Breakdown recovery recommendations - The AA or RAC?

[Padaung]

Hi folks,

My wife and I have a paid for joint bank account that offers breakdown recovery, phone insurance and travel insurance that covers us and our two children. For our family, these accounts are worth the £13-15/mth (£156-180/yr) fee to cover all four of us, but I appreciate they may not fit the needs of others (particularly an individual).

Anyway, this isn't intended as a discussion about banking fees!

We currently have cover with Green Flag, who tend to use local garages to cover call outs. This felt fine with our petrol car, but with it being recommended to not tow an EV, and the issue of arriving at a charge point with a low battery only to find the charger is not working, I'm reconsidering our options.

I've read that the RAC offer on-site trickle charging to get you an extra 10 miles (so hopefully to an alternative charger) and their vehicles have fold out trailers so you can be towed to a garage if required without having to wait additional time for a flat bed truck to arrive. These both sound great to me.

Does anyone know, or even better, have experience of how the AA compare with the RAC offering? I've read the AA website and to me it's not entirely clear how they resolve these two problems (towing and charging).

Our current bank account is going to switch from Greenflag to the AA in the new year, so if the AA is recommended then I'd just sit tight and wait for that to occur. We would need to switch banks to get RAC cover (which I don't mind doing if the concensus is that the RAC is the better option).

Thanks in advance for all insights and thoughts.

 

[Jomarkh]

Does you MG not come with free AA as long as MG service the car?

 

[JCFlippen]

I’m on Greenflag for our Nissan Micra fossil car (now almost unused) for peace of mind.

Bought ZS EV in June and intend to continue MG Assist (AA) with yearly service. This is on the basis that AA (having MG contract) should become acquainted with typical MG problems that may crop up.

 

[Kithmo]

You get AA cover with MG but it covers the car, any driver, but not other cars like personal AA (or other services) cover.

 

[JCFlippen]

You get AA cover with MG but it covers the car, any driver, but not other cars like personal AA (or other services) cover.

That’s why I’m keeping Greenflag at the moment.

 

[Padaung]

I had no idea about the AA cover until Jomarkh mentioned it in the MG5 forum (where I posted this question too).

Having Googled the MG AA cover, I too found out that it only covers the car and not the driver. We still have a petrol car too that we wan cover for. Regular cover means the person (or our case, both my wife and I) are covered irrespective of the car we are using.

 

[Kithmo]

I had no idea about the AA cover until Jomarkh mentioned it in the MG5 forum (where I posted this question too).

Having Googled the MG AA cover, I too found out that it only covers the car and not the driver. We still have a petrol car too that we wan cover for. Regular cover means the person (or our case, both my wife and I) are covered irrespective of the car we are using.

I don't know if it's the same now, but many years ago personal AA cover used to cover any car you were in, even as a passenger. So basically if you went out with a mate in his car and it broke down, the AA would come out if you called them.

 

[Alb]

I think it's very difficult to generalise about the performance of these organisations as the only thing you care about is how they react on the day the the specific circumstances of your breakdown.
As a side issue, I have all of the benefits you mention with my Lloyds current account but there isn't a charge for this. I've had the account a long time so that may just be a legacy benefit no longer available to new customers.

 

[Padaung]

I don't know if it's the same now, but many years ago personal AA cover used to cover any car you were in, even as a passenger. So basically if you went out with a mate in his car and it broke down, the AA would come out if you called them.

That still is the case if you buy the cover direct from the AA (or via a bank account). However, the cover bundled in with the MG purchase appears to only cover the single car itself.

 

[Padaung]

I think it's very difficult to generalise about the performance of these organisations as the only thing you care about is how they react on the day the the specific circumstances of your breakdown.
As a side issue, I have all of the benefits you mention with my Lloyds current account but there isn't a charge for this. I've had the account a long time so that may just be a legacy benefit no longer available to new customers.

Yes, that's a good point.

And I'll take a look at Lloyds just in case!

 

[Kithmo]

That still is the case if you buy the cover direct from the AA (or via a bank account). However, the cover bundled in with the MG purchase appears to only cover the single car itself.

It does only cover the car (as I said in post #4), it's the same as the one the AA used to run for British Leyland cars back in the 70s/80s, boy was that a loss maker.
Toyota do a similar one but it's £70 a year, covers the car only, but full AA cover.

 

[Chrispydoc]

I have full AA membership...have done for over a decade, but after 2 X 4+ hour waits in the last 18 months.....I'm not impressed.

 

[Lovemyev]

I have full AA membership...have done for over a decade, but after 2 X 4+ hour waits in the last 18 months.....I'm not impressed.

Yeah - I think it’s pretty much down to luck, most of the time.
If there is an agent close by, you could come off alright.
Well that’s me buggered then !.
If is not for bad luck, I would have NO luck at all !.
A relative had his ZS EV refuse to boot up one day, he range the AA number and the guy was there in about 20 minutes.
He must have been around the corner !.

 

[LDN21]

Yeah - I think it’s pretty much down to luck, most of the time.
If there is an agent close by, you could come off alright.
Well that’s me buggered then !.
If is not for bad luck, I would have NO luck at all !.
A relative had his ZS EV refuse to boot up one day, he range the AA number and the guy was there in about 20 minutes.
He must have been around the corner !.

I had similar. First time and currently only I had to use breakdown was using MG Assist. Tyre wall went are someone forced me into a kurb was on a red route in London and they sent a local flatbed out in less than 30 mins (in rush hour) who had there base less than a mile away and was able to put a new tyre on.