AutoAid Car Breakdown Discussion

Quentin · 31 October 2018 at 2:10PM

Why not concentrate on the bottom line rather than the increase?

Compare the bottom line and the cover provided to see if it's a good deal for you now!

kundan · 14 November 2018 at 5:50PM

Right, let me tell you my little story with Auto Aid. I have been a member for a good 5-6 years now, and they have always come good.

Last year, we travelled from Kent (where I live) to Edinburgh and Glasgow for a family vacation in our 7 seater Citroen C4. This was during the busy period of August bank holidays, so admittedly, half the world was there to see the Edinburgh festivals and roam the old cobbled streets. 2 days into the trip we decided to go further "oop north", to see the ravines and valleys of rural Scotland.

There, on an unfortunate evening a truck crashed on to the driver side of my care. Thankfully it was only a small impact, and we were all safe. The vehicle however was damaged quite bad i.e. the suspension had become misaligned, even though the crash was minor.

Long story short, we managed to get the car to the local crash repair shop who said it might take them weeks before they could sort out the parts. At this point, we decided to rent a car and carry on our trip and see if we could get the car back home.

Auto Aid managed to get our car towed all the way across the country from Northern Scotland down to Kent, and paid for us to rent another SUV (and paid for the petrol) to get back home.

These guys have been quite helpful over the years so I am a happy customer. :T

Heizenberg · 5 December 2018 at 2:27PM

I'm shopping around for breakdown cover and came across Auto Aid on MSE. Have read the reviews and a little concerned by some of the negative ones. To put my mind at rest I thought I'd call them and ask for some clarifications of their policy wordings. Put my mind at rest they did not do!!! Called and spoke to 3 different sales agents, all with rude attitudes....one even hung up on me as couldn't answer my questions! I questioned some of their policy wording such as why it mentions they will recover to the nearest repair place and then goes on to mention they will recover to your chosen one place. Which is it if I have broken down say 100 miles away from my preferred garage near to home? Will they tow to the nearest garage which is 100 miles away from my home or will they tow to my local preferred garage? Neither of the agents liked me questioning this and all responded in saying it will be my chosen one place but they were all very rude. Sent alarm bells ringing for me. Its almost felt like they know they are a cowboy company and don't like questions which may expose them.

I then went on to question why it states they will attend to breakdowns at home and provide recovery if not repairable but then in their exclusions it states no recovery if within a mile from your home. Apparently this means they will provide attendance and recovery but will not provide transportation to your home or onward travel to your final destination....again told in a very rude manner by all the agents. They don't seem to like being questioned on how they operate. They're answers were vague and again alarm bells were ringing.

Personally, I feel they may be cheaper than the others but for peace of mind I would rather pay double for RAC or AA (via cashback) or pay the triple if no cashback as you can't put a price on the peace of mind and convenience you get from the others. When things go wrong you always regret not paying the extra £50/£100 and going with a leading reputable company.

Just my opinion and am sure some will disagree. I just didn't like the Customer Service of the Sales agents (who are usually the most customer orientated for any company as they want your money at this stage!) so I can only imagine how difficult they can be when it comes to making a claim. Alarm bells ringing for me all over.

lisyloo · 5 December 2018 at 2:48PM

why it mentions they will recover to the nearest repair place

Anecdotal but my experience recently is that recovery people will not leave your vehicle somewhere that is closed i.e. they cannot get a signature. So what usually happens is you get taken home and advised to call the next day during garage opening hours.
This might be the receovery people's policy and not autoaid.

and then goes on to mention they will recover to your chosen one place

Are you looking at difference sections?
There's a difference to being repaired at your usual address and being away from home on holiday.

and provide recovery if not repairable but then in their exclusions it states no recovery if within a mile from your home.

I think you are looking at different sections.
"recovery" if you were away on holiday is a different thing.
I think it might help if you look at the context of the section rather than read in isolation.

