 Poster: A snowHead
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I always used to belong to the AA because my Dad worked for them and it would have caused ructions to join the RAC! Is there a difference, @kiteman69, in that the AA will actually do the job (if it's simple, which is often is, and can be done at the roadside) whereas the breakdown service with Nationwide (which is what I have) will just take you to a garage and leave you there. When I broke down one hot summer's day the breakdown service took a long time to reach me (understandable and I was OK) but then just relayed me straight home. Didn't lift the bonnet. My £18 Nationwide account also gives me the holiday insurance. I do have to pay extra for being ancient and taking hundreds of pills, but when I checked recently this was still cheaper than a standalone new travel insurance policy. AND, last but not least, the Nationwide, which is still a building society, seems much better on customer service than the big banks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
the breakdown service would not be allowed to change one either, they have to recover you to a safe place first. Seems sensible to me, following the death of three people at the side of the A19 in North Yorkshire over the weekend.
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yes indeed, the hard shoulder is a horribly dangerous place (and the ill-informed protests about "smart motorways" which do away with hard shoulders should be more aware of the stats!). My Dad's first job with the AA was as a 16 year old messenger on a bike. His last job was as roads manager for the Midlands. He had a patrol from his team killed attending a breakdown on the hard shoulder. But you do still see vehicles being attended to on the hard shoulder in the UK - are the rules different in France?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Origen, there will definitely be rules. It's France.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| susieski wrote: |
So AA European cover . Broke down on A40 80 miles from destination. Managed to drive in to service area. Spent 3 hours on hold with AA call center Lyon only to be told we have to dial 112 as AA cannot attend on auto routes as they are privately managed .
Very much luck of the draw who you speak to at the AA regarding whether they ard able or bothered to help. After 4 days we got lucky and found a chap at the AA who seemed to help.
We are now 8 days into our trip and have now got hire car. Consider ourselves lucky we are here for a month,
1 week on phone trying to get through to someone at AA . |
I'm not sure I understand your complaint. Did you ring 112 when you broke down or not?
In the interests of balance, I'm also with the AA (via Admiral who subcontract to the AA) and this is my recent experience from December 2024.
I had an issue on my last drive down on the A26 I think, slowed up at a telepeage to hear a massive grinding noise underneath the car. Pulled straight across to the service area and had a look underneath to see the undertray hanging down. Was serviced 3 days earlier so almost certainly not reattached correctly afterwards but that's another issue.
I rang the Admiral/AA number and was also told to call 112, which I did, and then to call them back once the breakdown arrived to sort out the bill. They told me that if the car couldn't be fixed on the spot, they would arrange recovery, hotel, hire car as necessary.
The 112 call centre already knew where I was because they'd seen me on the CCTV. They told me someone would be with me within 30 mins, which they were, probably more like 20. Together. we managed to get the car up onto a makeshift ramp so the tech could remove the undertray and chuck it in the back of the car so I could continue on my way.
I called the AA call centre back as instructed and gave the phone to the technician; the AA gave him all necessary details for invoicing, no need for me to do anything and no need for payment/reimbursement. They simply said, "That's it, all finished, nothing to pay."
It might not be quite as simple as the UK but I don't see how it's the AA's fault as the autoroute policies are obviously out of their control. The system worked ok for me.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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and to be absolutely fair to the AA, their guidelines on their website for driving abroad do inform you to phone 112 or use an emergency phone.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| susieski wrote: |
So AA European cover . Broke down on A40 80 miles from destination. Managed to drive in to service area. Spent 3 hours on hold with AA call center Lyon only to be told we have to dial 112 as AA cannot attend on auto routes as they are privately managed .
Very much luck of the draw who you speak to at the AA regarding whether they ard able or bothered to help. After 4 days we got lucky and found a chap at the AA who seemed to help.
We are now 8 days into our trip and have now got hire car. Consider ourselves lucky we are here for a month,
1 week on phone trying to get through to someone at AA . |
This is the intermediary operation that I referred to in my earlier post who were the liaison between the OAMTC (Austria) and the AA (I’d broken down in the UK). Incompetent doesn’t even come close to describing their operation. They even managed to arrange to recover my vehicle to a South of England repair garage that had no appointment booked, no communication attempted….when I managed to ascertain the garage details (from the recovery company), the owner was perplexed to put it mildly, stating that he could probably look at my vehicle in 2 weeks….such was his backlog/work load.
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@Jäger, that's much like what happened to my son in law. Nothing to do with "abroad". He broke down near Portsmouth. Member of the RAC. Who recovered him to a perfectly competent local garage (one I've used a lot) who couldn't look at the vehicle for to weeks and asked him to take it away. When I've booked my vehicle in there appointments have typically been a couple of weeks ahead. Though the guy has sometimes been able to help on a "drive up and I'll have a look at it" basis. But I'm a regular local customer.
