Autoaid or GEM?
Discussion
Signed up with AutoAid on 20/11, broke down in the Westfield on the 29th, send off my invoice on the 2nd and am now waiting for the refund of the recovery...
The call into the call-center was easy enough. Received a text to say the recovery truck would be there within the hour... but then it took three and a half hours for it to finally show up! Not a fault of AutoAid, that's what you get with local contractors
The call into the call-center was easy enough. Received a text to say the recovery truck would be there within the hour... but then it took three and a half hours for it to finally show up! Not a fault of AutoAid, that's what you get with local contractors
Edited by Quinten on Friday 13th December 21:02
Had one of my old Montegos break down in the works' car park some years ago - a driveshaft fell off at the gearbox end due to the bolts exiting stage-left (it had been showing signs of doing this stunt for some time, he says with hindsight 
) and so the car was immoveable under its own power .
Rang the RAC; they took my comments on board and said they would send a recovery agent out... 10 minutes later a local recovery firm turned up with a flatbed lorry, dragged it on, drove us home and dropped the car off at the end of my street (I had spare driveshaft bolts available there and I had the car back on the road 5 minutes later).
Turned out the recovery vehicle was on its way home from a regional "move a vehicle from A to B" job, and my job was approximately (
) en route back to HQ... 
Yeah, breakdown companies use subbies - but this is no prediction as to the outcome
.
The RAC have 'seen me right' a few times in the last 20 years - and it's person-based not vehicle-based . I see to recall that my last renewal with *mumble* NCB was around £71 including what used to be known as "rescue, recovery and at home" - off the bat and with no haggling!
) and so the car was immoveable under its own power .Rang the RAC; they took my comments on board and said they would send a recovery agent out... 10 minutes later a local recovery firm turned up with a flatbed lorry, dragged it on, drove us home and dropped the car off at the end of my street (I had spare driveshaft bolts available there and I had the car back on the road 5 minutes later).
Turned out the recovery vehicle was on its way home from a regional "move a vehicle from A to B" job, and my job was approximately (
) en route back to HQ... Yeah, breakdown companies use subbies - but this is no prediction as to the outcome
.The RAC have 'seen me right' a few times in the last 20 years - and it's person-based not vehicle-based
. I see to recall that my last renewal with *mumble* NCB was around £71 including what used to be known as "rescue, recovery and at home" - off the bat and with no haggling!I'm with GEM. They responded really well this time last year when my battery was dying. They came out a couple of times, turned up when they said they were going to.
AA was similar when I had their cover when the car was new, but I think GEM is better value for the package you get.
I believe Autoaid are pay & claim back. With GEM you can do it either way and save a bit of money.
There's another thread on here that talks about ADAC doing European cover for less than the AA charge for UK cover - and ADAC uses the AA as a sub-contractor here in the UK! Might be worth a look?
AA was similar when I had their cover when the car was new, but I think GEM is better value for the package you get.
I believe Autoaid are pay & claim back. With GEM you can do it either way and save a bit of money.
There's another thread on here that talks about ADAC doing European cover for less than the AA charge for UK cover - and ADAC uses the AA as a sub-contractor here in the UK! Might be worth a look?
I'm with Gem and they had to recover me over 100 miles and were brilliant. Quick to turn up. Did exactly what I asked them too. They were also very careful with my car during the recovery which has not always been the case with other companies I've had to use in the past. I'd highly recommend gem.
Having not heard from AutoAid 2 weeks after posting my recovery invoice I phoned them up and got told that they could not find my invoice or proof it was received. They did admit they were in between office moves, so it may have just been delayed in the internal post. Got asked to email a scan of the invoice (which I thankfully had done before I send it off!) and I then finally received the cheque.
So all in all it worked out, but you better not be strapped for cash or forget to scan stuff in before handing it to royal fail...
So all in all it worked out, but you better not be strapped for cash or forget to scan stuff in before handing it to royal fail...
Similar problems with Autoaid/Royal Mail losing stuff - they only wanted a scan of my claim form and have raised a cheque based on that though which is positive.
The company they used for recovery most recently is pretty useless though, so using their contact centre to get recovered maybe isn't the best idea.
The company they used for recovery most recently is pretty useless though, so using their contact centre to get recovered maybe isn't the best idea.
Autoaid have a sister company autonational rescue, which you don't need to pay and claim back on. We got 15 months cover for my wife with all the bells on for £66. Broke down 2 weeks later (first breakdown in 7 years, whilst looking for a replacement car lol) and recovered quickly no problem.
Edited by chris1roll on Wednesday 9th April 12:54
Very happy Autoaid customer here. I've never had to use them but the wife has used them twice and been very happy with the service. In fact she used them last week - arrived within 30 mins, immediately diagnosed the issue (alternator), and towed the car to our choice of garage to get fixed.
I'm thinking of switching to autoaid.
Has anyone any experience of being picked up from a trackday by them?
I notice their documentation states:
Under exclusions
Any request for service if the vehicle has been used (from the time you bought it) for private hire, public hire, racing, rally, pacemaking or in any contest or speed trial or any rigorous reliability testing.
Which I reckon means track days are find.
Has anyone any experience of being picked up from a trackday by them?
I notice their documentation states:
Under exclusions
Any request for service if the vehicle has been used (from the time you bought it) for private hire, public hire, racing, rally, pacemaking or in any contest or speed trial or any rigorous reliability testing.
Which I reckon means track days are find.
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