AA European breakdown cover - big thanks!
Discussion
A while back, I asked here about recommendations for breakdown cover for my Tuscan, and based on a number of positive reviews, and my own experiences, I decided to go with the AA for both UK and European cover.
Unfortunately, I needed to use their services when I really didn't want to - on the first day of a 3 week driving holiday to Tuscany about 3 weeks ago!
About 75 miles from Dijon, my girlfriend and I pulled into a service station on the motorway and noticed a squealing and faint burning smell coming from the engine. Initial thoughts were that it was a drive belt, but after some investigation we discovered it was actually the clutch. Although the car was still drivable at this point, I decided to call out the breakdown service as I didn't fancy the idea of it failing halfway up a Swiss mountain pass, so I got on the phone to the AA.
They advised that due to the French motorway network being privately owned, they couldn't actually call out the recovery service themselves, but they advised how I should do it. They did take all my details, and gave me a reference number, and said I should call them again once I was taken to the garage.
We then called out the recovery service using the emergency phone in the car park, and about 30 minutes later a mechanic turned up with a low loader.
He listened to the noise, and told us to follow him to his garage - about 10km down the road. About 100m later, the clutch pedal went straight to the floor along with nasty crunching noises, so we had to load the car onto his low-loader, with the help of some French and Italian guide books to raise the car enough for it to clear the deck of the loader :hehe:
We arrived at his garage, and the mechanic called the AA hotline number and gave the reference number that I'd been given earlier. I then spoke to the AA chap, and he told me that they'd need to move the car to one of their member garages in a nearby town for them to inspect it the following morning (it was about 5:30pm by this point), and in the meantime they would arrange for a taxi to collect us and all our luggage, and a hire car for us to continue our journey.
True to his word, 30 minutes later a taxi turned up, which took us straight to the hire car place, which was about 30 minutes away. By the time we had arrived, all the paperwork for the hire car was completed, and all we had to do was show our driving licences and sign our names before driving off in an Alfa Romeo 156 estate, which was ours for the next 3 weeks. Both the hire car and taxi were paid for by the AA.
True to their word, the AA called me back the following day, and confirmed that it was the clutch, however their garage wasn't able to repair it, so they asked where I wanted the car recovered to. I gave them the name of my dealer, and they then arranged for the car to be recovered there, which took another week.
We then carried on with the rest of the holiday, and on our final day, the AA called again to confirm arrangements for swapping the French registered Alfa over for a UK hire car when we got to the UK. Again, this was all pre-arranged for when we arrived at the Europcar offices at Dover, and soon enough we were on our way again in another hire car, which we were able to drop off about 3 miles from where we live.
From beginning to end, the AA did exactly what they promised, and they did everything possible to make a bad situation as good as it could be.
From the moment I made the initial call, we didn't have to wait more than 30 minutes at any point, and their attitude all the way through was very reassuring and helpful. They came across as wanting to help us continue our holiday with the minimum inconvenience, regardless of cost to them, and they did everything they promised, including phoning back when they said they would - very rare these days I find!
So in these days where poor customer service seems to be more and more common, I'd like to give praise where it's well and truly deserved, so :thumbup: to the AA
Unfortunately, I needed to use their services when I really didn't want to - on the first day of a 3 week driving holiday to Tuscany about 3 weeks ago!
About 75 miles from Dijon, my girlfriend and I pulled into a service station on the motorway and noticed a squealing and faint burning smell coming from the engine. Initial thoughts were that it was a drive belt, but after some investigation we discovered it was actually the clutch. Although the car was still drivable at this point, I decided to call out the breakdown service as I didn't fancy the idea of it failing halfway up a Swiss mountain pass, so I got on the phone to the AA.
They advised that due to the French motorway network being privately owned, they couldn't actually call out the recovery service themselves, but they advised how I should do it. They did take all my details, and gave me a reference number, and said I should call them again once I was taken to the garage.
We then called out the recovery service using the emergency phone in the car park, and about 30 minutes later a mechanic turned up with a low loader.
He listened to the noise, and told us to follow him to his garage - about 10km down the road. About 100m later, the clutch pedal went straight to the floor along with nasty crunching noises, so we had to load the car onto his low-loader, with the help of some French and Italian guide books to raise the car enough for it to clear the deck of the loader :hehe:
We arrived at his garage, and the mechanic called the AA hotline number and gave the reference number that I'd been given earlier. I then spoke to the AA chap, and he told me that they'd need to move the car to one of their member garages in a nearby town for them to inspect it the following morning (it was about 5:30pm by this point), and in the meantime they would arrange for a taxi to collect us and all our luggage, and a hire car for us to continue our journey.
True to his word, 30 minutes later a taxi turned up, which took us straight to the hire car place, which was about 30 minutes away. By the time we had arrived, all the paperwork for the hire car was completed, and all we had to do was show our driving licences and sign our names before driving off in an Alfa Romeo 156 estate, which was ours for the next 3 weeks. Both the hire car and taxi were paid for by the AA.
True to their word, the AA called me back the following day, and confirmed that it was the clutch, however their garage wasn't able to repair it, so they asked where I wanted the car recovered to. I gave them the name of my dealer, and they then arranged for the car to be recovered there, which took another week.
We then carried on with the rest of the holiday, and on our final day, the AA called again to confirm arrangements for swapping the French registered Alfa over for a UK hire car when we got to the UK. Again, this was all pre-arranged for when we arrived at the Europcar offices at Dover, and soon enough we were on our way again in another hire car, which we were able to drop off about 3 miles from where we live.
From beginning to end, the AA did exactly what they promised, and they did everything possible to make a bad situation as good as it could be.
From the moment I made the initial call, we didn't have to wait more than 30 minutes at any point, and their attitude all the way through was very reassuring and helpful. They came across as wanting to help us continue our holiday with the minimum inconvenience, regardless of cost to them, and they did everything they promised, including phoning back when they said they would - very rare these days I find!
So in these days where poor customer service seems to be more and more common, I'd like to give praise where it's well and truly deserved, so :thumbup: to the AA
I always book my european breakdown cover through the AA and thankfully have never had to make use of it. It's good to hear a tale of how well the system works.
I'm off to France at the end of June in my TVR and the AA documents are already sitting at home where I can look at them reassuringly.
I'm off to France at the end of June in my TVR and the AA documents are already sitting at home where I can look at them reassuringly.
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