Obtained a full list of the AA's Terms and conditions before xmas and discovered that one of the sections states that the AA would not be held liable for any costs involved in recovery after an accident.
So wrote to them asking them to clarify the issue.
They wrote back last week stating that "...The AA membership fee is to pay for service in the event of a mechanical breakdown. With regard to an accident this should be covered by your Motor Insurance, if full comprehensive."
Furthermore, the letter goes on to state "However, in certain situations, such as a member not being able to contact their insurers, or only having third party insurance, the AA may provide a free local recovery for members with the relay option." ('local recovery' underlined)
So if I live in Lancashire, and am involved in an RTA, say, in the midlands as I am drivng home, they wouldn't take me or the car home. I would have to pay ££££ to some recovery firm to do this.
But yet if the gearbox went BANG!, then the AA would relay me & the car home.
Is this now the case for all the other breakdown services (assuming one had the equivalent of Relay )?
Regards,
Stu
[Moderators - I hope I can name the breakdown service. I am not 'naming and shaming', merely drawing attention to a item in their terms and conditions. However, feel free to amend if you feel it is in any way inappropriate]
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It depends on the seriousness of the accident. If the car is in a large enough mess the AA (or RAC) is not equiped to drag the remains onto the recovery truck (without causing more damage). Also they will not be equiped to drag the car from a ditch, hedge, lampost etc.
In an accident your insurance pays for the recovery not the AA, as the insurance company does not pay to recover a gearbox going bang.
The RAAC is a "breakdown" recovery service not an accident recovery service.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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AFAIK, this is the way standard breakdown cover has always been, I wouldn't dream of calling them after an accident, unless it's a last resort, and I'd expect a charge.
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I appreciate the argument if the car is stuck in a ditch, ravine etc and then it is too difficult to get it out because they do not have the correct equipment.
But I have been in 2 crashes where the AA relayed me & the car home (but not recently, both times last century) and there was no mention then of the subtle differences between breakdown recovery and accident recovery. Though things have changed since then so maybe their T&C's have in this respect.
I can buy a reliable car and have it serviced such that the chance of a breakdown is minimised but I can't control the actions of 15 million-odd other drivers on the road, 1 or more of whom may crash into me at a given moment. It is bad enough trying to sort the mess out after a crash, without having to sort out getting the car recovered and having to pay for it.
I can just see the discussion with the insurance company as well, whether it would be more cost effective to have the car towed to a local garage and have storage charged or have it towed back home and have it stored FOC on the driveway. But it may be £400 to tow the car from crash site to home (if say, 200 miles away), whereas a local garage may charge £15/day storage. Now which is cheaper....
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This non-recovery after an accident is a big issue for motorcyclists. It is easy to damage a bike - eg. snapping off the clutch, brake or gear lever.
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When the breakdown services, made this an exclussion, some years back, initally I thought it was penny pinching, but when you think about it, there must be plenty of sensible reasons.
You'd need trained crews, to deal with some, even minor bumps, specialist equipment & no doubt a rain forest full of documentetion, to comply with Health & Safety.
So guess it is fair enough, to pass the responsibility. onto insurers.
VB
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It is bad enough trying to sort the mess out after a crash, without having to sort out getting the car recovered and having to pay for it.
I don't see the extra difficulty. You're ringing one number, that of your insurance, instead of another number, that of your breakdown organisation.
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When my girlfriend crashed her car the recovery was by OnTime. Never any mention of the AA...
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GEM covers accident recovery.
www.motoringassist.com/breakdown-cover/reclaim.sht...l
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Gem only covers the first £60 of recover after an accident (which could be a callout fee, never mind the recovery).
They all advertise as breakdown recovery and the exclusion after an accident is almost universal. The wording some years ago from the RAC was that they would recover their costs from your insurer (no regard as to excess etc) but if you only had 3rd party you got away with it. This has probably changed in the meantime.
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Try AutoAid. You pay for your recovery (including after an accident), you send AutoAid the invoice and they reimburse you. As simple as that. It includes your spouse and is "any vehicle ". It's one of those things that seem almost too good to be true but it does do what it says it will. I think I paid £27 last year. Highly recommended.
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This is the case one of the other placement students had the boneet of his car come open on the M6 smasshing the windscreen and severly damaging the roof, yet despite having AA relay cover this was counted as an accident and he had to pay to be relayed back to sheffield
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go???
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Hmmmm now that's an interesting one about the bonnet. I hadn't thought of that.
Anyway, I see now that it is now a fairly universal clause in most of the breakdown firms T&C's. It just hadn't occurred to me before that this would be excluded.
I guess I ought to add my insurance company's phone number to my mobile phones' phone book then.
Ta for the replies.
Stu
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Back in the early 80's I was involved in a multi-car accident on the M4 in a company car. When I enquired about recovery the company AA cover didn't allow for it but since I had private AA cover (including Relay) for my wife's car they happily loaded the car onto the back of a recovery vehicle and took us 40 miles home.
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Around 2001, my wife skidded on ice and took out a sign pole at a well known Derby roundabout. The car was undriveable, and the AA attended and transported the car to our house, about 5 miles away. It never entered my head that there would be a discrimination between an accident and a breakdown. The car is immobile for whatever reason, so shouldn't the AA still cover it? Perhaps this change is of more recent times.
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From the AA policy. Exclusion 12
No right to recovery following an accident
12 In the event that You require vehicle recovery following an accident, the AA can, if You require, provide this for You but will not be responsible for meeting the costs involved. If the AA does agree to provide recovery in these circumstances You will be responsible for, and required to pay, the AA's charges for this service (including, but not limited to, any charges relating to any specialist equipment used). In the event that, following an accident, You require one of the additional services available under Relay Plus (and You have the relevant cover), the AA can arrange this for You but will not be responsible for any costs involved. You will, therefore, be required to pay on request any applicable charges. In regard to all matters referred to in this clause, You must give the AA, on request, any relevant information it reasonably requests.
From the RAC policy
?Accidents? (meaning
accidental crash damage
immobilising the vehicle),
fire, theft or act of vandalism,
or other incident normally
covered by a policy of motor
insurance are not covered.
If You call Us for assistance
following such incident You
will be liable to pay Us for
the costs of removal.
(Subject to the terms of Your
insurance policy, You can
then reclaim these costs
through Your insurance).
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I recently had occasion to delve into the AA's Conditions of Service.
The Relay aspect would appear to have been carefully rewritten over the years since I originally joined.
Originally they used to say something on the lines of "If your vehicle breaks down we will transport the vehicle and passengers to any destination within the UK".
However, they don't say that anymore.
What they now say is that they will transport Vehicle and Passengers to any destination providing a prompt local repair cannot be arranged.
You can bet you life that, bearing in mind the costs of vehicle recovery, they will pull out all the stops to try to make a local repair possible, regardless of what it might end up costing the owner.
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