AA Patrolman interview
Discussion
Hi guys, hope your all well. After 5 years in a main dealer I've decided to take the leep and start work as a patrolman for the AA.
I'm in the final part of my recruitment where I'm going to have a teams interview soon. I just wondered if anyone has gone through this process recently and have any tips or heads up as not sure what I'm getting myself into and want to prepare myself. I'm sure you can figure out I'm really nervous as it's been a while and I really want the job.
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks
I'm in the final part of my recruitment where I'm going to have a teams interview soon. I just wondered if anyone has gone through this process recently and have any tips or heads up as not sure what I'm getting myself into and want to prepare myself. I'm sure you can figure out I'm really nervous as it's been a while and I really want the job.
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks
I spent 6 years as an AA patrolman, and whilst not wanting to sound too negative, leaving was the best thing I ever did.
Just take what you're being told with a pinch of salt. The reality is that KPIs are the be all and end all.
If you get the job you'll be monitored on 3 main things, which are banded from 1-5, with 5 being "below minimum standard"...
1) Under bonnet time (or "A2RSSC" as they refer to it), which means you'll have around 30 minutes to deal with each job overall, irrespective of time of day, day of the week or the specific detail or restrictions associated with a particular task.
2) Repair rate, which is as it implies. You'll be expected to "repair" at least 80% of all jobs. But, what constitutes a repair in AA speak will be very different to what you're used to in a garage. For example, alternator failure? Stick a fully charged battery on the car from your van stock and follow it to a garage. You might have to pull over and recharge it from your van a couple of times as the lights start to dim and various warning lights come on due to low voltage, but that's a repair. A misfire due to an injector not working? Unplug it, follow it to a garage on 3 cylinders in limp mode after persuading the customer and hope that nothing goes wrong, that's a repair. Essentially, as long as it limps and stutters into a garage under its own steam then that's classed as a repair. Due to increasingly dodgy tactics from your new found colleagues, and unreasonable pressure from your Performance Leader(line manager), you'll soon feel obliged to perform increasingly risky "repairs" to keep your figures looking good and not stand out. Fall below 80% for top long and it'll be a performance management process along with a 20 shift review.
3). STC (single task completion). This is performing a repair involving no other resource within 48 hours. So for example, if you get a long wheelbase Sprinter that's had a manual gearbox failure and risks locking up, you can't tow it due to being over 2-Tonnes, which would be above your gross train weight for your van. That means you have to put it up for a recovery truck. That's a second resource, so you've lost your STC, even though you didn't choose the job and the restrictions are out of your control. The AA will tell you that your figures won't be affected because "the system" wasn't expecting you to deal with it in one go. As you'd discover soon enough though, thanks to shenanigans from your colleagues and more pressure from management, all of those figures are absolutely corrupted to the point of it being ridiculous, and the system will indeed penalise you for not dealing with it in one go. You'll probably feel it necessary to take the risk of flat towing overweight vehicles soon enough, and again, hoping nothing goes wrong. Bearing in mind that if it does go wrong, you'll get zero support and have the book thrown at you, before being discarded like a used condom.
Another quirk of STC is that there's very little context. So, if you go to a vehicle one day for a jump start, and the following day it gets a puncture and another patrol has to go out to change the wheel, you lose your STC and get penalised in your performance figures. All "the system" sees is that another patrol attended that registration number again within 48 hours. When you bring that up with your line manager you'll simply get told that "yeah but, this is how you're judged", as he points to your figures on a screen with a vacant expression on his face. You'll need to stay above 95% to keep them happy.
There'll also be an expectation to make members too, despite not having time on the job to do it. You'll get the spiel about signing up passengers and the like, but the reality is that it's very hard. So hard in fact that the company laid off their field sales team a number of years ago. The first year is quite easy, as you happily sign all of your friends and family up for memberships using your patrol discount, but it becomes more challenging after that.
Also be aware that work/life balance is almost non-existent. Birthdays, bank holidays, kid's school play, Mother's Day, Father's Day, that event you like going to every year? Forget it, you'll be in a yellow van. You might get lucky and be able to swap a shift if it's available here and there, but it's a massive change from the 9-5 that you've been used to, and the vast majority of your holidays need to be booked over a year in advance (no, that's not a typo). You'll get told about all of the shift patterns and how flexible it all is...it's not.
I'm not meaning to come across as bitter or overly negative at all, I just want you to fully understand what's involved. There a lot of pressure, not just from the company, but on relationships with your friends and family as you become estranged from your previously known and accepted lifestyle. Hobbies and interests become difficult to pursue, because if you're not at work, you're knackered from doing 7 or 8 days of 11-12 hours shifts in some cases. 13-14 hours aren't uncommon from time to time either, as you feel obliged to see a job through to it's completion to protect your performance figures, even if that means a 60-70 mile tow when you're due to end your shift imminently.
I reached the end when I found myself stood on the outside of a bridge looking down at the traffic over the A46 and wondering to myself how much it was going to hurt. I was a good patrol, my final batch of figures is below, I was number one in the country at the time for performance. That weighed so heavily on my shoulders though, as the pressure never decreased, nobody said thank you, I was just expected to keep it up. During a particularly poor shift for deployment where I'd been given a string of jobs I could do nothing with, such as overweight vehicles, seized engines and dangerous locations, I was given an "auto gearbox failure" on a 10 tonne motorhome to deal with. Now, the AA will tell you that you won't get sent to vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, but again, that isn't the case; this particular policy was bundled in with motorhome insurance cover. After phoning the customer, I established that it was at home on the driveway, the auto gearbox had made a horrible noise and essentially just exploded as he attempted to pull away, and it was clear and obvious that it just needed a recovery truck to take it to a garage. I called the office and explained this, and was told that I "must attend". Fruitless, a waste of everyone's time, and frustrating for both the member and myself. At that moment I decided that I didn't want to be trapped in the constant cycle of putting performance figures first, following archaic processes and never being good enough. So I pulled over, locked the van and began walking, which is where I came to the bridge. The thing that saved me in that moment was picturing my wife's face when the Police knocked on the door to deliver the news...I couldn't be selfish enough to put her through that in the end. But I vowed on that day that I wasn't going to be made to feel that way any longer.
My story is one of many, and unfortunately not everyone got to survive to tell the tale.
Again, not trying to put you off, just explaining the reality.
It's not all bad, but the positives get swamped by the negatives in my view. I left, moved on to a different career and have been massively happier ever since. I got a season ticket for my favourite football team again which I'd been unable to do for years due to there being little point, I've spent more time with friends and family again and felt like I'd got my freedom back.
Like I've alluded to, just go in with your eyes open.
Good luck with the interview.
Just take what you're being told with a pinch of salt. The reality is that KPIs are the be all and end all.
If you get the job you'll be monitored on 3 main things, which are banded from 1-5, with 5 being "below minimum standard"...
1) Under bonnet time (or "A2RSSC" as they refer to it), which means you'll have around 30 minutes to deal with each job overall, irrespective of time of day, day of the week or the specific detail or restrictions associated with a particular task.
2) Repair rate, which is as it implies. You'll be expected to "repair" at least 80% of all jobs. But, what constitutes a repair in AA speak will be very different to what you're used to in a garage. For example, alternator failure? Stick a fully charged battery on the car from your van stock and follow it to a garage. You might have to pull over and recharge it from your van a couple of times as the lights start to dim and various warning lights come on due to low voltage, but that's a repair. A misfire due to an injector not working? Unplug it, follow it to a garage on 3 cylinders in limp mode after persuading the customer and hope that nothing goes wrong, that's a repair. Essentially, as long as it limps and stutters into a garage under its own steam then that's classed as a repair. Due to increasingly dodgy tactics from your new found colleagues, and unreasonable pressure from your Performance Leader(line manager), you'll soon feel obliged to perform increasingly risky "repairs" to keep your figures looking good and not stand out. Fall below 80% for top long and it'll be a performance management process along with a 20 shift review.
3). STC (single task completion). This is performing a repair involving no other resource within 48 hours. So for example, if you get a long wheelbase Sprinter that's had a manual gearbox failure and risks locking up, you can't tow it due to being over 2-Tonnes, which would be above your gross train weight for your van. That means you have to put it up for a recovery truck. That's a second resource, so you've lost your STC, even though you didn't choose the job and the restrictions are out of your control. The AA will tell you that your figures won't be affected because "the system" wasn't expecting you to deal with it in one go. As you'd discover soon enough though, thanks to shenanigans from your colleagues and more pressure from management, all of those figures are absolutely corrupted to the point of it being ridiculous, and the system will indeed penalise you for not dealing with it in one go. You'll probably feel it necessary to take the risk of flat towing overweight vehicles soon enough, and again, hoping nothing goes wrong. Bearing in mind that if it does go wrong, you'll get zero support and have the book thrown at you, before being discarded like a used condom.
Another quirk of STC is that there's very little context. So, if you go to a vehicle one day for a jump start, and the following day it gets a puncture and another patrol has to go out to change the wheel, you lose your STC and get penalised in your performance figures. All "the system" sees is that another patrol attended that registration number again within 48 hours. When you bring that up with your line manager you'll simply get told that "yeah but, this is how you're judged", as he points to your figures on a screen with a vacant expression on his face. You'll need to stay above 95% to keep them happy.
There'll also be an expectation to make members too, despite not having time on the job to do it. You'll get the spiel about signing up passengers and the like, but the reality is that it's very hard. So hard in fact that the company laid off their field sales team a number of years ago. The first year is quite easy, as you happily sign all of your friends and family up for memberships using your patrol discount, but it becomes more challenging after that.
