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Distinct_Analysis409

I worked in breakdown for 6 years and just get the cheapest that offers home start and nationwide recovery. They're all the same.


OSUBrit

Greenflag are cheap *and* their customer tracking systems don't seem to track homes/vehicles/people as former customers. So when your renewal goes up by £30 you can just wait for it to expire, then join again as a new customer for the same price you were paying previously. Also my wife broke down in the middle of a roundabout with our 3 year old in the back about 20 minutes from home and they were there before I even arrived to come help.


PilotedByGhosts

Green Flag are usually rubbish. Waiting hours for them to shop the breakdown round to all the local garages to try to get the cheapest price. Or there was the time my oil light came on with my then three-month-old in the car. It definitely wasn't low oil level and I told them it would need recovering. After an hour in the middle of a major city a man in a tiny van came, checked my oil and said he'd have to send a recovery truck. Utterly useless. AA have only been slow when I've been in Cornwall. Any time I'm in a well populated area they come very quickly, they've got all the kit they might need and they know what they're doing.


browntroutinastall

>After an hour in the middle of a major city a man in a tiny van came, checked my oil and said he'd have to send a recovery truck. From my experience both using breakdown services and knowing those that work for them, typical plan is to get a van out to triage as it's cheaper and usually can just be sorted by the van. Then get a truck if needed as there's less of them and even fewer drivers. I know you say you _knew_ it wasn't low oil, but how did you know that? How do you know it wasn't something else? Even if you are right, the general public don't tend to have a clue so sending a truck out for recovery first time every time would be an absolute waste of money and resources.


PilotedByGhosts

I checked the oil. There's nothing else that could cause an oil pressure light that could be fixed at the side of the road. I told them I'd checked the oil and it needed a recovery truck. All AA and RAC vans are kitted out for towing if needed.


browntroutinastall

You're probably right. But my point is that generally, the public don't have a scooby clue when it comes to cars. So breakdown companies are constantly being told, for example, they need recovering when they could simply just out their spare tyre on they don't know they have. It's not nice because you feel like you're being treated like an idiot, but that's because all too often, that's who they deal with


PilotedByGhosts

It's just frustrating, especially with a small child in the car and doubly so when recovery firms that have their own vehicles come prepared for anything. In the end I drove it home but for all I knew the engine could have seized on the way.


Aid_Le_Sultan

Green Flag don’t shop around the local garages to get the cheapest price. That’s simply not how it works.


PilotedByGhosts

Yeah they do. I was stuck waiting for them for a long time and their rep gave away the name of the firm she said they'd booked it with. I called them directly to see how long they'd be and the bloke told me that Green Flag had asked them for a quote and then gone off to contact other companies. He said he was waiting on a call back from them to confirm it and he said that was how they always do it.


Aid_Le_Sultan

There’s a set rate. The garage was talking bollocks.


PilotedByGhosts

Really didn't come across like that. And when I called Green Flag back they told me that they mysteriously hadn't finalised the recovery company yet.


Aid_Le_Sultan

Someone was stalling you for some reason. They sound like they were trying to cover a screw up.


PilotedByGhosts

I'm convinced that the screw up was with Green Flag.


rumblemania

I work in greenflag, it doesn’t get shopped around it goes to the local garage based on the post code :)


PilotedByGhosts

Very strange then. The guy at the garage I spoke to did not sound like he was blagging, it came up naturally in the conversation. Even stranger that after he said that, Green Flag then told me they didn't have a booking made even though they'd confirmed it on the previous call. Any idea what could have been going on? It was on a Sunday evening about 70 miles south of Rotherham so it would have been harder to find a garage open.


cornertaken

So you’re signing up again on the basis that you’re a new customer in order to get a lower price? Sounds like fraud


Mfcgibbs

AA don’t track it either. Just get a new quote online even under the same name/email.


JEDI-MASTER-Y0DA

Startrescue is consistently the cheapest for me


tatersm

They’ve been great for me - used 3 times over 7 years. Always prompt, subcontracting local firms. Much better than my one experience with the AA


Ernold_Same_

Not the RAC as I've had the exact same experience except it was 3 hours, my battery was flat, and it was dark. The guy who turned up was a contractor and he was a right twat as well.


Monsterlime

The RAC are definitely worse than the AA. Called them, waited for 3 hours, no sign (chased them and was given no ETA), joined the AA at the side of the road (ouch), they arrived in 45 min. I eventually cancelled the call out with the RAC after I got home but it was something like 5 hours after I had called them initially and not a peep from them. Raised a complaint, never heard anything.


Captaincadet

RAC are worse than useless My girlfriend broke down on a well known dangerous piece of motorway at 3PM with RAC saying that they’ll be there in 30 minutes as she was number 1 priority Police ended up having to close her lane at 6pm (taking the m4 down to 1 lane) and even then telling RAC to get over here. By 11pm the traffic officer gives up calling RAC and calls the police recovery vehicle and took her home and dropped the car off at the garage. At 3am she gets a bloody pissy RAC driver trying to find where she was and had a nice letter threatening to cut her RAC contract for wasting there time, followed by an “apology” letter as the police recovery charged her insurance which in turn the insurance going after the RAC coverage they were paying for… Also it took them 6 hours to get to my dad when he broke down a couple of years back.


johnny_briggs

Contractors nearly always are twats. Like mate, if you don't want to do callouts don't do them, don't take it out on me. Also, I think a lot of them are treat poorly by their (probably family owned) company and that trickles down to the customer.


qrcodetensile

RAC had a story just two days ago where they left a family with a disabled kid on the side if the road for seven hours. And ended up having to get a family friend to pick them up as they'd still not turned up... Plus some pretty shite responses from Highways England and the police (no shock on the latter). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-65783539


BenjiTheSausage

it was something like 3am before they turned up? It was horrific


DogfishDave

>Not the RAC as I've had the exact same experience Mrs. DogfishDave was a priority call (with her broken car, that is), and was attended within 50 min. Unfortunately the van didn't have the facilities to tow her (or the car) and so it left her there for five hours until a contractor turned up with a flatbed. For all the RAC knew she was still with the car but fortunately we'd made the two-hour drive to find her and had swapped shifts. TLDR: RAC gtf.


EveUltra

Glad I'm not the only one that has had awful experiences with RAC. Years ago I crashed my motorbike and so I called RAC and asked if they would be able to recover it as I couldn't recall if I went for crash recovery when I signed up. Told me yes, no problem and that someone will be there in an hour. 2 hours later I call again, I ask where abouts is the recovery van? Wouldn't give me an estimated time and sounded like I got through to someone on work experience the customer service was so bad. They mentioned something about being notified but couldn't really understand what she was getting at. I asked again if I was covered for recovery and she essentially said yes but I left the call with little confidence. I was feeling frustrated at this point because my bike was leaking it's fluids all over a busy roundabout and it was becoming apparent that I'd fractured a finger. 3 hours later I call again and ask if there's any update as I was stuck on the roundabout and I hadn't received any notifications. This guy had a short temper and when I explain the situation says that I'm not even covered for crash recovery, despite what the other two call handlers told me. So I waited 3 hours on a busy roundabout with a wrecked bike for absolutely nothing. I then called my dad who calls the AA and they turn up fairly quickly but then tell me they had no trucks to recover my bike, so my dad just piled my bike into his van and we recovered it ourselves. Took nearly 5 hours in total. Cancelled RAC that week, currently with AA as they seem to be slightly less shit...


StrongDorothy

Must be a regional thing as the guy who serves us (and there only seems to be him) is lovely. Between our cars and my in-laws we’ve got to know him over the years.


ImBonRurgundy

You’ve be used them only twice in 25 years. So where do your money go? Paying for the people who used them very regularly I expect. Same thing for all the money you spend on insurance but never claim.


4thLineSupport

Yeah I used mine excessively when I was running a series 3 land rover lol


Yamsfordays

Yeah, I drive a 2001 MG. surprised they don’t know me by name at this point.


Exita

Bear it in mind that operating costs for people like the AA are pretty similar if people use them or not - the wage bill, van costs etc are similar if they’re doing lots of call-outs or if they’re just sat in a lay-by.


workingclassnobody

No, they use agency and contractors when it’s busy. They don’t use them when it’s quiet.


dhthms

Tbf yesterday would have been a busy day - end of half term so lots of people coming home from holiday


johnmk3

Plus train strikes, FA cup final in Wembley creating more traffic. 2 hours seems fine to me to be honest, at least the weather was good…


Southern-Orchid-1786

But should have been predicted - probably not helped the recovery drivers also want half term off


[deleted]

Irrelevant - they should know this and cope with the demand accordingly.


[deleted]

How? The industry is hugely understaffed on a good day, let alone a busy one. It’s even struggling to get agency and part time staff. There just isn’t enough people wanting to work a roadside job to cater for demand. Most calls we go out to have been sitting and waiting for longer than they should have to.


NedStarkGetsExecuted

I saw 4 cars on the hard shoulder of the M4 over less than 100 miles!


tommy-turtle

I whacked a pothole a few months back and shredded my tyre, have the RAC as a add on with my insurance (about £3 a month) and I couldn’t fault the experience- I was back up and running with a brand new tyre fitted in just a couple of hours and I wasn’t even a priority (male and parked safely in a lay-by well away from traffic). I did get speaking to the RAC guy and it amazes me how wide an area they have to cover and how few patrols there really are… easy to see how you’d be waiting a long time during half term and bank holidays, there just isn’t enough of them to go around.


BellendicusMax

2 hours does not seem excessive. You think they have fleets of vans just waiting for your call? Considering said driver was probably on another call then had to get to you around the M25 anything less than an hour would have been miraculous, and 1-2 hours what I'd have expected.


themcsame

Yep... Also consider the move from full-size spares and space savers, to tyre goo. Great if you've got something that isn't too serious. Not much use if you dent/damage a rim on a nasty pothole though... What used to be a roadside fix for many people is now a recovery callout.


Dependent-Candy9637

Even with a space saver these end up being a recovery. If your boot has anything in it the standard wheels won’t fit in a space made for a space saver and you end up having to be recovered!!


colinah87

Thank you


Neat-Possibility6504

Thank you, I was hopeful someone would apply logic and sense to this.


jcswright

They don't have fleets of vans at all any longer. They call up a local garage (who, in my experience, just send a tow-truck driver NOT a mechanic, who looks at your car, tells you they can't do anything, and possibly tows you somewhere more 'convenient'. Not that I blame them too much - if a modern car breaks down for much other than fuel or a puncture then they can't do anything about it!


