AA recovery - Stick with this it's odd

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Tonyunn · #1 Post by **Tonyunn** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:57 am

Last year I bought recovery cover for £66 as I was unsure of the bike, if the worst happened I would at least get the bike home.

Yesterday got a renewal for £128, roadside and recovery, rang them said all I wanted was relay and not roadside, turns out roadside is mandatory and the relay is on top, so I cancelled, after a little hesitataion they came back and said since I had not called them out I could have it all for £85, still cancelled.

Went back on the web and low and behold the AA came back with a price of recovery for £79 their stupid system didn't even spot I was putting in the same reg number.

I think I will look into this a bit more today.

D-Rider · #2 Post by **D-Rider** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:05 am

I'm with RAC - have family cover - the 5 of us are covered whichever vehicle we are travelling in (bike, car, friends vehicle .....)
Renewal came through recently - can't remember the exact amount (and I can't check it as I'm in Spain) but I think it was about £140 .... which for a family of 5 people in almost any vehicle is pretty good.

They do lower rates for individuals BTW

Aladinsaneuk · #3 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:43 am

Green flag are my current sponsors - family cover for 90 quid

Look at what you get with your bank account...

Also look at what you can get with supermarket points - for many years my RAC was paid for by tesco club card points

D-Rider · #4 Post by **D-Rider** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:25 am

Aladinsaneuk wrote:Green flag are my current sponsors - family cover for 90 quid

Look at what you get with your bank account...

Also look at what you can get with supermarket points - for many years my RAC was paid for by tesco club card points

Hmmm - we went to RAC family cover as it was so much better value than my wife's individual Green Flag cover (which was about £80 for an individual)

Looks as though this stuff continually changes (though RAC has stayed pretty constant since we've been with them)

Tonyunn · #5 Post by **Tonyunn** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:53 am

£80 seems to be the going rate for all three companies, I will wait until I am riding at wekends or doing longer trips, Aprill onwards will be plenty of time.

Cheers for the comments.

Cathcart · #6 Post by **Cathcart** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:06 am

I've been with aa for a few years, every year I get a renewal with a higher price so I phone them and tell them I'm not happy about the rise. They've always dropped it back down, granted it is around 70 pence more still. Got personal cover rather than vehicle cover for myself and the Mrs for £10 odds per month. I think is a good deal. Only really see aa and rac around here.

Dalemac · #7 Post by **Dalemac** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:46 am

Check out http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/

Cathcart · #8 Post by **Cathcart** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:53 am

Thats a good idea. Only downside is it requires you to pay for the recovery first then get reimbursed. I'd be worried that they'd be looking for a way out of paying... Like some insurance companies do.
Still a good idea though.

Dalemac · #9 Post by **Dalemac** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:33 pm

Cathcart wrote:Thats a good idea. Only downside is it requires you to pay for the recovery first then get reimbursed. I'd be worried that they'd be looking for a way out of paying... Like some insurance companies do.
Still a good idea though.

I had to claim with them once. It was a decent arrangement and they didn't try to get out of paying, they just fucked it up a few times. But I put in a complaint, swiftly got my money and was reimbursed my annual fee and had a written apology. Overall It was a better experience than I had with the RAC.

These days I just carry a pair of jump leads under the seat (no joke....).

Dale

BikerGran · #10 Post by **BikerGran** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:51 pm

I had RAC for years and got totally fed up with them - I had an old car and an old trike so I have someexperience of calling them out and even as a lone female I got fed up with waiting for hours by the side of the road while it got cold and dark. A couploe of times I complained and got an apology and they said they would take that rescue off my record, but that didn't make it any better next time it happened.

One time as I was chatting to a recovery driver he told me the best to go wityh were Green Flag or Britannia because they don't insist on sending a van first, if you say you need recovery they send recovery!

I checked out both online and had a couple of queries so I emailed both, Britannia replied immediately whereas Green Flag took a week so I went with Britannia. Haven't had cause to regret it yet, and there's a major bonus.

I always have Personal Cover which means I'm covered whether driver or passenger in any vehicle - with Britannia I get Personal for me, plus ordinary cover for Mike, PLUS European cover (for my old car!) - for a whole lot less than I was paying the RAC for cover just for me and NO European!

So my recommendation is always for Britannia.

slickliner6 · #11 Post by **slickliner6** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:48 pm

I used to use RAC,until they left me by the side of the road for almost 5 hours. I called them 6 times to find out where the van was and on the last call the woman said "very sorry,if you get in your car and keep warm the van isnt far away"
To which i replied "how many cars do you know called KAWASAKI ZRX1200r"?
"She then said who makes that kind of car"??
luckily for her the van then pulled up.........

skye2skye · #12 Post by **skye2skye** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:49 pm

slickliner6 wrote:I used to use RAC,until they left me by the side of the road for almost 5 hours. I called them 6 times to find out where the van was and on the last call the woman said "very sorry,if you get in your car and keep warm the van isnt far away"
To which i replied "how many cars do you know called KAWASAKI ZRX1200r"?
"She then said who makes that kind of car"??
luckily for her the van then pulled up.........

i had a similar experience with them got a puncher on my gxsr phoned them 4pm told them they needed to tow as tyre not road side repairable also told them im insuline diabetic (which i am)they still took 4 hours to get to me first van came and went then told recovery was on its way two hours later still no truck another phone call as was told that recovery truck had been canceled i reminded them i was diabetic so whilst waiting for the motorcycle recovery truck to turn up another one of there van turned up with a mars bar for me yes thats right a mars bar.finally got home just before 10pm never used them again

BikerGran · #13 Post by **BikerGran** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:12 pm

The very first time I used the RAC the Kwak was still a bike - something went horribly wrong with the gearbox (from the rattling sounds) and it seemed like it was in two gears at once ... ish. That was the general opinion of ther rest of the riders I was with. So I called the RAC, told them the make, model, etc, that the gearbox had failed and it was stuck in gear and neede recovery.

They sent a van, and the driver said they had told him it was a car that wouldn't start. Not sure if he really thought there was such a thing as a Kawasaki car..........

Thinking about that, I really wonder why I stuck with them for years!

Falcorob · #14 Post by **Falcorob** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:46 pm

I use NCi Online which is £90 per annum for family cover. I've only used them once when the car packed up due to battery failure and they arrived within 40 minutes and got me going again. I've yet to see if they think the Falco is a car.

Single (personal) cover is around £48 and vehicle specific can be had cheaper than that.

Gio · #15 Post by **Gio** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 9:21 pm

Well Green Flag on the Jag and 2nd cover for the bike and company van £45, includes home start and if i go foreign its an extra £15