Also be aware that work/life balance is almost non-existent. Birthdays, bank holidays, kid's school play, Mother's Day, Father's Day, that event you like going to every year? Forget it, you'll be in a yellow van. You might get lucky and be able to swap a shift if it's available here and there, but it's a massive change from the 9-5 that you've been used to, and the vast majority of your holidays need to be booked over a year in advance (no, that's not a typo). You'll get told about all of the shift patterns and how flexible it all is...it's not.
I'm not meaning to come across as bitter or overly negative at all, I just want you to fully understand what's involved. There a lot of pressure, not just from the company, but on relationships with your friends and family as you become estranged from your previously known and accepted lifestyle. Hobbies and interests become difficult to pursue, because if you're not at work, you're knackered from doing 7 or 8 days of 11-12 hours shifts in some cases. 13-14 hours aren't uncommon from time to time either, as you feel obliged to see a job through to it's completion to protect your performance figures, even if that means a 60-70 mile tow when you're due to end your shift imminently.
I reached the end when I found myself stood on the outside of a bridge looking down at the traffic over the A46 and wondering to myself how much it was going to hurt. I was a good patrol, my final batch of figures is below, I was number one in the country at the time for performance. That weighed so heavily on my shoulders though, as the pressure never decreased, nobody said thank you, I was just expected to keep it up. During a particularly poor shift for deployment where I'd been given a string of jobs I could do nothing with, such as overweight vehicles, seized engines and dangerous locations, I was given an "auto gearbox failure" on a 10 tonne motorhome to deal with. Now, the AA will tell you that you won't get sent to vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, but again, that isn't the case; this particular policy was bundled in with motorhome insurance cover. After phoning the customer, I established that it was at home on the driveway, the auto gearbox had made a horrible noise and essentially just exploded as he attempted to pull away, and it was clear and obvious that it just needed a recovery truck to take it to a garage. I called the office and explained this, and was told that I "must attend". Fruitless, a waste of everyone's time, and frustrating for both the member and myself. At that moment I decided that I didn't want to be trapped in the constant cycle of putting performance figures first, following archaic processes and never being good enough. So I pulled over, locked the van and began walking, which is where I came to the bridge. The thing that saved me in that moment was picturing my wife's face when the Police knocked on the door to deliver the news...I couldn't be selfish enough to put her through that in the end. But I vowed on that day that I wasn't going to be made to feel that way any longer.
My story is one of many, and unfortunately not everyone got to survive to tell the tale.
Again, not trying to put you off, just explaining the reality.
It's not all bad, but the positives get swamped by the negatives in my view. I left, moved on to a different career and have been massively happier ever since. I got a season ticket for my favourite football team again which I'd been unable to do for years due to there being little point, I've spent more time with friends and family again and felt like I'd got my freedom back.
Like I've alluded to, just go in with your eyes open.
Good luck with the interview.
Thanks for the length and in depth reply I appreciate it.
You say there were positives.. what were they in your opinion?
Have you always felt this way towards the job or did it just start to happen in your final years or change of contract etc. I spoke to another patrolman and he only works 8-4 with no weekends and very happy been there 2 years
You say there were positives.. what were they in your opinion?
Have you always felt this way towards the job or did it just start to happen in your final years or change of contract etc. I spoke to another patrolman and he only works 8-4 with no weekends and very happy been there 2 years
NathChitt said:
Thanks for the length and in depth reply I appreciate it.
You say there were positives.. what were they in your opinion?
Have you always felt this way towards the job or did it just start to happen in your final years or change of contract etc. I spoke to another patrolman and he only works 8-4 with no weekends and very happy been there 2 years
No problem at all, I think full disclosure is important for that particular job. You say there were positives.. what were they in your opinion?
Have you always felt this way towards the job or did it just start to happen in your final years or change of contract etc. I spoke to another patrolman and he only works 8-4 with no weekends and very happy been there 2 years
In terms of positives, being able to earn more money than you can realistically achieve in a garage was the main one, although I appreciate that gap has closed slightly post-Covid.
The other main positive, and it sounds like a cliché, but I enjoyed the element of helping people. On the whole, everyone is pleased to see you, and usually very grateful. It's satisfying solving problems on the fly at the roadside, and not always the ones you imagine - one of my first ever jobs on an evening shift was attending an elderly lady at 20:00 who'd had a little bit of a wait and proven to have been a little incontinent! Figuring out where to take her and get her cleaned up was a problem I hadn't bargained for, but her teary and most heartfelt thanks after the event will live with me forever.
There's a certain element of prestige you feel putting on the uniform, the AA is a bit of a British institution and you do feel proud wearing the badge.
