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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Large Network of Patrols
Disadvantages: In our experience, bureaucratic, officious, and unhelpful.

...The new motto of The Automobile Association Limited seems to be "You've Got AA Friend," and their website says, "Hello, how can we help you today?" Where were all those smiling faces when we actually needed their assistance? My wife has had coverage with the AA since 2003, when we moved over from the RAC after reading an article in Which? magazine. The article said: "Britannia Rescue and the AA had the best rating for the courtesy of their staff - over 80 per cent of their members said they were very satisfied with they way their calls were dealt with. Yet again, the RAC came out near the bottom of the pile. Just 48 per cent of callers were very satisfied with the service." Early on July 26 2005 two of our farm colleagues headed off from sunny Worcester in our Vauxhall Brava, towing a trailer with an Aberdeen Angus steer bound... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful