Broken Down Car - Homestart Package

ps124

Hi All, I've already got another post going about purchasing a new car to replace my broken down car. This post is about my broken down car.

I've had AA memberships for over 20 years, with the gold member thing. To reduce the price, I've removed homestart over the last few years. Sods law, my car is broken down on my driveway!

I believe have to be 1/4 miles away from my home. How seriously is that taken? If I do a call out, will they just charge me for it and what can I expect the cost to be? Any experiences would be appreciated.

(PS - I'm struggling to drive the car - I could move it a few hundred meters around the corner max, but I doubt its 1/4 mile).

Grey_Critic

What exactly are you wanting - Home start or recovery to a garage?

ps124

Either/or really. It will need a full repair so I need to get it to the garage. If they can get it operating just enough so I can drive it myself, then great. Otherwise, I need a recovery straight to my garage.

Goudy

The AA work on around a 1/4 of a mile from your home, anything within that requires you to have Home Start.
Obviously if the car is sat on your drive so there's no arguing is it in or out of that area, so I don't think they will give you the benefit of doubt. 

You can always ring them and explain your situation, as you are already a customer they might allow you to add Home Start there and then which should be cheaper than arranging a tow to you local garage or calling out a mobile mechanic.

Merlin139

Not sure it will help but we had this problem about 10 years ago. To solve the problem we pushed the car nearly a mile away from the house. Took about 30 minutes. Luckily for us it was slightly down hill after the first 100 yards.

When the AA turned up 2 hours later he said that it must have been hard pushing the car to where it was. I did struggle to keep a straight face, but he then said the car just needed to be more than 1/4 of a mile away from the house. How it got there was not his concern.

Wonka_2

Assuming your know what sort or work needs doing and you have a garage in mind can they not collect from you ?

CliveOfIndia

Wonka_2 said:

Assuming your know what sort or work needs doing and you have a garage in mind can they not collect from you ?

This was going to be my suggestion as well - most garages will be able to collect the car, and probably won't charge for it (assuming they'll be doing the work and it's only a short distance away).

Either that, or could you get a friend to give you a tow?  Again, depends on the distance - a tow-rope is fine for a relatively short distance, though probably not a good idea for a long journey.

Car_54

Goudy said:

The AA work on around a 1/4 of a mile from your home, anything within that requires you to have Home Start.
Obviously if the car is sat on your drive so there's no arguing is it in or out of that area, so I don't think they will give you the benefit of doubt. 

You can always ring them and explain your situation, as you are already a customer they might allow you to add Home Start there and then which should be cheaper than arranging a tow to you local garage or calling out a mobile mechanic.

AIUI the AA will let you upgrade to HS, but in addition to the sub (you’ll pay a full year, even if only a few weeks to renewal) there will be a surcharge -  RAC charged £50 20 years ago, so unlikely to be cheap.

As others have said, maybe your garage will collect.

Mildly_Miffed

ps124 said:

Hi All, I've already got another post going about purchasing a new car to replace my broken down car. This post is about my broken down car.

I've had AA memberships for over 20 years, with the gold member thing. To reduce the price, I've removed homestart over the last few years. Sods law, my car is broken down on my driveway!

I believe have to be 1/4 miles away from my home. How seriously is that taken? If I do a call out, will they just charge me for it and what can I expect the cost to be? Any experiences would be appreciated.

(PS - I'm struggling to drive the car - I could move it a few hundred meters around the corner max, but I doubt its 1/4 mile).

Quarter mile = 400m

It wouldn't surprise me if their call-logging computer automatically calculated the distance.

There will also be an element of likelihood. If the car is running but very badly, it'll be more likely to be accepted than if they take a quick look and realise there's no way on the face of the planet that it could have been started and driven.

The AA are massively overpriced - you could have got cover at least as good, including homestart, elsewhere far cheaper.

baser999

Wonka_2 said:

Assuming your know what sort or work needs doing and you have a garage in mind can they not collect from you ?

Agree with this option

ps124

Hi All, thanks for the replies. I do have a garage in mind, I had agreed with the garage to drop the car off tomorrow (Thursday). The garage have a recovery vehicle but they will charge me £120-£150. That will probably be the same price to add home start so that would be better then paying for the recovery via my garage.

If I call the AA and explain the situation, they won't be very accomodating unless I add homestart...and I lose then option to try and drive the car up the road so I can only go with one or the other I think. My issue is not sure how to get the car 400m down the road! I need to reverse it and get someone to tow it for me.