WARNING - AA Euro coiver is rubbish!!
 

Hi everybody,

Just had a nightmare experience with the AA's European breakdown cover and would strongly advise anybody to steer very clear of them - although the experiences of others may differ.

Very briefly, broke down on the autoroute yesterday (non fixable) and had to be dragged off. Its August so France is shut but they know that and despite insisting they would find a garage to help me, they could only nominate car garages, none of whom would touch it. Also discovered that they didn't mark it as active, so enqs only went out as non urgent. Clearly haven't got the capacity or infrastructure to deliver what they promise, or staff who talk to each other or manage. Stranded for 7 hours yesterday waiting for calls and chasing them - now have huge international mobile bill on way - followed by another 4 hours wait this morning in France for repartiation, followed by another 5 at Dover tonight because the garage they contracted to repartriate took other (more lucrative) police jobs and kept bumping me back. Only responded when they found another job nearby so could get double the money for half the fuel costs. Not impressed - big name, rubbish service. BE WARNED!!! :censored:

Sorry about the spelling - tired and still v cross! :taz:

So, ahhhhh......what's AA?

The Automobile Association The AA: Breakdown Cover, Car Insurance, Home Insurance, Loans, Motoring Advice, Travel and Maps

Not AA Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Great Britain although might be needed if you've spent the last day trying to get back from France.

Is this an isolated case ?

What's other people's experience of British supplied European Breakdown Cover ?

Had the same experience with AA in the UK!, IMHO the clue is in the name AUTOMOBILE Association, not a clue about anything that isn't a Ford Fiesta. Their recovery bloke didn't know how to fasten an MZ (no down tube) onto the truck and went all jobsworth when I said I'd do it myself. Had to wait while they sent a "Bike Specialist" who did let me do it myself.

RAC coughed up £100 compensation after they "lost" my bike in Spain. That was an all day job and the different shifts in the UK just didn't communicate. The biggest issue mind was BMW Malaga's manyana attitude (they told RAC UK they didn't have it because the idiot they spoke to couldn't be bothered to look) but as they say; They all do that sir. RAC in France three years later couldn't be more helpful.

There really is room for a better service. I'm looking for one that:

a) Understands you might only need a lift to a tyre shop or the loan of a jump starter box.
b) If you say it needs parts will only take you to a Bike place.
c) Never scraps a bike based on book values vs. claimed recovery costs.

I hear good things about Carole Nash, it's just a pity you have to buy their **** insurance to get it. I'm hopeing that now my bikes are in classic territory there might be something out there.

I'm not going to hold my breath. To be honest the service levels I've seen from ADAC, German bike dealers and French tyre places only encourages me to to stuff AA/RAC and their in-sewer-ants and simply make sure my credit card will take the strain if anything does happen.

Andy

By the very nature of breakdown and recovery services you don't want to use them very often so I suspect everyone's experience of them is going to be based on a fairly small sample size.

I've had to use various ones in Europe, but mainly the AA, over the last 40 yrs and found them OK to good. They've done what they say they would and various vehicles have either been fixed, brought back or spares sent out. But they do it at their rate not at yours. I've no idea of the specifics of Belle's case but back to the UK in 24 hrs doesn't sound too bad on the face of it - it's taken me a lot longer in the past to get everything home.

So, on the swear at them or swear by them spectrum I'm fairly neutral.

As I said BOB, experiences may differ but it wasn't 24 hours - that was just the actual time spent by the side of the road waiting and calling, not looking for a hotel and carting my gear to it and back again (on my own), sleeping, eating or otherwise killing time between phonecalls and building up a huge international phonebill - the actual period of this fiasco was 52 hours. Whilst a more generous soul might disagree, and I accept that nothing is instant, this was all to repatriate me just 90 miles (this happened 20 miles from Calais and I live 70 miles this side) which doesn't suggest a good deal to me. But thats the whole point of fora -a place to share info in order to make decisions that are right for us. And the AA certainly wasn't for me.

But just to round things off nicely, the bike eventually arrived home at 0245 and as I was offloading it from the truck, I was stopped and turned over by the Old Bill who thought I was nicking it. I wasn't - but at least they were doing their job - which I can't complain about!

What is the issue with CN insurance ?
I find them cheap, a bit of a pain to renew each year as I end up playing off their online V office prices, but my XJR1300 costs about £160/year (fully comp) and my XJ900+Pegaso on one policy was £140/year. Everyone O know who has used their Euro breakdown has good things to say. I have only used them in UK.

