Hope everyone had a better day than me yesterday

[Suff]

I set out to deliver a knitted bunny and cards to my Son, DIL and newest Granddaughter when I suffered a catastrophic puncture in my drivers side front tyre. I felt it going so brought the car over to the side in a driveway and off the road.

I have a Citroen Kit (bought instead of a spare tyre), which was bought when the car was ordered from Citroen. Nowadays you don't get a spare wheel, a winch for the wheel, or even a space for it to go in, unless you buy it for a ruinous cost.

So I put the bottle of hole sealer on the valve, attached the pump, turned it on and watched the white sealant bubbling out on the road in several places. Now we have to remember this was Sunday at 12:45. So my day is running out and my options to get back on the road are diminishing fast.

I'm a member of the AA so I called them. After 25 minutes of listening (and I suppose meant to be respectful of the fact that they are very busy), to how they were very busy and would get to me in time, I started phoning around. I called KwikFit in Spalding (closest) and asked if they had a tyre. Curse the fact that this car has low profile extreme speed tyres... They did not but they checked around and both Peterborough and Sleaford did.

Then I phoned Sleaford, "If I get there before 4pm can you fit it". "No we're too busy". At this point I'm still waiting for the AA to answer, realised I'm rapidly running out of time. I was about to start looking for other solutions when the AA answered.

Now it becomes really irritating and I had to work this out. My AA is a joint with my wife who set it up. I logged into the account but my phone number is not registered with it. In fact there appears to be no way to register my phone number with it online without de-registering my wife's phone number. Because of this the app simply called the helpline as if I was not on the app. It didn't tell me, it was too busy crashing.

I get the person on the call and the person takes the details but only fills out what is on the sheet. When he said they would send a patrol, I told him I would need a front suspend tow if they needed to move me anywhere. He wittered on a bit until I told him that he was useless and that what he was offering was useless and I was going to be stranded if he did not listen. To whit he said "our patrol will 'assess' the situation and tell you what your tyre repair options are and if you need to move, he will fit an adjustable emergency wheel to get you to a garage". I asked when a patrol would arrive and I was told 15:55.

I ended the call and then started calling emergency tow agencies asking if they could get me to Peterborough before 4pm. Everyone said no. But one guy suggested I get onto a mobile emergency tyre specialist, 24/7 comes out to you and replaces your tyre. He gave me a name in Boston. I called them and I was out of the area.

Now I knew that there were such companies I started looking. I hit Peterborough Mobile Tyre on the 3rd go. Do you have a tyre. What tyre. Read off specs. Yes!!!. We then switched to Whatsapp whilst he checked on services. When can you come. About 1 hour need your location.

At this point I learned something about Whatsapp. Click on the paperclip to attach, attach you location. DONE.

He came back and asked for a photo of the tyre just to be sure and then asked me to pay. Offered bank transfer or credit card. I chose card as it is a pita adding a transfer on the mobile. He called me on Whatsapp and we did the card. Job done, time to wait.

Now I have an issue. It took an hour for the AA to answer my call. I couldn't contact them on the app because they' useless and the patrol was due to arrive about 10 minutes after the tyre service.

So I just waited. About 10 minutes later I got a call from a local recovery services. I was a bit confused for a second as I thought the tyre people had outsourced. But, in fact, it was the AA. They had "outsourced" the patrol to the local recovery services. So I said to them "what are you intending to do". They told me they would "assess" my tyre. I told them I'd already done that and it is not repairable. To which they told me that they would only be able to take me to a garage (which would be closed) and dump me there. Nothing else they could do.

I told them to forget it and go tell the AA that I no longer needed their services as they're useless and can't provide the service I need.

They tyre guy arrived about 30 minutes later (early). Put the pneumatic lift under the car and whoosh, up it goes, in with the battery hammer gun, wheel off and starts changing it. We got talking even though it was -2 out there, I just put my hat and coat on and chatted to the guy. I learned that the AA patrols regularly come out then when they assess the tyre is gubbed, they call PMT and get them to come out and fix it.

It took just short of 20 minutes for a new tyre to be fitted and I could get on my way. OK it cost me £245 but that was acceptable for me, the tyre's cost £145 anyway.

