely the chap did not say ignore it forever. What is the fault with the steering?

The first call out was for flat battery so why would they cover a warning light being on? Read the t & s's.

I am obviously missing someething or do you work for the AA?

Not being a mechanic myself, I trusted the advice of the AA patrol guy who told me the warning light was a result of him jump starting my battery - ie it was`nt there when I last drove the car - I think 3 weeks of ignoring the light - as he advised - would not constitute gross negligence on my part, what i think would constitute gross negligence is an AA patroL man who had the means to check and confirm the reason for the warning light not going out, ie I believe they carry diagnostic equipment - telling me to ignore it.

ILW

spartadomingo65 wrote: »

I am obviously missing someething or do you work for the AA?

Not being a mechanic myself, I trusted the advice of the AA patrol guy who told me the warning light was a result of him jump starting my battery - ie it was`nt there when I last drove the car - I think 3 weeks of ignoring the light - as he advised - would not constitute gross negligence on my part, what i think would constitute gross negligence is an AA patroL man who had the means to check and confirm the reason for the warning light not going out, ie I believe they carry diagnostic equipment - telling me to ignore it.

The cover is for breakdown, not general repair and maintenance. A warning light is not necessarily a breakdown.

spartadomingo65

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

What do your terms and conditions of the warranty say in relation to claims made following recovery?

I have an AA warranty which covers steering, the small print basically says the warranty can only be implemented if the car breaks down and has to be recovered to a garage

Two points

1. My car would not start after 2 weeks of being stood, so the breakdown attended, the battery was flat but there was also a warning light which I believe the AA had a duty of care to at least to have attempted some investigation as to it`s origin there and then

2. The warranty - which I have had for several years - covers steering problems, yet a warning light on its own would not constitute a call out so that renders the warranty covering all steering as impossible to invoke which is misleading as the impression in the warranty document is stating that all steering problems are covered!

colino

Having a flat, or even just low, battery can and does cause many cars esp warning lights to come on. The abs/esp systems need a consistent voltage to operate on and if not, presume the worst and deactivate. You are left with a car that brakes and steers normally, just without the driver aids. I'm going to hazard a guess the patrol explained that if that was the problem after a short number of cycles, your esp warning light would go out, if not, the issue required further exploration.
You kept driving with the warning light on (did you think it was now a permanent feature?) and only after another, unconnected, fault you took second party advice that yet something else was wrong.
The AA are either going to stick to their guns with the above T&C exclusion or explain they don't maintain cars for members.

The_AA_Company_Representative

spartadomingo65 wrote: »

Beware, AA Recently turned down my legitimate claim - am I missing something?

Several months ago, I returned from holiday and my car would not start so I called the AA, as I had full breadown cover plus the repair warranty.

Repair man got it going claiming it was just down to a flat battery fair enough but I pointed out that a warning light on the dash - ESP - had not gone out.

His response was to tell me to ignore it - as it was not uncommon for warning lights to stay on after a jump start - He then said it would probably go out after a few journeys.

Less than a month later ( Sunday night) I had to have the car recovered - under the breakdown cover by the AA - to a local garage after the window wiper motor gave out.

Next day the garage contacted me and asked if I had been aware that the ESP warning light was on and if so why had I ignored it as I had a major problem with my steering rack.

Cut a long story short, Although all steering is covered under the warranty, the AA would not authorise the repair as - wait for it - The car had been recovered for a faulty wiper motor so under there small print that rendered my steering problem inilegible.

Despite pointing out that I had highlighted the Fault code being displayed on the previous call out they would not budge.

Do you think I would be likely to win if I went down the small claims route.

Advice appreciated

Hello spartadomingo65, we appreciate you have already spoken to someone from The AA regarding this, however if there is anything outstanding which you would like to discuss, please email the details to [EMAIL="chat@theaa.com"]chat@theaa.com[/EMAIL] including your full name, address and membership number with Reference FOR51392. Regards, The AA

Rover_Driver

spartadomingo65 wrote: »

The warranty - which I have had for several years - covers steering problems, yet a warning light on its own would not constitute a call out so that renders the warranty covering all steering as impossible to invoke which is misleading as the impression in the warranty document is stating that all steering problems are covered!

The Electronic Stability Programme has nothing to do with the steering.

Prothet_of_Doom

The_AA_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hello spartadomingo65, we appreciate you have already spoken to someone from The AA regarding this, however if there is anything outstanding which you would like to discuss, please email the details to [EMAIL="chat@theaa.com"]chat@theaa.com[/EMAIL] including your full name, address and membership number with Reference FOR51392. Regards, The AA

The First AA man, should have told him not to drive the car as it had a potentially dangerous fault, and should have recovered it, and then it should have been checked out and fixed under warranty.

There are 1001 AA, RAC, Green Flag, etc members watching this thread with interest, and are going to base their next membership renewal on whether they perceive the AA are reasonable, or whether they are happy to give away all thier goodwill, because they can.