Deceiving Excess Charges

DisgruntledRAC

Hi, I thought I was pretty clued up with using comparison sites, however after purchasing RAC cover through one I was surprised to learn that I had to pay £40 for every call out!  What is the point in this cover?  I have an old campervan so opted for RAC over autoaid but this was ridiculous.  The price of cover that does not include excess was ridiculous and the response I got from RAC was that all of their cheap policies on comparison sites have this excess and that is why you get the price.  Makes me wary of comparisons now - any thoughts anyone?

bluelad1927

The point of the  excess cover is that if you have a newish vehicle and don't  believe you will be using the service it reduces the policy fee. If you have an old camper that breaks down every time you're heading to Devon then full cover with no  call out fee is for you.

All the terms are there to read before committing  to the policy

DullGreyGuy

DisgruntledRAC said:

Hi, I thought I was pretty clued up with using comparison sites, however after purchasing RAC cover through one I was surprised to learn that I had to pay £40 for every call out!  What is the point in this cover?  I have an old campervan so opted for RAC over autoaid but this was ridiculous.  The price of cover that does not include excess was ridiculous and the response I got from RAC was that all of their cheap policies on comparison sites have this excess and that is why you get the price.  Makes me wary of comparisons now - any thoughts anyone?

People who buy from aggregators tend to 99% about the price and so insurers/service plan providers etc do what they can to make their products cheaper when quoting via one of these sites. That can be increasing the excess, removing covers, setting all optional extras to excluded, reducing inner limits etc. 

Having a quick look on GoCompare for Breakdown it states under the premium if there is an Excess and for all but the most expensive provider they do all have a £40 excess... with one you can pay an extra premium to remove the excess. 

Aretnap

I bought RAC cover through a comparison site. It was very clear that there was an excess of £40 or so as there was on nearly all of the other policies on the comparison site. It was also obvious that it was something like £70 cheaper than buying an excess-free policy direct from the RAC. As I only seem to call out breakdown services every couple of years at most, I thought this was a pretty good deal.

As a bonus, when I did eventually need to call them out they were obviously quite busy, as the call handler arranged the breakdown van, then said she would transfer me to someone who would take the excess payment. I spent half an hour listening to hold music, then got cut off. I took the view that if they wanted their £40 badly enough, they would call me back. They never did. Good result all round really.

prettyandfluffy

DisgruntledRAC said:
  I have an old campervan so opted for RAC over autoaid but this was ridiculous. 

We opened a Nationwide Flexplus account for the included breakdown cover which will cover our motorhome in the U.K. and Europe.  At £13 a month it's cheaper than taking out specific breakdown cover.  As far as I know there is no limit on the age of the vehicle.