Breakdown Costs

Martyn16pnefc

Hello,

I was unfortunate to breakdown over the weekend and had to have my vehicle recovered due to the AA having nobody available to come and look to see if the vehicle was repairable. It was the middle of the night and we had our 1 year old at home with a babysitter an hour away so were in a difficult position. I was sure that I had breakdown on my vehicle but turns out I didn't have breakdown through my insurance provider but it was with my vehicles warranty (Mini).

So I assume I'll now get a bill from the AA - Does anyone know how much it'll be? 
Has anyone else had any experience with this? - I'd prefer not to contact the AA for this etc.

Brie

I think it will depend on what AA needed to do.  Tow the car to your home or a local garage?  or to a nearby garage and then get you home?  

They seem to charge whatever they like in my opinion.  I stupidly put diesel in my petrol car once and rang them on the basis they were my breakdown company.  Because this wasn't actually a breakdown situation I was informed the charge was going to be about £350 and they could attend sometime within the next 8 hours - because I was safe and warm at a petrol station.  Fortunately the woman on the till had a card for some local chap who was able to come out within 15 minutes and charged £75.

Perhaps the crucial thing for you will be the time - the middle of the night sounds like it will be premium rates.  Too late now but sometimes when they attend you get a better deal if you sign up with them.

Martyn16pnefc

Thanks for coming back to me.
The AA ended up taking us back to our home where the babysitter was at 4am.

We called Mini Breakdown Assistance the next morning and they were superb and sorted it - Just a sensor that needed replacing.

My worry now is I'm going to get a huge charge - Speaking with a friend he said he thinks they have a standard charge per mile but I can't seem to get any information anywhere. Just wanting a rough idea rather than being blindsided by a huge bill later this week or next.

To be honest the whole experience with AA was terrible. I was really shocked at how rude they were - they didn't apologise one
In summary
We broke down at 11:45 and called them and they said they'd be an hour
They called back at 12:45 to say they were still searching for someone and they'd need another 20 mins
Called back just after 1am saying they can't find anyone to fix the car and they also couldn't get anyone to recover. - We went ballistic at them on the phone as we had our 1 year old at home and needed to get back for him.
They eventually said someone was on their way home and would pick us up on route and we ended up getting home at 4am

Ectophile

I'm somewhat confused as to why the AA would be billing you.  Isn't the point of breakdown cover that if they can't repair the fault at the scene, then they will tow your car back?

GrumpyDil

Ectophile said:

I'm somewhat confused as to why the AA would be billing you.  Isn't the point of breakdown cover that if they can't repair the fault at the scene, then they will tow your car back?

OP Has suggested she didn't have AA cover. I'm slightly bemused as I would have expected this to be a non member call out and price agreed up front. Certainly many many years ago when I worked for the RAC we would not have attended in this type of situation without discussing costs up front. 

Goudy

The AA used to allow non member callouts if you joined on the spot, there and then.
Later they altered it slightly and charged a callout fee first, then let you join, which effectively doubled the joining fee.

I seem to remember the joining fee was a non discounted "on the spot" price.

These days they will attend a breakdown of non members but you have to pay for the call out and any work and/or recovery charges.
Couldn't tell you what these prices are sorry, perhaps you should have asked at the time.

There might be a chance they will sort this out directly with Mini Breakdown Assistance which is provided by Allianz Assistance. Allainz Assistance and the AA are partners. This means the AA look after the hands on side of Allianz Assistance.

If you would have called the Mini breakdown line at the time you would have got through to Allianz Assistance and you would have likely got an AA patrol anyway. 

Martyn16pnefc

Thanks for the help all. If I'd not been daft and called Mini Assistance at the time I'm 99% sure they would have come and repaired and I'd be all ok.

I'm not sure if there will be a bill from AA. No costs were mentioned but I do seem to think that if I am not a member and they took me home which was about 30 miles then I'll be getting something in the post.
Guess all I can do is hope nothing arrives but we'll have to just wait and see.

Flight3287462

You had an alleged terrible experience with a company you weren't even a member of even though you  had assumed incorrectly you were a member.  I can imagine how that conversation went. 

k3lvc

Martyn16pnefc said:

The AA ended up taking us back to our home where the babysitter was at 4am.

In summary
We broke down at 11:45 and called them and they said they'd be an hour
They called back at 12:45 to say they were still searching for someone and they'd need another 20 mins
Called back just after 1am saying they can't find anyone to fix the car and they also couldn't get anyone to recover. - We went ballistic at them on the phone as we had our 1 year old at home and needed to get back for him.
They eventually said someone was on their way home and would pick us up on route and we ended up getting home at 4am

2 elements for me

1) Surely if 'baby' was that important a call to taxi/Uber at 11.45 would have got one of you home to sort out babysitter leaving the other party to sort out the car

2) Not sure on the latest status of Mini Breakdown Cover as I never had to use mine but if it's underwritten by AA they may well have linked the accounts and dealt with it without additional cost to you

wongataa

If you called the AA and they didn't cover you/the car directly/through insurance/Mini they would have told you they had no record of you having their services and if you wanted them to come out they would charge and tell you what that charge would be.

My wife did just this recently.  When the AA told her they didn't have any record of her etc she realised she had called the wrong breakdown service by mistake and then called the correct one.

If the AA said nothing about costs etc it is most likely that Mini breakdown cover actually uses the AA so you won't be billed.