The AA have just lost me as a customer.

cormie

Renewal time again! This time my letter stated to renew would be a total of €264, I just went online to check and it's... €264!! So this time both the same, but nearly 50% more expensive than what I paid last year :mad:

The breakdown that Hibernian and Quinn Direct etc give for free with their policies should be more than adequate. They send out professional breakdown serices which will try to get you moving again, failing that they will tow you car to a local garage or to their own garage. Shelling out a good wad of cash to the AA to keep Conor F (however you spell his name) in a job is looney really. The AA are a really strange bunch, they claimed to beat my insurer last year on price, when they didn't they said it was because their no claims bonus protection was far better. Fair enough said I, is breakdown included ? No they said, but we can arrange that too at a cost, thanks AA, stick it. Numpties

cormie

Afraid I have no free Breakdown assist with my insurance policy so the AA is pretty much the only option as far as I can see

Absurdum

cormie wrote: »

Afraid I have no free Breakdown assist with my insurance policy so the AA is pretty much the only option as far as I can see

quick google of "breakdown assistance" gives a few results..

http://www.aviva.ie/online/driving/breakdown-cover/about/
http://www.breakdowncover.ie/
http://www.recoveryireland.com/

mickdw

Where I am in Mayo, it doesnt matter what type of cover you have, its the same local garage guy who will arrive with his flatbed. No roadside fixing available really unless its very obvious. Why would anyone pay the AA in this situation?

Berty

My company car is covered for travel in UK and Ireland with AA. I rang up and said

"Im going to france for 2 weeks in the Summer, how much to add the European Breakdown Cover?"

"€119 sir with all the discounts applied"
"WTF, that's a whole new policy"
"Yes"
"I don't want a new policy, i just want to upgrade my 4 star to 5 star."

Long story short, no dice. They wanted a new premium. They would not refund the unused part of the current premium either. :mad:

cormie

Absurdum wrote: »

quick google of "breakdown assistance" gives a few results..

http://www.aviva.ie/online/driving/breakdown-cover/about/
http://www.breakdowncover.ie/
http://www.recoveryireland.com/

Thanks, breakdowncover.ie looks pretty damn cheap compared to the AA :eek:

Has anyone here used them at all?

Berty

cormie wrote: »

Thanks, breakdowncover.ie looks pretty damn cheap compared to the AA :eek:

Has anyone here used them at all?

They are actually Blue Insurance and have a policy on the other website also. I spoke to them Friday and they are both the same policy but one is €6 more expensive than the other.

They used to use two different insurance companies but now one and never bothered to change the website.

Ardent

eringobragh wrote: »

Don't understand why people bother with AA anymore when most the insurance comapnies offer free (or for little money extra) breakdown cover / homestart.

+1

unkel

mickdw wrote: »

Where I am in Mayo, it doesnt matter what type of cover you have, its the same local garage guy who will arrive with his flatbed. No roadside fixing available really unless its very obvious. Why would anyone pay the AA in this situation?

Indeed. In my experience (AA member for 10 years now), the one time I called them further than 20km from Dublin city centre, I just got the local guy with his flatbed and it took about 40 minutes for him to arrive.

In the Dublin city zone, the AA offer a superior service I haste to add. Typically they are on site within 15 minutes and they do make a serious effort to find the source of the problem and to fix it. The last time I called them (because my engine was not starting - an ongoing and intermittent problem my 24 year old car suffered from), by the time they got to me, my engine started fine. Typical

Instead of saying "grand so" and heading off, the guy asked me where I lived (about 4 miles away) and he offered to follow me home, switch off the engine and try and restart it etc. So he did. The car didn't restart when back home, but he helped me eliminate many possible causes of the problem. With some internet research, I then manage to solve the problem. It was a dodgy fuel pump relay. Got one for $4 and the problem has never come back.

cormie

Ardent wrote: »

+1

My policy doesn't come with breakdown assist so someone like the AA for me is essential

unkel wrote: »

Indeed. In my experience (AA member for 10 years now), the one time I called them further than 20km from Dublin city centre, I just got the local guy with his flatbed and it took about 40 minutes for him to arrive.

In the Dublin city zone, the AA offer a superior service I haste to add. Typically they are on site within 15 minutes and they do make a serious effort to find the source of the problem and to fix it. The last time I called them (because my engine was not starting - an ongoing and intermittent problem my 24 year old car suffered from), by the time they got to me, my engine started fine. Typical

Instead of saying "grand so" and heading off, the guy asked me where I lived (about 4 miles away) and he offered to follow me home, switch off the engine and try and restart it etc. So he did. The car didn't restart when back home, but he helped me eliminate many possible causes of the problem. With some internet research, I then manage to solve the problem. It was a dodgy fuel pump relay. Got one for $4 and the problem has never come back.

Good story and good to know

cormie

Just noticed you can get cover for 4 vehicles on the fleet company policy for 492 including roadside assistance, rescue plus and home start, that's about €120 per vehicle which isn't so bad I guess.

I also see they have this new offer too of breakdown repair where you only pay a tiny fraction of replacement parts: https://secure.aaireland.ie/breakdownrepair/home.aspx

cormie

An update on this, I decided to go with the above fleetwide cover for €492. It's good in that you don't have to assign any vehicles to the membership cards, you basically just get 4 company membership cards and can give them to anyone who can use them with any car they are travelling in.

In order to get this, I cancelled my existing policy, but I JUST got a text from them saying along the lines of: just a quick reminder that your AA membership is about to lapse, call today and get free rescue plus.

So basically, if you wait until maybe the last day of your policy before renewing, you should get the same offer and save the €70 on rescue plus bringing the renewal fee from €264 to €194. Probably wont work with new policies unfortunately.

unkel

Maybe you should ask a moderator to change the thread title

cormie

Yeah maybe something like

"The AA Price Discrepancy and Advice Thread" would be more fitting

McSpud

I was with the AA for years but dumped it last year. I would only use it every couple of years at most & now have it with my car insurance. The AA is just not worth it for standard usage. I would guess most people use it for dead batteries and othr simple things. The AA should have offered discounts like NCB for people who don't use much.

cormie

Essential for me and there isn't anyone who offers the same service they do available to me really