Beware - AA RIP OFF

Recently signed up with AA at one of their mobile stands.

A few days later I renewed my insurance only to find that it had recovery included in the price.

So I quickly got on to AA asking them to cancel my membership (all within the 14days cancellation) only to be told that I was being stung £14 just for administration charges

I hadnt even received the information pack. So much for their "you got a friend" advert on TV

I joined the RAC online - just the basic for £30. On saturday I had a problem with the disco and it looked like I would need it towing to a garage. I phoned up about the home start service and after a bit of a haggle they dropped the £20 surcharge and let me add it on and had a guy come out to me straight away. Good service I think (even tho it cost me £40 on top of my basic package)

Yeah was with RAC last year with solution 1.

I had to use them before Xmas for a dead battery. My jumpstart had died too so had to wait 2hrs before they arrived. Was a bit long just for a battery problem and I wasnt far from all the main towns, not like it was the highlands or something.

Yeah a good service if you have to get overnight accomodation etc but the hidden administration charge was a bit sly I thought.

Plus if you read the terms of the recovery/relay..... it is conditional on whether or not they will tow you home.

Always carry a card saying "I've got the leads give us a jump start please?" i dont but it aint a bad idea...

Something else to bear in mind if you're towing. I broke down towing a boat a while back and the RAC wouldn't recover the boat trailer as it was "too long". However when the breakdown wagon turned up the bloke said he would take it no problem but if it hapened again just tell them it's a little car trailer. Worht checking if you tow a boat or a caravan.

VICTOR MELDREW said:

Always carry a card saying "I've got the leads give us a jump start please?" i dont but it aint a bad idea...

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I doooonnnt belieeeeve it!

Yeah it was at a countryside centre, I ran around asking other drivers if they had jump leads, sods law no-one had any.

hughesy said:

Something else to bear in mind if you're towing. I broke down towing a boat a while back and the RAC wouldn't recover the boat trailer as it was "too long". However when the breakdown wagon turned up the bloke said he would take it no problem but if it hapened again just tell them it's a little car trailer. Worht checking if you tow a boat or a caravan.

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Yeah good point, they dont tell you those things as you sign on the dotted line

Yeah i've had problems with the AA in the past.

Car broke down bout 20 miles from home, and i had the service that says tow you home or to the nearest garage, whichever's closest.
Anyway broke down called them out, he took us 2 junctions down the Motorway, took us to some services. Said he couldn't repair it and had to call one of there contractors out to look at it. Contractor came out to us, reckoned head gasket had gone on it. and he'd charge us £125 + VAT to take it home.
Left it there me Dad came and picked us up, then read through the terms and conditions when got home.
So arranged with them to go and fetch it to take it to the nearest garage.
On the way to the garage AA bloke rang up the nearest garage which turned out to be the contractor before and he said that he didn't want it.
Ended up paying £100 to the AA to get it home, and then argueing with them after to try and get my money back, but they didn't give in.
They are abit of a scam because i was talking to the AA man, because i had to take out a different level of cover. He warned me to becareful because this cover now was supposedly to get me home from anywhere!!!! well he said after 50 mile i'd get charged £2 a mile after 50 miles till we reached our destination!!!!!
Funny how it didn't mention that anywhere at all in the T+C or anywhere in they paperwork!!!
I had been a member for a few year's but wouldn't go back to them. Mind you all these recovery company's might be the same!!!!

Broke down Sunday evening on the M5. After an hour it started to snow! Eventually it took the AA contrator 3 hours to turn up, by which time I was nearly passed out through the cold! Did tow me home though - though I thought it was a tad amusing that because the rear wheels had totally siezed they couldn't roll it back off the breakdown truck

Ugavine said:

Broke down Sunday evening on the M5. After an hour it started to snow! Eventually it took the AA contrator 3 hours to turn up, by which time I was nearly passed out through the cold! Did tow me home though - though I thought it was a tad amusing that because the rear wheels had totally siezed they couldn't roll it back off the breakdown truck

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Had RAC for 5 years now been towed from telford to North Wales no quibbles and had a transit break down in london and was transported all the way back to North wales again no problems.

Have to say the RAC have been great whenever I've used them(except for not wanting to recover a trailer) They took my van home and cos it was a sunday came back the next day and took it to the garage where it was going to be fixed. Another time a few years ago explained to them that we were going to be late picking the kids up from school and they got to us in less than 1/2 an hour then got us and the car home in less than an hour from the first call. Can't complain.

I had my moneys worth out of the aa a few years ago. We were on holiday, touring scotland with a astra van and a folding caravan, when we were about 30 miles south of john o grotes, going up a hill it was getting hot nowhere to stop next thing clouds of smoke, missing and knocking my van died. We didn`t have recovery cover, but they sent out a local garage, who terned up in his wrecker. He confermed our thourghts that it was shagged, then towed us back to a camp site down the road, no charge as it was on his way back, i gave him a drink though.
So the next day i pulled the head of the astra and found one of the pre combustion chambers had fell into the cylinder, as i said it was shagged, the head had lumps missing as did the piston, so i put it back in the head and penned the head with a centre punch to hold it in then put the head back on. It ran a bit smokey and a bit missy on tick over.
We decided to head for home, but not before we upgraded to relay cover .
Well we got down to inverness before the turbo blow, my bodge held the fu**ing turbo let go! so six aa trucks latter and about 12 hours we got home oxfordshire. So the aa membership was worth it that year. The upgrade was £80 it would have cost more than that in diesel if all had been well.



ps i got rid of that vauxhall piece of **** after that as well