AA Roadside or RAC?

[Akash]

Hi all,

Up till now, I've been playing with fire by not having recovery - Had the usual 2 years when I bought the car but for the past 2 years, I've assumed I have it with my bank account without really knowing who the heck I'm supposed to call if I did breakdown.

Anyway, regardless of the bank account, I'm thinking of going for either RAC or AA and get the full whack on one of them bar the European cover.

My main question relates around the AA Parts & Garage Cover - With the common issues I'm hearing (flywheel, multi box, turbo), is it worth going for AA over RAC given the cover allows up to 5 breakdowns with each of them having a £500 limit for parts/labour?
I guess the above issues would be in the region of thousands but it would still be £500 - any Audi loyalty discounts etc

...or is it just rubbish?

Car is an A6 2.7 Le Mans (FWD) 2008 soon to hit 50k

Cheers

[chody]

whichever you go for remember quidco or cashback kings to get some of your lolly back i use quidco more but both pay out

[bops6]

I had this exact dilemma couple of months ago and ended up with Rac due to them offering a complete package with recovery, roadside assistance , European and onwards. Used it last week when my van spat its clutch out, was recovered and taken to my garage of choice within an hour. not bad I though considering I was in the middle of knowhere and in evening rush hour

[zollaf]

i use a little known company called GEM. they are good, very good. i pay £120 ish for a family plus package for upto 4 people, person covered rather than car so you can be a passenger and still get the car recovered, full blown do what you want them to do recovery all singing all dancing. they get the closest garage out to you and don't have their own vehicles. used them twice, once to be recovered and once when i needed a 24mm spanner to get my stop solonoid out.

[apole]

+1 for GEM, been with them a number of years, had to use them twice and on both occasions they were excellent, operator listened and sent correct recovery flatbed first go as I knew it wasn't a roadside fix.

GEM don't seem to have an option for european cover on the policy directly, they sub you off to a partner. I found it easier to do a web search and get a good price seperately for that.

[as400]

I had this exact dilemma couple of months ago and ended up with Rac due to them offering a complete package with recovery, roadside assistance , European and onwards. Used it last week when my van spat its clutch out, was recovered and taken to my garage of choice within an hour. not bad I though considering I was in the middle of knowhere and in evening rush hour

I also am with the RAC....re above and "was recovered and taken to my garage of choice".....thats a garage within a 10 mile radius of breakdown. My MX5 is currently with a garage that doesn't know much about MX5's and ideally I would love to have had it towed to a garage of my choice as the best MX5 (its an old Eunos) specialist is about 70 miles away and the RAC would not do this despite me having every option on their membership. Now the garage they have taken it to can't sort the problem, the car is effectively still broken down and the RAC tell me they can be no further help to me, as they have 'done their bit'.

I will be going AA at next renewal as there have been some other issues with the RAC that I'm not happy with....I like the sound of the AA parts option, RAC do not offer this.

[Brycie]

Yeah my Dad has the AA warranty with his package with them & has used it a couple of times successfully. They towed him miles along the motirway to our place when hus turbo blew & then paid out (hazy on exact details but could find out if people want details of the policy/personal experience). There's an excess he has to pay but after that, they pay up to £500 worth of repars. He's renewed it I know that much, so must be happy. He negotiated well with them though, so don't pay first quoted price.

[rafletcher]

I've had AA, and currently have RAC (it was an add-on to the car insurance) but neither are nearly as good as they used to be, since they were sold off to venture capitalists. Green Flag used to be very good, and use local garages, but they've also been sold and now have area cover (like "south east" from franchised operators.

I might have a look at GEM next time, as they look like Green Flag used to be - making use of a network of local garages/franchisees (I shall investigate further!).

As for as400's experience (why named after an IBM computer btw? IT Techie?) that's why I always have recovery option so I can get car home, then pay local garage to collect to repair.

[as400]

As for as400's experience (why named after an IBM computer btw? IT Techie?)

IT bluffer more like!...but yes some i series experience....did a gig in Aylesbury once actually at Sony there...I used to live over the road from the police station and duck pond in an old cottage next to a very good Indian restaurant.

[zollaf]

i used to live in aylesbury. westmorland avenue.