My experience of Auto Aid is very good but I agree that lack of effort at sales is generally a bad sign and I haven't claimed under the new broom.

ace111 · 17 December 2018 at 12:11PM

My daughter and I have both used Autoaid for many years. We have both had very good service, with money always refunded within two weeks. I have used them mostly for flat tyres/flat batteries at home, and so been able to wait in the house - which is better than waiting on a roadside!

derrick · 17 December 2018 at 12:46PM

ace111 wrote: »

My daughter and I have both used Autoaid for many years. We have both had very good service, with money always refunded within two weeks. I have used them mostly for flat tyres/flat batteries at home, and so been able to wait in the house - which is better than waiting on a roadside!

No need to wait for money refunded as Autoaid now do not charge the member, they pay the contractor same as other breakdown companies.

.

nokia1100 · 21 December 2018 at 11:43PM

I joined AutoAid in June when I acquired my car (15yr old, 201k miles). Had 6 months trouble-free but had to call them very early on Sunday morning (exhaust came apart between front and middle sections, leaving the front section perilously close to the road surface).
The woman on the phone seemed to know her stuff and took my word for the problem. It was on a recovery truck within 20 minutes (they texted to say it could be an hour) and 60 miles later I was offloaded at home. Yes, you get a random contractor who doesn't star in a TV advert, but it served its purpose fine.

Sample size of one = happy customer.

mo786uk · 10 January 2019 at 5:56PM

I've used Autoaid about 5 years I think and I have called them out 3-4 times

Each time they have come out within an hour but I will caveat that by saying they always send the same local firm to me to do the recovery and that firm is a very big one in our area so the quality is probably more down to the local recovery company that AA per se.

Only annoying thing is that the price is gradually creeping up - I am fairly sure it was £38 when I started and its now £48 but that is inflation I guess.

dougwill · 16 January 2019 at 2:39PM

As published on Trustpilot reviews

My wife and I had cover with Autoaid and we had broken down with a punctured flat tyre in an extremely dangerous location by double white lines on a busy three-lane trunk road used extensively by transport trucks and lorries. We phoned Autoaid for assistance and explained the situation in full giving our wherabouts,we also gave satnav longtitude and latitude coordinates and my wife also added she was disabled and we were told by the phone operator from Autoaid he will get someone to us as quickly as possible though there may be some delay but he will stay on duty until our vehicle was recovered.

A police patrol car saw we were in a very dangerous position and protected our vehicle from collision by positioning his patrol car behind us at an angle with blue lights flashing,after about 45 minutes the police vehicle was called away but by then we didn't think we would have to wait much longer for recovery anyway.How wrong we were.

We eventually received a call from a breakdown company almost 100 miles away and when we explained where we were he said he will immediately report back to Autoaid that he was too far away to offer help so that they could get someone nearer to us to help out.

We contacted Autoaid several times but we were then told the person who said he would stay on duty until our car was recovered had gone home,so we had to explain our predicament all over again,and by now it had started going dark so we were in an even more dangerous situation

Eventually,a long time afterwards and after 3 hours of waiting,a breakdown truck arrived from 10 minutes away and the driver said he could have got to us almost 3 hours ago if he had been informed earlier by Autoaid.

Although recommended by Moneysavingexpert - AUTOAID BREAKDOWN IS THE WORST BREAKDOWN COMPANY OF ALL AND I WOULD ADVISE EVERYONE TO STEER WELL CLEAR OF THEM.

danthemoneysavingman · 16 January 2019 at 4:12PM

Hi Folks,
given the continued support from MoneySavingExpert even in light of the numerous bad reviews I have seen, I am pushed to wonder how much these bad reports actually represent the actual experience of having to call out via AutoAid.

I do tend to find that Internet folk are more likely to leave a bad review than a good one cos if there is no problem / service was "within expectation" then "why bother reviewing?" it seems.

To this end I'm hoping you AutoAid-using folks could shed some light on response times you've faced.

My consideration of an alternative to the AA comes with their renewal quote of only a 55% increase on last years's premium for roadside only!

So, I would appreciate good and bad response time replies please guys!

Thanks

AutoAid Car Breakdown Discussion

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