AA's definition of "local"

grumpycrab

Hi - a neighbour has been sucked in by the recent AA offer of breakdown cover ("roadside") for £39.99 with £20 M&S voucher. Perhaps they were being naive but they didn't realise that this basic level of cover won't get them home unless the breakdown was "local". Anybody know what the AA's definition of local is because I couldn't find it anywhere. Cheers.

Aylesbury_Duck

Is it not in the terms and conditions? If not, ring them and ask them. I suspect in the event of them not being able to get the car going safely, they will take you to the nearest registered garage or to a destination of your choice (usually home), whichever is nearest. If that's the case, then "local" is probably defined as the distance to the nearest registered garage, so if there's a garage 30 miles away they wouldn't take the car and passengers 50 miles home.

Herzlos

I don't actually see it in the T&C, but I thought they'd have make it more obvious. Local is something like 10 or 15 miles, with a per mile charge if you want to go further (or pay for the nationwide recovery thing - I went for the nationwide recovery).


The basic plan is more to get you going again - fix you at the side of the road or get you to a garage - and is a pretty cut down service to compete in a headline price market. Break down far away and you're still better off with the AA than not.

PDC

If this is the Roadside Assistance policy then I can see no mention of local. What the service offers apparently is;

"24/7 cover for breakdowns over 1/4 mile from home. If we can't complete repairs at the roadside, we'll take you and your vehicle to a nearby garage. This cover can be enhanced with options such as National Recovery, At Home and Onward Travel."

Is this perhaps some confusion over local and the 1/4 mile from home details? I believe that distance is stated as this is not a home start policy.

If its the nearby or local garage that is the issue then yes, would need to contact them to find a definition though I would imagine it would depend on the location of the breakdown so isn't necessarily a set distance.

wgl2014

https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover

The only mention of local I can see is that if the patrol can't do a roadside repair they will take you to their choice of local garage (or other destination of choice so long as it is no further away).

Realistically if you expect to be recovered potentially hundreds of miles in the event of a breakdown it's going to cost more than £40 per year.

grumpycrab

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I suspect in the event of them not being able to get the car going safely, they will take you to the nearest registered garage or to a destination of your choice (usually home), whichever is nearest. If that's the case, then "local" is probably defined as the distance to the nearest registered garage, so if there's a garage 30 miles away they wouldn't take the car and passengers 50 miles home.

PDC wrote: »

If we can't complete repairs at the roadside, we'll take you and your vehicle to a nearby garage. "

If its the nearby or local garage that is the issue then yes, would need to contact them to find a definition though I would imagine it would depend on the location of the breakdown so isn't necessarily a set distance.

wgl2014 wrote: »

The only mention of local I can see is that if the patrol can't do a roadside repair they will take you to their choice of local garage (or other destination of choice so long as it is no further away).

Yes, its the nearby/local garage my neigbour doesn't appreciate. Thanks all.