The Ford Capri Laser Page

Noting that my RAC policy was up another 13% and had gone up 50% in three years I just phoned to 'cancel'. Surprisingly I qualified for a special discount and the new premium is £10 less than last year! Tempting tell them to stick it anyway as they should have applied the discount before I called to gripe but the breakdown chaps were actually very good when I called them out to the 2.8 last summer so I've stayed with them for now. They all try it on though don't they, house insurance especially but that's another story.

This type of thing really gets my goat........I often get renewels for my van etc and when I go on a comparison site or the like as a new customer to the same company (Admiral the last time), it comes out considerably cheaper.
The cheeky tw*ts

Peter-S wrote:Noting that my RAC policy was up another 13% and had gone up 50% in three years I j

I`m exactly the same with the AA, it`s gone up every year (not checked cf last year yet) and I find it`s now £165 !!!!! 165 quid - how did that happen? £3 a week! I`ve used them once in the last 10 years. I should get a NCD
I must admit they WERE good when I used them, but, as you say, the fact they use these techniques makes you want to tell them to stuff it!

Same with Virgin Media, the thieving gits ! They NEVER let you know when they can reduce your monthly costs albeit giving these deals to new customers !

I rang them up a few years back after I has seen a much better offer they were giving to new customers. The girl on the phone kept saying "but its for new customers only" !! I said to hear don't take me for fucking mug and asked to be put through to their complaints/leaving dept. Told her how can they treat long standing customers like this giving new customers a better deal without telling long standing customers of the deals leaving them to pay more and more ! Anyhow got put through to their complaints and told the guy to stop taking the piss out of me and he "went away" for a min then came back with a better deal for me ! Mind you I am getting pissed off with them again so might go with BT Sport or similar who are much cheaper ! All I need to make sure is I can get my Car Programmes

stevemarl wrote: I find it`s now £165 !!!!!

Mines £245 a year with AA & that's after over 30 years membership and a being a 'Gold member'
No Claims would be a good idea for breakdowns but with only the big three having coverage domination it's never going to happen.

A lot of banks offer breakdown cover. It is definitely worth looking at. It's very good and very cheap, and you don't get these nasty renewal increases. Would recommened this option, I doubt that I would ever go with the usual (AA, RAC, etc.) ones again, and I always used to.

Fordoholic Nick wrote: I rang them up a few years back after I has seen a much better offer they were giving to new customers.

This was half the conversation I had with RAC. Over 60 quid cheaper on their website - for new customers of course! So I said I'd go elsewhere and get a new customer deal with someone else. I was offered some freebies for the existing premium, primarily they would scrap the rule that they won't come out less than 1/4 of a mile from home but as I told them I've called them once in 13 years so the freebie doesn't sound much of a bonus (probably famous last words now) and that's when, surprise surprise, she found, as a good customer, I did qualify for a discount!

Had breakdown cover with my insurance for an extra £75 a year and with my bank account with gadget insurance/home insurance ect for an extra £8 a month.
As I get older I started reading the 'small print'
Turns out my breakdown cover will only take me to the nearest garage within 10 miles of the breakdown. Not much good to me. I'd rather have my car home so I can repair it. Cancelled the breakdown cover with my insurance and was told I can upgrade to national recovery which will pick me up and take me and my car home from anywhere in the uk......same price.
National recovery all the way for me and it's a personal cover so I can use it for whatever vehicle I am a passenger in as long as I got my card. Even on my crotch rocket

The Mrs has a policy with this company https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover Nick first mentioned them on here last year.

Not had to use them yet, but under £50 for the 3 Star Cover is worth a try imo

Just checked and as a new AA customer the same cover would cost £110, So my reward for 24 yrs membership is a 50% surcharge.

Had a look around and was considering green Flag, (50% off your AA/RAC quote) but they exclude vehicles 10 years and over. Then I looked at personal cover
"

Whether you're the driver or a passenger, your vehicle is covered. No matter what.
Green cars background
Get a quote
Personal cover is only available for vehicles under 16 years old that are privately registered in and being used in the UK. 10% of customers achieve this price.


