AA Membership Renewal - do NOT allow your membership to renew automatically

MHSimmons

I made the mistake of allowing my AA membership to renew automatically.  I paid £167.  I then discovered that, had I allowed my membership to lapse and taken out 'new' membership, I would have paid £139.  Nearly a £30 saving!  I raised the matter with the AA and, to put it politely, they were not interested.  The AA President did not even have the courtesy to respond to my enquiry.  This is an unfair consumer practice that penalises loyal members.

ThisnotThat

MHSimmons said:

I made the mistake of allowing my AA membership to renew automatically.  I paid £167.  I then discovered that, had I allowed my membership to lapse and taken out 'new' membership, I would have paid £139.  Nearly a £30 saving!  I raised the matter with the AA and, to put it politely, they were not interested.  The AA President did not even have the courtesy to respond to my enquiry.  This is an unfair consumer practice that penalises loyal members.

Well, no it isn't.  It's perfectly normal for people who don't shop around to get worse deals than those who do.

I'm also struggling to see what this has to do with Coronavirus.

Edit:  ANd assuming we're looking at the same page...

This introductory offer is only for new AA breakdown customers. This offer is not available for existing AA breakdown members or at renewal. This offer only applies to the first year of your membership. 

So it's very unlikely they would have allowed you to use the "loophole" you think exists to get this deal.  I've yet to hear of a company that considers someone who has just had a policy or service lapse being considered a new customer, there is always at least some cooling-off period before they're considered "new" again.  If they ever are.

Perhaps asking to turn off the renewal would have prompted them to offer you the new customer deal, maybe, but you didn't so it's academic.

GrumpyDil

How long ago did it renew. If very recently do you have options to cancel the renewal and look at other breakdown options as several are cheaper.
And would be better posting this on the Motoring forums

Neil49

Move to another provider and go via Quidco to get cashback. 

lisyloo

Sorry if this sounds unsympathetic but your advice is correct - don’t just allow things to renew. It’s well known new customers get better deals.
“Get a diary” (paper or virtual). It really isn’t that hard to resolve.
I use iCloud which gives me the ability to have multiple diaries e.g. one for work rota, one for rubbish collections, one for financials, one for birthdays etc. and then you can filter them out as you wish.
but pen and paper will do if you don’t want the new fangled technology.

JHW1942

Many service providers would insist that there be a break period between letting a policy lapse and taking a new one at the new customer rate, so as long as you are prepared to factor in the 30/60/90 days, or perhaps longer without cover, in order to get that £28 saving, go for it.

Jeremy535897

A few years ago, when my AA renewal was near, and getting very expensive, I rang them up and negotiated a two year deal at about 60% of the quote, on the basis that Green Flag were quoting less than half. It's always worth a call.

Insurance companies won't be able to charge existing customers more than new customers, so it might spread into recovery.

MattMattMattUK

MHSimmons said:

I made the mistake of allowing my AA membership to renew automatically.  I paid £167.  I then discovered that, had I allowed my membership to lapse and taken out 'new' membership, I would have paid £139.  Nearly a £30 saving!  I raised the matter with the AA and, to put it politely, they were not interested.  The AA President did not even have the courtesy to respond to my enquiry.  This is an unfair consumer practice that penalises loyal members.

Colour me shocked that the president of an organisation would not respond, it is far more surprising that anyone would expect a response than they would not respond. 

Car_54

Jeremy535897 said:

Insurance companies won't be able to charge existing customers more than new customers, so it might spread into recovery.

It doesn't need to spread. AA "membership" is an insurance product.

Jaybee_16

My renewal notice arrived in May for renewal on 1 June, increased as it always does. Phoned the AA and just said it was too expensive, I need the cost lower. They offered 12 months for the cost of 9 months and reduced it a bit more. Done the same at renewal for the last 3 years or so. No haggling, just a phone call.