RAC via Quidco

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
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Location
Finchley, London
AA renewal comes up 14th October and they now want to take £132 for roadside + home start, so I'm not going to pay that. Online it's £94.99 for new customers and only £20 off with Quidco.

RAC are £89.99 online and currently have a £40 off exclusive rate with Quidco for fully paid breakdown policies with a value of £51-£100, making it effectively a nice £49.99 after the cashback is paid. It says it expires in a day though. The fill-in form seems to let me set the cover start date for 14th October. It's a month away but do you recommend I snap their arm off and pay for the RAC one now, or is it likely they'll still have a £40 or more cashback deal nearer the time?
 
Merlin5 said:
AA renewal comes up 14th October and they now want to take £132 for roadside + home start, so I'm not going to pay that. Online it's £94.99 for new customers and only £20 off with Quidco.

RAC are £89.99 online and currently have a £40 off exclusive rate with Quidco for fully paid breakdown policies with a value of £51-£100, making it effectively a nice £49.99 after the cashback is paid. It says it expires in a day though. The fill-in form seems to let me set the cover start date for 14th October. It's a month away but do you recommend I snap their arm off and pay for the RAC one now, or is it likely they'll still have a £40 or more cashback deal nearer the time?
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Just buy it now, it won't be more Quidco but it may be less.
 
With Topcashback it is the same £89.99 and you get £35(+bonus) and that isn't time limited. So I wouldn't be worried about losing too much if you wait.

What you usually find is that these exclusive rates alternate between the two.
 
Haven't bought a cover yet but need to now as it renews next week. Quidco are offering more cashback than TCB.

RAC = £89.99 for roadside + homestart. Back to £40 cashback with Quidco, so costs me £49.99 after cashback.

AA = £94.99 for roadside + homestart. Only £20 cashback with Quidco but AA are also offering a free MOT worth £54.85 with National Tyres and Autocare, so costs me effectively £20.14.

Seems like a no brainer to go with AA again, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience of an MOT with National Tyres? I had a job done once with them and it seemed decent.
 
When I called up to cancel my RAC cover, they matched the Quidco price after cashback IIRC.

I can't remember the exact details, but it would have been silly of me to move.
 
TaKeN said:
When I called up to cancel my RAC cover, they matched the Quidco price after cashback IIRC.
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Hmm, I would have been happy with a deal like that. I haven't rung RAC but I just called AA who did what they could to keep me but failed. He offered to reduce my cover to the same as for new customers online (£94.99) but didn't offer the extra £20 to match the cashback.
 
RAC is no good, they're offering up to £30 free fuel but not if it comes through a cashback site.

I just rang AA and asked the guy to match the new customer price + cashback but he wasn't interested in doing that nor had he heard of cashback sites.

So I've cancelled my AA renewal on the 14th and will join as a new customer online. I've also decided to add national recovery (well my car is 13 years old so probably a wise move) which brings it up to £114.99 before cashback, but the cashback increases from £20 to £35. With cashback and free MOT, it will effectively have cost me £25.
 
I went with RAC last time through TCB, however they are almost 4 weeks overdue to pay out on top of the 26 week wait that was estimated.
 
Merlin5 said:
I'm wary of these alternatives. Was considering Green Flag but I haven't read too many great things about them plus they have sub contractors I believe. At least with RAC and AA you know the extra money you have to pay will give you a good service.
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Hate to break the bad news to you bro but the RAC also use contractors.

My car failed to start in a supermarket car park at 9.30 pm on a Thursday night, called the RAC.

"Someone will be out to you within the hour", 10 mins later I got another call telling me the contractor due to get me declined the call due to "insufficient equipment" and ill have to wait 3 hours for another contractor to fetch me. For perspective I drive a Clio and I was less than 10 mins from home, I'm not sure how someone can have insufficient equipment!

Luckily I managed to get the car going myself 10 mins after that call.

so not only do they not have patrols in my area, their local contractor declined the work, what the hell am I paying for?

But to top it off the Mrs sent off a complaint as the above is unacceptable and they have yet to reply (been over 8 weeks(!) now) which is their self imposed maximum time to reply.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Hate to break the bad news to you bro but the RAC also use contractors.
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I never knew that, it was one of the reasons I went with RAC over Greenflag too.

I've only needed to use a breakdown service once when my work van broke down, the RAC turned up within an hour. Not that they could help mind apart from calling out lorry to trailer it away, the engine had no compression and ultimately it turned out to need a whole new engine fitting :D.
 
Well 9 times out of 10 I've had AA or RAC own patrolmen and patrol cars come to my rescue, otherwise a local car/van/lorry and mechanic has come out. But I'd be interested to know what a few people's experience of Green Flag is or any of the other unknown rescue services. They are cheap for sure, but that's what worries me. Unless they're as good as the big two, I'd rather pay extra for peace of mind.
 
Merlin5 said:
Well 9 times out of 10 I've had AA or RAC own patrolmen and patrol cars come to my rescue, otherwise a local car/van/lorry and mechanic has come out. But I'd be interested to know what a few people's experience of Green Flag is or any of the other unknown rescue services. They are cheap for sure, but that's what worries me. Unless they're as good as the big two, I'd rather pay extra for peace of mind.
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How many times have you had to call for Breakdown lol.

In 20 years of driving I have called them out just twice!
 
I switch between RAC and AA and each year go via Quidco getting the best deal. What I do notice is that when you don't renew, you get a call or letter giving you an improved price.
 
Sorry to bring this thread up again chaps. Last time, I promise!

I'm about to sign on the dotted line with AA but just wanted to check something first.

Last year I let my AA expire then joined a day later as a new customer via quidco and qualified for cashback which I eventually received. So it should be possible to qualify again. The quidco T&C says:

Terms & conditions
New Customers only.
If you have received a renewal invite from The AA for Breakdown cover in the last 60 days then your cashback will be declined.


I did receive a renewal invite from AA a few weeks ago within the last 60 days but since I've let my membership expire (expired yesterday), does this mean I'm good to go and can still qualify for cashback?
 
As I understand it that clause would cause your cashback to be rejected.

As you are applying as a new customer, but have had a renewal invite in the last 60 days.
 
Peerzy said:
As I understand it that clause would cause your cashback to be rejected.

As you are applying as a new customer, but have had a renewal invite in the last 60 days.
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Hmm, yeah. I think I'd better contact quidco just to see what they say but no doubt you'll be correct.

I now have a choice:

AA free MOT but with no £45 cashback works out about £85

RAC with £50 cashback but don't get their free £30 fuel as it comes through a cashback site works out at £62.99.

Guess it'll be RAC then.
 
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