Breakdown and Recovery

[steanlol]

Which company gets your vote ??

Im looking for a breakdown company but dont know which one to go for  
Any help on past experiences and which one you praise would be gratefully recieved  :D

[Yoshi]

Both the AA and RAC are equally crap, one sends out people who hardly speak english and drive at 75mph in their little truck with a rangie on the back at 9pm at night from London 300 miles north (after working the whole day), the other left me waiting 4 hours waiting for a recovery truck to take me, bettyblue22 and her daughter home, in the end 20 mins before the recovery finally arrived a police officer turned up and took them 2 home.

[datalas]

I've always found that GreenFlag are good, since they don't seem to be under the delusion that they are supposed to "fix" the car, which is really what I want out of life...

had to call the AA out at one point this year and they came out with a little van told me something I already knew (it's not supposed to make that much smoke) and then had me wait for another hour and a half for a recovery truck

compare and contrast with greenflag who turned up after twenty minutes with a low loader and took me home because the alternator was dead (it was dark and my lights had gone off) with no questions asked...

[Rich_P]

compare and contrast with greenflag who turned up after twenty minutes with a low loader and took me home because the alternator was dead (it was dark and my lights had gone off) with no questions asked...

Had the same service when the head gasket blew.

Phoned up the Greenflag number on the Greenflag card.  "Hello, how can I help you?"  You explain what you need, and then they ask what it is that's wrong (for records), what your card number is, confirm your name and address, where you are now and then they tell you that such-and-such will be with you in the hour to take you wherever it was that you specified within reason.

Excellent service.  The membership fee has already paid for itself!  :shock:

[spyke_boi]

LandRover Assistance get my vote!!

3 times i have called them out, they have attended within 20 minutes and had me on a tow truck in an hour and a half. Even on the M6 at Knutsford Services!!

[karlo]

A mate of mine uses swears by these for his bike cover http://www.ncionline.co.uk/index.asp i'm going to have a look come renewal time as these will recover after an accident with the correct cover?

[MuddyMachine]

I used Adrian flux rescue yesterday. Cam belt went

They where there in 20 mins, took me to any destination I wanted. Luckily I was only 15 miles from home.

[datalas]

Perhaps one of the nicest things about greenflag is that if you join their "mayday" plan, which ISTR has something to do with the caravan club then you get two way recovery,  i.e. they will recover you and your unit to your destination (such as a campsite) and then take you home again if you haven't managed to repair the damage...

[Red Defender]

i use brittania rescue, they've always had my landie on the back of the truck within about 20 min of the phone call

[redhand]

I've used RAC for ten years used them 5 or 6 time and never had to wait longer than half an hour. once called them out cause the steering on the mondeo went all weird on me (weaving and vibrating badly) along with a loud banging from front n/s wheel. Turned out the garage that had put new discs and brakes on it hadn't tightened the wheel nuts up. and the wheel was about to come off he was great about it tightened  them all up properly (though I could have done it once I realised what the problem was) and followed me for 20 miles then rechecked em all to make sure they were ok.

Also brought me from Derby to North Wales when the gear selector went on a sierra I owned.

[clbarclay]

Friends of mine find AA serivce to be good (broken rear diff = realy and a curtusy car for the night) and its not the first time its been used succesfully after a pay and play.


Personally the service they can provide is somewhat lacking compared to friends and family even if they turn up much sooner. 5 hour weight to be on your way rejoicing compared to 1 hour weight only to find out theres not a lot they can do other than take you back home when what you want is to be 500 miles snowboarding.

[Tiki Al]

I'm with the RAC, have been for years, can't say they've ever let me down on the many many times i've had to use them (unfortunatly mostly with my Landy ) can't quote on the others i've never tried them or had cause to switch  :D

[Keri]

With the RAC the only one time they have been out to me they were fine, didn't take them to long etc.... and whats even better they took me home on a flatbed and all that and i never paid them and they never complained....

As i was paying by direct debit but then cancelled before id paid anything and have since rejoined and there has been no mention of the fact they recovered me for free. Not bad i expected em to be arsy.

[Dave]

RAC left me at billing after tessa snapped the key in the drivers door. They said they would get a lock smith to us tomorrow. As look would have it my wife found a lock smith who was able to cut a new key so i drove home and canceled the RAC. With green flag now but never had to use them yet.