No breakdown service can be expected to conjure up competent repair facilities if these are all more than fully booked.
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We're with RAC European Cover - had to use them in summer and had roadside assistance very quickly who got us going again.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Origen wrote: |
@Jäger, that's much like what happened to my son in law. Nothing to do with "abroad". He broke down near Portsmouth. Member of the RAC. Who recovered him to a perfectly competent local garage (one I've used a lot) who couldn't look at the vehicle for to weeks and asked him to take it away. When I've booked my vehicle in there appointments have typically been a couple of weeks ahead. Though the guy has sometimes been able to help on a "drive up and I'll have a look at it" basis. But I'm a regular local customer.
No breakdown service can be expected to conjure up competent repair facilities if these are all more than fully booked. |
Indeed….but that’s not quite what one is buying into.
With my particular issue, I ended up phoning 12 garages in the Kent area before finding one who would at least take a look at the problem. I then had to get my vehicle released from the recovery company compound (and paid for the storage myself) and then transported to the garage in Dover (again, I paid)….who were excellent. It was a 15 minute job that required a bolt on a brake caliper housing. £59.00. 
Needless to say, the OAMTC coughed up for ALL my costs over three days, given recovering the vehicle and me back to Austria would have been vastly more expensive. They also realised and confessed that their understanding of the AA operation in the UK via the call centre in Lyon was wholly inadequate. Anecdotally, one of my neighbours here had exactly the same sort of issues and delays on a recent road trip to Norway. He uses ARBÖ - broadly similar to OAMTC.
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We had a tyre blow out about an hour from Calais last year. Smugly pulled out the AA euro cover details and called them. Turned out our MOT expired 3 days earlier and as it wasn't 'road worthy' in the UK they couldn't help. Would have been nice if they'd told us what we could do though... After a lot of googling and very bad french we called 112 and they sent a truck which took us to the nearest tyre place with the size in stock. They replaced both back tyres. Price was broadly the same as UK, everyone was perfectly nice and helpful. Added 3.5 hours to the trip. V thankful we left early on a weekday so the blow out was early afternoon. Had we done a night drive we'd have been stuck till the next day.
So, more of a cautionary tale about not being an idiot than anything to do with the AA. And maybe driving through the day is actually a sensible call for this reason.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have BMW European breakdown cover, purchased direct through BMW and touted as being a 'premium' product, with attendance by BMW in 3 hours and a guaranteed hire car if it cant be fixed at the roadside immediately. I had the misfortune to need to use it in the summer 3 days into our holiday (a week in Provence and a week in the alps). My experience:
- It took me a day to get anyone to even come out to look at the car, despite 4 promises someone would be there 'within a few hours'.
- They took the car to a BMW dealer where it sat unopened for 4 days, and they refused to even look at the car until I paid in advance by money transfer for an inspection.
- It took me 3 days and 15 calls to get a hire car, I got sent to a closed car hire company by taxi an hour away that didn't have a car. Then got sent to another car hire place 45 mins away who also didn't have a suitable car, I ended up paying nearly £1k to get a car (that I eventually claimed back from BMW).
- BMW said 'they dont do hire car delivery in France, you have to collect it'.
- Took hire car to Alps and fought for over a week to get mine fixed and returned to me. It came back the day before we left after some poor person did a 5 hour each way trip with the car on a flatbed lorry.
The car had an amber drivetrain warning, and all they did was plug it in and clear a single error code. Could have easily been done at the roadside in a few hours but in the end was a 10 day ordeal.
They clearly don't have the infrastructure in place outside the UK to honour the breakdown assistance. Beware for those with the same BMW policy - I will be looking for a decent alterative for our road trip in March...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Imalittlelost, sounds like rather than a BMW policy, you need an OBDII fault code reader, and you'd have been on your way within 5 minutes.
Years ago my previous car broke down - the alternator failed on Xmas eve. The breakdown guy said "I can take you to a garage, and you won't see your car again for 3 weeks minimum, or I can go via Halfords, you can buy the alternator and the Haynes manual, and fix it yourself in a couple of hours". Like I said earlier, it's amazing how easily most things can be fixed.
In my car, apart from a spare wheel, I have an OBD fault code reader, pliers, a couple of screwdrivers, duck tape and cable ties. Between them they solve a lot of problems, or at least let me work out if I can just keep going 
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For BMWs the OBDlink adapters (eg CX) and Bimmerlink/Bimmercode allow you do diagnose/clear faultcodes and modify most settings via your phone. They are well worth having. For VAG group cars the Ross Tech VCDS cable with a laptop is the way to go.
