Britannia Rescue may be one of the least well known of the breakdown organisations, and they obviously have much smaller marketing budgets than the AA or RAC, but what they lack for in size they make up for in quality.
~ THE COMPANY ~
Britannia Rescue is owned by the Civil Service Motoring Association (CSMA) which is a private, non profit making leisure and motoring organisation. (Membership of the CSMA is limited to those who currently work or have worked in the past for the Civil Service or an organisation with its' roots in the Civil Service).
~ CSMA DISCOUNTS ~
You do not need to be a CSMA member to join Britannia but as you will see from the price information below CSMA members do receive significant discounts. If you are thinking about joining Britannia my advice is to check first to see whether you are eligible to join CSMA. CSMA membership costs £15 per year and you will save more than this on the discounts from your first years membership of Britannia Rescue. To check to see if you are eligible to join CSMA you can visit http://www.csma.uk.com or telephone 0800 413 076. The Britannia Rescue website can be accessed either via the CSMA site above, or directly at http://www.britanniarescue.com. They can be contacted directly on 0800 591 563.
~ MEMBERSHIP ~
There are four levels of membership providing different levels of cover:
1. Rescue (Normal Cost £42.90; CSMA cost £N/A) – cover includes roadside assistance; recovery and accident recovery (to nearby garage); journey continuation; free legal advice; free caravan and trailer cover
2. Standard (Normal Cost £68.00; CSMA Cost £32.00) – cover as ‘Rescue’ plus relief driver.
3. Comprehensive (Normal Cost £91.20; CSMA Cost £49.00) – cover as ‘Standard’ plus Housecall.
4. Deluxe (Normal Cost £114.30; CSMA Cost £68.00) – cover as ‘Comprehensive’ plus replacememnt car for up to 48 hours or assistance with overnight accommodation.
Even at the normal cost these rates compare quire favourably with the competition. For example, the equivalent of the ‘Standard’ cover which costs £68.00 with Britannia Rescue would cost £75.00 with RAC and £80.00 with AA.
~ CALL OUT TIMES AND QUALITY OF SERVICE ~
I have had to use the Britannia Rescue service 3 times over the past 2 years. Once from home, once from work and once in between after a blow-out on the motorway. On all three occasions the call centre staff who took the call were helpful and efficient, the assistance arrived quickly (my waiting times were 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 35 minutes respectively) and the technician quickly and effectively diagnosed and fixed the problem.
After every call out the company posts you a customer service questionnaire and freepost reply envelope which gives you the opportunity to rate all aspects of the service and to confirm how many minutes you had to wait before the recovery vehicle arrived. This attention to detail is indicative of the priority that the company gives to good customer care.
I highly recommend them!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
May 9th, 2001
very helpful by (90%):
helpful by (10%):
