Aston Martin Emergency Assistance... woeful experience
Discussion
Apologies in advance for a negative post. But I wanted to post this publicly and then point some people to it to get feedback. But I’m also curious as to the experience of others with Aston Martin Emergency Assistance.
It started with a routine oil check of my 2016 V8 Vantage S. It’s my third year of ownership of V8V’s, so I’m fully aware how it works. But this time, when I shut the bonnet (“hood” for our cousins overseas
, the bonnet didn’t latch shut apart from the emergency hook. The release handle in the passenger footwell had no resistance, so either the cable has gone, or the latch has seized, etc.
Normally, I’d take a spanner to something like that. But I have Aston Martin Emergency Assistance coverage having bought the car from AM Bristol. I phoned Bristol first and Mike on the service desk was very good (their team always is). He was happy to arrange things with Aston Martin Emergency Assistance but I said no worries and that I’d give them a call. That was 11am.
Now, the car’s on the drive. I don’t need to get to the south of France in 8 hours in an emergency, so I was very relaxed about the first person helping and saying their goal is to always get somebody sorted in 90 minutes. Very polite, etc.
It was arranged that a AM recovery would come by in that time.
Around the time that they were due to arrive, I got a call from the call centre saying that no AM recovery staff are available as it’s a weekend. (Hint: don’t have issues with your Aston on a weekend!!!) Would I mind a local specialist instead? I said no problem. At this stage, I thought they meant specialist for these types of cars.
They call back later saying they are having problems getting a local specialist to commit, so time would slip. OK... starting to get a nagging feeling, but still a few hours before I needed to go out, so no problem.
Another call came to say that a company called “TT Recovery” would be with us 1:10pm. OK.
At 1pm I got a call direct from a guy at TT saying that they are having problems getting a person to me. There was some talk whether they’d send a fitter or recovery guy. I didn’t really care.
After the call, I looked up the caller’s number and found that the specialist company chosen was www.tech-trucks.co.uk
I am sure that if your vehicle has 3 or more axles, this is an ideal company to help you out. I wasn’t quite sure if they knew their way around a British sports car. So, I phoned Aston Martin Emergency Assistance back and just wanted to confirm this was the chosen specialist. It was indeed. And I can rest assure that they have met the standards required.
I was starting to wonder what these standards are in writing!
So an hour later, a guy in a recovery van arrived. Nice guy... friendly and a wearing a well-oiled high-vis jacket as a badge of honour. Trouble is, it wasn’t his recovery truck that day. I tried to bite my lip as much as possible. But when it turned out he only had a flat head and Philips screwdriver, plus a can of white grease spray, he was stuck trying to get the slam panel off with its Torx fastenings. (He did try momentarily with both screwdrivers at which point I was about to ask him to stop... but he thankfully found it futile before damaging a Torx head).
20 minutes later he left having sprayed a little magic on the accused bonnet latch but not much else (bit relieved, to be honest!). I was amazed.
It was 2:30pm, so I thought it best to back-track to Mike at AM Bristol rather than work through Aston Martin Emergency Assistance again. He was very apologetic and said he’d get things sorted immediately and ensure that the car’s picked up and brought down to Bristol (where it was due to go early next week anyway for some typical paint bubbling remedy under warranty).
Sure enough, Mike txt shortly after and said that the recovery wagon would be with me 8:30pm along with a call 30 mins before from Aston Martin Emergency Assistance to update me. The call at 8pm on the dot sadly came with the news that recovery would be 11pm earliest. They are having problems finding a local recovery service. (I’m in a city, not in the middle of nowhere.) Would that be OK?
No. That would not. The whole experience is not OK. Mike at Bristol has done his best and I thank him for that. I started with a care-free attitude to all this. It’s only a bonnet latch for goodness sake!
Ironically, on Tuesday, I am due to renew (a month early) my year warranty which includes Aston Martin Emergency Assistance. It’s £1,600. The warranty bit may be worth it, if only for the usual paint and lamp issues. But the Emergency Assistance? It’s my first experience of them and I’m in no doubt now that I’ll keep paying for the AA for a professional service. I haven’t needed them for years, but they never let me down.
Heaven help us owners if one of us is relying on Aston Martin Emergency Assistance to get us out of a true mess on the roadside. At the weekend!
Apparently they will now arrive between 8:30am and 9:00am tomorrow (Sunday) morning with a call 30 minutes in advance. My breath is baited but not held...