As for how long I felt the way I did, it was after around 4 years or so really. Once I'd settled in, felt comfortable with the job, yet realised things were never going to improve was a wake up call. I tried to power through, and did for a while, but the negatives just got too hard to ignore. I can assure you here and now, regardless of what the company will tell you, they won't care about you, your life or your personal circumstances whatsoever. You're a number, tool for them to earn money from memberships. If you can accept that, then you'll probably be able to ride it out, but I wanted more out of a career. Progression is between limited and non-existent too, there are very few avenues to explore in terms of promotion or development. You sit in a yellow van for 5, 10, 20 or 40 years etc, then retire. Hoping that once you're there you haven't become too broken by constantly rolling around on the floor in the elements.
595Heaven said:
Blimey. That was a tough read. Sounds like hell on earth for you.
Thanks, it wasn't all bad, but I'm very glad I made the decision to leave.peterperkins said:
Rat_Fink_67 said:
Stuff
Excellent post and sorry to see it was so hellish. What a crap organisation to work for..
Good luck in your new life.
@rat fink.
That post deserves to be recognised as a brave thing to spit out on any forum, especially this one!
Kudos to you. I've never sacrificed happiness and the work/life balance for a job. As the saying goes 'your job will be advertised quicker than your funeral details'. Life's also too short to dread going to work.
That post deserves to be recognised as a brave thing to spit out on any forum, especially this one!
Kudos to you. I've never sacrificed happiness and the work/life balance for a job. As the saying goes 'your job will be advertised quicker than your funeral details'. Life's also too short to dread going to work.
JustGREENI said:
@rat fink.
That post deserves to be recognised as a brave thing to spit out on any forum, especially this one!
Kudos to you. I've never sacrificed happiness and the work/life balance for a job. As the saying goes 'your job will be advertised quicker than your funeral details'. Life's also too short to dread going to work.
Thanks, makes a change from people bickering about electric cars though, right? That post deserves to be recognised as a brave thing to spit out on any forum, especially this one!
Kudos to you. I've never sacrificed happiness and the work/life balance for a job. As the saying goes 'your job will be advertised quicker than your funeral details'. Life's also too short to dread going to work.
My sentiments exactly, we only get one go at life. I wasn't going to devote mine to a dead end job ran by faceless private equity control freaks any longer
InitialDave said:
This is a really good post, and one that the OP deserved the opportunity to read.
Thanks, I thought so too. I'd have loved for someone to have given me full disclosure beforehand too. There are loads of patrolman who are perfectly happy, but you tend to find they fall into two camps.
Firstly, the new starter. Because they've inevitably come from working in a garage, the extra pay and perceived freedom feels amazing at first, but it gets stripped away after a few years.
Then there's the old guard, 20 or 30 years in, completely institutionalised and usually stripped of all confidence and self-belief that they could work elsewhere beneath the surface.
Rat_Fink_67 said:
Thanks. I moved to a completely different industry, became a manager and feel very valued now, and happy once more.
At risk of adding nothing to what others have said, I'd like to add my appreciation for a fantastic response to the OP, but also a really fascinating insight to a job most of us know little about. A really interesting, insightful and useful response; thank you. kev b said:
One of my oldest friends was an AA patrolman and his experiences mirror those of RatFink.
It's remarkably common!Grande Pedro said:
Rat_Fink_67 said:
Thanks. I moved to a completely different industry, became a manager and feel very valued now, and happy once more.
At risk of adding nothing to what others have said, I'd like to add my appreciation for a fantastic response to the OP, but also a really fascinating insight to a job most of us know little about. A really interesting, insightful and useful response; thank you. One thing's for sure, if anyone has ever been frustrated by a long wait at the roadside, it won't ever have had anything to do with the patrol. They go flat out from the moment they get in the van, and aren't afforded many chances to stop. The company even dictate when you're allowed a break, and it's very rarely at the same time two days running; the deployment algorithm actively tries to push you beyond the 30 minute window after 6 hours where you're meant to stop.
Grande Pedro said:
Might the lived experience be any different with a private crowd? I was with Autoaid for a number of years and the guys that turned out on the couple of occasions I called them were pretty chilled.
Absolutely, Auto Aid and the like are all third-party agents, with overheads and associated pressure nothing like what the AA and RAC are burdened with. The AA spend millions every year just on diesel alone, and are trying to service interest payment on billions of pounds worth of debt, with millions of members to serve too (over 14 million at the last count).
That pressure gets passed down to the front line staff unfortunately.
Bear in mind the workload too; a typical day for the AA is 10,000 breakdowns, a call every 8.6 seconds. There are circa 1900 patrols, a third of which will not be on shift due to shift pattern, sickness, holiday etc. So, that's in the region of 1200 patrols trying to get around 10,000 plus tasks in a day, plus whichever contractors agree to help out. It's a MASSIVE task.
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