By `no matter what` I thought they meant no matter what?

stevemarl wrote:
Had a look around and was considering green Flag

Has a bad experience with them once. They offer £10 cashback if they don't appear within the hour. I called them out for a breakdown and it was over the hour so I phoned up to claim it, but they had 'adjusted' the time on their system to show that I called a lot later than I actually did. I kicked up a fuss and eventually got the tenner, but I thought that was a very poor show.

Also there was zero attempt to fix the car, (didn't even want to take a look), only interested in putting it on the truck as quick as he could.

I know several people who have moved away from the big three, their service isn't what it used to be, or as exclusive as it might once have been, and the prices are too inflated, as evident in this thread.

pbar wrote:

stevemarl wrote:
Had a look around and was considering green Flag

Has a bad experience with them once. They offer £10 cashback if they don't appear within the hour.

Yes, I was with them at one time. Broke down on Anglesey with what turned out to be a fuel pump push rod problem in a Sierra. Possibly I only had roadside recovery at the time but they had the one hour thing then. After best part of an hour a guy in an ordinary saloon car came out asked what the problem was, had a cursory look under the bonnet and phoned in for a transport truck which took quite a while to arrive but guy number 1 had satisfied their one hour pledge, albeit he was a waste of time.

My whole family do the same thing each year, we get a breakdown cover that covers all cars registered at the same address so five of us registered our car there and ay something like £30 each a year for it from the AA or something which isn't so bad... but as everyone has said, best deals are for "new customers only" so we hop every single year without fail between AA/RAC to keep it cheap, and so far I don't think any of us have ever used it!

We do the same thing with multicar policies hopping between Admiral and Aviva, always happy to pump the price up, last year by £1000!!

So the consensus is that Green flag`s not that great, no matter what. To be honest, I`ve only used the AA once last year for a tow back from Lymm (sump gasket `squished out` in the Smart; long story) the previous was about 2000ish when the head gasket went on Viva so I was towed back from Bolton. Both times they`ve been, quick, efficient, couldn`t really have had a better experience, so the feeling is to stay with the devil I know.... it`s just the money
I`ll just have to ring their CS and tell them I can get same deal from RAC for £65 less, what can they do about it?
I DO think a NCD would be a good idea for all concerned.

D366Y wrote: best deals are for "new customers only" so we hop every single year without fail between AA/RAC to keep it cheap, and so far I don't think any of us have ever used it!

That`s very likely what I`ll end up doing....

Time for the annual 'I'm leaving' saga!
After getting a 'special discount' from RAC last year when I complained I've just had the renewal through for 2018. Premium up £55 or 35% on last year. So I just phoned to cancel and the premium is now less than last year and frozen at that level for next year. Probably should still tell them to stick it on principle really but I've got what I want so I'll leave it be.

Glad to hear you've 'stuck it to the man' again!

Someone told me the other day that they did the same thing with their Sky TV and now get an insane deal... apparently they get every single channel going and only pay something like £30 a month rather than about £80-100!!

They got the introductory deal with Sky in the first place, as soon as it ended they cancelled everything and started getting more and more emails from them offering them better and better deals, 3months later they got an offer to get everything for basically no money! Sounds like it was a pretty good deal to me

Peter-S wrote:Time for the annual 'I'm leaving' saga!

Hi Peter,
Those damn automatic renewals that the AA insist on are a pain in the backside. It's ridiculous to have to go through the whole "I'm leaving" pantomine every single year.
It's a pity you can't tell them in advance that you intend to not renew the cover at the end of the year. At least that way they'll send you their best quote in the renewal letter....

Andrew.

D366Y wrote: Someone told me the other day that they did the same thing with their Sky TV and now get an insane deal... apparently they get every single channel going and only pay something like £30 a month rather than about £80-100!!

I'm tempted to try it with Sky as I've been with them for years and get no favours. Trouble is how do I tell the other half I've cancelled her TV progs if Sky stand their ground and I stand mine At least with RAC I knew I could sign up with AA or someone else!

Every year I do the same dance with the AA, done it for a bout 5 years now, renewal comes, I ring & say I didn't pay that last year, they say no it was a special deal, I say, well I would like another please as I have been with you for over 20 years ...... they then give in & I pay the same as the last year give or take a few ££

5 -10 mins on the phone saves around £40