Ultimately, you were in France, in August, and if it was Assumption Day, your were stuffed. All the breakdown services will use local garages. But I would defo prefer to stick with CN as they at least are aware you are on a motorbike.

Back in '96, Jean and I went to France 2 up on an old GS550, we baulked at paying £80 for 2 weeks cover to Brittania Rescue, but when it broke down in mid-France they gave us a car and shipped the bike home. Bargain.

After the most sh!te of sh!te "service" by the AA 15 yrs ago in the UK, I'll never use them again.

Good that you got the bike home, eventually. I could do with your Old Bill up in W Yorkshire. When the thieves were burglaring my garage (and stole 2 bikes) and while they were still in there, my wife called 999. The operators's comment was "what's the point coming out and looking at where the vehicle used to be"....
cheers
Chris

Terrible service for such a large organisation. I have just returned from a week in France on Monday and thought I was safe with my new AA policy if the worst happened with my classic bike. Glad it didn't after reading this! Hope you missed the bad weather over there...

Ive just got rid of the AA after 24 years membership and gone across to ADAC which is working out at half the price AA was costing us, but with a lot more benefits. (But if I breakdown in the UK ADAC use the AA!!)
I had no problems with UK use but the all year round EU cover was a nightmare. All the smallprint.
I only used EU recovery once in 2006. On a Sunday evening on the Autoroute near Dijon my chain snapped ripping our tent which was lucky as the next stop was my girlfriends arm, got recovered by a car garage within the hour with a proper bike holder on the truck, was put in a hotel for the night but then in the morning the recovery truck came to pick us up to transfer us to a bike shop. But he parked a 100 metres or so down the road which was to give him chance to tell us the bike had been dropped off the recovery truck upside down (because it had been untied the night before but a different driver moved the truck in the morning. Rather than go through a lengthy claim I let them pay 250€ for new chain and sprockets and 6 rolls of Duct tape to hold the bike together plus some cash.

Its a real lottery who recovers you in Europe whichever policy you use!

How do you get onto ADAC ? I looked at this a while back and you needed a German address to join. I haven't got one so couldn't sign up with them.

You'll half the premium on Go Compare. Then however CN will charge you £30 to cancel and keep any outstanding balance. If your bike has any goodies you need to tell them about like a sidecar or large fuel tank they'll loose the details every year and whenever you try to claim. On renual day if you pay the bill they send you you are daft, their own website will be 5-10% cheaper. Their call centre staff believe Montengro, Morocco and Mablethorpe are all the same place. I could go on but we'd all get bored, but while five years ago they were great, now they are just Bennetts in disguise.

Choices then : Pay peanuts get monkeys; second cheapest quote each year on GC. Deal direct with a big insurer like LV or Direct line. I do the former on my cheap bikes and keep one on the good stuff with protected NCB (Triumph Bonneville fully comp £90 per year).

This is of course :offtopic: so I'll stop.

Andy

After aterrible experience wit The RAC who lost my car for thre months returned it completely wrecked and had documents stolen from iT I gave up, and just take my credit card. So far I have been lucky. three years ago I had an electrical fault on a BMW that stopped me for two nights. My french insurance paid for my hotel stay but not the repair. Not bad for 86 euros a year insurance.

If you ring them they all speak English and can make you a member straight away.

Belle
Sorry to hear about your woes. I had a similar (but a bit different) experience in 2007 with Carole Nash breakdown insurance. As many of you will know, this cover is automatically included with all CN policies.

In brief: my bike broke down on the motorway between Arnhem and Nijmegen. I called them from the roadside, but had to wait there for 5 hours in the rain before the breakdown guy came. In the meantime the local police came and gave me grief about being on the motorway for so long. In the end I had to push the bike (Triumph Trophy 1200....so it is a HEAVY bike) about a quarter of a mile to a "safe" place. Breakdown guy came, took bike to a garage and me to a motel which Carole Nash were paying for. It was one of those cheap and nasty places along the side of a carriageway and miles from civilisation of any kind.They left me there for 3 days then told me to pay for a train to Amsterdam and they would pay for my flight home, which they did. My bike arrived home 3 weeks later. During this entire episode they never called me once. All communication was instigated by me and I had a mobile phone bill of around £75 for the 3 days of misery in Holland. However about a month later they did have the courtesy to phone me.............to ask me for a contribution towards the repatriation of the bike as it was more expensive than they had thought it would be!! Needless to say I refused.....and never heard another word about it.

