AA renewal...usual palaver

Stubod

We have been with the AA for decades…..

Every year the usual faff at renewal. Last year £95, this years renewal quoted £156, went online and got same cover (as a new customer) for £84…..phoned to cancel autorenewal and the advisor instantly matched the offer.

….just a heads up for anybody else approaching renewal time!!

BlueonBlue

How many times have you needed a AA callout over the decades…..

If you have had previous AA callouts……. was it for for a flat battery and if so how many times were callouts battery related ?

Most of mine were battery related if not all of the callouts…. so I got a Gooloo battery jump starter and avoid the wait and the AA need/cost to renew .

Ms_Chocaholic

Often you can buy car insurance cover with breakdown included and even as an add on I think it's much cheaper than £84 per year.

Slinky

We've twice been relayed home with things that were unfixable at the roadside from over 100 miles away. I dread to think what that would have cost if we'd had to pay. We have our AA cover with a packaged bank account. Plus we've had 2-3 battery related callouts and one handbrake seized up.

BlueonBlue

My point is for the common battery issues which are the majority of AA callouts a known brand jump starter is quicker .

Slinky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82049190#Comment_82049190

But you make mention that you avoid needing to have AA membership. Your jump leads will sort out battery issues, but would be no help for failed air suspension or two blown tyres with no local stock available.

Ectophile

I don't have to call out the breakdown people very often. But I have had problems where a spare wheel and jump pack aren't going to do any good.

Over many years of driving I have had

• a clutch slave cylinder fail
• fuel leaks (twice)
• fuel pump failure
• a broken fan belt
• total electrical failure with a shorted wiring loom
• a sudden loss of power steering and engine cooling as a bolt fell off the end of the crankshaft*.

I will stick with paying for breakdown cover.

*With nothing to hold them on any more, the pulleys for the power steering and fan belts slipped and stopped turning. The car overheated pretty quick.

QrizB

I can't speak for the OP, but I'm in a similar boat to Ectophile.

How many times have you needed a AA callout over the decades…..

It hasn't always been the AA, but a dozen or more times. Roughly half of those required recovery.

Memorable examples include hydraulic failure on a Citroen BX, radiator failure on a Renault Espace and timing belt failure on a Subaru Outback.

how many times were callouts battery related ?

Zero. I've never made a callout for battery failure.

I will stick with paying for breakdown cover.

I'm with you on this.

eschaton

I’d go with a company like Green Flag instead.

A lot cheaper and they don’t try and rip you off every year either.

Stubod

..but the reviews are not that good???

eschaton

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82050188#Comment_82050188

If you are saying Green Flag reviews are not that good, the two times I had to use them in the past, they were excellent both times. If I didn’t have complimentary cover through Mercedes, I would go with Green Flag.