Over the years, price rises have been a death by a thousand cuts. I have pretty bod standard membership; roadside recovery, pus a bunch of worthless free xtras. I’ve bene guilty of inertia that lead to last year’s cost to rise to £140. This year’s quote is now a beyond outrageous £170 pa. Cheekily the AA state as I have been with them for a number of years (more than 20), I can probably get cheaper elsewhere, but I won’t benefit from the extras such as:
An App
2 day European Cover
Junior Associate Cover
Key Insurance
My Member Benefits (aka discounts at places I never go to)
Legal Advice
Car Advice
There are probably a plethora of alternatives. Previously I was with the RAC; got rid of them after they abandoned me in Dublin. Experience of Greenflag; 4 hour weight to tend to a car with a collapsed rear wheel bearing (ie wheel fell off); sent Beaker (aka a muppet) who promptly used a trolley jack to move a 3 wheeled car (with the inevitable result of the car falling off the jack and said jack going through the boot floor. So not good experiences. Service wise, I have been happy with the AA. All of my cars are over 10 years old. Now that I have a 15 year Jag, homestart might be a good idea.
GEM seems to be highly rated, but does that reflect real world experience? All singing all dancing cover is £85 pa. I assume it covers the person, not the car; I have more than one car, but its just me driving them.
Any recommendations? I don’t necessarily need to go for the cheapest deal, because I also want a good service.
I have multiple specialist insurance policies, to cover my vehicles. All of these policies exclude breakdown recovery. I select car insurers on the basis of their ability to support me as an insurer of cars.
Or just stick with what you know. As you’ve already stated, you don’t need to go for the cheapest and you want a good service. From what you’re saying, the AA aren’t the cheapest (check) and they’ve provided you with good service over a long period (check) no brainer really
I’ve just got the full AA cover for me and my wife any car… parts and garage repair bills paid up to £500 with excess £35 just for the MX5 though for £244… But by putting the cover in my wife’s name got £120 Quidco cash back…I know a lot of people will say the parts/garage cover is useless but gives me a bit of peace of mind for my first year of ownership of my 5 not knowing what ive bought…and also I know a couple of work colleagues who have never had claims refused…know faults can’t be claimed against though
About to sign up to Autoaid for myself and girlfriend.
The cost is a little over £48 now but includes all vehicles including motorbikes - very useful, if like me you have a motorbike:-)
Oh yes - approx 12% off at Topcashback/Quidco.
I run old vehicles maintained on a shoestring but no claims for over 10 years - That is the way I like to use it, effective cheap but essentially unused insurance.
A few years ago I called the AA out (Not for the “5”) and they farmed the job out to the local garage, which is what Autoaid do only for a darn sight less! So I’m now with Autoaid!
Farming out to a local garage and discriminatory practices by the RAC was why I dumped them. I was in Dublin, driving back up to Belfast. Membership had included 2 days European rescue recovery. Broke down (snapped clutch cable) on a friday afternoon in Dublin. Called RAC’s Irish number. Local contractor arrived, dumped me at a Peugout dealer. Service manager manager said happily he had a slot in 2 weeks time, and would I like to book the car in then. Extracting the Michael; had had the part in stock, I had to pay a mechanic who was knocking off work £200 (cash in hand) to fit the clutch cable (this was 25 years ago!). Car was pretty much undriveable,and the new cable lasted 2 days. RAC refused to recover me home, or even recover me to the border, so I could get their British counterparts to get me the rest of the way home. Turns out the RAC doesn’t treat Northern Ireland residents as British. If I had taken a holiday in Ireland from England, I would have been recovered back to England. Apparently Northern Ireland was treated differently.
Thanks to all for the suggestions. Will continue my research. Any practical experience of “Autoaid” would be useful; if they use local contractors, and I needed recovery from, say, Scotland, would it be the same contractor all the way back to the Home Counties, or a series of hand-offs?
I use these people. Extremely reasonable, about £25 for uk recovery etc on my MX5, and good reviews. Haven’t had to actually call them out but went off the reviews of people who had.
I’ve been with Auto Aid for several years. Under 50 quid for myself and wife whatever car we are driving. Includes onward travel. They have been the Money Saving Expert top pick for a number of years with almost universal great feedback.
Only had to use them once when my wife had a Focus thermostat housing disintegrate. Yes they do use local contractors but the contractor that turned out was one with a good reputation. They transported the car to the repairer of our choice around 20 miles from the breakdown location.
Never had to argue to get renewal prices down. In some years the quoted renewal price has been less than their headline price for new customers. So refreshing to just get a reminder once a year and renew without feeling ripped off.
Hmm, they are all a bit off, mainly because there are not enough support vehicles near enough to where you need it.
However, some also have age limits on cars, (AA, Green Flag, and a couple of others a few years ago last time when I looked) and I ended up with RAC because they were happy to cover the old Vextra past 15 years. The RAC stipulated the car needed to have been serviced regularly. I only had it because SWMBO has no mechanical knowledge and was the main driver on the car covered.
When a spring in the cam belt tensioner broke prematurely they ferried the Vextra and us back home. I saw three different RAC guys; diagnosis/road-side repair truck, recovery truck to Brum, recovery truck to home, in all five hours to cover 150miles from time of breakdown to unloaded at home. Each operator was RAC livery and uniform, competent and friendly. No complaints.
That was only the second time I’ve called on breakdown in more than fifty years of motoring. The first time was 1970 when I needed a new diaphragm for my Zodiac’s mechanical petrol pump on a Sunday in Newport, the AA guy ferried me to and from a place that opened up for him, I bought the part and was able to fit it myself, but no way would I have had the local knowledge to find the bit when everything was shut. In those days the AA was useful, but I gave up on it when it seemed to become an offshoot of Reader’s Digest flogging tat.
I haggle RAC on the rate, I only want breakdown and recovery, I can do all the rest near home, and for now the RAC covers the NC while SWMBO’s Mazda3 is still on Mazdacare.
When I owned my Jaguar, Green Flag used to be the backup service for JLR call outs when their own techies couldn’t get out to breakdowns. At the time, the AA and RAC we’re getting flak for fritzing ECUs by trying to fix things with generic OBD units.
I went with GF for my Daihatsu up until swapping to the MX5 this June, but didn’t have to use them. I think it was £79 for full cover including keys and misfuel.
Sounds like Saz has more experience than most on the merits or otherwise of the recovery services around these days but it may be worth finding out who Mazda use. If I ever have to call on my Approved Used Warranty (hopefully never), I’ll let you know.
I have AA membership for myself and wife which includes recovery and home start. I like them as they cover the driver whatever they are driving. I have 2 pre war cars and 2 old motorcycles. In the last 10 years I have used home start once and recovery 4 times with the old cars. I am happy with the AA and reckon that I get good value from them.
Reasons for recovery have been 3 magneto failures (ignition) and one major radiator leak. Home start was for a computer glitch on the modern. My MX5 has been trouble free. The magnetos have since been re wound and the radiator re cored. One car is 1914 and the other 1924 and never had a problem with their inclusion for recovery.