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MG Midget and Sprite General - Breakdown cover renewal. (NMC)

I recently received my renewal notice fom the AA at £122. I pay by annual direct debit and I have Roadside, relay and complimentary Homestart, so I'm paying for just two elements, which I though was a bit steep.
Money saving expert Martin Lewis always says not to "Auto-renew", but to shop around, so I went on the AA website to see what new members were being offered to join. I was surprised to find that newbies are getting the same cover approximately 40% cheaper than I am. I've been with the AA since 1984 and had them out once in '95 to a Sierra with a broken cambelt. I was about 5 miles from home, so they didn't do much for their money.
Anyway, I phoned the number given on the website and pressed the "If you are thinking of leaving the AA" option. No waiting at all. Instant attention. I explained to the guy that I was rather disappointed and after a load of waffle about newbies not getting the same cover initially, he said that although they don't normally do price matching, he could reduce my premium. He put me on hold, came back a minute later and knocked off £50. I was so shocked that I forgot to ask him how he could just do that with a couple of key strokes. I am now waiting for written confirmation of the reduction.
I'v always "Auto-renewed" without question, so they've probably been ripping me off for years.
I hope this story will help others to maybe get their breakdown cover at more reasonable rate.
BTW. My freind left the AA because he said they don't give a no claims bonus if you don't call them out, whereas the RAC do.

Bernie.
b higginson

Auto-aid,
Includes roadside and home relay and all the normal stuff. £38 pa. If you have a problem you ring them, give your membership number and a local braeakdown firm attends. You pay the breakdown firm and then reclaim. Covers you in any car as driver or passenger. And it works. I have used them a couple of times for a relay service on a broken down (immobile) car. One of them over 300 miles. And the settlement cheque comes within about 4 days, no quibbling. I think GEM do the same service but a bit more pricey.

Guy
Guy

yes it certainly pays to have the information on their pricing structure for new and existing cutomers

if you have enough, life and will you could get the details for all the other companies that offer recovery and these could include those that don't naturally come to mind

then there are the special offers from outside the companies, my wife renewd hers with Tesco (4 for1) pionts

if you find a better offer elsewhere before the renewal time get the AA or RAC to suspend your contract as they do if you get a car that comes with the cover

don't forget you're the member not your car and many classic insurances can include breakdown cover

my wife wont accept it but it's cheaper for people that look after their cars to cover their own insurance by putting their premiums in a bank account of there own

your premiums go a longer way to cover others that are careless or know how to play the game with cars that are made unreliable
Nigel At

Thanks chaps. I still have a couple of weeks to decide what to do, so I'll make a few more enquiries.
Nigel. You make a good point about putting your premiums in a bank account and hope you don't need to use the money. I always think that there really is no such thing as insurance, it's just a deferred payments plan, ie. you're going to eventually pay for every service you get from these companies, especially house contents etc.
When I think of how much the AA has had out of me since 1984 it makes me shudder. I'm not even going to do the Maths as I may start crying.
It's like insuring your tools. you only have to go for one or two years without a break in and you could buy all your tools brand new over again with the premiums you would have paid.

Bernie.
b higginson

Another vote for Autoaid here. Cheap, works.
Jordan Gibson

£122 does sound a bit steep.

I have an online current bank account which throws in UK and European recovery together with travel insurance plus various other perks. Admittedly they charge a fee of £13 per month for this, but defray this by giving a slightly more generous interest rate if you stay in credit.

Nigel, obviously you have to buy third party cover at the very least. Are you suggesting that you put money away to cover the comprehensive aspect when you have to pay for your own damage?

Dave
D MATTHEWS

I read it that Nigel's talking about breakdown insurance not accident insurance...
David Smith

yes I was just talking about breakdown insurance however the pricipal applies to all insurance but you do need to do what the insurance companies do and do a lot of risk assesment

certainly full house contents is most important as for most people it would take many years to build a fund enough to cover the loss of full contents - however some don't bother with it and buildings insurance prefering to spend the money on more pleasureable items and when something happens to rely on the sympathy of others or funds from taxes

fully comprehensive car insurance - with the monetary loss of no claims bonus and increase in premiums for the next 3-5 years plus the cost of the excess can mean that many don't claim and cover the cost themselves as it works out less expensive

note if you have an accident and report it - as you should - but you don't claim this can still effect your premiums even though you haven't claimed - think about it, it proves the risk to your vehicle

insurance is just a calculated gamble but the overall costs are probably dictated by people who are most likely less responsible than you

always shop around in the sector of the market that is relevant to your needs and circumstances e.g. the main comparisions sites are not relevant to classic cars and anyway should only be used as a guide for even the relevant cars
Nigel At

What I did back in January (exactly the same situation) was to cancel the cover, sign up for Quidco and use their cashback + offer for the AA. Got a further £50 off the new members price! So joint cover including relay came down to about £70, IIRC. I've then continued to save a lot through Quidco, they even give you 4.5% back at brick'n'mortor Halfrods shops too.
Onlt downside to that is that you lose the 'return member' perk of increased number of AA call-outs in a year. but unless you're likely to need that you're best off saving a fortune!
hope that helps,
_Craig
C Robertson

