AA Parts & Garage - Clutch Breakdown?

Jlawson118

I have a 2011 Corsa, and I was shopping around for breakdown cover towards the end of last year. The first place I was getting information from was the RAC, and I asked if their repairs covered clutches if they were to break down, and he explained to me they wouldn't as it's wear and tear.

I then asked the AA the same question and they said regardless of wear and tear, they'll still repair it with no extra cost to me as standard. This was the selling point to me and why I chose the AA.

Last Thursday, I noticed my clutch was slipping, and it was quite bad that I nearly had to abandon the car, but I managed to get it home and called the AA out, where he diagnosed there was a strong smell coming from the clutch even though I hadn't driven the car for about an hour and half. I asked him how the parts policy works, and he told me I can book it in somewhere like Halfords, or if I can use my own choice of garage providing they're VAT registered. The mechanic told me they usually replace clutches with no problem.

I contacted Halfords who gave me a price of £570 for a new clutch, and told me it's very unlikely the AA will pay out for it. I phoned up the AA's claims department and they also informed me if it's wear and tear then it's not their problem!

I've paid out £426 at a friend's garage and I haven't driven much yet, but so far it seems spot on. But I'm wound up about the AA telling me that I would be covered for wear and tear of a clutch. Only problem is, the guy I spoke to in the shopping centre about it, I didn't buy it with him, I purchased online.

Is it worth complaining? Any similar experiences?

wgl2014

What do your policy documents say?

Aylesbury_Duck

wgl2014 wrote: »

What do your policy documents say?

They say that "Worn out friction surfaces" on the clutch are not covered. The Ts&Cs are all available here:

http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/breakdown-cover/breakdown-repair-cover-policy-current.pdf

Jlawson118

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

They say that "Worn out friction surfaces" on the clutch are not covered. The Ts&Cs are all available here:

http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/breakdown-cover/breakdown-repair-cover-policy-current.pdf

The rest of the document might as well say that breaking down in the first place isn't covered either

macman

The 'guy in the shopping centre' will have been a freelance agent working solely on commission, and will happily tell you the moon is made of cheese, if that's what you want to hear.

Aylesbury_Duck

Jlawson118 wrote: »

The rest of the document might as well say that breaking down in the first place isn't covered either

That's different. You have breakdown cover to get you home or get you recovered. For the parts and garage cover to take effect, it says that "your vehicle must have suffered a sudden or unexpected breakdown". That's not what happened to you. You said yourself that you were able to nurse it home. A slipping clutch isn't a breakdown, it's a consequence of wear. You wouldn't expect to have tyre wear covered on this policy and clutch wear is similar.

facade

Jlawson118 wrote: »

The rest of the document might as well say that breaking down in the first place isn't covered either

It does
Warranties are not usually worth the paper they are printed on. They exclude anything and everything that could possibly be foreseen by an expert, and really only cover genuine totally unexpected events. (e.g. hit by an engine falling off an airliner when you are nowhere near the flightpath, and in a tunnel under the Alps):eek:

They rarely pay anything out, how else can the people running the warranty company afford to live in a mansion so big that it takes the butler half an hour to walk to the door to answer the doorbell?

jbainbridge

macman wrote: »

The 'guy in the shopping centre' will have been a freelance agent working solely on commission, and will happily tell you the moon is made of cheese, if that's what you want to hear.

This.Though as you purchased online your man didn't get his commission!

caprikid1

I had a clutch cable changed years ago at the road side he even had one with him.


I guess to me its obvious that a clutch plate would not be covered but got to be worth a go.

CardinalWolsey

facade wrote: »

only cover genuine totally unexpected events. (e.g. hit by an engine falling off an airliner when you are nowhere near the flightpath, and in a tunnel under the Alps)

That would also be excluded, as per Significant Exclusions, page 4: "Repairs to faults caused by accidental damage, a collision,..."

Jlawson118

macman wrote: »

The 'guy in the shopping centre' will have been a freelance agent working solely on commission, and will happily tell you the moon is made of cheese, if that's what you want to hear.

jbainbridge wrote: »

This.Though as you purchased online your man didn't get his commission!

Well yep, that doesn't surprise me which is why I did apply online :rotfl: Well I was waiting for pay day at that point. At the end of the day though, he's still representing a company. And had I have taken this policy out with him, would I have a valid point that he told me this?

The key to promoting a business, is product knowledge. And clearly his was absent