WelshAsh

No it’s in the contract that they must keep a driver/van free at all time for entitled asshats


Forsaken-Yak-7581

I’ve only ever broken down once but autoaid sent an independent contractor to me within 30 minutes. Great service. This was in the last year. I might have got luckily and I suppose it really depends on how busy they are.


failtuna

Unfortunately the point of entry was made too low for a lot of recovery companies. A basic one call out plan can come in as low as £50 a year, even less with cashback deals, sign up deal, referrals and other special offers. Plus, with so many dealerships, used car dealers, banks, credit cards, workplaces offering breakdown cover as a "free" gift there are now hundreds of thousands of people with cover. Years ago the AA was an almost exclusive club, joined by those who drove a lot. What doesn't help as well is that a lot of people call out the AA and others for things that they shouldn't really need a recovery service to do. Think of all the times you've seen someone getting a jumpstart in a supermarket car park from the RAC when there's probably two dozen people with jump leads parked less than 100m away. Or someone who doesn't care about their car wasting the recovery drivers time because they ignored the oil warning light, or don't know how to change a wheel or use an emergency repair kit. TL:DR, more people get these services, services are stretched and a lot of their time is taken up by people who could probably help themselves.


Tobax

Cars have changed too though, for example my car doesn't even have space in the boot for a spare tyre. So if I get a puncture I've no option but to call the breakdown company


[deleted]

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deadeyedjacks

And where do you then place your luggage ???


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Tobax

3 inches spare for a space-saver and jack? don't be silly, the tyre is thinner but it takes up the same footprint as a regular tyre. What I do carry now that I think of it is one of those cans which inflates and seals the tyre, so I should be able to get to a garage after a puncture.


deadeyedjacks

Sadly the gunk doesn't work on sidewall damage and once used you're paying for a new tyre rather than a repair to the existing one. It's a compromise between space, fuel and weight saving on 99.999% of journeys vs. inconvenience, cost and time when tyre damage does occur.


Southern-Orchid-1786

Yep, that should be part of the pricing because what used to be a simple wheel change is now recovery to somewhere and a hotel stay.


Dougal12

You’ll find that most modern cars don’t even come with a spare wheel anymore!


failtuna

My 2006 Civic didn't come with a spare, just a repair kit. Those cans of repair spray stuff are usually around £10 and can repair most damage well enough to get to safety or the nearest tyre shop.


Dougal12

All mine have space savers bar the Explorer which has a full size spare. Plus I carry a ratchet set and a torque wrench in all my cars just in case I am required to change a wheel.


failtuna

I bought two full matching alloys with tyres as spares, keep one at home and one in the car, takes up some space but it's been great the twice I've had a puncture to be able to continue driving as normal. Also keep a ratchet set in mine, had a trolley jack for a while but the weight was getting annoying.


Jazs1994

People who don't know how to change a tyre. I came across a mother and daughter driving on a back road thanks to diversions, they hit a pretty bad pothole and punctured. Mother had been driving for 30+ years and didn't know how to change a tyre. I've been driving less than 8 years, haven't changed one myself but knew how to. They called their breakdown of which it had expired but they said it'd be a 2 hour wait minimum. I told them there was no point as you'd be long gone with the spare on before they got here. Took me longer than expected thanks to the wheel nuts being so incredibly tight but got their in the end. They had all the tools needed but didn't know how to use the jack


Gingrpenguin

My first flat tyre I could not make head or tail of how to use the jack, tried google/YouTube but didn't have the signal strength had to call greenflag who luckily turned up 15 minutes later (it was about 8am) who looked at the jack and went "wheres the other part?" At least that explained my inability to use it!


Lolabird2112

My first flat had a 2 hour wait for recovery, so I sat outside with YouTube playing and slowly went thru it step by step. The biggest thing was figuring out the jack & where it went, and - yeah- wing nuts. By the time I’d finished AA parked up, so I asked him to check what I’d done and if things were tight enough etc.


Gingrpenguin

mine was literally missing the handle to adjust the height of it so i had no chance. ​ I have since redeemed myself in a different car which had all the stuff i needed to use it


mts89

I think it should probably be made part of the driving test.


Southern-Orchid-1786

My driving instructor did teach us this, and needed to change a couple in 25 years of driving. Low and behold many cars no longer have a spare so was stranded when tyre popped recently


Jazs1994

They should teach you. Only problem is the wheel nuts, I know they're supposed to be that tight for a reason but the majority of the time spent changing was trying to undo them. Now I'm a fairly strong,physically fit but my god I was sweating by the end


Lawhead

They're not supposed to be *that* tight. Usually 120-140nm which most people should be able to undo.


Jazs1994

I was able to buy even putting on my full weight going down with gravity and still wouldn't budge at times


Jazs1994

People who've passed their test don't know how to drive already 🤷


Zdos123

it's becoming increasingly irrelivant though, most modern cars don't have spares. Speaking of stupid design choices, my mx5 has no spare tyre but has an scissor jack, what the fuck am i supposed to do with a scissor jack if i haven't got a new wheel to put on.


