The AA- automatic renewal price hike.

Off-topic
1

Just had my AA breakdown cover renewal notice through.
Disappointed to see they are doing the insurance company trick of hiking the price up by 30% and hoping I don’t notice.

When did they start doing this?
Called them and got the cover back down to last years price but not as good as being a brand new customer on their website.

Tempted to leave them on principle.
Can anyone suggest a decent recovery service that does European cover and doesn’t gouge you every year on renewal?
Looking for personal cover, rather than a specific vehicle as I have a car and two bikes.

2

I’ve been RAC for ages. The cover’s for my and whatever vehicle I’m travelling in so it’s come in handy when I’ve been a passenger in someone else’s car. We’ve got some sort of a family cover, though. Being a UK customer gets a discount on their EU cover, single trips cost ~£30 and annual is ~£90 extra.

3

Rac did the same to me… Basically what I do now is move between AA and rac

4

I used to be with RAC but now with GEM motoring Assist, good price and reviews but haven’t had to call them out yet

5

I’ve been impressed with Green Flag. I stopped using RAC when they left me stranded after an “off” on a winter night for 6 hours.

6

No need to move if you don’t want to, just ring them and tell them how much the opposition will charge. They (RAC) have always caved in in seconds.

7

Do green flag do accident recovery? The RAC used to be the only ones who did, but now they don’t I wonder if someone else has picked that as their selling point.

8

Just got off the phone to the RAC- it is, of course, more complicated than it needs to be.

I thought I could just add in European cover for any vehicle to my existing policy with the AA or a new one with RAC.
Nope.
European cover is vehicle specific- you have to nominate a vehicle for cover and can’t take any other.
Also, coverage for a 3 week period is more expensive than annual cover.

RAC are not significantly cheaper if I keep it on a personal policy but it is if I take it out for the car and I do get RAC breakdown cover with the Triumph as part of the purchase of the bike, which is the vehicle I am taking to Europe.
Can get EU cover for £100 for the year on top of that.
It now means I have 4 separate breakdown policies that I could be using- one with the BMW bike, one with the Tiger in the UK, a separate one for the Tiger in Europe and one for the car.

FFS!
Why do they make it so complicated?

Edit:

Sometimes it is worth ringing them back- spoke to an entirely different person at RAC and they found a way to change my policy I got from Triumph to one that includes any vehicle in the UK.
I have to pay for European cover on top of it but that is discounted.

Still a bit of a ball-ache to get it all sorted.

9

They make it more complicated to confuse people and get more money out of them - they are “insurance” after all…

10

… and a tax on the lazy.
If people can’t be bothered to take an hour or two to phone around then they pay through the nose.

11

I probably won’t renew my RAC cover after finding out the hard way they don’t recover after a accident unless I get a significant discount.

12

although i agree on the lazy to some extent, i dont like this attitude ‘if you dont try hard you’ll be taken for a ride’ that most company use these days. people nowadays are in the habit, as you well pointed out, to try and ring again hoping to speak to someone else in order to get treated like a proper human being not like a cash cow. disgusting behavior.

13

Agree Alba.
I don’t like it much but as an individual you can only try to game the system to get a discount, otherwise you end up either boycotting it (and maybe getting stranded when you break down and have no cover) or you end up paying the price hike.
I’ve been used to it with motor insurance but this is the first time I’ve noticed such a price hike with breakdown- the price went up from £130 to £200 for no other reason than ‘because’.

If it was just a single company doing it then we’d all move to the ones that didn’t, but when it is happening across the board we have very few options left.

14

Try Footman James for bike insurance!

15

As stated the RAC always come back with a hiked renewal price.

I let mine lapse in January as I wasn’t able to drive or ride at the time due to my leg & have just been looking at renewing it as I’ve now got myself an automagic car.

However, I notice that the Nationwide’s FlexPlus current account comes with full UK & European breakdown cover inc at home, recovery & onward travel, worldwide travel insurance inc winter sports, mobile phone insurance & extended warranty cover for purchases for £10 a month. That’s the same price that the RAC want for just UK breakdown, at home & recovery cover!

The cover is with Britannia & I can’t see anywhere in the policy docs that there’s an age limit for vehicles on the European cover, which is pretty rare in itself from my experience.

16

Isn’t it the case that most recovery firms don’t do recovery after an accident unless you want to pay extra?

They all charge because they know it will be claimed on through the insurance

17

I have used Autoaid for the last 7+ years. For about £40 you get recovery on any vehicle you are in including spouse.

18

Isn’t it the case that most recovery firms don’t do recovery after an accident unless you want to pay extra?

Yeah, which is why I’d go for one that does

19

My RAC fee is mental, I’ve got the top package. First class service though, never been left down, always been happy with the service. Got top Euro cover though I’m pretty sure it’s on any vehicle as I’ve never been asked to specify one.

20

I specifically asked them today as I thought I might end up taking the S1000R on a short jaunt (like Brugge maybe) but no dice.
Nominate the vehicle or nowt.
Maybe you were grandfathered in on an old plan?