Haggle with RAC, AA & more

Barbie16

I have just reduced my AA renewal quote by £51.49 and will be the same next year. Worth the 10 minutes it took.

Chris.R

Renewal after about 20 years, with most things covered, was £310 (two people)

If I'd taken up the extra option with my car insurer (Admiral) I could have had much the same cover for about £30. Trying to add it later though didn't work out. I only have basic breakdown with them as std, no Recovery so not good enough.



Briefly - the call went on for 20 minutes:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:
Me: You're way too high AA: But we're the best


Well it's too much

Are you doing any offers cos I'm off.
We can do a 2 year fixed price for £230
Still too much
We have more vans than RAC But you have more members too so you need them ALL

AA But we're the best. Our response time is lowest
Do you do reduced response time to vulnerable people like elderly or with kids
Oh yes, sir we DO
but I'm a white middle aged male so I get your longest waiting times, DON'T I ?

Errm, well,....Yes you would.


But we're the best. Our business model....

You just gave me misleading information. I don't care what you tell me now.
Is that your last offer cos I'm off to GREEN FLAG
Oh but they don't have ANY vans
So what, are you saying they don't attend breakdowns????

Oh, well, no of course not, but.....
Are you going to give me a better price??
Oh well as a special offer we can do £178 for one year

Is that it
Yes.
I'll think about it.


I left it that if I didn't go back to them they would change the amount to £180, which is what happened.
Wifey is happier with the devil we know - even if they're liars.
Next year it'll be with Green Flag or someone else.


What a horriblecompany.

LoveDurian

AA Renewal came up for £219.55 and first he offered me £164 (25%off) but RAC were offering like for like for £119 and after putting me on hold briefly, he came back and was willing to match it with a couple of silver membership perks thrown in. It was all done perfectly amicably. Result! :j

sclare

My AA renewal came through at £206 from £118 last time. I've just come off the phone after getting it down to £134. I haven't accepted it yet though, and told them I'm going to think about it. Not sure if I'm being greedy pushing it further, since of course last year's came with an introductory discount. But getting £69 knocked off it is some sort of result already. I'll consider the offer and get back to them in a week (membership ceases in two weeks). Will be interesting to see if they contact me.

StevieJ

sclare wrote: »

My AA renewal came through at £206 from £118 last time. I've just come off the phone after getting it down to £134. I haven't accepted it yet though, and told them I'm going to think about it. Not sure if I'm being greedy pushing it further, since of course last year's came with an introductory discount. But getting £69 knocked off it is some sort of result already. I'll consider the offer and get back to them in a week (membership ceases in two weeks). Will be interesting to see if they contact me.

What is that for?

scouselova

Just rang RAC to haggle. Renewal for 2 of us presonal cover was £289 for a year! 5 minutes later Ive got 15 months of cover and free onward travel cover for both of us in any vehicle for £191.Thanks for the encouragement to haggle!

sophia5892

RAC renewal paperwork came through - £167 vs £129 last year

That's for roadside, national recovery, home start, onward travel & key replace. Happy to lose the key replace which would bring the cover down to £147

Checked with RAC and AA as new customers - cover would be £169

Looked at AutoAid which offers very similar for £60.

Rang RAC retentions. Explained the situation. Was asked if I'd consider staying with RAC if they could work something out with me. I tentatively said I'd consider it but it's a massive price difference between £60 and £167.

He then said he couldn't offer any discount at all but he could look at restructuring my cover so I only pay for what I need. Given the recovery to any destination in the UK is the most important thing to me, and AutoAid offer that for £60, why would I scale back my RAC cover and still pay more??

Response to that was basically that I need to read the T&Cs and realise that RAC provide a much higher level of cover but he can't go into specifics about another company but I need to be careful. Said I was sat with the T&Cs in front of me. Read them to him. He made more noises about the cover not being what it seems and RAC service is much better.

Cue my story about the one breakdown I've had where I was left frozen, in a dangerous location, blocking the road, as a young disabled woman alone, for 7 hours. How it took them over 24 hours to get my vehicle to the destination of my choice. How I had to make over 10 phone calls and several complaints to get the level of service I'd supposedly paid for as they made mistake after mistake after mistake and false promise after false promise after false promise and in some cases just outright lies. Said I didn't really see that I was getting a higher level of service from RAC when I needed them.

He said he understood that but said again about reading T&Cs etc. I reiterated again that I'd read them and said that basically all I'm losing is a courtesy car/onward travel if I'm less than 25 miles from home when I breakdown. For the £85 price difference I can organise my own onward travel if I need it.

So he replies saying he can cancel the renewal then. I agree. End of conversation.

Now to buy with AutoAid... can't possibly be worse service than I got from the RAC :rotfl:

forgotmyname

RAC seem to be harder to haggle with now. I was with the RAC for around 26 years, originally their top tier package with the hire car for 2 or 3 days.

Then switched to their Arrival package which covered my caravan. I was paying £130 for the full cover (£220 full price)? and accidently missed the renewal last year so paid dearly for that mistake. This year I phoned them and haggled this year, well i tried to haggle but they offered a miniscule discount so i cancelled the renewal and have moved over to Greenflag at £132 for the same cover.

50Twuncle

Our two cars cost £75 for my wife and myself on Greenflag recovery plus
They offered me a £10 discount on the "normal" price without even being pushed
You would pay at least double this with RAC or AA !

I-LOV-MONEY

My policy is due next week.   They want £93 (up from £89).   I will ring them tomorrow to 'discuss' it !