RAC fair usage policy breeched by the 156 hahahaaa
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RAC are shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
AA have been the best to me so far.
I had 8 breakdowns last yer :/
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the AA will do the same if you have more than they think is fair, have had both and both have given me grief. AA was my biggest pain they took my car to the approved garage which was ok as i was on a course 200 miles from home, on the way back the repair failed (it was a head gasket)n AA refused to take the car back there as there was a closer approved garage. In the end got it all sorted but cost me lots. Now use a one I found on compare the market, they have been fine on the 3 times I have used them, but they will do the same if i call them out too many times.
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I thought they were pretty good to be honest...
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Just carry a bicycle in the back for when I break down and head for the nearest train station.
Either that or get the old man and some rope. Job done.
Fortunatly the Alfa has yet to let me down. Even when it shat the bottom end out. I just drove it.
People gave me quite a few looks as the engine sounded like it was a bomb waiting to go off.
Failing that when I have been with the AA they have usually been very good.
Either that or get the old man and some rope. Job done.
Fortunatly the Alfa has yet to let me down. Even when it shat the bottom end out. I just drove it.
People gave me quite a few looks as the engine sounded like it was a bomb waiting to go off.
Failing that when I have been with the AA they have usually been very good.
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6,451 Posts
same here! But 8 breakdowns :wow:
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Why does your car break down so often 
G
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·I had this from the AA after I did four callouts in one year IIRC on my 156 TS which had bouts of not starting. The problem was the battery (which they did not diagnose FWIW), once I changed that the issues went away.
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925 Posts
Hi
Years ago with the RAC I did call them out 6 times in a year. I got a letter at renewal putting the price up. I wrote back to them and explained the various breakdowns, and that non could have been foreseen (oil pump failure one one, forgotten what the others were now). They cancelled in higher renewal.
All the best
Keith
Years ago with the RAC I did call them out 6 times in a year. I got a letter at renewal putting the price up. I wrote back to them and explained the various breakdowns, and that non could have been foreseen (oil pump failure one one, forgotten what the others were now). They cancelled in higher renewal.
All the best
Keith
G
Guest
·Thing is, surely, most people don't use them at all these days. I called the AA about 18 months ago for a blown rad hose. I had borrowed the wife's car to go get a replacement and then waited for the AA man to come.
As I was at a Kwik fit garage by chance when it blew he gave me a load of grief about being lucky he was looking at it at all as I could ha e got the Kwik fit garage to do it. He also continued to abuse me because I have thoughtfully pulled the air intake pipework to make it easier for him. It would appear that being near a garage, and touching your own car are grounds for him to drive away. It was only when I said that it was fine of he refused to do the work, as long as the AA reimbursed my premium. I would happily get the Kwik fit garage to do it.
He did it, chuntering all the while. It was embarrassing actually because he wasn't carrying enough water a d asked me to ask the garage for a top up. He had been so rude to then when he turned up, I'm assuming he thought they'd say no. Truth was, the Kwik fit chaps were lovely, and even rolled out a tool chest for the AA guy to use as his van had no decent tool set on board. The AA man refused quoting yet more rules.
He was an @rse. No more AA membership for me, ever.
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As I was at a Kwik fit garage by chance when it blew he gave me a load of grief about being lucky he was looking at it at all as I could ha e got the Kwik fit garage to do it. He also continued to abuse me because I have thoughtfully pulled the air intake pipework to make it easier for him. It would appear that being near a garage, and touching your own car are grounds for him to drive away. It was only when I said that it was fine of he refused to do the work, as long as the AA reimbursed my premium. I would happily get the Kwik fit garage to do it.
He did it, chuntering all the while. It was embarrassing actually because he wasn't carrying enough water a d asked me to ask the garage for a top up. He had been so rude to then when he turned up, I'm assuming he thought they'd say no. Truth was, the Kwik fit chaps were lovely, and even rolled out a tool chest for the AA guy to use as his van had no decent tool set on board. The AA man refused quoting yet more rules.
He was an @rse. No more AA membership for me, ever.
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I know anyone can have a run of bad luck, but 8 breakdowns does sound like taking the mick....I must admit that after 40+ years of Rac membership, over which time I've probably used them a dozen times or so, I didn't renew this year as I have a basic Green Flag cover with my bank account - but to extend that to give me the same recovery cover as the RAC gives me will cost nearly as much as the RAC cover.......I'm still mulling it over but was a little concerned before using our 123K mile 156 for a 600 mile round trip this weekend, but after changing the knackered rad before I set off all was fine.
In my job I regularly come into contact with the AA and RAC, and find the guys on the road are generally pretty good. Its usually the people in their call centres who tend to let them down, sending patrols to locations miles away from the breakdown, because they've taken the details down wrong, then blame the customer!
