The lovely Mr AA man.

Advantages: quick response, good customer service, good communcation, fix a lot of breakdowns
Disadvantages: some of the deals are quite expensive

...The AA pride themselves on being the UK's "number one breakdown provider". They provide a 24 hour recovery service for their members and there are different levels of cover available. Another claim made by the AA is that they "fix more breakdowns by the roadside than anyone else". I have never bothered with breakdown cover until I moved back home from university with the intention of commuting each day. I realised that if I were to break down on the hour drive to brighton there would probably be no one willing to come and rescue me!! On top of this my brothers car had broken down several times in the country lanes locally and I decided that it was a sign for me to start being sensible! Being a poor student with hardly a penny to my name I did look around at all the various breakdown companies to try and find the best deal. The AA...

ilusvm 17.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of AA

THE LONGEST AA RECOVERY IN HISTORY?

Advantages: Extremely efficient. Amazing Cover. Very Good Value
Disadvantages: In my case and circumstances - NONE!

...! The salesman said that no, he didn't have the number to hand, but that he would get back to me with it as soon as he could. Five minutes later, true to his word the phone rang and I had the AA European Breakdown Assistance number in Germany! Honda Chiswick earned themselves a LOT of loyalty bonus points that evening! As a compete aside here, a spot of "gallows humour" you could say, the salesman had originally called to enthusiastically offer me a test drive in the newly launched Honda Civic, he had just been issued with a new diesel demonstrator. It doesn't sound as funny now, as it did to me there and then in my hospital bed, but my reply was that: "I'd love to, only there is a small problem right now." "Oh, what's that?" "I am, as we speak lying in a Polish hospital bed, I will not be able to walk for three months, you see I broke...

RICHADA 29.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of AA

AA ....... Absolutely Awful .

Advantages: you decide
Disadvantages: again , draw your own conclusions ...

...Almost exactly a year ago we had occasion to use , for the first time in our five years of membership , the services of the AA . We had been on our way to Portsmouth Passenger Ferry Terminal for our pre booked trip across the Channel to Caen on one of our regular visits to our house in Western Brittany . We were trundling along the A34 in our Ford van , making good time , and looking forward to our trip , when there was a sudden loud bang . The passenger side of the vehicle dropped and my husband lost all control of the vehicle as it slewed sideways out of the centre lane , then across the inside lane and a joining slip road with upcoming traffic . How the lorry coming up to our left managed to miss us , or we him , I will never know , but eventually we came to rest suddenly and jarringly on the soft verge about two thirds...

Janej47 30.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of AA

The AA

Advantages: The organisation
Disadvantages: Certain policies of the organisation

..., once again confirming the remarkable cloning process that appears to homogenize the character of AA patrolmen. Just before moving on, my conversation with the remote AA representative proved to be of significance later. She asked me as to the nature of the problem, and on replying that it was 'a clutch problem', she also asked if the pedal had 'gone to the floor' to which I replied in the affirmative. After a brief investigation the patrolman announced that the problem was a broken clutch ratchet and that there was no conceivable roadside repair. Mentioning the antecedents, being unconvinced but also aware that that when this was renewed the clutch and plate were similarly replaced, the reply received was that it is a known problem. 'Please can you take me home'; there was no alternative offered at this point. Being towed on a bar is worse...

caveatemptor123 09.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of AA

The AA, The best

Advantages: Value for money, great customer support
Disadvantages: None yet!

...I decided to get myself some roadside cover after my Astra broke down for the third time that month (dodgy battery). I went about the task of comparing The AA and RAC, not easy I'm afraid, I asked work colleagues, looked on ciao and dooyoo and eventually choose The AA as it saved me £1.90 a month in comparison to the RAC, a discount I received due to being with The AA for my car insurance. It seems that both companies have people who rave about them and equal amounts of people who aren't satisfied with either or believe roadside cover is overpriced. Usual format here, I will go through a few basic details and then give you my personal experiences and opinions. Who are they? = The Automobile Association was created in 1905, started by some motoring enthusiast's in London. They put up thousands of roadside safety...

