Car Breakdown Recovery

gman

gman

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Graham
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Just wondering who everyone uses and if you've had to use them were they any good?
 
Been with Autonational for a few years for all the family cars and had to use them several times, following accidents, kids breaking down.
They have always been pretty good
 
I used to use the AA, they got a bit dear so went with another recovery firm ,green flag.
They are around £5 cheaper than AA since the AA had to drop prices as lots of people where not renewing .
The AA give a call out time but are slower if you have Recovery as part of the package ,as they need to send a heavier vehicle to get you home.
I found it took around 100 mins to get to me.

But the money you save if they have to tow you home is a heck of a lot,especially if you break down on a motorway.
I think they are of a same now so I would go for AA or RAC as they have more vehicles on the road.
It is not a waste of money,even if you do not use them as it is a piece of mind that they are there if needed.:thumbs: I think the AA is £70 with roadside recovery
 
Been with the AA for over 20 years. Used them a lot over the years (Hillman Imp ownership will do that to you) and had plenty of trips on the back of relay lorries.

When I was first with them the late 1980s patrolmen used to know how to sort out points and condensor ignition, or how an SU carb works. The last one that came out to me said that I probably knew more about the ignition system on my car than he did and it had been years since he'd seen a set of points! He was right as well - he got to the same point in fault finding that I had but his guess as to the problem was wrong, mine was correct - it didn't matter as he wanted to replace the distributor cap and I wanted to replace the almost new rotor arm, but since it was a Lucas 25D4 distributor he wasn't carrying either part, so I went home on the back of a relay lorry. When I got home I pulled the rotor arm off the Davrian and the car started straight away and thereby learned a valuable lesson - new rotor arms for old Lucas distributors are made in a factory in China where they don't know what "insulation" is.
 
I am with the RAC , I have had 2 call outs in 3 years both times very quick and good , I am more than happy with them. :thumbs:
 
Had experience with both the AA and the RAC. Both brilliant. Call outs were great and within an hour. Communications were great.
One incident, however, we did wait a long time for vehicle recovery with the RAC. I guess this was a bit expected though, as they were called from Belgium, and met us in Kent, England. A breakdown service was needed in Belgium, before our trip back to the Motherland, and was efficiently sorted out by someone acting on behalf of the RAC.

Worth every penny, pity I'm not in a position atm to remain a member.
 
We use the RAC because they have the best coverage up here

The wife has called them out a few times and they have been excellent all round
 
Family AA package, tried a few different over the years but AA seem fine to me.
 
Thanks for the replies. Are the AA and RAC restricted to their own vehicles or can they summons a local recovery garage? The latter would imply a faster response although not necessarily I guess.
 
I've had AA patrols and local garages when I've broken down.
 
I use Auto Aid, they or you call the nearest garage etc and pay the bill. They send you a cheque back for the full amount.

Have used them when a diesel pump packed up, they called a recovery firm 1 mile away and got to me in 15 minutes.

Cheque arrived in 2 days.

Does mean keeping a credit card with you but the cover you get for the price is excellent.
 
gman said:
Thanks for the replies. Are the AA and RAC restricted to their own vehicles or can they summons a local recovery garage? The latter would imply a faster response although not necessarily I guess.
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not necessarily, greenflag used to do that a lot as they had fewer of their own vans and if anything it was a slower process getting "bob's auto recovery" out of bed etc.
 
I've used RAC for a few years and only called them out once but they were brilliant, came out very quickly and extremely knowledgeable guy considering it was quite a complex problem. Would recommend them any day
 
I,m with the AA and only had to use them once in 6 years.....rather embarrasing too it was.

I was resetting my old XJ V8 sensors so had to remove the battery for one hour, what did I do.......shut the boot to go in for a coffee, boot only opened on a button on the fob, little embarrased and 30 seconds later the AA man had the boot open:shake:
 
Meno said:
I use Auto Aid, they or you call the nearest garage etc and pay the bill. They send you a cheque back for the full amount.
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Not keen on that to be honest.