Another thing a lot of people aren't aware of is that neither will generally recover your car after an accident, unless you pay extra at the time (usually around £150). One time , on the A1, late at night and pouring with rain, I found a car on the hard shoulder, having been involved in an accident, with some damage to the front. There was a young woman on the grass verge in floods of tears, as she had rung the AA as a member, who had abruptly told her she was covered for breakdowns, not accidents, and hung up leaving her stranded miles from home! I managed to get her and her car off to the next junction and helped her contact a recovery company to get her home, the AA couldn't care less!
Another thing a lot of people aren't aware of is that neither will generally recover your car after an accident, unless you pay extra at the time (usually around £150). One time , on the A1, late at night and pouring with rain, I found a car on the hard shoulder, having been involved in an accident, with some damage to the front. There was a young woman on the grass verge in floods of tears, as she had rung the AA as a member, who had abruptly told her she was covered for breakdowns, not accidents, and hung up leaving her stranded miles from home! I managed to get her and her car off to the next junction and helped her contact a recovery company to get her home, the AA couldn't care less!
All good points - it is a fact that AA, RAC. Green Flag etc will only recover your car from an accident in exchange for money. It is not covered by the policy and it says so in the small print. They normally WILL supply accident recovery if you agree to pay the bill, which you should then claim back from your or other party insurance. That is how it works. You get an invoice, you claim it back.
As for breakdown service when you are at a branch of Kwik Fit - again this is not specifically covered. The repair service is described as ROADSIDE and is intended to prevent you being stranded at the roadside and get you to a garage if it can't be repaired at the roadside. Simple really. Andymac, you were fortunate the AA guy actually looked at your car - he wasn't obliged to do it and was a concession to you on the spot.
AA and RAC score when it comes to Recovery Services. Since they made recent changes, both services I understand will take you, your car and a given number of passengers from the breakdown to a destination of your choice - IF the car can't be repaired at the roadside or in the locality. AA used to relay your car - changing recovery vehicle at every other motorway service area etc, delaying your journey and increasing the possibility of damage. Green Flag and the other garage franchise services will still do this as Green Flag will not compensate a breakdown truck driver in say Bristol for his return journey from Inverness.
Also remember that breakdown services are NOT a substitute for normal maintenance and repair. Their terms and conditions do state they won't come out for repeats of the same problem and any major repairs carried out at a garage to which they may have taken you, are the responsibility of that garage and yourself and NOT the breakdown service. In other words, if your car won't start because the battery is flat, they will get you going once but they don't have to come and do it again if, in the meantime, you should have bought a new battery.
Be aware that garage franchise services are heavily in favour of towing your vehicle to their premises where their "specialised equippment" helps them to find the fault. This is because they get a much inflated labour rate for garage work compared with roadside and they have more chance of selling you essential spares from their stores.
In terms of fair usage - Normal personal based membership entitles you to 6 callouts without additional charge. (7 if it is family membership). If you have a basic membership (such as one provided through a bank account) you may only get ONE. If you are a member for 5 or more consecutive years you get an additional 2 callouts. If you chop and change every year to get cheaper membership from the competition - you don't. Seems fair to me. Both AA and RAC operate a fair usage scheme as I believe do Green Flag. The whole point of a fair usage scheme is to make it "fair" - ie the breakdown service is not an alternative to neglecting maintenance. You can be unlucky and get 6 unrelated faults - but then the fair thing to do would be to get a different car!
The RAC and AA patrols are generally very well equipped, competent and polite. They are trained, decently paid and CRB checked, so your wife/girlfriend should be safe if she breaks down at night in some remote spot. Not sure if Green Flag and the others do CRB checks as they are franchises rather than company employees and any GF vans you see are stickered-up discounted vehicles supplied to franchises rather than true company vehicles. AA and RAC may at their discretion use franchised garage breakdown services when a full patrol vehicle is not available in your area. These are checked and are subject to the same CRB checks and standards as full patrols. Imagine if "Fred's Tyres and Exhausts" RAC franchise breakdown service got called to a Kwik Fit branch? He probably wouldn't even have bothered to get in his van.
As for the "5th Emergency Service", some people wing it and only join up AFTER they break down and then wonder why the joining fee is more like £100 instead of the £30 online. These are services for MEMBERS - thats how it works. Try hiring an independent breakdown service on a weekend on the M5 and see what it costs you.
RAC have more patrols per member. AA have more members. Green Flag etc have a lot of members but no patrols of their own.
The AA is looking for buyers at the moment - invest in them if you want to make a difference.
Everyone will have their favourites, but in truth there is very little to choose between them in terms of conditions on the policies and the prices.
