AA renewal time, having been a "member" (AKA "customer") for 30+ years. Renewal cost £238 ... methinks that's a little high so rings them up and has a friendly chat ... reduced to £144 because I've been with them for so long. Me: "why couldn't you automatically offer me the best rate as a reward?" AA: "we couldn't do that because you might have called us out a lot, you have to call"
Sigh!
Only 8 weeks to my AA renewal. I'll do the same as you.
But £238? What did that cover you for?
Sigh indeed. Same happened to me. I stayed with them because, unless things have changed, their roadside assistance is pretty impressive.
Personally we use Autoaid
I've been a member for about 10 years (which makes me think how much I've saved on not being AA/RAC), and only had occasion to use them once, last year, and they were fine - you phone a central number and a bloke with a low-loader comes and takes you home. Just not with the pretty AA/RAC livery etc.
AFAICS the trick is never to renew, just rotate around the companies to take advantage of new customer deals etc. Personally I really don't think there's much to choose between AA and RAC in terms of service (don't know about Green Flag etc). I recently did this for my daughter
- she swapped from AA to RAC on an online new punter deal for about 40% lower premium IIRC.
The other trick to work in at the same time (not possible if you stay with the same company) is go via a cashback website - roadside recovery is a particularly good deal. Eg, for no downside at all, if you buy a £151 policy, Quidco.com will bung you £75/£85 (= AA/RAC), or less for cheaper policies.
So all in all it makes switching recovery companies a complete no brainer AFAICS.
(Anyone who's not a quidco member and wants to join might like to do so via my referal link, to give me £2.50 :) Or not.
When I asked, a tow you home that I could negotiate for 60 quid from a private firm.
vans have breakdown cover but I also drive other cars that have no breakdown cover (or have a breakdown cover that would not cover me)
Always carry an apprentice who is covered. Being a passenger is (usually) sufficient. And don't breakdown between Grimsby and home.
And to tie in another thread, try to work out the VAT rate used for AA/RAC subs. Certainly used to be a very odd rate based on proportion deemed to be insurance vs membership.
Is the correct name Great Grimsby?
RAC is a *lot* less than that for the full monty for two people, two cars. We get the renewal and then pay with Tesco vouchers.
MBQ
Roadside recovery 66.71 Home start 62.15 Relay 63.97 Wife 45.56
... cue jokes about 45.56 for a wife
Home start has been free for me for a few years as a 'long term' customer..= and I only have the Roadside Recovery option
Is Relay now called National recovery?
I can see a discount stomping into view.
Its called inertia marketing.
Tempt someone with really cheap rates for the first year and they sign up.
Hit them for a steep premium for the 2nd year. Most customers don't bother shopping around after 1 year so they pay up.
For the record I've had AA breakdown cover for 5 years now... Every time I get a renewal notice, I cancel.
I then go onto AA's website and sign up as a new member. Every year so far, My "new member rate" has *always" been less than half the cost of renewal had I "remained" a member.
Only downside is I get a totally new membership number every year.
My in-laws have a card that says "Member since 1970" whereas my card says "Member since (current year minus 1).....
AA covers the member(s) not the car(s). So if you are passenger in some =
one elses car you can still call 'em out. Donno if you get all the benefits of your membership but I can't see why you shouldn't.
Sounds familiar.
Stuck with the AA because they are the only ones with decent Europe cover. When I see things like "recover to a garage within 15km" and realise we are going to places where there are _no_ garages within that range...
Andy
Home start has been free for me for a few years as a 'long term' customer..and I only have the Roadside Recovery option
+1
So does RAC if you want - they do both "Personal" and "Vehicle" cover; your choice. (ISTR RAC used to be vehicle-based only though.)
Erm.. So they can look up if you called them out a lot if you ring but not otherwise? What kind of operation are they running? Obviously a very lazy one.
Brian
My expensive renewal came with added "Gold" status, as a reward for long membership. I phoned and managed to get it reduced to new member rates, but retained the "Gold" perks, though not all are that useful for me.
Chris
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