[jalopy joe]

I'm with RAC and never had a problem.  On a couple of occasions when I've explained an unfixable problem they sent a recovery wagon straightaway.

[steanlol]

Thanks for all the replys  :D  im going to need cover for me and not the named car , think its between RAC and greenflag  :?

[dreadnought110]

I've had 2 REALLY bad experience's with the RAC a few years ago but know i have RAC cover through the NFU and have had 2 very good experience's so God knows?? they did recover the Land rover and the caravan at easter no problem turned up when they said and kept me informed all the while including follow up calls to check i was happy 8)  8)

[datalas]

My biggest gripe with the RAC and others is that whenever they try to effect a repair they do so badly,  one guy managed to take two hours to spot that the alternator belt on the disco had snapped and he didn't have a short enough one,  despite having been handed the old one on arrival

he also had to round off all the bolts on the adjusters to do so too...  by a curious coincidence...

[muddyjames]

RAC for me. I get a discount too with being a member of the camping and caravanning club so really I get the CC&C membership free each year.

Called them out a couple of times. One time I told them the problem and they got a truck out and took the landy to a different location to where I went as requested. Also called them out when I was in the middle of a field with my caravan and had to quibles about that.

windscreen wipers packed up in my rover once and he managed to bodge them back together as the arm ball joint fell apart. Only waited about 30 mins and took him 15 mins to repair and then followed me up to the motorway and to next exit to make sure they did work.

I will stick to the rac.  RAC windscreens is another story though. avoid them like the plague!

[Tinks]

I agree RAC and AA just as crap as each other!

The AA left me on the hard shoulder of the M5 in the dark with a blown rear diff on the series 3 for 3 hours, i was only 18 at the time, was by myself and as it was dark none of the passing 3 lanes of traffic could see me as a series 3 dont have hazzrd lights & it was friday ruch hour, M5 very very busy!  They said they would only be a half hour and i was a priority case!! Ha Yeah whatever!  The police finally turned up, That is after the AA had sent a sub contracted company to get after i yelled at the manager, by the time the police arrived i was already on the way home, TOTALLY useless!!

Another time i called the AA with a snapped fan belt on the series 3, told them were i was and what they needed to bring with them. An hour and a half later they turn up, tell that the problem is my fan belt is snapped but unfortunatly they dont have one with them.

All i could do was laugh, if i didnt i would have cryed!!!!!!!! :oops:

[Mash]

Hiya,

"Breakdown Clubs" can be put into 2 differant catagories basically.

In one camp you have the RAC and AA who operate their own patrols and relay vehicles.

In the other camp are all the other "clubs" Green Flag, NCI, Brittania, Equity Redstar etc etc etc. They ship all the work out to contractors like I work for.

It is in the interests of the RAC & AA to get you going as if they have to recover you then they lose money.

Third party contractors however make their money from recoverys and a token fee for roadside fixes.

The AA and RAC will only use contractors when they are really busy ! Normally they will send out a Patrol first. Even if your engine has just expired. This is done for two reasons.

1st they meat their targets and can say on average they will be with you in 45 minutes or whatever it is...

2nd Lets remember that MOST drivers have no mechanical knowledge whatsoever and therefore you telling the operator on the phone that your engine has blown up doesn't mean anything..

Heres an example... A couple of months back I went to a job that came down as a blown engine on a motorbike (I work for a Motorcyle recovery firm).. I arrived to be told by the member that it had "blown up"..

Turned the ignition key and hey presto nothing....Pulled the bike apart to find the main fuse which sure enough had gone pop...Replaced fuse and sent him on his merry way.


With regards to parts most operators only carry the bare minimun of parts..I only carry inner tubes, wire, connectors and the odd bit of hose, oh and maybe a jubilee clib or 2..

There is no way on earth that you can carry a comprehensive parts catalogue otherwise we'd have an artic following us.....

Be gentle with us please ......  

[waveydavey]

I was with Tesco but haven't used them in anger. Basically Green Flag etc. setup though.
RAC as from today; M&S insurance was 30 quid more than the cheapest, full RAC included for the car and for me driving anythign else.

[Lucy1978]

I'm with the RAC, through the Camping and caravaning club, no one else will cover the 101.  Been recovered a number of times, never any real problem, they do have an annoying tendency to send a patrol first though, last time was cause the wheel bearings had gone and the wheel was just about off.  The patrol turned up and left straight away.