It started with a routine oil check of my 2016 V8 Vantage S. It’s my third year of ownership of V8V’s, so I’m fully aware how it works. But this time, when I shut the bonnet (“hood” for our cousins overseas
, the bonnet didn’t latch shut apart from the emergency hook. The release handle in the passenger footwell had no resistance, so either the cable has gone, or the latch has seized, etc.Normally, I’d take a spanner to something like that. But I have Aston Martin Emergency Assistance coverage having bought the car from AM Bristol. I phoned Bristol first and Mike on the service desk was very good (their team always is). He was happy to arrange things with Aston Martin Emergency Assistance but I said no worries and that I’d give them a call. That was 11am.
Now, the car’s on the drive. I don’t need to get to the south of France in 8 hours in an emergency, so I was very relaxed about the first person helping and saying their goal is to always get somebody sorted in 90 minutes. Very polite, etc.
It was arranged that a AM recovery would come by in that time.
Around the time that they were due to arrive, I got a call from the call centre saying that no AM recovery staff are available as it’s a weekend. (Hint: don’t have issues with your Aston on a weekend!!!) Would I mind a local specialist instead? I said no problem. At this stage, I thought they meant specialist for these types of cars.
They call back later saying they are having problems getting a local specialist to commit, so time would slip. OK... starting to get a nagging feeling, but still a few hours before I needed to go out, so no problem.
Another call came to say that a company called “TT Recovery” would be with us 1:10pm. OK.
At 1pm I got a call direct from a guy at TT saying that they are having problems getting a person to me. There was some talk whether they’d send a fitter or recovery guy. I didn’t really care.
After the call, I looked up the caller’s number and found that the specialist company chosen was www.tech-trucks.co.uk
I am sure that if your vehicle has 3 or more axles, this is an ideal company to help you out. I wasn’t quite sure if they knew their way around a British sports car. So, I phoned Aston Martin Emergency Assistance back and just wanted to confirm this was the chosen specialist. It was indeed. And I can rest assure that they have met the standards required.
I was starting to wonder what these standards are in writing!
So an hour later, a guy in a recovery van arrived. Nice guy... friendly and a wearing a well-oiled high-vis jacket as a badge of honour. Trouble is, it wasn’t his recovery truck that day. I tried to bite my lip as much as possible. But when it turned out he only had a flat head and Philips screwdriver, plus a can of white grease spray, he was stuck trying to get the slam panel off with its Torx fastenings. (He did try momentarily with both screwdrivers at which point I was about to ask him to stop... but he thankfully found it futile before damaging a Torx head).
20 minutes later he left having sprayed a little magic on the accused bonnet latch but not much else (bit relieved, to be honest!). I was amazed.
It was 2:30pm, so I thought it best to back-track to Mike at AM Bristol rather than work through Aston Martin Emergency Assistance again. He was very apologetic and said he’d get things sorted immediately and ensure that the car’s picked up and brought down to Bristol (where it was due to go early next week anyway for some typical paint bubbling remedy under warranty).
Sure enough, Mike txt shortly after and said that the recovery wagon would be with me 8:30pm along with a call 30 mins before from Aston Martin Emergency Assistance to update me. The call at 8pm on the dot sadly came with the news that recovery would be 11pm earliest. They are having problems finding a local recovery service. (I’m in a city, not in the middle of nowhere.) Would that be OK?
No. That would not. The whole experience is not OK. Mike at Bristol has done his best and I thank him for that. I started with a care-free attitude to all this. It’s only a bonnet latch for goodness sake!
Ironically, on Tuesday, I am due to renew (a month early) my year warranty which includes Aston Martin Emergency Assistance. It’s £1,600. The warranty bit may be worth it, if only for the usual paint and lamp issues. But the Emergency Assistance? It’s my first experience of them and I’m in no doubt now that I’ll keep paying for the AA for a professional service. I haven’t needed them for years, but they never let me down.
Heaven help us owners if one of us is relying on Aston Martin Emergency Assistance to get us out of a true mess on the roadside. At the weekend!
Apparently they will now arrive between 8:30am and 9:00am tomorrow (Sunday) morning with a call 30 minutes in advance. My breath is baited but not held...