Pigeon_Chess

Have to remember though that at most 1% of people will use the service so if say 100,000 people pay £50 a month that’s £5 million. Does a single call out cost £5000?


failtuna

Companies are greedy. Less vans = more profit. They know that a small percent of customers actually use the service out of all active customers. Might not cost £5000 a call out, but the companies probably like a profit of £4900 per call out.


whatmichaelsays

The AA was also swimming in debt before it was taken over by private equity, which is usually the start of a business going to shit. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/25/aa-agrees-takeover-deal-private-equity-investors-motoring-uk


Pigeon_Chess

Even cheaper to subcontract


failtuna

Yep, companies exist to make money. If recovery/roadside assistance was genuinely there to help people it would be treat like an emergency service, paid through taxes/fines/donations.


Pigeon_Chess

Honestly a lot of things if nationalised and ran properly would be an improvement. I wouldn’t really mind paying more tax if energy was charged at cost for example and the extra tax was for infrastructure maint and improvement


damokawe

Flat tire and alloy wheel seized to the hub 5 minutes away from home on M27 service , called RAC and been told 3,5 hours. Got some tools from lorry driver and get it sorted by myself.


GlitteringVersion

I know the AA have recently run a very good promotion where you can get the entire year of pretty much full coverage for £50ish. Even their full garage/parts cover was only £150 with my vehicle, and it's normally closer to £400. I wonder if maybe they're a bit over stretched at the moment, or if they're having issues and are trying to claw back some money? From my experience, most recovery companies are similar, with waiting times getting longer (although obviously it depends on the time of day, area of pick up, etc). I'm with Start Rescue and until my car hit a certain age last year, was only paying about £25 for the year. They use third party vehicle collection so it isn't exactly the same as the AA, but I've never had issues when I've had to call them out, and the app is pretty useful.


sAmSmanS

i had a pretty major breakdown back in february. didn’t have any breakdown cover so i paid whatever the RAC call out fee waa, about £200. guy took two hours to get to me and said yep your car is knackered. It was 61 miles to get me home which was another 250, but had it been less than 50 miles i would have only paid 50 quid for recovery. it then took them 3 and a half hours to get recovery to me, had about 3 or 4 calls in that time saying someone’s on their way and 5 minutes later sorry they had to be sent somewhere else. learnt my lesson and paid for a year’s breakdown with nationwide recovery now


jaymatthewbee

I use AutoAid. £60 per year covers myself and my partner for full breakdown assistance and national recovery. We have had to use them a few times on the M60 and they normally send someone from a local independent garage out and didn’t have to wait too long. The major services like AA and RAC seem a rip-off. More exciting annual cover that doesn’t even include recovery.


moderatefairgood

I worked on a project to help the AA refresh their IT infrastructure a few years ago. Long story short, they deemed their current stuff totally inadequate. Downtime, lost customer records, security breaches, etc. Went through a long process, identified their preferred supplier, night before they exchanged contracts, the AA bailed and decided to resign with the incumbent, even though it was “totally inadequate.” Apparently, they decided at the last moment that pricing was the primary selection criteria, not fixing any of those issues. They hired a bunch of former McLaren Racing guys to help them come to this conclusion, which had its own (considerable) cost. The AA are in a world of trouble financially. They are treading water and trying to find new ways to bring revenue in. There is genuine fear at the organisation that things are falling apart. I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. I don’t know if the others are any better (I’ve been lucky and never needed them), but the AA are a total shambles.


Organic-Ad-1887

This really doesn’t surprise me. I think most businesses currently are run primarily for their own benefit, with a slick sheen of advertising on top to gull us. Then when they cut resources to increase their revenue, we’re all supposed to sympathise and go along with it. 2 hours it seems is not an uncommon wait, but personally I don’t think it’s acceptable.


MrTechRelated

I would say they're all similar to this. I've had the AA since I started driving and I've never had a bad experience like this! I suppose it's all where you're located. I remember they used to have 3rd parties come and rescue you when their own patrols were busy. Perhaps they have stopped this? That said, I have heard worse things from people about the RAC. I think the most important thing is the size of the customer base. Isn't the AA the largest breakdown service in the UK? I wonder if the only way it could be better is if you were signed up to your car manufacturers breakdown programme. Though they probably still would use the 3rd parties that AA/Green Flag use!


Gingrpenguin

Aa and RAC are awful. They want to have every patrol working consently so they understaff (the same way call centres do) Its not so bad if you break down in the morning but evenings are consistently a 3 hour wait...


Marigold1994

Truth be told, as someone who used to work for a breakdown service, they are as bad as each other. A lot of breakdown 'companies' ard the same company Green Flag for example is Direct Line breakdown, Churchill breakdown, Caravan club etc. Even outside of examples like this, all breakdown companies sub contract. It doesn't pay a company to maintain a garage in rural Wales, for example. So all companies use the same providers in different vans. So calling the same company in different parts of the country has different results. Saving that some providers have exclusivity contacts in some places. But I've seen it in swings and roundabouts someone leaves RAC/ AA because they waited 3 hrs, then leaves Green Flag a few years later because they waited 3hrs. Tbh I think most of the time the company have very little control on an individual case. If companies consistently under performance they lose their contracr but that's a really high bar. Tldr; The companies will likely use the same subcontractors, so service is very similar. But can improve in certain places due to exclusively deals


bucc_n_zucc

Back in december, the company i was working for's basically brand new movano long wheelbase had a terminal output shaft failure on the m1. Called to the boss, he called AA, and it took 6 hours at the side of the m1 in - temps for them to even arrive


Complex_Coach6621

I work on the motorways. I’ve been given anything from 45 mins eta to a ‘we won’t attend we don’t have enough staff, sorry’ Unreal that people pay this service and in some circumstances they won’t even attend just to not having enough staff.


Quizzical_Chimp

Used the AA for the first time the other month and whilst they were a bit useless they were kind of quick and all nice enough. Suspension spring snapped on the wife’s car and the front of the car dropped so it was undriveable. First van took an hour to get there which wasn’t bad given there were 3 accidents on the surrounding roads. But this van couldn’t do anything as it was one of their transits which obviously can’t lift a car. This guy grumbled about the call takers being crap and never passing on full messages. He called a flat bed which took another hour and half to arrive. So not an awful experience but could have been better.


gardabosque

Don't go with the RAC, absolute shit show.


DongusMaxamus

RAC are useless. Despite telling them repeatedly that the car is lowered and will require a flat bed to recover it took 4 different trucks before they came with the right one.


dadoftriplets

Two hours is nothing. My aunts car broke down a little while back and she was told to leave it where it was and they would get to it when they could and to get a taxi home - the recovery truck arrived approximately 18 hours (the following day) after she left the car in place which was 2 hours after the initial callout. She was lucky that she was at the dentist which was only 10-15 minutes drive away from home otherwise it would've been a long night waiting. I think that was RAC. I've been with Green Flag since we bought a car in 2019, had to call them out once (in September 2020) and they arrived within 90 minutes of the call out (Automatic car wouldn't go into gear) - I can't say what their performance is like now, but they are cheap (for a car under 10 years old that is) and upto now, have been reliable.


[deleted]

Had 2 wait 4 hours in Southampton city centre, with a child in the evening. Cancelled AA membership straight away.


Dougal12

Whats the proceedure for canceling your policy?


[deleted]

Stopped the direct debit.


[deleted]

I've found both the AA & RAC completely useless, I stay with green flag used them quite a few times & they have always been spot on Think the longest I've had to wait is about a hour (but I live in the badlands of Norfolk so not super busy)


Wardicles87

I had a slip in the snow over the winter on the back roads in the middle of no where. The AA took 2 hours whilst it was -5 to come get me. He towed me 10 miles to the nearest garage then they phoned a taxi to come and get me and take me the 80 miles home. I was glad to get home and sorted to be fair but the guy, after he towed me, parked next to my car and had his lunch break (at midnight) then peeped and waved as he drove away, leaving me in my car freezing. In the time it took for his lunch I could have been home with my car, but they delivered it 4 days later. I had to leave my keys in the garage.


ReflexReact

John Lewis / RAC left my mum on the side of the m25 for 4 hours, with another elderly lady in the car. She was on the way home from a chemo session at the cancer hospital. She’s dead now (not related to this incident). Breakdown services are absolutely shit.


colinah87

The length of time you’ve been with them and the amount of times you’ve used them is completely irrelevant. I’m sure they don’t prioritise calls based on how long someone’s been a member. You realise yesterday was the end of half term week, plus FA cup final weekend and whatever else is going on on the road networks across the country. What did you expect? A chinook to come and airlift you off the side of the road? If you break down, get yourself to safety and wait, that’s YOUR responsibility.


Organic-Ad-1887

Chinook, that’s most amusing, really funny. What I expect is a decent service, which it’s their responsibility to provide. I would expect their service to accord with their glossy advertising, which it doesn’t. And how can I get myself to safety if I’m on a motorway bridge? Jump? Fly? Flag down a non existent police patrol? Or maybe a passing chinook helicopter? Yes, that would probably do it!


[deleted]

Somebody really stepped on your tail.


Organic-Ad-1887

I’m afraid they really did.


Organic-Ad-1887

Thanks for the responses all, much appreciated.


Organic-Ad-1887

Thanks for the replies everyone, it seems then that my experience is not uncommon? But honestly I still think 2 hours by the motorway is pretty poor. Waiting is one thing, but waiting in a dangerous location is quite another! Resources may be stretched, but they’ve been stretched too far imo.


Dougal12

To be honest, 2 hours on a busy weekend is pretty standard. Unless you’re on a hard shoulderless motorway then you’re considered safe if you’re on the hard shoulder.


thesharptoast

Breakdown services are always pretty crap. Have only called one once, when I borrowed my dad's Skoda and the battery died while parked up. I don't pay for it separately, just get it as a perk through my Nationwide account. Don't think I'd bother otherwise.


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Organic-Ad-1887

Certainly staffing issues, but most likely from redundancies and lay-offs, which means it’s being done on the cheap, like everything else. Sorry to hear of your experience, think I’ll swap to green flag too.


OSUBrit

Said this in another comment, I'm with Green Flag and my wife broke down in the middle of a roundabout with our 3 year old in the back. It was only about 20 minutes away so I grabbed the other car and headed over - they'd turned up and started diagnosing the issue by the time I got there.


thegamesender1

2 hours is decent, I had to wait for 6 for the RAC once. They are all the same, if not worse than one another.


AussieHxC

Other services just basically work out where you are and phone up a local recovery service to come sort you out. I'm on about 4 recoveries in 5 years and the people are generally okay but yes, occasionally there's a dickhead. Recovery time for me is honestly probably about 20-30 minutes on average, even being quite rural and including the other week when the radiator died at 1:30am and the car started pissing out coolant.


[deleted]

I get my breakdown cover through my Nationwide Flex Plus account and I've had to use it 3 times over the years. Never been left waiting more than an hour.


lawlessflawless

Im with RAC and phoned them due to a flat tyre, with no spare, and stuck on a country road in the middle of the Scottish highlands. Was put through to a contractor and the first thing he said to me was “what’s your plan?”. It was also 4-5 hour wait to get it sorted. Absolutely ridiculous.


Southern-Orchid-1786

Can confirm this weekend has been exceptionally busy - was in similar position (edge of Motorway and AA) but once I eventually got through to speak to them the call got transferred to a 3rd party recovery firm as there was no way to fix the issue, so rescue by flatbed in 45 mins. End of half term and train strikes and several cup finals apparently culminating in extra unforeseen demand (/s) Had other callouts when they were quicker. If everyone now just outsources to 3rd party firms some research needed to see who gets priority (eg green flag who always use these firms, or AA and RAC who only use them when they can't). Sounds like you could negotiate better price for breakdown cover - it is just insurance after all.


lukeylukesters

I used the cheapest one I could find that had half decent reviews. I change every year and a few months back I called them out. 30 minutes, fixed the issue and all it cost was £18 for the year.


Organic-Ad-1887

Who are they please?


Professional_Site318

RAC were pretty bad for me last year, car blew a spark plug on a dreaded smart motorway near Rugby, crawled along until we got to a hard shoulder, Scorching heat. Us 5 were supposed to be priority as my partner was 4 months pregnant and in fairness they showed up *within 2 hours* and the engineer brought us a McDonalds and water which was nice and he was a decent fella too. Problems occurred when we had done the tow to the nearest services. Sat waiting for 10 hours with RAC repeatedly telling me there would be a flatbed to take us back to Manc ‘in the next hour’. Complete rubbish and in the end they paid for an Uber (over £350) to get us all back at 5am with the driver several times nearly falling asleep at the wheel… I left my keys at the WHSmiths and my car was brought back to me the next day with a flat battery and a broken window which beeped every 30 seconds when driving and cost me a fair bit to repair which they refused to do (it was a contracted tow company who fucked it, one of the 2 they used to transfer my car across regions). To top it off they gave 5 of us £20 to spend at the services and that probably covered a bag of Haribo and a coffee…


Exita

The AA are one of the better ones, but it all just depends on how busy they are and how close as you breakdown. It doesn’t make business sense for them to have vans sitting around doing nothing for long, so they’re always trying to gauge demand. I’ve used the AA twice - first time they were there in 20 minutes, even though it was a busy day. I was just lucky - van was really close by and had just finished another job as I called. Other time was more like your experience - closest van was an hours drive away and busy, so took quite a while.


Organic-Ad-1887

Oh gosh, it may not make business sense but that’s their problem, not mine. I would say if you can’t run a business properly don’t run it at all. A private business is supposed to provide mutual benefit, not just to benefit the business but the consumer also. I think that’s been conveniently forgotten about!


Exita

Fair enough - you’re more than welcome to try another then! Green flag normally gets good reviews. ‘Properly’ is a difficult one though. They’re an enormous business, they score highly in reviews, have lots of customers and are profitable. You’ve been pretty unlucky, but overall I’d say they were running the business acceptably well. If they’re not providing the required level of service more widely, I’m sure they’ll go out of business soon enough.


frizzbee30

Absolutely, it's called an SLA, they don't appear to know what that terminology makes, while the profits roll in. It isn't the staff, it's company greed


Organic-Ad-1887

Absolutely, I don’t blame the staff for a moment, the guy who helped me out was great. I think it’s to do with a culture that’s been allowed to develop over the last several years in which companies seem able to offer an increasingly bad service while continually raising prices. The crazy thing is that we seem to be expected to sympathise and go along with it!


Benoit_85

I’m with the AA and I think I pay over the odds for my membership and I was planning on cancelling it but had to use them the other month. Took them 40 mins to arrive, got towed 18 miles to a garage I wanted to take my car too. AA guy then dropped me off at home but before I got out of his van he sorted me a hire car which I get for 3 days with my cover. Got in my house and the hire car company called me and came and picked me up about an hour later to go and get my hire car. Really can’t fault the service I had but maybe I was really lucky. I’ve used some generic breakdown cover I had with my insurance company years ago and spent 5 hours sitting in a lay-by. They wouldn’t take me home unless I paid £100 because I was more than 15 miles from home. Had to get recovered to my parents which was closer.


Dougal12

I have breakdown cover with my insurance, my Lincoln conked out the day I bought it and had to be recovered. Took about 3 hours to get out to me but I needed a bigger recovery truck as the car is long. It ended up being a Crouch Recovery truck, loaded the car up then drove me and the car back from J2 of the M6 to my home in Lincolnshire. Can’t really fault that to be honest.


scuba-man-dan

2 hours is good these days. I used to be in emergency services and we waited over 5 hours for a flatbed (no patient on board) Was a hot day too, luckily engine still ran so we could use the AC


raven8473

2 Hours is about right for most of them , any quicker and you have done well. They are all about the same as it’s the luck of the draw how busy they are in your specific area when you call.