All these services are, like insurance, expensive until you need them. The onus is on the customer to select a service appropriate to their needs and budget. For every bad experience you read about, there are hundreds of satisfactory reports. I have no connection with any of the Breakdown Services other than having been a customer of some of them.
As for breakdown service when you are at a branch of Kwik Fit - again this is not specifically covered. The repair service is described as ROADSIDE and is intended to prevent you being stranded at the roadside and get you to a garage if it can't be repaired at the roadside. Simple really. Andymac, you were fortunate the AA guy actually looked at your car - he wasn't obliged to do it and was a concession to you on the spot.
AA and RAC score when it comes to Recovery Services. Since they made recent changes, both services I understand will take you, your car and a given number of passengers from the breakdown to a destination of your choice - IF the car can't be repaired at the roadside or in the locality. AA used to relay your car - changing recovery vehicle at every other motorway service area etc, delaying your journey and increasing the possibility of damage. Green Flag and the other garage franchise services will still do this as Green Flag will not compensate a breakdown truck driver in say Bristol for his return journey from Inverness.
Also remember that breakdown services are NOT a substitute for normal maintenance and repair. Their terms and conditions do state they won't come out for repeats of the same problem and any major repairs carried out at a garage to which they may have taken you, are the responsibility of that garage and yourself and NOT the breakdown service. In other words, if your car won't start because the battery is flat, they will get you going once but they don't have to come and do it again if, in the meantime, you should have bought a new battery.
Be aware that garage franchise services are heavily in favour of towing your vehicle to their premises where their "specialised equippment" helps them to find the fault. This is because they get a much inflated labour rate for garage work compared with roadside and they have more chance of selling you essential spares from their stores.
In terms of fair usage - Normal personal based membership entitles you to 6 callouts without additional charge. (7 if it is family membership). If you have a basic membership (such as one provided through a bank account) you may only get ONE. If you are a member for 5 or more consecutive years you get an additional 2 callouts. If you chop and change every year to get cheaper membership from the competition - you don't. Seems fair to me. Both AA and RAC operate a fair usage scheme as I believe do Green Flag. The whole point of a fair usage scheme is to make it "fair" - ie the breakdown service is not an alternative to neglecting maintenance. You can be unlucky and get 6 unrelated faults - but then the fair thing to do would be to get a different car!
The RAC and AA patrols are generally very well equipped, competent and polite. They are trained, decently paid and CRB checked, so your wife/girlfriend should be safe if she breaks down at night in some remote spot. Not sure if Green Flag and the others do CRB checks as they are franchises rather than company employees and any GF vans you see are stickered-up discounted vehicles supplied to franchises rather than true company vehicles. AA and RAC may at their discretion use franchised garage breakdown services when a full patrol vehicle is not available in your area. These are checked and are subject to the same CRB checks and standards as full patrols. Imagine if "Fred's Tyres and Exhausts" RAC franchise breakdown service got called to a Kwik Fit branch? He probably wouldn't even have bothered to get in his van.
As for the "5th Emergency Service", some people wing it and only join up AFTER they break down and then wonder why the joining fee is more like £100 instead of the £30 online. These are services for MEMBERS - thats how it works. Try hiring an independent breakdown service on a weekend on the M5 and see what it costs you.
RAC have more patrols per member. AA have more members. Green Flag etc have a lot of members but no patrols of their own.
The AA is looking for buyers at the moment - invest in them if you want to make a difference.
Everyone will have their favourites, but in truth there is very little to choose between them in terms of conditions on the policies and the prices.
All these services are, like insurance, expensive until you need them. The onus is on the customer to select a service appropriate to their needs and budget. For every bad experience you read about, there are hundreds of satisfactory reports. I have no connection with any of the Breakdown Services other than having been a customer of some of them.
I agree entirely Chris - some of the phone staff are sub-standard although recently when I broke down on an unclassified road the operator did a fantastic job in reading her version of Google maps under my direction and telling the patrol (AA) where to find me.
And you still drive the very same car?
Man you got patience!
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Me neither, because I haven't had breakdown cover since 1995...I was in the RAC for a couple of years after passing my test and they did get me out of some scrapes with various Sprints and 33's with iffy electrics...as later cars were built better and my mechanical confidence grew after working part time in an Alfa specialists I decided to stop paying for cover and have been possibly lucky ever since?
Working in the garage at weekends in my early 20's was an eye opener too, quite often we would be presented with someones highly polished pride and joy...which would have little or no oil in the engine, a coolant system full of rusty plain water and brakes with next to no friction material on the pads...and these people were often enthusiasts who cheerfully described their Alfas as being temperamental.....not surprising really?1 - 20 of 20 Posts
