2 weeks in UK - Buy AA or use insurance breakdown policy

Golden Horde

Heading to UK for two weeks holidays. Mulling over whether to buy AA membership or just use the breakdown cover on my fully comp insurance policy.

Any advantages to AA versus the outlay...?

aa's super duper top cover yoke give you

Alternative travel
Overnight accommodation
Replacement vehicle

sounds handy if you're stuck abroad

darragh o meara

If its just car cover you need the insurance breakdown assist is fine. Haven't had to use it myself but I know a few who have and they were looked after and brought safely home with their cars.

ballsymchugh

does irish AA membership cover you in the UK?
i live in the UK and was a member with them before, but cancelled because i was moving home and they told me it wasn't transferable.

dahamsta

I got myself grandfathered into a special offer with the AA recently when I was buying a pretty old used car that needs some work. Missed the offer by a day, but they gave me Rescue Plus for €9/month when I asked. (They /always/ have some special offer, it's just a matter of timing.)

I checked my oil and water and other essentials when I got to the nearest service station, referring cleverly(!) to the owner's manual for reference, but unfortunately I completely forgot to check the tyres. Got a bad blowout on the way home, and yes, you guessed it, the spare was well and truly borked.

Anyway, I'm wittering. The AA took around an hour to get there. (About an hour down the M7.) After checking the rest of the tyres the guy hooked it up to his van, and /then/ said he couldn't take out because one of the other tyres wasn't up to it. (It was, but he, by his own admission, was on his way home to his tea.)

After a lot of phone calls and false starts, we decided that since Portlaoise was only up the road, I'd get the train home and they'd recover the car to Cork the next day, as provided for by Rescue Plus. And then a phone call from Head Office: They refuse to recover the car to Cork.

So I had to wait by the side of the road on the M7, for 3 hours, for the recovery truck to come from Dublin. And then a local comes from Portlaoise, about 10 minutes away, and proceeds to scrape both the chin spoiler AND towbar while putting it on the flatbed. And off I go, back from whence I came, to source two tyres the next morning myself, and start all over again.

Now I accept some responsibility here, I should have been more diligent when checking the car. But we all make mistakes, and it doesn't make up for refusing to recover me to a location of my choosing as provided by Rescue Plus; lying to me about the tyre, and flatbed coming from Dublin; and leaving me by the side of a busy motorway for 3 hours. Did I mention it was raining? Pissing out of the heavens.

To be fair, the coolant light came on in the car and they came out again to me the next day to check it (it was just a sensor), but I specifically asked them to do that in the garage /before/ recovering it to the tyre place. But at least that guy was competent.

I swore years ago I'd never go back when they tried to screw me on a renewal, but I mean it this time. As soon as I get my money back for the expenses, I'll be canceling the DD and they can do their worst to collect on the contract. Next time I'll sort it out myself.

Pardon the rant. It was a very long weekend and the wound is still fresh.