Was just renewing my breakdown cover on the car with the RAC for £116 so decided to shop around and found quotes for as low as £28. Think I’ll go with AXA though who quoted £43 for the exact same cover as RAC. Was just wondering who is the best for cover. Any ideas?
Phone the RAC and tell them you are thinking of leaving because you can get the same cover cheaper elsewhere. You might be surprised at how they can all of a sudden drop their price to keep you as a customer.
PS. Does your bank not offer breakdown cover with your account?
The AA tried the same crack with me,said they wanted X number of pounds.I told them I had got a quote for cheaper cover elsewhere.They then undercut the other quote saying that I had been a customer for X number of years they would give me a discount.
None of them want to lose your custom. Play hardball with them !
I use Auto aid there only £38 for the year. Used them once and were very good. Only downside with them is if you breakdown you have to pay the bill for recovery, they give you a receipt of payment and then you claim it back from Auto aid. They took four days for payment to arrive so not so bad.
I just wrote a ■■■■ off essay on the merits and pitfalls of each and every club and every type of cover, and what I believe is the best value for money, based on my experience in the recovery industry.
Previewed it, added a bit, then pressed post.
It came up with ‘Please Log In’, and the whole lot got wiped. Right ■■■■■■ off now.
Hope this helps 
I pay £1 a month-ish for greenflag upto a 10 mile tow, home start too.
I used to do Greenflag recovery so know what it’s like plus I don’t really need to worry about the 10 mile as it’s my ex employer and I know the lads wont bother.
Thats on a 2 year old Mondeo though…
So it’ll be under warranty and you’ll use Ford Assist, which happens to be… the AA.
stagedriver:
I pay £1 a month-ish for greenflag upto a 10 mile tow, home start too.I used to do Greenflag recovery so know what it’s like plus I don’t really need to worry about the 10 mile as it’s my ex employer and I know the lads wont bother.
Thats on a 2 year old Mondeo though…
From what I can gather Green Flag offer cover for the widest variety of situations. The AA have certainly recovered me from accidents in the past but as I understand it they won’t any longer but I believe Green Flag do. Also, I think Green Flag will take you right home in most instances where some of the others have a clause they can use to dump you at the nearest repairers.
I have AA cover as part of my bank account. I would not normally use them, I cancelled my Green Flag policy when i upgraded the bank account.
As an ex recovery driver,for a company who were accredited to all the clubs,I always felt that Green Flag had the correct idea for the customer.
The AA / RAC have gotten too focused on money generation and lost touch with what the customer needed-and as for the call centres!! When my Berlingo snapped a N/S/F spring last year,I called the AA. I made a mistake on this call by trying to help everyone-shorten the response time by telling the call centre woman what was actually wrong with the van. When told the spring had snapped she insisted the vehicle had been involved in an RTC and the AA would not be attending. When i pointed out it had snapped going over a speed bump-she said this was an RTC and they would not attend. My mistake was trying to help these people by avoiding the wait for a patrol to come and see the broken spring for himself-I will never make this mistake again.
When i pointed out to the call centre that I needed the van recovered she said they would attend,but i would be charged. This conversation was going nowhere,so I asked to speak to her supervisor,who it turned out knew slightly more about the difference between an RTC and a mechanical breakdown-and sent out an actual recovery truck to take the van home.
RAC cover was cheaper at tesco than ringing the rac.
£130 AA renewal (roadside, relay, & home start on any car/bike) dropped to £19.
I`ve never paid more than £55 per year for this lot
If you shop at Tesco and collect the points there are good RAC deals. Last year I got full cover for two of us (two cars) for the equivalent of £54 worth of points.
I get free breakdown cover for anywhere in Europe with my vehicle insurance, and before you say it’s been built into the price for the insurance - the insurance itself is cheaper than anywhere else! I’ve checked.
rescuemycar.com but you’ll need to check the number of callouts you are entitled to. that said, it’s cheap enuf that you can just take it out again if you use them all
i don’t think it really matters who you get breakdown cover from, it’ll still be me that comes out
For European and UK cover I use ADAC. £78 all in, any vehicle, home start, relay and shed loads of good advice.
