AA membership

[promhandicam]

Got my automatic renewal this week - basic package for me and my wife - £92. Seemed expensive so looked online - £65 for the same thing. Phoned up to enquire why as a loyal customer I'm charged nearly 50% more and given a load of bullsh*t about it being a better package (free legal advice, up to 5 free callouts a year etc.) The AA man then said well you haven't called us out this year and you've been with us 3 years so I think we can do it for £65. Bloody chancers!

So if you are with the AA and you get your renewal it is worth a 5 minute phone call to see if you can get a better price.

 

[RogerS]

Go elsewhere. That attitude by the AA pis*es me off.

 

[DTR]

Thanks for the tip

 

[Tom K]

Its an insurance policy why would it not be a rip off?

 

[paultnl]

Same happened to my wife. RAC had the same cover for 50% less, AA price matched within a minute.

 

[RogerS]

We talked about this very issue last year here. I subsequently joined Auto Aid, used them once, no problem although the repayment took a couple of weeks.

 

[Steve Jones]

Green flag for me through the Caravan Club with all the trimmings ,onward travel, hotels and even a driver for the rest of the family should I take ill on the journey.

Had to call them out last year to a tyre on the caravan and was fully expecting my membership to have gone up at renewal because of this, to my surprise when it came through it's still the same price £89 per year.

Steve

 

[Jonzjob]

Before we had a caravan we were with the RAC for the simple reason that if you have a breakdown, as we did a couple of hundred miles from home, you were taken all the way home on one vehicle, not in a relay.

When we had our caravan we went with Green Flag because what they offered was cheaper and more comprehensive. That too was through the caravan club.

May have all changed now though?

Here any recovery is covered by the car insurance anyway.

 

[GrahamH]

You should always treat a renewal quote from an insurance company as a starting point.

Unless you've hit some "magic" target market they're after, in which case you've already got the best price you will always be able to get something knock off.

I had the same issue with the AA, double checked to see what the RAC & new customers were offered and phoned up and told them I didn't want to renew. Five minutes later they had undercut both their own new members price and the RAC.

Remember all of those special offers for new members are being paid for by the people who just renew and don't question the price.

Graham

Ps I work in insurance though nothing to do with motor or the RAC as the company has just sold them.

 

[Lons]

Graham is absolutely spot on. (I presume you work for Aviva Graham?).

You should NEVER set up an automatic renewal payment. I query every insurance quote at every renewal and say I am considering placing my business with their main competitors, never tell them what you've been quoted elsewhere and stick to your guns until you get a decision from a senior manager or a "retention team". it isn't difficult to tell when they've gone as far as they'll go. Same principle applies to utility companies, mobile phone contracts, broadband etc. etc.

I get annoyed as they don't seem to realise that it costs more to solicit new customers than it does to retain existing ones (or more realistically that they depend on the loyalty or laziness of existing and fleece them with higher prices to "score points" off the competition.)

Easy to discover how much "new" business they achieve but they don't want you to know how much is lost in the process.

Bob