V8V Pete said:
Don't particularly want to turn this into a warranty vs. no warranty thread but the latest I've heard is that paint issues are dealt with FOC for any car under 10 years old irrespective of extended warranty cover. This is certainly the case for my 2014 MY V8VS which hasn't had warranty cover for nearly 3 years. In that time I've saved £5K and had nothing done which would have been covered by warranty. Anecdote maybe but with service like you describe definitely don't pay the subs for the "Emergency Assistance".
Hmmm... that’s an interesting point, Pete.To me, the warranty aspect is the part of the deal I buy it for (especially now!). It does claim some interesting pan-European benefits such as first class travel back if the car can’t be repaired, etc., but in all honesty, I care for that very little.
What I do want the warranty for is if anything major and non-serviceable goes in the engine or gearbox, etc.
As both driver and passenger windows have dropped a little, I did ask if adjustment for that can be done. But apparently that’s not part of the warranty. There will always be catches like that... and I go into the warranty knowing that.
AM is all about experience. Nobody needs an AM, which is why this is soooo important for their good fortune. If AM themselves aren’t aware of the situation (I suspect it’s all out-sourced), I think it best they become aware of it before a critical matter arises.
South tdf said:
The assistance is provided by Allianz and to be fair I never had a problem with them having used them 3 times for the Aston’s, once in my old Vantage when I went over some metal on the motorway and damaged a tyre. They sent a local recovery agent out who offered to either take me and the car to the dealer, home or a tyre centre.
2nd was for a flat battery (on a Saturday morning), Allianz tech came out within two hours and amazingly kept a new genuine battery for my car that the dealerships don’t even stock.
3rd was for what turned out to be a failed roof module and associated warning lights, the car failed on a Saturday evening so I arranged for a Allianz tech to come out next morning. After half an hour, temporary repair complete and the car could be driven apart from the roof not working.
It is worth noting the techs cover other brands as one of the local guys round here has also been out to my BMW in the past.
Best not mention Ferrari assistance, I was driving a nearly new one last year when it failed leaving me at the side of the road at 5.30 on a Monday evening. After lots of phone calls it seems Ferrari assistance only open office hours so I had to pay for a local recovery company.
Thanks for posting that... it does give me some hope it was a one-off yesterday.2nd was for a flat battery (on a Saturday morning), Allianz tech came out within two hours and amazingly kept a new genuine battery for my car that the dealerships don’t even stock.
3rd was for what turned out to be a failed roof module and associated warning lights, the car failed on a Saturday evening so I arranged for a Allianz tech to come out next morning. After half an hour, temporary repair complete and the car could be driven apart from the roof not working.
It is worth noting the techs cover other brands as one of the local guys round here has also been out to my BMW in the past.
Best not mention Ferrari assistance, I was driving a nearly new one last year when it failed leaving me at the side of the road at 5.30 on a Monday evening. After lots of phone calls it seems Ferrari assistance only open office hours so I had to pay for a local recovery company.
Still not sure about how relevant the local specialists chosen are to the type of car. If it was just about loading it onto a flatbed, that’s one thing. But they had no hope trying to fix anything.
Fingers crossed for this morning!
IanV12VSRs said:
I have had to call them out three times in 12 years of Aston ownership. Good experiences all three times but, interestingly, on all three occasions just a recovery truck was provided even though on one of the occasions a technician could have sorted the problem.
Each time timings slipped marginally but kept informed so view the service as being good.
Perhaps the best way of going about this!Each time timings slipped marginally but kept informed so view the service as being good.
I imagine that from a mechanical point of view, working on a previous-gen Vantage is likely to be as straightforward as any modern hatch. But there’s the larger potential financial problem if they damage something along the way.
LooneyTunes said:
WTF on so many levels. Personally I wouldn’t have let him near the car if he didn’t have the right tools for the job and/or didn’t seem to be accustomed to such vehicles. What on earth are AM doing sending out people ill equipped to actually help?
I’ve only used AM EA once and when they told me what their first attempt to fix would be decided to to DIY (it involved needing to go for an enthusiastic drive to rearrange luggage in the boot!).
Unless a long way from home, my default position is to avoid letting randoms work on my cars and get them back to/collected by the dealer or specialists I trust.
Must admit that the guy who came out with two screwdrivers did make me wonder!I’ve only used AM EA once and when they told me what their first attempt to fix would be decided to to DIY (it involved needing to go for an enthusiastic drive to rearrange luggage in the boot!).