I also carry a spare wheel (even in my BMW which doesn't even have a space for it !), tool box with a variety of tools including sockets, spanners, pliers, hammer etc, snow chains, snow socks, spade, small bottles of oil and coolant. I like to be prepared
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You know it makes sense.
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We use the OBD11 dongle & app for BMW & Audi which allows you to reset most error codes and program adjustments (I haven’t needed the full blown complexity of Bimmercode or VCDS yet).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| oui4ski wrote: |
| We use the OBD11 dongle & app for BMW & Audi which allows you to reset most error codes and program adjustments (I haven’t needed the full blown complexity of Bimmercode or VCDS yet). |
I have heard that OBD11 is a good one, and can work on the very latest VAG cars which have some new system, but doesn't it have a lot of in-app purchases that end up costing a lot ? The thing I like about Bimmercode & VCDS is its a one-off cost and you get everything.
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Poster: A snowHead
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they sent a truck which took us to the nearest tyre place with the size in stock. They replaced both back tyres.
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Good job it wasn't a Sunday! We were packed up, full car, for a drive back from the Alps on Sunday morning and found the car (in the covered garage fortunately, not out in the snow) with a flat tyre. Piled all the luggage out, changed the wheel then tried to buy a new spare on the way north. Not possible. When we asked at the Swiss border the guard was shocked and assured us that nothing so sinful as buying a tyre happened on Sundays.
We stopped overnight in Macon and bought a new tyre the following morning.
I was scoffed at for suggesting that French garages might sell two tyres, but it happens! Not if it's for a spare.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@snowdave, Yep lesson learnt, and a very painful one at that.... I have always kept away from playing with Bimmerlink for fear of bricking the ECU, naïve in the fact that if the worst happened someone would come and fix it straight away. I may have to change that view... £100 all in seems like a steal for piece of mind.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Imalittlelost, I think all my reader lets me do is read codes and reset them, I can't do the fancy stuff. However, even reading the codes is enough to identify e.g. that the rear wheel ABS sensor is playing up, and needs a quick clean.
Vs a spare wheel, based on personal usage, it's about 10x as useful and 0.01x the size!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We have breakdown cover with LV=, whom we had to call on last year as we left the alps. The car failing between Bourg and Moutiers at 5 am on a January Sat.
LV were fine, we called them and we had their euro agent contact within 10mins and within the hour we had been recovered to a small place outside of Moutiers. It was then that the fun began.
As mentioned above the euro agents (Lyons based) were next to useless, so who ever your insurer, if they use that lot you are close to being on your own after the initial recovery.
A summary of ou experience...
We had to wait until 8:30 for the day team, as the night team only did recovery calls. As the car could not be fixed by the garage, the garage owner laughed at the thought, we were due onward travel and repatriation of the car.
we were advised that the nearest suitable hire car was in Chambery, did we need transport to get to it??? Oh we did! They said they couldn't find a taxi for the trip, then said it is outside of their authorisation budget, can we pay for it? How much is it? - no idea. No wonder they couldnt find a taxi, the farmers had all the main roads blockaded.
Follow up questions from us were, if we get the hire car, can you book us a hotel in Calais as we'll miss the last crossing. Answer: not until you've returned the hire car to 'Dunkirk', but the depot won't open until 10am and we can't book you another ferry crossing until you have returned the car.
It seemed that they were not capable of or permitted to actually plan the onward travel.
At about 11am, the realisation dawned that we were in effect on our own sat in a portacabin in who knows where.
Form that moment on it was Easy; local taxi to Moutier, train to Geneva, plane to bristol, taxi home.
As soon as we laid out this plan, the agent said 'yes, keep the receipts and reclaim' - thank goodness for credit cards!
Getting the car back was another saga. Having been told two weeks, 4 weeks later i got a call from the transport lorry driver - he hadn't been told it had a roof box (no one had asked - although i did put it on their paper work) and he was struggling to get the load below regulation height .... needless to say the car was eventually delivered but with a flat tyre and it missed the prebooked repair slot i had made in anticipation of the given time scale.
We promptly got the refund of costs, plus LV covered our lunch (E100) enroute as a goodwill gesture because their agent had been so rubbish.
Heading off again in 3 days, fingers crossed and eyes open.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I think one moral of these useful stories is that having breakdown cover doesn't mean you won't have to do a lot of sorting yourself but does mean you shouldn't be so out of pocket.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@JonA, cheers, we are with LV
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FAQ
Transporter just passed it’s Austrian MOT (after a bit of work), breakdown cover in place and fingers well and truly crossed 