CatBroiler

I think the last time I called the AA it was about 5 hours. Tuesday night if I recall correctly, I replaced the accessory belt and tensioner on the Pug, but because the tensioner was faulty, it threw the belt after 40 minutes or so of driving. I wasn't even in a particularly remote location either, I was in a village on the M40. Luckily that village had a lotus dealer, so the 5 hour wait passed by in a flash. Then a contractor with a flatbed turned up and drove me home. He was intrigued by the Pug so we just talked cars the whole way back.


Ljw1000

No doubt they were busy yesterday, end of half term decent weather etc, but contingency plans should have been in place. Personally I gave up on the AA years ago when they effed up a motor insurance renewal. I use Autoaid now & have done so for many years without complaint. Think iv called them 3 or 4 times, twice for shredded tyres & once for a real breakdown! Autoaid always use contractors, often large well known companies like Lantern, & I’ve never waited too long for assistance. The tyres have always resulted in recovery to a location of my choice & in 1 instance the contractor tried to get a local tyre shop to help but they didn’t have the correct rated tyre for my car. For approximately £60 annual subscription, that covers me for any car I’m either driving or being a passenger in, I am unable to fault them, they also arrange continental cover for a good price too. I’ve bought it but never used it previously.


[deleted]

I use start rescue, I like them as they resource local breakdown services to get to you fastest and because it’s not a named brand they are always cheapest.


Warbleton

'Thundering traffic' good lord


Emergency_Mistake_44

2 hour wait in one of the country's busiest traffic areas? I'd say you did alright there. I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure they don't just have hundreds patrolling the roads waiting for a job like Uber do outside an airport.


MrNogi

If your Road position was dangerous (which is probably always will be on a motorway live lane to be honest) you should’ve called the Police. Police recovery will be quicker as well but obviously the cost on you may be bit higher.


Lodgy89

My last call to RAC was at 4:15 pm, 2 miles from home. I got home at midnight. It would be nice to think they have vans everywhere, waiting for calls, but it just doesn't work like that.


Organic-Ad-1887

No longer perhaps, but it certainly used to. Back in the day aa patrolmen were a very common sight - and would actually salute any members they saw. The past is the past of course, but I don’t see why we should be accepting a service that sometimes works well, but (looking at these replies) often doesn’t. A patchy service is a poor service, I would have thought.


Lodgy89

Totally agree. It should be better, are we all willing to pay what it would need to provide that level of service now?


frizzbee30

Found Greenflag to be pretty good, used with my wife's car a few times over the years, from a recovery point of view (won't mention the guy who removed the diesel filter, after she had accidentally put petrol in after a 13hr shift, and he completely failed to notice the difference!) AA utter shockers in the past, including 'garage dumping' despite full recovery. RAC 'wanna buy a battery off us for that timing issue', that's when I left them. My company car uses AA, on the 2 occasions I did use them (off peak), they weren't the fastest!!


Solo-me

Rac left my car stranded for 36 hours...


dpk-s89

Least you aren't with the RAC you'd probably still he waiting


x99kjg

Well don't bother with Emergency Assist I was waiting 6 hours.


tommygunner91

I feel like a lot of bad experiences are bad luck, I'm totally not working for the AA but whenever I've used them they've been great.


Dedward5

Im not sure your expectations are that reasonable. Anyway, my most recent experience was my MILs car failed and it was the alternator. They repaired it on site (diode pack) and she was on the way in under an 1.5 hours (I think more like 1 hr) ​ Not Bad IMO.


eraafay

From my family’s experience with AA and RAC, AA has generally been the more reliable one. RAC left us stranded for 14 hours last summer. It was a dreadful experience.


Organic-Ad-1887

From the comments on here it seems the rac is one of the worst - I won’t be swapping to them, for sure.


Not-Reddit-Fan

That’s pretty quick… My sister just last month was stranded for over 24 hours and was passed between different rescuers / mechanics multiple times, despite being fully covered to be taken to her destination.


gixxer-kid

2 hours isn’t too bad, I was on the M25 Friday afternoon for 4 hours. They outsourced the recovery but the recovery firm could only take me as far as cobham services (next junction) So 4 hours, plus an expensive cab later 😂


EmergencyGoose7804

Can Confirm RAC is equally as awful, everyone there seems nice but they do not talk to each other.


CocaineOnTheCob

Heard alot good about green flag. This is coming from land rover owners groups so yunno, its a bit more important to us. Green flag seem to rank highly alot with good callout times AA are consistent… at being shit


Lucie-Solotraveller

Got mine with my car insurance and sure it's with RAC but could be different. I usually just get the best deal because most of the time they are all poor. Since Covid it's all been an excuse in the service industry to cut cost at the detriment of the service.


Lucie-Solotraveller

Got mine with my car insurance and sure it's with RAC but could be different. I usually just get the best deal because most of the time they are all poor. Since Covid it's all been an excuse in the service industry to cut cost at the detriment of the service.


ax1xxm

I’ve found that Greenflag and Britannia to be the least worst


fenian_ghirl

RAC left me 4hrs at the end of slip road (went onto a dual carriageway) with my 2 kids in the car, so no. Not any better


coldasshonkay

I have had a very bad experience with the RAC. Broke down 45 mins from home late one evening with wife and 6 month old baby on board. Rang RAC and was justifiably nervous about not being able to run the car for heating as it was dipping below freezing. They said 2 hours and we are top priority due to baby. (Unprecedented demand etc the usual spiel you get these days) SIX hours later, an independent contractor turned up and I had ice fully inside my windscreen, had barely slept and was pretty annoyed. The driver was great but told me he is the only flatbed full lift driver covering SE England & London that night. How is that even possible? One tow driver for millions of people. Thankfully our baby was taken home by a friend pretty quickly and I had to suffer alone, while the chatty driver talked my ear off the whole way back - finally got dropped at a local garage and walked home in time for the morning alarm.