The thing is, now, do I retain my AA or do I consider ditching it? The car has done less than 40,000 miles and is dealer serviced. It is in very good mechanical condition as I bought it with less than 20,000 miles on it. I'm incandescently furious with the AA for the way they run a service and also I missed lunch with my family. I did go and see them after but it's not the same. Had I known up front I could have been on the road with PMT and got there in time to meet them for first course lunch at the restaurant. In the end it was only my own determination which got me there on Sunday at all.

I suggest anyone who reads this has a check in their local area for these kind of services. Because you simply can't trust the emergency breakdown services like the AA and clearly these tyre services have found a niche in the recovery market.

It's all fine now but I'm really annoyed about the whole situation. The AA is up in January and I'm going to be talking to Mrs S about the renewal. Or not. Especially as the AA auto renew and you really do have to force them to stop.

Yes I could have played on the recovering heart attack victim it's -2 and I'm cold and I have mobility problems with my knees and forced them to make me a priority. But what if I took away a service from a truly disabled person who has no choice? Not an option.

[cromwell]

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun Suff.
I would probably bin the AA cover. You pay them to come out when you have broken down; if they don't come out it's money wasted.

[miasmum]

My sister was on her own for 3 hours in a deserted carpark waiting for the AA. They asked her if she was in a place of safety, she said a deserted car park, which to them was safe as it wasnt on the road. Frankly I'd rather be on the road where people are driving past than on my own in an empty car park.

[cromwell]

That's awful Shell. That just sounds like an excuse for the AA to do nothing. A deserted car park isn't a reassuring place to be.

[JanB]

Dreadful experience for you Suff.

Look into Greenflag, they helped me out very quickly.

But it was years ago and I have no idea how good they are now.

[Suff]

This lack of ability to respond revolves and changes in management fix it for a short time. At one point it was the RAC, then they went on a "prioritise women" thing and fixed one problem to make another. Green flag guarantee 30 minutes but, in reality, what I needed was advice and contacts and, possibly, the £100 call out charge to go to the AA instead of having to pay it.

None of them are good at this because they all have call centres full of people who have little idea what happens on the road and just follow a pre determined list of questions and answers which meet >50% of the breakdowns.

If you are not in the >50%, tough and that goes for all of them. Also there is a problem where large influxes of new subscribers cause a problem and also the likes of Covid where people were not driving would cause a reduction in call centre staff. Which then becomes a problem for ramping up again once people get back to normal levels of service.

Good management will allow for this. Good management is hard to find.

[meriad]

Gosh Suff, that sounds ab absolute nightmare.

Now for me, as a single female that knows next to nothing about cars, having any form of roadside assistance is non-negotiable - it's a must have. Touch wood I've only needed them once and they reacted within 2 hours (and I was safe and warm) but I feel safer driving knowing I have that back up should it be needed.

Also, when I bought my current car, I paid that extra bit for a spare tyre - not sure if the car has a jack etc so good point and I should check, but I have the kit and the spare - paid £100 extra for that tyre, but worth the money to have peace of mind

[TheOstrich]

Tough luck, Suff, that doesn't sound at all good.

I'm non-technical and not a car buff, so I've been with the AA for over 40 years. Costs an arm and a leg, but I have had them out at least half-a-dozen times over the years.

I had thought about changing when their annual renewal fee became rather ruinous, but then I had a night-time breakdown (battery failure) in Westbury just pre-Covid which they attended within an hour and got me back on the road, Might have been quicker if the wretched football club hadn't turned off the floodlights half-way through the change-over (I was in their car park) and left us floundering in the dark!

And the AA's prices have seemed to stabilised a bit, so I'm continuing with them but reviewing it year-on-year.

[JanB]

We have car breakdown built into our insurance, as is normal, even though we're only third party.

When the head gasket went bang a few years ago, we were taken back to Ourique and a taxi called for Ria, to take her to the airport. And we were in the Algarve at the time.

The only extra we have to pay for is windscreen and windows, if we want to.

[jenniren]

I'm a fan of Green Flag, they have always come out promptly and at the time advised when I've needed them. Currently I'm covered with my bank account, a big saving, hoping if needed it proves as good as GF.