Unless a long way from home, my default position is to avoid letting randoms work on my cars and get them back to/collected by the dealer or specialists I trust.
After yesterday’s experience, I now think it best to just get the car recovered and taken straight to a MD or specialist.
At least this morning’s experience was the complete opposite. Call at 7:15am to let me know that the recovery lorry would be roughly 8:30am as promised last night.
Bang on time a modern large truck arrived with a great mechanic who normally deals with all sorts including AM Cheltenham. I drove it on. He carefully clamped it down with no chance of damaging any paint. Off it went in a picture of efficiency to AM Bristol.
They have somewhat redeem themselves but I’ve learnt something in case I have to use AM Emergency Assistance again...
Follow-up...
The car's arrived at AM Bristol this morning which is the main thing.
The post got around to Allianz. A manager phoned me to apologise for the service. Apology accepted.
Let's hope it was just a one-off. As mentioned above, I wasn't a priority as I was safely at home and not at the roadside so no real harm apart from lost hours.
From my point of view, the majority worth in the £1,600 annual bill is the warranty with AM. I'll stay with the AA as I have done for years, so am not worried about a real emergency situation.
Some interesting insights into the business by lukeharding. Thanks for that! I can imagine that if I'm a local contractor, I would fear working on some types of vehicle as the potential cost of getting it wrong as more than the job's worth. Perhaps that, the relatively sparser population area in which I live, that it was a nice weather Saturday (staff off work) and non-urgent status all conspired against me on that occasion. No, it shouldn't. But that's life.
The car's arrived at AM Bristol this morning which is the main thing.
The post got around to Allianz. A manager phoned me to apologise for the service. Apology accepted.
Let's hope it was just a one-off. As mentioned above, I wasn't a priority as I was safely at home and not at the roadside so no real harm apart from lost hours.
From my point of view, the majority worth in the £1,600 annual bill is the warranty with AM. I'll stay with the AA as I have done for years, so am not worried about a real emergency situation.
Some interesting insights into the business by lukeharding. Thanks for that! I can imagine that if I'm a local contractor, I would fear working on some types of vehicle as the potential cost of getting it wrong as more than the job's worth. Perhaps that, the relatively sparser population area in which I live, that it was a nice weather Saturday (staff off work) and non-urgent status all conspired against me on that occasion. No, it shouldn't. But that's life.
)sticks090460 said:
I’ve used twice. Once, bloke turned up within an hour, plugged diagnostics in and cleared fault (E-Diff not available) in five minutes. Other time, car needed recovering to Works. A different bloke turned up with a low-loader with a very shallow approach angle and took car away, only to deliver it back two days later with the fault (airbag warning light - diagnosed as a detached wire behind the dash) fixed. I don't know what they could have done differently or better TBH.
That's great to read! In my original post which started this thread, they did good the next day (Sunday morning at that).db11far said:
Required them recently. Three planned visits within 90 minutes:
1. Remote technician - took it for a test drive with him, he diagnosed fault to confirm if it was something he could attend to, and advised recovery necessary
2. Director of recovery company coming to "check out what is happening given the vehicle, before i arrange for a truck"
3. Recovery truck - took the AM onto the back myself, they were also very careful (albeit not the type of tech you would find at an AM service dept. )
All three organisations (AM, Allianz, 3rd party) were rapid and efficient. This was on a weekend or Friday evening when the dealerships were closed too.
Similarly, the work carried out under warranty - no qualms, no difficulty with either dealership.
The only problem is the lost time which i am effectively paying for in cost + depreciation, lost salary and major dent in confidence in the vehicle which I hope will come back.
Glad it was sorted properly.1. Remote technician - took it for a test drive with him, he diagnosed fault to confirm if it was something he could attend to, and advised recovery necessary
2. Director of recovery company coming to "check out what is happening given the vehicle, before i arrange for a truck"
3. Recovery truck - took the AM onto the back myself, they were also very careful (albeit not the type of tech you would find at an AM service dept.
)All three organisations (AM, Allianz, 3rd party) were rapid and efficient. This was on a weekend or Friday evening when the dealerships were closed too.
Similarly, the work carried out under warranty - no qualms, no difficulty with either dealership.
The only problem is the lost time which i am effectively paying for in cost + depreciation, lost salary and major dent in confidence in the vehicle which I hope will come back.
Unless it's your daily driver, hopefully you're not inconvenienced too much and return it quickly.
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