Cheers
Paul
Nate:
i don’t think it really matters who you get breakdown cover from, it’ll still be me that comes out
Had an awkward customer once who spat their dummy out and started spouting off (she was a right arse).
The rule is the same for everyone: If you get abuse off a customer, don’t argue, don’t bite, don’t answer back, just be polite, ring the club and explain the situation. Our man did just that.
The club we were doing the job for told us to stand down, they refused her service and cancelled her membership, as apparently she’d been abusive to the call centre too.
It was such a warm moment when, an hour later, we got the same job, same customer from a different club
Our man was again extremely polite, yet off she launched again, even more irate now because she’d had to wait.
This second club told us to stand down, they refused her service and cancelled her membership too
Another hour later, same job, different club
This time, it was a bloke with the car. What a thoroughly plesent chap he was too. It was a 5 minute repair and the guy drove away happy.
We work for all the clubs, every single one of them. If you’re near me, it’s pretty likely it’s my lads who’ll attend, no matter which club you’re in.
i’ve got AA cover through my bank, and i have had to use it twice, once on a non start, where i had them come out see if they could diagonse it they couldn’t (turned out the distrubter packed in and melted part of the fuse box aswell…) he towed it there and i was happy with the service i was given
the second time, went to pull out on to the a17 and a drive shaft let go on me. had a quick look under the car to confirm what i thought had happen. phoned the aa, told them that the front axle will need to be off the ground, and was thanked as i would of been sent a van that could not lift the front axle off the ground, was told it be about and hour, and 35min’s later he pulled up quick look under the car and said, bugger i was expecting to of broken the cv joint. not the shaft its self…
we had a quick chat he got the a frame out got the car loaded and dropped it off and the garage and me off at home which he didn’t have to do.
one story i was told, was back in my dad’s army day’s, a tank broke down and they called out the aa/rac. and told them it was a v12 jag… and yeah it was a v12 jag engine which was the power plan of the tank… the aa/rac van past the once, twice, three time’s lad’s with the tank flagged the van down and asked if he was looking for a v12 jag which yes was the reply, good it’s in there and the engine cover’s have been taken off for you… i do belive he fixed it as well and the it was a v12 jag on the paper work, and the reg no was also eligible on the paper work as well, at least it didnt need recovering…
philgor:
one story i was told, was back in my dad’s army day’s, a tank broke down and they called out the aa/rac. and told them it was a v12 jag… and yeah it was a v12 jag engine which was the power plan of the tank… the aa/rac van past the once, twice, three time’s lad’s with the tank flagged the van down and asked if he was looking for a v12 jag which yes was the reply, good it’s in there and the engine cover’s have been taken off for you…
Definitely grown with time, that story… I’m ex-REME BTW. 
The old Scorpion tanks were originally fitted with the XJ6 engine ; no fun setting 2 sets of points whilst hanging upside-down, trying all the time not to drop the feeler gauges into the engine compartment. Set up properly though they’d go like stink, one of our fitters was a Jaguar enthusiast and tuned them for a hobby; 80 mph on tracks has to be experienced to be believed. 
Regarding the OP; if my own personal experience is the norm for the company, then try the AA. Long story, but wifey and I went to France last month, on two bikes; mine broke down, she fell off hers (skidded on diesel, PLEASE don’t brim your tanks) and we ended up travelling home in a hire car. AA’s service was absolutely faultless, even paid for me to travel out by Eurostar/TGV to Reims, including an overnight hotel in Paris, to collect my bike.
80mph on track’s… [zb] that quick…
my dad’s claim to fame is putting a 432 armored personall carrier on it’s front sprockets and landing it again for a bet… 
he did it as well… 
[quote="philgor"a drive shaft let go on me. [/quote]
rover?