Quality of roadside recovery services

nadine gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I strongly suspect all of those will use networks of local contractors, rather than their own patrols/recovery as the big two. The networks they use will almost certainly include the same garages in any given area, so there'll be very little to choose from in terms of the actual work - and that'll vary across the country. So it's down to their call-centres and the price.

Adrian brought next idea :

What was said above, but I've had good experience with Autonational.

The two that get good mentions "within the trade" are Brittania (well worth it if you are in a public/government job) and Green Flag. Green Flag used to have a reputation for rapid call out, taking about half the time take by the AA/RAC.

Before you pay any money, check your car insurance documents and the detail of your bank account T&Cs. Many people already have breakdown cover and simply don't realise it. It's commonly provided by insurers, brokers assembling their own insurance package and as a "bolt on" with bank accounts.

I've used green flag in the past. No complaints.

I have this now, but last year had RAC membership with Tesco Clubcard. It's a very large saving over cash.

%steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I used to be with Green Flag, years ago. They guaranteed an hour attendance, with a tenner cashback if they failed.

The major problem, from my point of view, was that they weren't THAT much cheaper than the big boys, and they didn't do "personal" membership, only cover for a specific car. I dunno if they've changed that.

I have personal membership with Green Flag...

For me they are sigificantly cheaper, but maybe that's a special deal for the Caravan Club.

Service has always been very good.

Tesco

Years ago, when I was broke, I used to use Green Flag - simply because they use local garages who are usually very keen to recover, rather than repair, because of the increased profit.

One of the drawbacks of the AA/RAC was the fact that they would take you to a local garage if the fault looked fixable reasonably quickly - and, once there, you were responsible for paying the bill. Their T's&C's specifically stated that 'lack of funds for a repair did not constitute grounds for recovery (or something like that)

Thus, you might be miles from home, knowing that you could fix the problem yourself once you had your tools, or that a local garage would do it much more cheaply than the sharks that the RAC/AA would take you to - but you had no choice other than to be taken there if that's what the AA/RAC decided.

The Green Flag franchisees, on the other hand, weren't interested in a fix - they wanted as lengthy a recovery as possible to enable them to submit a meaty invoice to GF.

So it was, 'home James, and don't lift the bonnet', which could be really handy if you were strapped for cash.

Dunno if it's still the same - but that's how it was in the 80's.

Dunno but I had to call the AA out twice in two weeks a short while back and the service was awesome. The first time I called them at 16:45, they told me the patrol would be there within 40 minutes. 20 minutes later I received a text saying they'd be there by 17:25 and they arrived just before that. I was up and running and on my way home by 17:45, including the time it took to fill in the paperwork.

The second time they only took 10 minutes to get the car going again but it was the same fault as before so the patrol guy knew what to do straight away (I thought I'd fixed it! It definately *is* fixed now lol); that time they took just over half an hour to get to me.

Hard to fault it really

With the AA & RAC you get a patrol vehicle coming to ye with staff that can be directly traced back to the organisation regarding their efficiency and behaviour. A third party on contract could be anyone - not the greatest experience for a lone lady travelling.

I'd recommend the AA on past student experiences of a mad VW alternator sterilising a knackered battery en route, and various other odd moments. And I've even seen their full relay 'back of a lorry' operation turn out to transport a mates broken van back across country. As a member for quite a number of years I've now got free included home start cover for the day my electronically complicated diesel Skoda loses it's marbles one cold winter morning ...

I'd agree with everything Adrian C says, and add I've been with the AA for

10 years, never had a problem with any callout - and I've made quite a few having driven around in s**te old cars!

Mike P

Indeed. My uncle found this out two weeks ago when the ratchet on his essie van clutch snapped. We phoned them up and it was an RAC van that turned up.

Last recovery I had was for my daughter's car (classic Mini) a month ago. The car overheated repeatedly, GF's local garage sent a van out, the mechanic (correctly) diagnosed the thermostat, and called for a flatbed to recover us 80 miles.

Now it wouldn't have been difficult to just remove the 'stat as a "get-you-home" - and as it's a fairly common 'stat I suspect many garages would be able to find one on the shelf (my replacement was in a box marked "Nissan Sunny"!), but no, they were more than happy to recover.

So yes, about the same.

I also recall a few years ago having my LandCruiser recovered. When I got home the recovery man primed my diesel pump and started the car! He explained that the likely cause was a corroded fuel tank pickup pipe (again correct), and while he could get us going, we would not be covered if we broke down again with the same fault. Hence recovery was in our interest.

I agree with that view. AA/RAC patrols are highly trained and competent. I was with AA, but got annoyed when I missed a payment and thereby lost out from the windfall when AA was bought out from club members. It's no longer a club and you're no longer a member. It's just a recovery service. So I went with RAC, propbably also not a club, but never mind. First call was last week. Excellent service.

Tip (which you probably all know already) from an AA man who sorted my MiL out ages ago:

Some thermostat housings rely on the thermostat frame to seal properly - so just cut/twist out the middle of the stat with whatever tools you have handy, and leave the outer ring in there. This was on a 98'ish Astra.

Well NU and the RAC are owned by the same company, with there insurance I get personal membership for almost everything quite handy when you have a clutch of classic cars.

I just renewed mine with GF and that was an option IIRC.

They were theiving scrotes in that my renewal (inc. 10% NCD) was £20 more than if I just went to the website and plugged in my details for the same cover tho - although they did back down without complaint.

I used to be with the RAC but had to call them out twice over 2 years and both times they took over 3 hours to arrive not impressed AA I have never used so can't say.

But I did go with Martins recommendation for AutoAid At just over =A330 a year it's good value, my wife broke down once with a snapped cam belt and once with a dropped valve. The local network turned up within

40 mins and recovered the car home.

I had to pay for the recovery (around =A380) this went on my credit card, once home I filled out the simple claim form and posted it off within a week the refund was back in my bank.

We do a lot of miles a year around 20,000+ and have never had any problems with AutoAid.

Had to pay? Evn if you're getting it back, that wouldn't be acceptable to me - I often don't have that much left in the bank. A well-organised recovery scheme means you don't pay in the first place.

Over the years GF have recovered me/my family numerous times, but have always taken less than an hour to arrive. (Actually some depots seem to wait until near the deadline, as I once had to make a callout which turned out to be five minutes from the depot - I know because I ended up driving there with my broken fanbelt because the car was too low for a dolly - yet it still took them 45 minutes to arrive!)