not wanting to tempt fate...

Like most things in life, it depends...

AA has the most patrols and generally the best facilities to deal with all emergencies. RAC is a smaller version of this. Green Flag is a basic "Tow you to the nearest garage" operation.

I have a small amount of "inside knowledge" of the AA (relative is a patrol) and their commitment to the latest technology is impressive. On the one occasion I have needed them the service was very good. Of course, others will have had different experiences!

HTH

Chris

Like most things in life, it depends...

AA has the most patrols and generally the best facilities to deal with all emergencies. RAC is a smaller version of this. Green Flag is a basic "Tow you to the nearest garage" operation.

I have a small amount of "inside knowledge" of the AA (relative is a patrol) and their commitment to the latest technology is impressive. On the one occasion I have needed them the service was very good. Of course, others will have had different experiences!

HTH

Chris

Also check with your insurance company. Mine offers roadside / recovery which works out good value and on the one occasion I have resorted to it, they were very efficient.

E-mail address, hopefully self-explanatory Andy

This is a while ago now, but I don't think the relevant bit has changed.

Friend's car broke down. Other friend used personal green flag to get him home. First friend decides to get some breakdown cover for himself. Gets RAC, because despite being more expensive, 'they'll be better'. Couple of months ago, friend's car breaks down again, in the same place. Calls RAC. Oh look - exactly the same guy turns up!

Have AA replaced their relay thing with a proper service yet (ie will they take you home in one go)?

cheers, clive

I think you may be correct - it isn't necessarily a "relay" service now. They also offer an option of a free hire car to use for the duration of recovery and stuff, typically a 24 hour loan. Downside to this is that it is

*your* responsibility to get the hire car back to the nearest depot, which in all likelihood is not conveniently placed.

I have been with Britannia for several years now. Last year I had a recurring problem with my car (since replaced!) which led to it breaking down nine times in twelve months (with exactly the same problem). On four occasions I required transporting back to the dealers. On each of those four occasions I got an immediate response from the telephone call to Britannia and a breakdown truck arrived within 40 minutes. I am more than satisfied. It has to be said, however, that the majority of breakdown organisations now use the same firms to provide the roadside/recovery service and so the service provided will probably not vary by much.

Kev

: RAC, AA, Green Flag or anyone else. : : I would be grateful for your thoughts on who gives the best road side : service in case something happens while away from home and motoring.

I am in both the AA and the ETA, and I have found the service from both of them to be excellent.

Ian:

Ian Johnston ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

ETA? As in the Basque freedom loonies? Erm, blimey, Ian... You'd better be hoping the Spanish authorities aren't reading this...

AA without a doubt. They cover you not the car, so if you are a passenger in a car and it breaks down you are covered and they fix or recover the vehicle.

I've seen the inside of the vans, and the gear and commitment to technology is impressive. Most importantly of all they bend over backwards to help. I broke my ankle in the Cairngorms, they recovered me and my car back to Warwick on August Bank holiday. That's with just the normal standard + relay cover.

That's not unique to the AA though...

cheers, clive

: Ian Johnston ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, : sounding much like they were saying : : : > I am in both the AA and the ETA, and I have found the service from : > both of them to be excellent. : : ETA? As in the Basque freedom loonies? Erm, blimey, Ian... You'd better be : hoping the Spanish authorities aren't reading this...

Yup, it's great. You brake down, you phone them up and they turn up in balaclavas and blow up the nearest police station. Doesn't get the car going, but it amuses you while you wait.

Ian

PS Rumour has it that the Environmental Transport Association breakdown services has fewer bombs but more flatbeds.

It was when I looked but in my defence it was six years ago!

National breakdown had it, which gives a clue about how long it hasn't been true :-) (ok, it was optional).

Yes, the AA used to use it as part of their advertising - but you know how much that tends towards the truth.

cheers, clive

True, but I believe the rest have it as a cost option.

I cancelled my membership of the RAC fairly recently after many years. A fan belt broke in central London around midnight. Took forever to get through on the phone, and then was kept on hold for longer. Then they claimed to have no knowledge of the car - despite its number being on my membership card which I had with me, and had owned for many years. So had to go through all the details.