Looks like a showdown between the AA and the RAC unless Britannia Rescue could be recommended?
 
Whoever you choose to go with (I've thankfully never had to call anyone out so can't comment on the service from anyone) have a look at buying through http://www.topcashback.co.uk or similar - I got £22 cashback on a £30 policy! kerrching!
 
I have an Ultimate Reward Account with Halifax.

Costs £10 a month. Gets your worldwide holiday insurance, all mobile phones in household insured and breakdown assistance for the family too.

Ironically wife had to call them out a few weeks ago, there within an hour, tyre changed and on her way in quick time. You just ring and quote your Halifax bank card number.
 
Both the AA and RAC will use local firms as and when required. I've never really noticed much of a difference, although on the rare occasions I've had to use them the RAC were quickest to respond.

My only gripe with them was that their national call centre is/was in Birmingham, leading to communication problems/ numerous callbacks to clarify the location etc (probably not an issue nowadays) whereas the AA is local, so you stand a fair chance of being understood.

In all honesty I just change every year yo whichever is doing the best cashback deal...
 
Over the years I've been with both the AA and RAC, but now with Green Flag.
A good friend of mine has a garage business that contracts to all of the major breakdown and recovery services. His advice to me had been to use Green Flag, explaining the the majors will ,as a priority, get one of their own vans to you, even if it means delaying the callout an extra 30mins or so. Whereas companies such as Green Flag only use contractors.
 
RAC here, they're OK I guess, Haven't had to use them in a while. Last time I phoned them due to a fault on the Celica's immobiliser at work, I fixed it myself and called to cancel. Time before that was when the Mrs planted a car on top of a wall, phoned them explicitly saying it needed recovering and they send a guy in a normal van, who then had to call for a recovery truck, PITA but at least the car got moved.

They did a temporary fix on a mates exhaust at the side of the road after it fell off over christmas which was nice.
 
Been with RAC for about 12 years now.

Always had good service. Not had to use them loads over the years but they help me on the M40 with my Primera when I had a 90mph blow out and later when the electric went (they recovered it to a local garage). They too my dead Mondeo (injector fault) from my house to a garage 15 miles away near work, plus they removed half my dashboard and refitted it at Exeter services when the plunger thingy under the brake pedal when I had electrical and brake issues on the way to France.
 
I'm with RAC, my policy was £93 and pretty much covers everything, including call out if I'm in someone elses car
 
crofter said:
I get the full Green flag service for £25 with my car insurance, these have always been Ok and I live in an isolated area, they give you £10 if not there within the hour.
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I had Green Flag "Free" with Churchill insurance,which they charge about £45.00.for :thumbsdown:If you are more that 10 miles from home & break down,they charge just under £2 per mile to your chosen destination plus the return to where you were stranded.:thumbsdown:

Toonie
 
Toonie said:
I had Green Flag "Free" with Churchill insurance,which they charge about £45.00.for :thumbsdown:If you are more that 10 miles from home & break down,they charge just under £2 per mile to your chosen destination plus the return to where you were stranded.:thumbsdown:

Toonie
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I was with Green Flag years ago (when they were trading under a different name) and found them to be a complete waste of money. The one time I had to call them out I made the mistake of mentioning I had an idea of what had gone wrong, and the response was "in that case we'll need to charge you if you want a mechanic to come out"

Eh? :shrug:
 
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I'm with ADAC and have been for about 7 years. Great service for only 79 euro's per year. Its a German recovery company but you get worldwide cover and i mean every country in the world. You even get full AA cover here in the UK for less than the AA charge just for uk recovery! you even get a dedecated English speaking telephone number to Phone. Have a nose at adac.com you can even get an English version of the web site.
 
I'm with AA. My parents have been with them for so long myself and my sister get free membership that covers us rather than a specific vehicle (not sure if this is standard) so from the time I was 17 I've had free breakdown cover whether I was in my own car or someone else's :D
 
The AA.:):thumbs:
 
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