AA £500 towards repairs cover

AA £500 towards repairs cover

Author
Discussion

Rangeroverover

Original Poster:

1,523 posts

124 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Hi
Just been sold cover by the AA, seems that if my car breaks and I call out the AA, they pay the first £500 of the bill. It doesn't cover consumables, discs/pads exhaust etc. They tell me as long as the car has been serviced by a vat registered garage at manufacturers intervals all is well.

Has anyone actually succesfully claimed on this?

I should mention I have got the cover on a 1991 Range Rover, they seem ok with this

ben5732

763 posts

169 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Has your car got full service history?

Scamper

732 posts

235 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
i had this and got caught out by the small print....strange noise with the car, driving past my usual garage, stopped in to see if they could find out problem, phoned AA when it was diagnosed...they refused to cover the costs because i didnt call them out first to diagnose the problem.
Put in a written complaint, 6 weeks later they politely refused to cover the costs.....

so moral of the story is, if you suspect ANY problem with your car call them out...otherwise you wont be covered.

Jamesgt

849 posts

246 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
This product has good reviews. I've claimed for my RRS TDV8 alternator. The bill came to a shade under £500. Also when I had my vx220 at a lotus Elise specialist a few months ago he told me many Elise owners successfully claim for head gasket failures.

Rangeroverover

Original Poster:

1,523 posts

124 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
When I was asking them questions various "must do's" came out
1) Call them out first
2) make sure of service history (mine is more than good enough as its only done 80k in 24 years)
3) Make sure car is serviced by a vat registered garage

ging84

9,429 posts

159 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
says in thier t&cs "Service and mileage records are taken from the date the vehicle is
first nominated for AA Breakdown Repair Cover."

I'm not sure how that statement holds up in practice, say i have a car which is due a service every 2 years, and it's already a year over due, i take out aa repair cover, then it would seem i am covered, so long as it get's it's next service with in 2 years, even though that service is massively over due.

rallycross

13,432 posts

250 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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I'd be surprised if there is not some reference to cars over 10 yrs old / 100k miles in the T&C's.

Rangeroverover

Original Poster:

1,523 posts

124 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
I disclosed the age/mileage to them for the range rover also the LPG conversion. I also nominated an 06 shogun sport, that won't break as its so horrid to drive I almost never use it

Dan_1981

17,674 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
I have the same cover, the only thing i'm unclear on is if you actually have to breakdown to claim?

For example, the other week one of my front springs broke, now i'm not sure if this is a consumable or not, but if i'd phoned the AA and told them would they have paid out for it?

Where as if I drive it to a garage and have it done, then they won't?

So for example, I suspect something is faulty but I have to drive around until it falls to pieces all over the M1 before they will help me with the costs?

Rangeroverover

Original Poster:

1,523 posts

124 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
I would think a broken spring would be an ok thing to call them out for, could seriously effect stability under emergency braking

Sheepshanks

36,556 posts

132 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Scamper said:
i had this and got caught out by the small print....strange noise with the car, driving past my usual garage, stopped in to see if they could find out problem, phoned AA when it was diagnosed...they refused to cover the costs because i didnt call them out first to diagnose the problem.
Put in a written complaint, 6 weeks later they politely refused to cover the costs.....

so moral of the story is, if you suspect ANY problem with your car call them out...otherwise you wont be covered.
Without delving into the small print, I would assume that for breakdown cover to pay out, the car would have to break down. Am I missing something?

Dan_1981

17,674 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Rangeroverover said:
I would think a broken spring would be an ok thing to call them out for, could seriously effect stability under emergency braking
It just seems a waste, I drive it round the corner to my garage and they fix it and send the AA the bill.

Or I call the AA, they have to pay for a recovery driver to come out, inspect my car, recover me and car to garage, drive me home, and then pay for the car to be repaired.

Just curious as to how it actually works, and when I need to call them out!

Sheepshanks

36,556 posts

132 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
I have the same cover, the only thing i'm unclear on is if you actually have to breakdown to claim?
So I just Googled the policy for you. rolleyes

Never mind small print, on the first page, in bold capitals, it says:

"PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST HAVE BROKEN DOWN AND BEEN ASSISTED UNDER AA
MEMBERSHIP TO BE ABLE TO CLAIM UNDER THIS POLICY."

wd888

87 posts

193 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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been using this on my golf tdi for the past 5 years.
no issues at all, as already mentioned you do have to breakdown.

Scamper

732 posts

235 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Without delving into the small print, I would assume that for breakdown cover to pay out, the car would have to break down. Am I missing something?
i thought it was the intercooler pipe splitting, reduced power still drivable...turned out it was the turbo!

i shouldve driven past my usual garage and parked up on my driveway and then called the AA out....but i thought i was doing the car and myself a favour by popping in before it got worse....

Scamper

732 posts

235 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Rangeroverover said:
I would think a broken spring would be an ok thing to call them out for, could seriously effect stability under emergency braking
its not broken down though is it????

Sheepshanks

36,556 posts

132 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Scamper said:
Rangeroverover said:
I would think a broken spring would be an ok thing to call them out for, could seriously effect stability under emergency braking
its not broken down though is it????
Broken spring makes the car un-roadworthy, so I'm going to say that counts as a breakdown.

R_U_LOCAL

2,692 posts

221 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
I've had this cover and made quite a few claims when I ran older, out-of-warranty cars and I reckon I saved myself between £1500 and £1800.

As people have already mentioned, you must call the AA out, but if you've got home start cover, it counts if they come to your home address. You don't necessarily have to be recovered - if the AA technician states the car is safe to drive, you can drive it to a garage yourself, and it needs to be a VAT registered garage for them to pay out.

If the repair comes to less than £500, they pay the lot, less - I think - a £25 excess. If it comes to more than £500, they pay the first £500, less the excess and you pay the rest yourself.

I made 2 seperate claims in one year when I had my M3 - once for a VANOS failure and once for an SMG gearbox problem, I claimed for a broken fan belt in an Audi A6, and two seperate faults when I had a CLK270. On each occasion, I found the AA to be easy to deal with and they never baulked at paying out. You also get a hire car for the first two or three days following a breakdown - the recovery guy ran me to the hire company and I was given a car immediately.

If you run older, out-of-warranty cars, I can't recommend this cover highly enough.