For the first time in my life I am considering joining one of the motoring organisations. The reason being that my Rav 4 is now 8 years old and I don’t have as much faith in this car as I do with my 16 year old Roadster, that I maintain myself.
The question is which one of the above organisations gives the best service, if needed, and is best value for money. The cover that I get will be the top cover for a couple, as opposed to a family cover. Price is not that important as I will be joining by using TESCO Club Card points saved up over the last year. The opinions of members who are in either or both of these organisations could be helpful in me deciding which one to use.
I’ve had AA membership for a number of years through my company car fleet cover and through my credit card cover. On the few occasions I’ve used them they have been very good - no complaints.
On our grand tour of Europe last year our friends took out RAC cover for their MX5, and when it started to overheat the RAC Recovery service took the car to a garage in NIce, who took the car to pieces and wanted 3000 euros to change the head gasket. They never made it to Italy and Switzerland and after several stressful days stranded in the south of France with little help from the RAC they flew home with the car following on a trailer (still in peices) a couple of weeks later. The problem turned out to be a blocked radiator which took a couple of hours to fix a new radiator and cost £150. Needless to say they were very disappointed with the service they received from the RAC.
I appreciate that the RAC service in the UK may be better and the AA European service may also not be good, but those are my experiences.
I am still having a battle with the RAC. I had to call them to my Jeep which was cutting out at irregular intervals. The engineer could not diagnose why (“probably electrical fault”). Suggested the car + heavy trailer would have to be transported 75 miles home.
I unfortunately mentioned I was running on a mixture of ordinaly and biodiesel and had been for 6 months or more. It immediately became “fuel contamination - which is not covered”. I had to pay £250 recovery charge which I am attempting to recover as the fault was an electrical sensor in the injectors clicking out and nothing to do with biodiesel.
My RAC cover is through AON as an addition tyo my insurance. If it is not resolved to my satisfaction I won’t be renewing with RAC!
I was with the RAC for many years, but then was let down by them during a trip to Dublin (I was based in Belfast). The RAC in Eire appears to consist of locally contracted tow trucks who only have instructions to tow you to the nearest garage. They will not tow you to the border, whereupon you can call RAC UK for normal recovery. The AA is little different, except they do have a fleet of Patrol vehicles similar to the UK, so will attempt to effect roadside repairs.
Its a bit of a peeve of mine; RAC and AA members in Northern Ireland do not receive the same benefits as the rest of the UK. For a while (not sure if they still do), the AA offered free 72 hour European breakdown recovery, which included Eire. Northern Irish residents were excluded from this however.
I find the AA and RAC way over-priced! There are lots of other breakdown schemes where you get the same thing for a lot less. I resent paying paying over the odds for something that hopefully I will not be using anytime soon.
AA is person based … so you as a person are covered in anyone’s car (or any of your cars)… and you can get “family” etc for multi-person cover
RAC is car based… so your car is covered regardless of driver… but you need a new/extra cover for another car
So decide what suits … AA is better for me with one driver of many cars and family extension is not much if required. They are pretty good except for having to send out a car for what is patently to a Mech Eng a lorry recovery job as they cannot trust your word (well there are a few non experts out there!). Also will try to start engine even when you point out the sump oil on the road and warn that the broken con rod will probably wreck the engine block (got a very scary tow after that one as I even had to assemble the tow bar for him so he was not impressed by being shown up twice!)
Saying that there are lots of cheaper options now using local garages … but I will be going back to the AA for speed, relability, profesionalism (despite above comments!).
Note that break downs within couple of miles of home address need “home cover”… and Relay is the best option if you know it is bust… then they take it home … no waiting for a local repair.
My father was with Greenflag (cheap). He had a catestrophic failure of a wheelbearing on an Alfa Romeo (the wheel fell off). Called Greenflag out, after quite clearly explaining the issue and that the car couldn’t be repaired roadside. First truck that arrived; yes, couldn’t tow a 3 wheeled car. So another one was called out. Whereas the AA or RAC would hang around until the second truck arrived (these things happen), this mob just cleared off for 4 hours (this was after an initial 2 hour wait). 3 wheeled car was loaded onto low loader, while balanced on a skateboard, and delivered, since it was 3 in the morning, to the home address with the promise the car would be recovered to a local garage in daylight.
They did turn up, but the idiot who was charged with moving the car thought he could stick a trolley jack under the boot floor, and wheel it around like that. The predictable happened while it was being loaded; the jack slipped and went through the boot floor. Greenflag’s response was to hammer the floor flat…
Yes, you hope never to use their services, but then you’ll find them wanting. And its always 11pm on a friday night, middle of winter, in freezing rain.
Hi I have been with both the rac and the aa and have now went back to the aa, I have had a few problems with the direct debit for the rac after being with them for years it all started to go pearshaped so now back with the aa so here’s hoping. hope you sort it out
Been with the AA for a long while, only got a basic cover , called them out a few times over the years, never too speedy but always get to you in the end and have never left me stranded or cost me more money for recovery… and that includes;
hitting the starter motor on my escort RS with a hammer to get it to turn over, (more than once iirc until I learnt the knack for myself)
sorting out a thermostat on the same RS to get me going again,
a busted cam belt on a VW and a tow to my local VW garage…
Family is with the AA and has been for 20+ years now.
Between my parents, my brothers '72 Series III Land Rover and a Rover 800 i drove for a couple of years I have always been happy with their service. For me they have always turned up quick, been knowledgeable (one diagnosed a small bug I’d been ignoring in about 30 seconds flat) and friendly.
Best for us is the covering the person, not car, as I’m frequently travelling in friends cars, which as students are not always the most reliable of beasts [:P]
Brittania Rescue. Been with them for … ever, apart from a brief daliance with the RAC who took all day to get to my first breakdown. Never again.
Brittania rescue have been brilliant and always endeavour to be with you within an hour. I’ve never had it be longer than 30 minutes and I had a Rover 214SLi that made great use of the home call-out. Nice car, really nippy - but totally unreliable. They must have lost money on my membership while I owned that. However, they’ve recouped it since we’ve had the 3 Mazdas. 1 callout in 8 years! Waterpump.
If I recall correctly, one of the benefits of the RAC was that if you broke down a long way from home you were relayed back in one hit, whereas the AA recovery involved having your car transferred each time you came out of one area and entered another.
Hi My wife & I are covered by Auto Aid, for £35 per year total. it covers caravans, home start, onward travel etc.
I have used it twice, both time was fast & efficient.
It is a pay & claim service & uses whatever is the nearest garage to you, they come to you you pay them with a card & claim you money back from auto aid.
I can reccomend it, so does Martin Lewis the Moneysaving expert on TV.
With the AA I’ve been relayed in one hit over 100 miles, family has done over 200 (Northamptonsire to Pembrokeshire).
Only time there was a swap was when the driver reached their hours limit for that day. This happened to me going from jNewcastle to Corby on a sunday evening. The drivers knew a swap was needed and had the next driver/vehicle arranged in advance, so the swap only took about 10 mins and gave me a much needed stretch and loo stop!
Perhaps I have been lucky each time, or the areas are very large!
we have used GEM for many years. well priced & my wife & i both have a card which covers us for everything in any car.
i’ve had to use them twice in last 3 yrs & fast call out/carry home in 1 case.
sadly both times were in the mk1. first a tyre blowout on sidewall/no spare carried. second the immobiliser decided to immobilise me in the middle of nowhere & i couldnt find it to bypass it.