NHilton24 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of AA

The AA. Less Adverts, Better Service

Advantages: Good breakdown service...
Disadvantages: ... but recently flawed

...I've been a member of the AA for a few years now and up till 2000 I didn’t have to use it much! But from 2000 till the beginning of 2001 was a bad year for me as I broke down about 4 times! Talk about bad luck! Anyway the breakdown cover I have is the Option 200 ROADSIDE + RELAY cover which is jointly used by my brother which means a joint cost of £106 for a year. This covers me for any roadside assistance and in the case of the AA man not being to able to fix my car, it means I can get towed to my final destination or a garage. I think most people have an idea what the AA Breakdown service is all about and what the service offers, so I wont bore you with the details but I would like to share an experience with you which might make you think carefully about joining the AA. I’ve never ever felt dissatisfied...

rayliu 14.11.2001 · Read review
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Review of AA

Lost without the AA

Advantages: Fast efficient service
Disadvantages: None

...I have only been a member of the AA for 3 years, longenough however to benefit from their share deal when they were taken over by Centrica, £245 worth of shares are now worth about £335. So for that alone I have ever reason to be thankful to the AA. The benefits of their service became apparent to me after only a week after joining. I found my clutch non responsive on my way home after a long trip. With 4 children in the car everyone was feeling edgy after breaking down. The AA were with us within 20 minutes and had our car going again, sufficiently well to get the car into our local garage the next day, all within 20 minutes of arrival. I was very impressed. I have their roadside assistance, home start and recovery service and I cannot fault it. When my second car's suspension broke they came out and took the car at a time...

jonwhite 21.11.2000 · Read review
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Review of AA

Churchwood finance debt problems solved

Advantages: reliable friendly service that really does help
Disadvantages: you have to be working

...a poor credit history I needed some advice so I called up the help line and spoke to my advior he was very helpful he said once most of the debts had gone down and proof of regular payments were being made there are companies that work along side them that would help me finance a morgage with a poor credit history, unfortunatly the house was built on mine shafts so full payment was needed and you would struggle to sell it would be great for renting purposes. I was also told about low cost loans that they offered if I was ever going to think about borrowing money. Eventually all the creditor stop contacting me and I only receive a few bills now but in almost 3 years my debts have fell from £5000 to £1100. The only reason that these have not been paid off is because I met my current partner and he got made redundant his debts were at £7000...

hitchjo 15.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Churchwood Finance Ltd

Freedom Finance

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: Having to deal with company in Gibraltar for complaints

...My experience with Freedom Finance has been completely different and after searching the internet so many others too. I took out a loan with them and had a complaint that I assumed would be dealt with by them as I thought it was them that I took the loan out with from their homepage. Apparently, they process loans on behalf of a company called Bespoke Finance who are based in Gibraltar and unless you want to be dealing with some other country throughout your complaint then I suggest you steer clear. In their smallprint it states "Freedom Finance process loans on behalf of Bespoke Finance." When making the complaint it is then passed to Gibraltar where this Bespoke Finance is based. Remember to read the smallprint and don't get caught like i did....

marshallka 17.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Freedom Finance

Issue Free Finance

Advantages: money works harder than in a normal bank
Disadvantages: can be complicated to understand at first

...I must say I was surprised to see so many critical reviews of Intelligent Finance here on Ciao. I felt I must redress the balance somewhat as I have had a completely different experience with them. Intelligent Finance are a division of Halifax plc. They are solely internet based which is ideal for a lazy bones like me. Having come across a link to their website I went to investigate... The website (www.if.com) itself is clearly laid out and easy to understand. There are fantastic step by step demos which explain the way IF work using Macromedia Flash or Non Flash (text). You can find information about the different products they offer on this site but in my case I like to talk to someone first so I just telephoned and presented the poor service agent with an endless barrage of questions. The agent I dealt with was incredibly...

volpina 02.07.2002 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance