Roadside Recovery renewal 9 January at 1:38PM in Motoring 13 replies 374 views

roadweary

Hi,

I'm currently covered Premier Rescue - Roadside, Recovery, At Home Rescue & Onward Travel, for my old BMW (21 years old) and my wife's newer BMW (12 years old) through the RAC.  We're up to about the 10th year of cover.  Last year it want from £166 to £188 and this year they want £214.  I will of course call and try to bring the price down.  Interestingly it has the Arrangement & admin fee at £91.  No idea why they allocate or justify that much cost to that element?

By the way, I think we've had 2 call outs in all of that time, and one recovery.

Ironically I was with the AA before but switched to RAC because of ever increasing AA prices.

Greenflag seem to have a good reputation, and their policy is £120.  However, the big difference, it seems, between AA/RAC and the others is that if the AA/RAC can't fix your car, they recover you home.  The others try to get a local repair and will only recover you to your home address if that is not possible the same day.

As an example, I had an alternator fail....I think I got an alternator put in for £150-£200.  Now, using BMW parts, that could easily be 2 - 3 x the price.  If I were stranded with that issue and BMW offered a local repair at £600, and I didn't like the price, Greenflag would just leave me to sort something out.

So I guess my question is....are there other policies that are more in line with the AA / RAC.  Alternatively I'm considering whether I just don't cover myself and think about the cost of a one off recovery.  Typically the furthest I drive from home is London.....maybe 105 miles:

Does anybody know the cost of a recovery at that distance?

And would that approach make sense or be totally impractical?

Thanks,
R

baser999

For the past few years I’ve taken breakdown cover with Drivers Guardian - very cheap even with full Europe cover. Used them twice, very efficient on both occasions, once in Ireland when headlight had gone, the other in London when oil filter had split and I needed recovering.  Don’t have their own operatives but call out contractors. I also took legal cover through them which was cheaper than adding on to motor insurance.
Only went to AA this year as I was pointed in the direction of a good Top Cashback offer by taking their full package; worked out on a par with DG and will likely return to DG on renewal as I’d not dream of paying AA prices

roadweary

Thanks.  I tried to start a quote, but there was no option for a car over 19 years old.

Somebody did suggest the AA Top Cashback.  It seems you pay in full upfront and then get the money back.  However, The Ts and Cs concerned me in that, ultimately it said that if you didn't get the cashback for any reason, there was no guarantee to fall back on.  I'm sure they are very trustworthy....but I'd feel like a bit of a fool if I took out an even more expensive policy than the RAC renewal and didn't get the cashback.

Next year, I plan to use a Lloyds premium account where the travel insurance and roadside recovery insurance outweigh the monthly premium.  But I only renewed the travel insurance a month ago, and it's too late to get a refund....so I'm stuck!

Dogbyte009

Have a look at GEM. Under £100pa for full cover, less if you're prepared to pay the upfront cost of a breakdown yourself and recover it later.

roadweary

Dogbyte009 said:

Have a look at GEM. Under £100pa for full cover, less if you're prepared to pay the upfront cost of a breakdown yourself and recover it later.

It does look good.  The only distinction still seems to be the repair local to the issue.  So if they can't fix roadside, GEM will try and get a local repair.  That local repair could be BMW with BMW approved parts that are extortionate.  AA and RAC will just recover your vehicle to your home address...

MikeJXE

Why would local repair at main dealer be a problem ?

I doubt you could get any main dealer to fix your car in less than a week 

roadweary

MikeJXE said:

Why would local repair at main dealer be a problem ?

I doubt you could get any main dealer to fix your car in less than a week 

You could be right, and perhaps that was a bad example.  The real point is that car is worth less than £1000 (although very reliable and worth more than that to me) and most repairs, I source the parts secondhand or non-original parts....and at a fraction of what your typical garage would charge.

Bigwheels1111

I’ve got the AA family membership for 4 people, everything except European cover for £84 after Quidco.

roadweary

Bigwheels1111 said:

I’ve got the AA family membership for 4 people, everything except European cover for £84 after Quidco.

How long did the cashback take?...it says "less than 9 months" on their site...

stuartp2000

As per above cash back is good for year 1

i got a quote for 220 from AA it actually worked out cheaper I could move banks to Virgin M and take the package account for 17.00 a month.

in the end I took up and offer on my car insurance renewal and got the RAC National / home and recovery for 75.00

roadweary

stuartp2000 said:

As per above cash back is good for year 1

i got a quote for 220 from AA it actually worked out cheaper I could move banks to Virgin M and take the package account for 17.00 a month.

in the end I took up and offer on my car insurance renewal and got the RAC National / home and recovery for 75.00

So did you use cashback for year 1?  Which site, and how long did the cashback take to arrive please?