From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

Chris.
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

I think most of the other ones are just a call centre with an addressbook of local breakdown firms. They call out one of those for you, and they may be quicker or slower depending on how local they are and how busy.

Another suggestion is AutoAid, which is like a kind of insurance policy for breakdown. You call them, they call out a breakdown firm. You pay the firm and claim on the AutoAid insurance. They tend to give you a policy with all the trimmings for the price of a basic AA/RAC, and the price is the same for everyone (although I think there's a supplement for older cars). I've not claimed but heard that they pay out on claims promptly and don't wriggle.

I've only had to call breakdown once, and that was the local firm provided
via my car insurance. Which is another option worth investigating if you're near renewal time.

Theo
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

In article <23bg6kljcvfnjup16aacbm27f0e6q6cqti@4ax.com>,
Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

Chris.

My insurance co recommend "Britannia Rescue".
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4tΘ▓
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

On 04/07/2025 22:45, charles wrote:

My insurance co recommend "Britannia Rescue".

That's because they get a commission
--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

On 04/07/2025 20:48, Chris J Dixon wrote:

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

Mayday has worked for me (covers car and caravan) on the two occasions I needed them. The premium as remained stable for (at least) the last 3
years.

Someone who is _not_ happy with the RAC relates his horror story here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p28O9lpmdAI&t=1020s
--
Sam Plusnet
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

Sam Plusnet wrote:

Mayday has worked for me (covers car and caravan) on the two occasions I >needed them. The premium as remained stable for (at least) the last 3 >years.

Someone who is _not_ happy with the RAC relates his horror story here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p28O9lpmdAI&t=1020s

Yes, I watched that recently. What a sorry tale, abysmal RAC
performance.

I hadn't realised that a substantial influence on short relay
trips was avoiding tachographs.

I do see on X a number of police postings where recovery drivers
have been caught without tachographs when necessary.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

In article <mcr6lqFiqseU1@mid.individual.net>,
alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

On 04/07/2025 22:45, charles wrote:

My insurance co recommend "Britannia Rescue".

That's because they get a commission

actually, no. They own the company.
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4tΘ▓
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

On 4 Jul 2025 at 20:48:01 BST, Chris J Dixon wrote:

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

I have whatever comes with my bank account (Nationwide). About £200pa, and includes phone and travel insurance, and probably a few other things.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

Theo wrote:

I think most of the other ones are just a call centre with an addressbook of local breakdown firms. They call out one of those for you, and they may be quicker or slower depending on how local they are and how busy.

I think mine (Emergency Assist Ltd) are like that, I pay about £30/year,
and haven't ever needed to call them, so can't really comment further.
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

In article <mcs9q2Fo92hU1@mid.individual.net>, usenet@andyburns.uk
says...

Theo wrote:

I think most of the other ones are just a call centre with an addressbook of
local breakdown firms. They call out one of those for you, and they may be quicker or slower depending on how local they are and how busy.

I think mine (Emergency Assist Ltd) are like that, I pay about ú30/year,
and haven't ever needed to call them, so can't really comment further.

I use them. I had to use them once to take the car from my home to my
garage. The lorry was quick and my next year's bill no dearer.
--
Jim the Geordie
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

On 05/07/2025 10:32, Andy Burns wrote:

Theo wrote:

I think most of the other ones are just a call centre with an
addressbook of
local breakdown firms.  They call out one of those for you, and they
may be
quicker or slower depending on how local they are and how busy.

I think mine (Emergency Assist Ltd) are like that, I pay about £30/year, and haven't ever needed to call them, so can't really comment further.

I use Rescue my Car which charges me around £26/year for rescue -
national recovery. The price dependant on the age and model of the car,
my car is a 8 year old Ford Focus.

They do other policies that may offer more, or less, for more, or less,
money

If I call them out I have to pay the one off excess of £40, so its £26
for piece on mind (I do regular 250mile journeys) and £66 if I call them
out for the first time in that year. If you call them out more than once
a year it's only the first call out where you have to pay the excess.
They want a card payment for the excess when you phone them.


You really need to read their T&C carefully. https://static.rescuemycar.com/documents/Rescuemycar.com+-+UK+Breakdown+Membership+T%26Cs+-+20251704.pdf

They may not come out for the same fault unless the original fault or a temporary fix has a permanent (garage) fix but they do say unlimited
call outs.
Recovery may be to a local garage for certain types of breakdown where a repair my be within a day (tyre repairs/mis-fueling etc.)

I think they cover the car and not you driving other peoples cars.

They call out local companies that provide roadside or recovery assistance.
In around 15 years I've called them out twice and on both occasions it
took around 90 minutes before help arrived, one time was a bank holiday
in the middle of no-where. On both occasions I was recovered, once
around 190 miles to home and on the second occasion around 15 miles to a
local garage (close to where I was staying at the time).

Be aware that long recoveries can involve dropping you and the car at
motorway service stations to be picked up again by a more local recovery company. Having said this around 30 years ago I had the same with the
RAC where the car was dropped off in one of the depots and I had to wait
3 hours for the onward recovery.

Possibly the higher costs with some of the better known companies is
because they offer assistance on your home driveway but I believe now
the T&C now may limit the number of times that you can call them out to
start your car because of a knackered battery or engine.
--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk
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From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

On Sat, 5 Jul 2025 08:48:04 -0000 (UTC), RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com>
wrote:

On 4 Jul 2025 at 20:48:01 BST, Chris J Dixon wrote:

I have been an AA member since 1977, but am increasingly fed up
with the annual call to get them to discount the renewal figure
they first thought of.

I have had to call them out occasionally over the years, the last
time requiring a suspended tow off my drive.

There seem to be a prevalence of stories of both AA and RAC
failing to provide the five-star service their escalating fees
should deserve.

"Which" recommend Gem Motoring Assist, Aviva and Start Rescue,
but I have no personal knowledge of their qualities.

I have seen good reviews of The Caravan and Motorhome Club
"Mayday", which is provide by Green Flag.

Whilst I clearly have a bit of homework to do to check things
out, I would be interested to read about others' experience or
views

I have whatever comes with my bank account (Nationwide). About £200pa, and >includes phone and travel insurance, and probably a few other things.

Even better value if it is a joint a/c as the same fee covers both of
us.

I've had to use whoever Nationwide use at the time but on the two or
three occasions in the past 7+ years the service has always been fine.
--
AnthonyL

Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?
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