No sign of them some 1.5 hours later, so since the traffic was now light this early in the morning, I decided to take a chance and drive home - stopping every so often to let it cool down.

After I'd been indoors a while (about 03.15), they phoned to say they couldn't find me. Roughly 3 hours after first trying to contact them.

I wrote to them giving full and accurate details. I'd have been happy with an apology and more so with some compensation - perhaps extended or a years free membership for one car - I had two with them.

But no. They disputed my times (and not by a few minutes either, but nearer 1 hour) saying their switchboard logged all calls and times. Although I'm also not quite sure just how it could log the time I'd spent getting engaged... My conclusion from this was some sort of fiddle to show their 'excellent' response times - whether a local or national fiddle I neither know nor care.

They also said the driver couldn't find me on his first attempt. Despite being parked on a main road with the bonnet up. And I'd given them the name of the road and the side road I was opposite, off the road signs. But he or they didn't phone my mobile then as he did later when I was home.

To add insult, the following year after cancelling my membership, they debited my credit card for a years membership stating a vehicle I'd sold some four years earlier...

Didn't cost me any extra with the RAC last month.

Then it's probably a feature attributable to the big 2 (AA and RAC) 'cos every time I've thought I've found a cheaper competitor in the past, it

*always* winds up more expensive by adding the "personal" membership add-on.

Case in point is the services that insurance companies try to tack on. The £50 or so looks really good - then you realise you need to add a further £60 to get the personal option.

My AA costs me around £100 per year. That covers me and the missus, any car, relay plus, normal breakdown and complimentary homestart (as I've been with them for over ten years). I regularly maintain and work on my own cars, but I have had my money's worth out of these people - I've used Relay twice, and roadside assistance numerous times - especially handy if you're too knackered with illness to attempt to jumpstart the wife's car outside the front door ;-))

I even managed to get them to remove a wheel stud lock that we'd lost the key for, on the basis that the tyre on the wheel afflicted was flat and couldn't be changed - therefore the car was "broken down". The chap did as I expected and removed all the wheel lock studs while he was at it - which is what I really wanted! :-) Fair play...

My only experience with the AA was when I skidded off the road at about 1 o'clock one wet morning into a tree. Had to spend ages going though my details with some dope on the phone who then informed me that my cover didn't insure me for recovery from a RTA (Road traffic accident). Fair enough, I thought and proceeded to ask how much it would cost. He stated that he didn't know, but he would find out and that there was a possibility that the AA would incur the costs themselves, as I had been a customer for some years. He was going to send out a regular AA patrol, as there was a possibility that he could help me. In the mean time he was going to phone me back regarding the cost of the flatbed. Oh, I also forgot to mention he was struggling to know where I was even though I was fairly major road. About an hour later, a flatbed turned up. I have to say the guy driving this was top. Friendly and got me home with little fuss. He obviously knew nothing of what the guy on the phone had told me and was just there to get me home. Seeing as I had been expecting just an regular AA van and had had no phone call regarding the cost of a flatbed, I assumed they were going to recover me out of the kindness of they're hearts. What nice people I thought.

About 2 weeks later I got a bill for around 80-90 quid for what is around a

2 mile recovery. I phoned up to complain and eventually got them to pay for half of it. Sent off the cheque, thought no more of it and subsequently received a letter threatening to forward my details to a debt collection agency if I didn't pay up. After many phone calls and the shityest letter you've ever seen, I eventually got them to agree that the cheque had been cashed and to leave me alone. To add insult to injury, at no point did I ever get an apology and as my renewal was approaching in a few weeks, I made sure I cancelled my direct debit. I later got a letter from the bank stating that they had tried to collect the money very shortly after the incident, which is several weeks before they normally would.

My brother had a worse experience with one of the insurance company's boys, can't remember who though.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk...

Of course all these could be isolated incidents and only a tiny proportion of the overall call outs.

However, a polite and honest response to a complaint - and some action - would go a long way to cooling me down. But it seems few want to do this these days, for whatever reason. I'm inclined to think they have so many complaints it would be too costly to deal with them properly.

Their loss. If either of my cars breaks down again, I've already saved enough in membership fees to pay for a tow myself.