I've never had a bad experience with the AA and neither has my wife. Sure, sometimes there's a wait. But the guys themselves are all diamonds. Friendly, Helpful. Knowledgeable. And cheerful. £143 a year seems like a lot of money until one of their guys saves your life.
HJ
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My recent experience involving SWMBO's fairly tired old Peugeot 205 was exemplary. A busy Saturday morning before Christmas and having just bought the Christmas tree at a garden centre. Original quote from the AA was 30-40 minutes if I remember correctly. Then a text message giving revised ETA of 15 minutes, which the technician met exactly. We were up and running 10 minutes later.
Oz (as was)
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Thanks for all the comments. I've been through all the websites etc., but my current provider still comes out best value (Autonational Rescue 'Total Superserivce' - i.e. everything covered, homestart, recovery, etc. - for £86 for 2 cars).
They are currently giving new customers 15 months for the price of 12 - so I'm thinking of letting my membership lapse for a day and then rejoining.
In almost 30 years of driving all sorts of cars I've only broken down three times;
1. A new Rover Sterling had a faulty top hose which ruptured just as I exited a motorway.
2. A Rover 800 broke down after I'd rebuilt the autobox (I'd not cleaned out the torque convertor properly and some muck got dislodged and blocked the valve body, causing it to lose line pressure).
3. My dog of a BMW 7-series broke down about 2 miles after I left the dealer following a service with them (airlock in cooling system, after they changed the antifreeze, caused it to boil).
Not a bad record really! For nearly all this period I was with the AA. I used to do some training sessions for them at their centre at Widmerpool - they were a good bunch. After they were 'privatised' their moral dropped a lot and I ended my membership.
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In 35 years of motoring (certainly 500,000 miles, possibly 750,000), I've never broken down. I guess that's why I raise an eyebrow when people say they carry a mobile phone in the car "in case I break down" and why I have always been slow to sign up to breakdown-service subscriptions.
Fingers crossed.
[See my profile for the cars I have driven if you are surprised by this.]
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Well this morning the car failed to start again. I am now awaiting a replacement vehicle. From the time of calling Mercedes 24hr recovery an hour and a half ago the technician has already been and said it needs to be recovered and a replacement car is on its way. A very good service indeed, just a shame that I have had to use it again.
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Sorry about that, Marcos. Because the E320CDI is a brilliant car when it\'s running. Is it air into the fuel system?
HJ
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Apparently there are too many fault codes for the technician to deal with. He seems to think it may be a crankshaft or camshaft sensor giving out funny readings.
The car will be recovered to the dealers tomorrow. In the meantime I am still waiting for National car hire to give me a hire car but they seem unable to organise anything. I shall have to ring service 24 again.
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I feel sorry for AA patrol men, they are now rated on how many new members they get, the number of breakdowns they fix on the roadside, their cost effectiveness, ie how many batteries they sell. What became of the guy that only had to salute as you drove by.
My truthfull experience is that a true AA guy is very good, he'll probably be able to fix your car, its when they send out an agency guy you get the problems, he's a monkey with a tow truck, went through the wifes car the other day testing wires, testing petrol pump for 1hr out side Safeway, ended up towing back to our drive,all the frozen food melted, the next morning AA patrol turns up, ah its the transponder in your key madam, its in your footwell instead of being in the key, car runs perfectly!!!
It doen't take a brain surgeon, surely a mechanic would have known, my local garage did, who are these guys they send out on agency? he even cut through the cable insulation to test if there was a current, duuuh even I know not to do that and i'm a sales rep!!!!
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Not had any mechanical breakdowns in either of my current cars, but was very glad of AA membership recently when the truck in front of me ran down an animal in the dark (possibly a large dog or a sheep, but impossible to identify!) - it rolled from under the truck to under my car, causing some minor damage. I pulled in to a forecourt to check underneath and could see a piece of trim hanging down, but had no way of knowing whether the car was safe to drive the 35 miles home, as either the fuel or brake lines might have been compromised. Wasn't going to risk getting right underneath for a proper look with just the standard jack supporting the car and the forecourt didn't have anything better. AA arrived just after an hour and the guy was able to confirm the car was safe to drive home - the damaged trim was an extra layer of protection from road debris for the fuel tank, but fuel lines, brake lines and fuel tank were all unharmed. Hats off to him for doing an unpleasant job, because the underneath of the car was well clabbered with blood & hair and he kept a sense of humour about it.
Have called AA out three times in total - once for a breakdown due to being sold contaminated fuel, once to repair a wiper arm which broke on an old car in a rainstorm, and the above incident. I'll be sticking with them at renewal time for the reason that their staff have always been courteous, helpful, and gone beyond the minimum call of duty when the problem couldn't be solved on the spot (the bad fuel incident 60 miles from home - after taking the undriveable car to repair centre, AA man took myself & wife to BiL's house in next town so we could get a lift home before midnight, even though we hadn't paid for this level of service.)
andymc
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I've been through all thewebsites etc., but my current provider still comes out best value (Autonational Rescue 'Total Superserivce' - i.e. everything covered, homestart, recovery, etc. - for £86 for 2 cars).
I'm paying £65 for 2 cars with GEM ( homestart and full recovery)
The advantage of the pay and claim system is that you can choose the breakdown company you wish. This means that if you breakdown outside a garage, you can use them and do not have to wait for, say, the AA to turn up.
I have used GEM a couple of times and they have been very efficient.
Reimbursement was received by return of post.
Cover includes:
24 hour roadside assistance
recovery to any UK destination
home assistance
alternative travel
emergency accommodation
6,000 breakdown operators
37 minute average callout
www.gemrecovery.co.uk/
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Doc
How do you contact a recovery garage though? Let\'s say you break down in an unfamiliar part of the country, no garages around, late at night. How do you know who to telephone? Or do GEM have a call centre that will put you in touch with a garage?
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They have a 0500 number to get to their call centre.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Hmmm.... I don't think you can actually choose breakdown company if they have their contracted garage nearby.
GEM is a good value service, however there are two major disadvantages:
- Pay and claim system - if you pay by card (not all of us carry few hundred quid in their pockets) most of the garages insist on sending you receipt by post (they have to verify the card, attach the printout etc). The last recovery truck GEM sent to me got lost and kept driving around east London for hours, made 70 miles out of 14 mile trip, insisted on lunchbreak in the middle of recovery and at the end failed to post receipt within 14 days. Now it's up to me and my bank to chase the rogue garage for refund!
- Recovery after accident is limited to £50, which won't get you and your car much further than 30-40 miles from the accident spot. The rest of it you have to pay from your own pocket. Maybe it's just me, but I think after accident recovery should be the least of my worries. GEM, that £50 limit is just soooo mean...
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>> Hmmm.... I don't think you can actually choose breakdown company ifthey have their contracted garage nearby.
Yes you can! See their web site.
I have not experienced any problems with getting CC receipts, but then I choose my company carefully.
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