Jobs/careers in roadside recovery (aa, rac etc)
Discussion
Evening all,
Does anyone here work for a roadside/breakdown company - AA, RAC etc.
Whats it like?
Many opportunities for promotion/going up?
I'm particularly interested in the AA, as they provide Jaguar/Land rover assist, who i currently work for and have experience on the tools and front of house with,which could give me a huge advantage!
Thanks
Does anyone here work for a roadside/breakdown company - AA, RAC etc.
Whats it like?
Many opportunities for promotion/going up?
I'm particularly interested in the AA, as they provide Jaguar/Land rover assist, who i currently work for and have experience on the tools and front of house with,which could give me a huge advantage!
Thanks
I very recently left as a Patrol after 3 years at one of the big two, and before that I spent a year with a 3rd party garage agent.
The job itself is very interesting with every day being genuinely different and often very rewarding, but it is not without its downsides, namely for me, the shifts.
The standard shift pattern is 6-3 (that often can become 7-2 or even 8-1 depending on how your extra hours are allocated) with shifts generally being 9-11.5 hours in length, so 60+ hour weeks are common just for your contracted hours.
The rostering rules are tedious, but generally the shift start times, length and finish times all can and do vary from by a couple of hours during a working 'block' and from week to week can vary wildly, I.E, one block you could find yourself finishing at around 2am in the morning, then after one or two rest days you could be starting the next block of early 6-7am starts. No day is sacred (apart from Christmas and New year's, but you have to use holiday time) and it is very possible to go more than a month without a weekend if you're unlucky.
I found having achieving a decent work/life balance without any kind of working pattern or proper routine next to impossible. It doesn't help that the job itself is pretty isolating, somewhat stressful with the expected targets (those 'Back on the road in XX minutes or less' claims on the ads don't magically happen
...) and no downtime when on shift, causing the unspoken expectation that all paperwork, stock management and vehicle maintenance are to be done in your own time.
I wouldn't advise anyone against the job, but I'd advise people to really consider the amount of hours, the way they are scheduled and the implications that they might have on their lives. I really enjoyed my time at the job, but after 4 years in the game my sanity was beginning to wear thin.
I'd go back tomorrow if there was the option of working less/more consistent hours, but 'That's the job' unfortunately.
I must say one thing though, it beats the snot out of working in a garage!
By the way, I'm talking as a vanilla patrol here - The JLR contract do vary.
The job itself is very interesting with every day being genuinely different and often very rewarding, but it is not without its downsides, namely for me, the shifts.
The standard shift pattern is 6-3 (that often can become 7-2 or even 8-1 depending on how your extra hours are allocated) with shifts generally being 9-11.5 hours in length, so 60+ hour weeks are common just for your contracted hours.
The rostering rules are tedious, but generally the shift start times, length and finish times all can and do vary from by a couple of hours during a working 'block' and from week to week can vary wildly, I.E, one block you could find yourself finishing at around 2am in the morning, then after one or two rest days you could be starting the next block of early 6-7am starts. No day is sacred (apart from Christmas and New year's, but you have to use holiday time) and it is very possible to go more than a month without a weekend if you're unlucky.
I found having achieving a decent work/life balance without any kind of working pattern or proper routine next to impossible. It doesn't help that the job itself is pretty isolating, somewhat stressful with the expected targets (those 'Back on the road in XX minutes or less' claims on the ads don't magically happen
...) and no downtime when on shift, causing the unspoken expectation that all paperwork, stock management and vehicle maintenance are to be done in your own time. I wouldn't advise anyone against the job, but I'd advise people to really consider the amount of hours, the way they are scheduled and the implications that they might have on their lives. I really enjoyed my time at the job, but after 4 years in the game my sanity was beginning to wear thin.
I'd go back tomorrow if there was the option of working less/more consistent hours, but 'That's the job' unfortunately.
I must say one thing though, it beats the snot out of working in a garage!
By the way, I'm talking as a vanilla patrol here - The JLR contract do vary.
Edited by 279 on Tuesday 9th August 20:13
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff