What recovery services?

[Mick Annick]

Before I retired I was a partner in a vehicle delivery business, we had around 150 drivers so 3/400 vehicle movements a day, mostly ex lease or ex auction cars, breakdowns were an everyday occurrence for us. Anyway, as a first resort we used any cover that came with the vehicle, but failing that used our own network of recovery firms - we tried the AA pay as you go but as they knew we were professional drivers so we always seemed to get pushed to the back of the queue.

Going direct we found that as would pay a bit more than the AA / RAC rates (even though we did negotiate hard), we could get a decent service. I ended up with a great network of guys who would always get us out of trouble, especially as we would also subbed them jobs that weren’t time constrained so they could fill empty legs - some of the large utility co’s would give a long lead time on moves especially plant and other odd stuff.

 

[angellonewolf]

i can only say as ive found it

ive been with either aa or rac over the 30 ish years 90 percent of the time ive sorted stuff myself the rest ive been transported home 1 time was car was relayed but we where driven home seprate as the car was cought on fire

ive guess ive used them 10 times in the years i must been lucky as allways got there with in the hour ish and the blokes seamed to know where there on about

i think one time as the car would not start and deamed they could not do a road side fix they sent out a tow company that deals with theree suff in the area he was very good pointed at an item said seen this loads of times buy one of those mate did and he was right no testing etc just asked a few questions and he pointed it out

 

[AVI_8]

@dobbslc
You mentioned that you had paid for full recovery, did that include relay which is over and above the cost of recovery, without relay they’ll take it to the nearest suitable garage.
I’ve been with the AA for over 20 years, used them a couple of times including relay home over 50 miles and have no complaints other than having to re-negotiate price every year.

 

[AVI_8]

And on a funnier note, in the 14 years I’ve been with my wife she’s never had to put fuel in a car as I deal with that, last year the car broke down in a supermarket car park, wouldn’t start so she called the AA, the guy came out and said doesn’t look like you’ve any fuel, my wife said no it’s showing 35 miles, the guy said no love that’s your MPG, he put some diesel in the car, followed her to the fuel pump then followed her all the way home to make sure there was no other issue.
Just happened that week I’d been working a lot and she’d been using the car more and I didn’t notice as I’d been driving another car.
I’ve now educated her in the fuel gauge and the warnings that the car had been giving her for the prior 50 miles.
FFS hopefully a one off.

 

[bert]

Does anyone have any positive stories about the AA?

I do have a few.

1. Boys fiesta St broke a spring and damaged the damper 80miles away from home. I got him a new spring and damper and the AA guy changed them so he could drive the car home

2. My wife's focus had the obligatory injector failure 70miles from home. 3 passengers so couldn't tow on the dolly AA guy insisted on flat towing us all the way home to save us having to wait hours for a flat bed. I was knackered having to concentrate that hard all the way home but it saved us 4 or 5 hours.

I'm now using the caravans club mayday breakdown cover as my landcruiser and caravan is too long for the RAC and AA. It's with green flag and cheaper than the others.

Not really got a bad thing to say about any recovery from the AA or RAC and I've used them quite a few times in the last 20 years

 

[keithski122]

The people that have had problems with breakdown services do you have full cover or the freebie cover that you get with a bank account? This may account for the level of service you get.

 

[dobbslc]

@dobbslc
You mentioned that you had paid for full recovery, did that include relay which is over and above the cost of recovery, without relay they’ll take it to the nearest suitable garage.
I’ve been with the AA for over 20 years, used them a couple of times including relay home over 50 miles and have no complaints other than having to re-negotiate price every year.

The missus just said it's roadside and recovery she bought and relay isn't a thing anymore?

 

[cocker]

Rac been up and down the last few times I've used them .
I'm a member , when I've rung and they've asked my name first they've took the pish - hours of waiting and dicks on the phone .
When they've asked for my reg first they put me through to the nfu(free add on with my car insurance) and I've been on the back of a recovery truck within the hour !

 

[AVI_8]

The missus just said it's roadside and recovery she bought and relay isn't a thing anymore?

I’ve got relay, it just costs extra, I bought it because if I broke down I want car recovered to my home garage where my tools are, a local garage to where it broke down would mean I’d need to leave it there for them to fix it at my cost.
They still do it

National Recovery – UK-wide breakdown cover | The AA

Get nationwide breakdown recovery when you add National Recovery to your AA roadside cover. Call us on 0343 316 4444 to find out more.

www.theaa.com

 

[oldbikedavey]

I wonder how long they took to attend in the days of the M20/21’s,I mean they’d climb a mountain,but boy were they slow .

Only needed to keep up with the infantry....

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Driver can't go against company policy though, especially since all the trucks have cameras with everything recorded and viewable remotely.

I’d argue that they can use recovery points, just not screw in towing eyes

 

[T5 TDI]

The AA took my vehicle to a garage In the South of France which bodged my blown power steering hose and then when it leaked they bodged itagain with epoxy putty which I discovered later in Spain. The AA said it wasn't their fault (even though they chose the garage) because the small print said so and I should complain to the garage. (This would have to be conducted in lightning technical French of course) I found the said small print and it did say nobody was an 'agent' of theirs but I think they shouldn't be taking client's vehicles anywhere unsafe repairs are being carried out, and the least they should offer is to negotiate with their 'non-agent' to get some of my wasted 1200 Euros back. I had to junk all their dangerous repairs when I got back and fix it myself. I still have the grisly bodged pipes hanging on my garage wall.