Yes, I got carried away a bit there - it was breakdown and not motor insurance that Nigel was talking about. However his latest post makes some good points about insurance in general and whether you insure or not is a gamble. For example I do have Buildings cover for my house because a total write-off due to fire or an engine from an A380 Airbus falling through the roof would cost me dear.On the other hand I have never bothered with contents cover as we don't possess anything of great value and the replacement of say, furniture would force us to do something which is long overdue anyway. As Nigel says, if the equivalent of the annual premium was put into a savings account then you would have to be extremely unlucky to have to draw on it. (is that tempting fate or what?)
As regards Comprehensive motor insurance - I have often wondered if it was not available and drivers only had third party, fire and theft, wouldn't that have an interesting effect on driving standards when everyone had to foot the bill for their own damage? Just a thought.

Dave
D MATTHEWS

Dave. During a period when i was a bit strapped for cash, I went third party fire and theft because it was cheaper. I was unfortunate enough to have an accident which was not my fault and I had a very hard time trying to recover my excess from the guilty party. The insurance company gave me the name of a solicitor who it turned out must have had more lucrative cases on his books, consequently I got put on the back burner and it took several months to resolve, even though I was the innocent party. So, Lesson learned. Fully comp from then on.
I've still not heard from the AA regarding the reduction I mentioned above, so I think I'm going to cancel and give AutoAid a try. I've been on the website and it certainly looks attractive. I suppose one reason for it being cheaper is the fact that they don't have the massive infrastructure to support like AA and RAC. Thanks to Guy and Jordan for pointing me in their direction.

Bernie.
b higginson

I have used First Call for several years for breakdown cover - costs £32 for full UK cover. For the Midget mine is included in the classic policy from Peter Best.

With regards to third party v full comp I think I read somewhere recently that several companies were phasing third party out. A couple of years back when my daily was getting older I enquired about changing to third part fire and theft from full comp and the premium was identical. Needless to say I stayed full comp.

Trev

T Mason

House and buildings insurance is so much cheaper than years ago especially now it’s not tied in with the mortgage

A lot of the insurances are package values with may be over valued for some

Buildings value is based on rebuild costs, knock down and clearance and possibly the same to next door(s) not sale value as many may think and the difference between sale value and rebuild cots can be quite high

6/7 years ago I discovered that third party (not fire and theft) was still available

legal cover will help you get back your excess from the other party and possibly other mitigated costs

I’m with Peter Best on a very good comprehensive package and price and found unlimited mileage was the same price
Nigel At

Right that's it. The AA still haven't sent confirmation of the reduction, so I've taken out a policy with AutoAid and cancelled my direct debit to the AA.

Bernie.
b higginson

My dads was the same he usually phones them up last time he actually found out when he last needed them was in the 80s. Also I wondered if a car was under warrenty (obviously not the sprite) and you called the aa out would it still be ok or would it make it void. lot of pcs these days have stickers do not open warrenty void.
D Sartain

interesting point about warranty

lots of new cars come with breakdown cover and specific AA cover to marque

if your new car comes with cover you can suspend your normally cover until the car's cover runs out then you resume with the remainer of your normal cover
Nigel At

But what if the aa replace something would the warrenty still stand even if its just on that part and there would be no evidence on it on that diagnostic thing they plug in as the aa would probably of removed it. nothing to do with the aa but my sisters car had a service with a fiat dealer (fiat punto) and they said it has a noisy alternator the car was bought from honda with a honda warrenty but honda wount pay fiat to fit it or for the part apparently lots of problems between who pay who or so on so we would have to pay and get it back off honda or take it to honda they check the car probably charge us for it and then probably say its working now so doesnt need it. why cant things be simple and in black and white.
D Sartain

if the AA is the appointed recovery agent then yes, if they are not then probably not

as for your sister - a total generalisation now and this may not apply to the particular dealers you refer to -

I personally would take the car back to a Honda garage

the main problem with any Japanese car is the English dealerships and repairers however I personally have found their standards than Fiat dealerships

if the alternator is noisy and it was out of warranty I’d just spray the shaft with a little lubricating spray as this may stop the noise, it may not but it’s very easy and cheap to try
Nigel At

turned it into a fiat punto forum now ha. only problem is getting honda to look at it will probably cost us and then its up to them wether its needing replacing. fiat said it will go its just not knowing when so if honda say its ok they probably wouldnt change it.
D Sartain

if your sister has a warranty with the Honda garage then take it back there

a noisey alternator wont take much finding will it, lift bonnet and listen
Nigel At

well its a case of it is working just noisy so dont know if they would and not the easiest going all the way to bradford (dont ask). then again nissan wasnt much better my dads car first service of its life comes home with a squeaking belt i think it was so went back they put something on it still squeaking if we want it stopped we have to pay for it to be replaced even though they caused it. did think that dealer was one of the best till then but still is good service.
D Sartain

This thread was discussed between 15/08/2011 and 23/08/2011

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