All in all, Yes they got me home, and yes they got my bike home eventually. But it was not a pleasant experience and I do think they could have made it all a lot less painful just by being more efficient. What a lot of these organisations don't seem to care about is the fact that in situations like this you are left feeling isolated and your trip is pretty much ruined, yet they simply treat you like a commodity and act like like robots. I doubt if any of them has ever had a breakdown whilst abroad. If they had then I reckon they'd be more sympathetic. I know that sympathy isn't going to fix your bike but it can help relieve some of the pain.

Chris

Bike Insurance
 

We all have different expriences with insurance companies. So different opinions .IMO Carol Nash have been fine with me. OK 1 claim in 7 years.[ my own fault .] paid out promptly no probs.
But if you are prepared to spend a little time in checking on line quotes and then approach CN , they will negotiate a reduced offer.
DL 650 fully comp inc leathers lid and no claims protection plus full UK and Europe recovery and repat and 50000 legal cover £160.
Their original renewal was £195. Yes there are cheaper on line but god help you if you had a claim.
PS If you ask when renewing with CN they will send you a couple of tickets for the NEC bike show . :thumbup1:

Jules
You are quite right. Everyone will have their own experiences and not everyone will have had one similar to mine. I do remember being really pissed off about it at the time but that anger faded after a few days when I attempted to count the cost of hotel/train/flight and bike repatriation if I'd had to pay for it myself. I know there can always be delays etc. when you depend on the services of others but I was more annoyed by their lack of contact during the ordeal than anything else. They just didn't seem to care at all. Like I said....a bit of basic sympathy or understanding on their part would have made it so much more bearable.

Chris

So it seems I should expect to be right-royally messed about if I use almost any breakdown service. Best not break down then. eh?

Yep, my new year's resolution for 2011 will be not to break down, and if I do, just sort it myself. Unfortunatley, I couldn't on this occassion, and so was at the mercy of people who pretended to be there to help but turned out to be incapable of joined up thinking, and lacked any sense of urgency. Oh well, at least I know where I stand now - and I've yet to receive the phonebill! :cool4:

I will admit to being mystified by the whole concept of "breakdown recovery." I've never had it on either of my bikes, to my knowledge. Maybe I should read the fine print?

I've broken down, however: once in Morocco, once in Canada. I've also become unable to move forward, although the bike in question was running at the time, in Brazil. Throw in some random broken clutch cables and flat tires and stuff and you could say I've broken down quite a bit over the past few years. But it never would have occurred to me to call someone to come and repatriate my bike, provide for my lodging and meals, or keep me posted by phone on any sort of progress being made in any of the relevant realms. Mainly I just hire a tow or a truck ride or I find a mechanic or fix it myself, or I graciously accept the help of strangers who offer, or I do whatever else seems functional.

Based on the above, I'm not missing out on much. So do all you folks pay for this service, or is it considered a fundamental human right (like education, health care or, if American, the right to carry large-caliber weaponry to shopping malls, churches and nursery schools)?

Mark

I would expect to be able to repair most bike breakdowns at the roadside so I hope never to need recovery (which is a bloody good job apparently)

I the UK paying for recovery insurance on a car for years will not add up to the one charge for getting towed two miles off a motorway and dumped at a garage.

A lot of bike insurance includes recovery. (I don't think it makes much difference to the cost if you don't take it. Anyone know??)

Morocco etc. are actually better set up so you don't need the in-sewer-ants. You blow a hole in a piston:

Morocco: The next bloke in a truck stops and helps you get the bike into town for the price of a meal. The local mechanic will keep a huge stock of parts, will be preparred to look for something the right shape and failing that will weld up your old bit. You'll be off and running in 48 hours without breaking the bank.

UK: No one stops, all too terrified you're a peadophile rapist axe murderer. The police will stop, but only to tell you you have to move otherwise they'll fine you for your own safety. They'll call a recovery truck who'll take full advantage and charge you a weeks pay. The dealer keeps no stock and is too terrified of warranty claims to do anything but tell you you ain't going no where for a month until your bike manufacturer can be bothered to send the bits. The bike maufacturer doesn't care less, they prefer customers who only look at the bike on a weekend. His semi-literate trainee who's only experience is tipping whole bottles of oil into year old 1000 mile bikes will put the thing in backwards. The local hotels will be packed out with people buying into pyramid schemes and won't let you sleep in a cupboard on the grounds that it's "more than their jobs worth".

Having the in-sewer-ants, their buying power and lawyers fight these clowns is good when it works, but they've lost the plot and don't know who the customers are anymore. Their attitude is that they just hope anyone who'll break down will go away and sort it themselves while the ones who don't break down keep paying.

Andy

Andy
A fairly accurate description!!