Legal Q: AA Damage Car in France - recovering repair costs

[Steve_T]

Legal Eagles,

A few moments of your time if I may. The alternator on the Cerb failed after Le Mans this year and the car was recovered back to the UK. Karen and I where with the car while it was recovered to a local garage, the chap was extremely careful and when I left it I was happy no damage had been done to it. We met the car again at the port in France. The recovery guy insisted that I held the car on the brakes and eased it down the (pretty steep) ramp off the low loader and onto the Ferry myself. No cable was attached to the car as I did this. In the port my wife noticed the front had been scraped and we called the AA. It looked like the damage to the front of the car had been caused by a cable, hence the recovery guy's reluctance to use it. It took a little while to get an estimate and a photo of the damage to the AA after the initial phone call. They have now finally come back, (after their French office sat on their hands for a couple of months) saying to me that because the Garage in France do not accept that they caused the damage, there is nothing further they can do for me. They have offered a £100 settlement as a goodwill gesture. Am I right in saying that because my contract is with the AA, that they should cover the damage? It feels like they're pulling a fast one. I'm thinking because they cannot recover the payment they'd have to make to me from the Garage in France, they are reluctant to pay.

I'd appreciate your thoughts folks.

Thanks,

Steve

[number 7]

Had a similar incident myself about 3 yrs. ago. Wedge broke down half-way through a short break in Europe. We elected to continue in a hire car provided under AA 5 star cover, with the vehicle being separately repatriated. When it arrived back in the UK a couple of weeks later, I discovered that the front spoiler and under spoiler had been damaged by what looked like careless positioning of the tie-down ratchet / buckle. They had even taken photos of the car prior to recovery to evidence it's condition, but because of the position of the damage, these were of little help. Anyway, after a lengthy series of communications, the AA eventually agreed to pay for the cost of repair, for which I obtained an estimate from a TVR body/paint specialist. Got just over £500 from them, but the entire recovery was such a shambles that I've used the RAC ever since. You do need to be persistant and set out exactly what you want done.

7.

[gshughes]

small claims court ? They will probably roll over and not contest it.

[marcos maniac]

Had similar with a Chevrolet Blazer recovered from Gatwick Airport by an AA Contractor.

Vehicle (that had only been serviced that morning) just died approaching the drop off point - called Chevrolet assistance - it was run/managed by the AA

Out came a AA contractor (who 's name I cannot remember) they couldn't do anything with the car and contractor loaded it onto his flatbed and dropped me off to pick up a hire car organised by the AA.

Off home I pootled.

2 hrs later I get a phone call from the guy that had my car on the back of his truck - "Im at the dealers, I cant get the car out of gear and cant get it off my truck"
Long and short of it was I told him I didn't have a clue and left him to it.

Next morning I get on the phone to have a rant at the service manager - and get informed "we are looking at it now - what did you hit in it?"



NSR bumper and rear skirt damaged, OS sill buckled


AA eventually accepted responsibility after I pointed out the phone call from the flatbed driver and questioned " HOW the FECK did he get it off the back of the truck" I came to the same conclusion as the Service Manager and several other people.

Stick to your guns and if you have to threaten to get legal

[Steve_T]

Thanks all, sounds like it's time to push them a bit harder.