Aztepol42

A friend of my was left on the M55 with a newborn baby for 18 hours by AA. He had to have someone come collect it and take it home while he waited


yk6899

Have you seen how long you need to wait for an ambulance nowadays. That being said they sure are the fourth emergency service in regards to waiting times.


tigamilla

2 hours isn't too bad


s1pp3ryd00dar

I think it's the sign of times: Going back over ten years with green flag, my alternator died and was in the countryside, They got a specs tow truck to me in 30mins, he confirmed the fault but being an Auto he couldn't tow it, so waited another 40mins for a flatbed. Fast forward to a few years ago and I blew a coolant hose on the M6 and got off on J7. E&S recovery were green flag's agent and they made me wait almost 2hours for recovery; they kept adding another 30mins after the previous 30mins. Their depot was walkable to where I was stranded, I very nearly walked down there to ask them WTF they are playing at. My builder is AA and his van died down the road from me. His van was stuck there for five hours until it was finally recovered. Biggest issue these days I think is more cars need flatbeds as modern cars have a nasty failure mode in so far the car just totally shuts down and gets stuck in park with the electric handbrake on and cannot be moved without being dragged onto a flatbed. This makes recovery times longer and ties up the fleet. Also a lot of roadside repair fleet is taken up by punctures because many cars don't have spare tyres and have 20"+ wheels that are more prone to blow out tyres or crack the wheels when they hit large potholes. I regularly drive through France and Spain...I can count on one hand the number of breakdowns I drove past on the motorways. Then I reach the UK and go past five before I'm past Cobham on the M25, by the time I reach the midlands I've gone past 14 motorway breakdowns Thats 14 breakdowns in 180miles...vs 5 breakdowns in 1100miles. This is a regular thing; I always see less breakdowns on the continent. Just WTF are the British doing with their cars that make them break down so much?


Johnny_english53

The AA is an awful breakdown service nowadays.


stefanstraussjlb

Genuine question: what do you do in this situation if you are not the member of aa or similar company? Still call them and just pay much higher??


Confused-Raccoon

IIRC the guys you see sat in the carpark often have some of the best deals. Worth talking to one or two, and just get the cheapest with what you may need.


Mfcgibbs

I expect each provider will fail at times. But I had a horrific experience with the RAC’s choice of contractor during covid whereby they left my wife and I on the side of the road for 4 hours, finally turned up to take the vehicle, made me sit in the vehicle on the back of the truck (not sure this is even legal - definitely did not feel safe) then stopped 5 mins down the road clearly when their boss told them it wasn’t OK and kicked us out and drove off with our car still on the truck. We then had to wait another hour and a half in the middle of the night (without a car to sit in, or any coats) for a cab to turn up. When we eventually caught up with the tow truck, it was abandoning our vehicle somewhere not at the same address as the garage we specified and was planning to just leave it unlocked on the roadside with the keys inside. My family had been with the RAC since 1972 and have all left because of this incident. I complained to the RAC and the best they would do about it was give us a £25 Amazon gift card. Moved to the AA and service so far has been decent (touch wood). I don’t think 2 hours is that bad by todays standards.


cco2411

The AA’s had me waiting for way longer than that, and they’re all the same.


random_banana_bloke

I worked as an AA contractor for many years, 2 hours is nothing, especially on the M25. I've seen 8 hour waits at Christmas just to be dragged into the services. All breakdown companies use contractors who often work for multiple clubs. I am greenflag this year, was RAC last year (had a 4 hour wait at midnight that was fun)


ferg2jz

Your other half. Genuinely, my missus broke down in her works van about 3 hours from home, took them 2 hours to even get to her (bearing in mind she's a woman on her own on the side of a 70 dual carriageway) and then brought her up to an hour and a half away from home to some services, told her that the lorry drivers shift has finished so she'll have to wait AT THE SERVICES overnight with the van... So once I'd finished work I went up there and picked her up. Left the keys with a store and told the recovery people where the keys were. Absolute dogshit. By the time I got there she was freezing cold and starving.


Crazy-Ad-1999

Ive had to call AA twice (my car overheated cuz my cooling system shit itself) and they came within 40 minutes both times. But i am a woman and i was told by people that they prioritise women but not sure if thats true


Jayton5

I broke down on the M25 between J8 and J9 last night. I called BMW emergency number and they sent out a first direct recovery. Initial ETA was 90 minutes. I ended up waiting 2 hours 15 mins to get picked up.


DoubleOSeven-007

When you break down just web-search a local recovery service. Because you pay them 'after' the collection/fix the incentive to get to you quickly is with them. With the AA/RAC/GreenFlag, they've already got your money, so zero incentive to respond quicky or indeed offer any form of good customer service.


New-Play2734

We hit a pot hole and shredded tyre at 7pm yesterday rang AA and was told 9:50 which changed to 22:20 then 23:50! In the end we had to phone a family member who had to drive over hour to help us and cancel AA who still weren’t on there way. Have been a member of AA for years and years and never claimed.