 

[AVI_8]

The AA took my vehicle to a garage In the South of France which bodged my blown power steering hose and then when it leaked they bodged itagain with epoxy putty which I discovered later in Spain. The AA said it wasn't their fault (even though they chose the garage) because the small print said so and I should complain to the garage. (This would have to be conducted in lightning technical French of course) I found the said small print and it did say nobody was an 'agent' of theirs but I think they shouldn't be taking client's vehicles anywhere unsafe repairs are being carried out, and the least they should offer is to negotiate with their 'non-agent' to get some of my wasted 1200 Euros back. I had to junk all their dangerous repairs when I got back and fix it myself. I still have the grisly bodged pipes hanging on my garage wall.

Being devils advocate unless you’ve relay to recover home the only way to get a like for like repair would be to take it to a main dealer, most people with a used car would be unhappy with main dealer repair prices, in your case a main dealer fix would probably have saved you money, someone lets say with a blown tyre in the UK might be unhappy paying 200 % more for a new tyre.
They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
How could a UK company verify the quality of repairs in the region of the south of France where you had your unfortunate breakdown?
Especially when it would have been a local French company who took your car to the garage which bodged the repairs.

 

[T5 TDI]

I get that. But I must admit If I was the AA I would make more effort to weed out garages like this causing them reputational damage by proxy. My wife made the point that any garage that agrees to be an agent non-agent must have 2 or three car transporters on call 24/7 just in case they are needed and that of course costs. Because the total cost was over 1000 Euros I could have been repatriated (assuming they didn't write off the van) but I chose to let them repair it. When I got back I told them the sad tale and asked only for my costs of doing the job properly with the genuine parts. £400 I think it was. Only offsetting my1200 Euro bill slightly. But apparently the small print made it impossible for them to even consider this small gesture of goodwill. Below is just one end of the (still leaking) pipe the AA obviously deemed an acceptable steering repair by their non-agent.

 

[m_c]

The AA (and any other UK based recovery company) will have little control over other countries repair networks.
They simply have agreements with other similar companies in other countries, and rely on them to arrange in country recovery/repair, just as those companies will have agreements with the AA to handle UK recovery/repairs.

 

[T5 TDI]

Why don't they have resiprical arragements with the French equivalent of the AA? Perhaps they don't exist nationality. In England reckon I would have had a fair chance of success in taking that (large) garage to the small claims court. I don't know why I have that grisly pipe hanging on my garage wall given that every time I see it my blood quietly boils!

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I have had generally poor experiences with both the RAC and AA, being left for long waits and then having inappropriate (to the clearly explained circumstances) vehicles turn up necessitating another long wait.

The guys driving for them, pretty good but the execution and logistics, utterly dire.

I have been using Green Flag for quite some time now, and have had a good experience as it's really just a network of very competent regional operators, who tend to have better dispatchers, more common sense policies and more flexibility.

I remember getting stranded in Betws-Y-Coed with a dead battery and alternator, early on a Saturday morning; rang Green Flag they referred me to a garage in Colwyn Bay, spoke to their dispatcher on the phone and managed to get them to agree to pick up parts from an auto-factors I knew in Llandudno if I rung through and paid over the phone, then assist with fitting them.

All in, I got a fix by the side of the road, and they got paid a fixed fee that assumed they were recovering me from N.Wales back to Sheffield, everyone's a winner!

 

[julianf]

I have had generally poor experiences with both the RAC and AA, being left for long waits and then having inappropriate (to the clearly explained circumstances) vehicles turn up necessitating another long wait.

The guys driving for them, pretty good but the execution and logistics, utterly dire.

I have been using Green Flag for quite some time now, and have had a good experience as it's really just a network of very competent regional operators, who tend to have better dispatchers, more common sense policies and more flexibility.

I remember getting stranded in Betws-Y-Coed with a dead battery and alternator, early on a Saturday morning; rang Green Flag they referred me to a garage in Colwyn Bay, spoke to their dispatcher on the phone and managed to get them to agree to pick up parts from an auto-factors I knew in Llandudno if I rung through and paid over the phone, then assist with fitting them.

All in, I got a fix by the side of the road, and they got paid a fixed fee that assumed they were recovering me from N.Wales back to Sheffield, everyone's a winner!

This sounds very much like an experience i had with the RAC -

I called up, and told them that the transfer box or center diff was broken.
"So what is wrong with the car then?", asked the operator.

After a while, it seemed like "the engine does not run" was the only way to communicate. I had not lost my keys, and the tires were not flat, so it had to be the engine.


They then sent someone out to assess the vehicle. I told them what was wrong with it before they had gotten out of their van. They never got out of their van.

I then had to wait hours longer for a flat bed.

 

[Mick Annick]

Why don't they have resiprical arragements with the French equivalent of the AA? Perhaps they don't exist nationality. In England reckon I would have had a fair chance of success in taking that (large) garage to the small claims court. I don't know why I have that grisly pipe hanging on my garage wall given that every time I see it my blood quietly boils!

There are no clubs here like the AA and RAC. Breakdown cover is all provided via insurers and carried out by garages (most dealers will have a few trucks - my small local VW dealer has four, though is on a motorway junction) or professional recovery operators.