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AA: Breakdown Cover reviews

Name: Breakdown Cover
Rating: 2.97 (197 reviews)

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2.52

Based on 197 reviews, last reviewed 6th May 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

33% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

36%

16%

43%

Latest highest rating:

5

I cannot thank AA Roadside Assistance enough for the... I cannot thank AA Roadside Assistance enough for their exceptional service during my recent breakdown. Driving from Devon to London early on a Saturda... Read more Reviewed on: 17th December 2024

Latest lowest rating:

1

Absolute joke of a service. Absolute joke of a service. I presumed being a long standing organisation that they would be reliable, I broke down with blocked DPF being displayed o... Read more Reviewed on: 6th May 2025

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About this product

Like many drivers, breaking down is not something we want to think about! But when it happens, You'll be thankful that you're with a good breakdown cover provider. That's were our AA breakdown cover reviews come in. You can read and write YOUR AA Breakdown cover reviews. We started Smart Money People to help drivers like you to find the best breakdown cover based on our honest reviews. Together, we can make financial services work better for everyone.

AA Breakdown Cover reviews (197)

Review of the AA, Breakdown Cover:

Absolutely no care for their customers

I have had an extremely bad experience with the AA on (and since) Thursday 11th January 2024 and not only have they dragged their feet to respond to numerous attempts to contact them, but they also never shown any understanding or care about the issue I have experienced. I have been a member with the AA for about 8 years now and this experience marks the end of my membership with them. Background: To cut a long story a little shorter, I (as a motorcyclist) suffered an unfixable tyre puncture, which happened after work on my way home at 5:15 pm. I was left waiting at close to freezing temperatures and was running out of places to stay warm at. I called the AA for an update at 10 pm as the goal post kept moving and was then showing after midnight for the AA to attend my incident. After I insisted that I cannot wait any longer, they dispatched immediately a third party recovery service. Why this wasn't done sooner, I do not know and I haven't had an answer from the AA either. I eventually arrived at home at midnight. I believe I am very patient and my complainted wasn't about the waiting times per se, but the disregard about their customers safety and wellbeing. My hope was for them to at least review why a motorcyclist was left waiting in the cold (~3°C) and was not considered at risk. An initial, impersonal response from the AA was a dismissive "here-is-£30,-now-we-consider-the-case-closed-and-leave-us-alone", which did not address my concerns and highlighted to me their disinterest to improve potential issues. It took a further 2(ish) months before they emailed me again suggesting that a further £20 should fix everything and still didn't show any interest or understanding of the actual issue. Just to be clear, I have not been chasing them for money, but wanted my feedback to be heard and considered for future improvements. I have tried to contact the AA so may times (phone, web chat and emails) and it is now evident to me that they clearly do not care to improve anything and have shown a complete disinterest in their customer's wellbeing. I'll take my business elsewhere and I suggest you consider it as well. Reviewed on: 28th March 2024

Avoid. They don’t help despite following their advice.

My head gasket blew a couple of weeks ago. I am an AA member so I called the breakdown department and arranged for roadside assistance. One person attended and Misdiagnosed my car stating it was a single faulty spark plug, claiming I simply had to pay The AA £300 for a service and the issue would be solved. I booked this service as advised and the mechanic turned up late, spent 45 minutes sat outside my house before knocking on my door to inform me he didn’t have time to do the service so he would have to come back the following day. He marked the job as done on the system. I called the AA back to get a refund and eventually this was processed. As the car would not run they sent out a second patrol car who told me that my head gasket has blow and that it needed a specialist mechanic to repair it. He told me to get it to a garage within the following days. I found a garage who had the ability to fix the issue (not an easy job for my car type) and they took the car the follow day and confirmed the diagnostic. It needed replacing. The garage then proceeded to hold my car for 2 weeks due to workload and not being able to complete the repair. I need the car for ongoing health treatment and appointments so need it on the road asap so I found another garage who can repair it within the next week. I called the AA to ask them to tow the vehicle to the new garage and was told they ‘had already been out once’ and ‘it’s my fault for not following their advice or attemting to get it fixed’. Neither of these are true. They asked me to provide confirmation from the first garage that they had the car from the date of the final call out so today I provided them with a letter headed document confirm such details. Despite that they are completely refusing to help in anyway stating that I have ignored their advice and ‘had my time’ and call out. The power steering warning light is also now on my light as a result of trying to drive a car with significant engine failure (AAs fault) and they won’t come out despite my cover and it being an additional issue. They are telling me to drive a car that is not road worthy and looses power continuously (not legal) as that is what their advise is on the report. I will be reporting them to the financial ombudsman in order to claim all unnecessary costs, as the level of customer service is weak, they are rude, they will not honour the policy I have and completely disregard not only my own safety, but the safety of other road users unless I want to pay an additional £99+ £4.50 per mile for something that is already covered under my policy and was advised by patrol attending Reviewed on: 29th June 2024

AA have now come up money grabbing technique

AA have now come up money grabbing technique Reviewed on: 30th May 2024

Rewarding the loyalty

I would be happier if my loyalty would be rewarding. I find too high the yearly cost however, AA provides wild range of discount codes like car wash. Reviewed on: 29th May 2024

Not Smart, No Care

What an awful service. I broke down with faulty wipers during heavy rain and was taken to a nearby garage as it was not a roadside fix, fine with that. I agreed to the work, which was on the expensive side, but again ok with that. The wipers have since failed again and I needed the issue resolved rapidly (this is the UK!), but as there are no AA approved garages near me, I was advised to take it back to the same garage, this I refused as: it is very far away from my house, after failing to complete the work on the first attempt, I simply do not trust them. No alternatives to support me or my family were suggested, just an endless phone maze of people telling me to submit a complaint. I am now over £300 out of pocket and in the same position I started in. Lovely. Reviewed on: 16th May 2024

Always had a good experience with them and found the...

Always had a good experience with them and found their service to always beat the qcompetition Reviewed on: 2nd April 2024

Unfit for purpose. No regard for their customers.

Last year a major accident left my wife and I stranded in the middle of a motorway in a storm. I've always had the AA's highest level of cover as I drive a lot and worry about this exact situation occurring. I followed the AA Accident Assist advice and as soon as I'd rung the police I rang the AA. Standing on the hard shoulder shivering in the pouring rain, I listened to phone ring for over an hour. The AA never even picked up. They've clearly cut all their phone operators because they've got a fancy app, but when you're on a motorway with no data signal, and it's raining so hard your phone's touchscreen stops working it's useless. This attempt at economy puts the lives of their members at risk. My car was eventually recovered by the highways agency and when it became clear that the AA were never coming, the police took pity on us and dropped us off at the nearest service station, leaving us to find our own way home at 3am. Unfortunately, the atrocious service did not end there. When I rang to complain I was accused of wasting the AA's time and they attempted to coerce me into the not making a complaint. Then another operator told me that I couldn't make a complaint because I tried to gaslight me into thinking that I didn't have the cover that I'd paid for. That took an hour of being bounced around random departments until they finally decided to believe me. Once I'd finally lodged a complaint and waiting the required 8 weeks, I was told that the AA actually had no responsibility to attend my accident, despite having AA Accident Assist cover with all the addons. No one had answered the phone because of the bad weather and all their call handlers were busy. If only there were some way to predict the weather and adjust staffing to compensate? I was told that because the Highways Agency had recovered the car, the AA were under no obligation to do anything, despite having onward travel and hire car as part of my membership. I guess I should have asked the police to leave the M4 closed for a few more hours to give the AA time to arrive? They could also (conveniently) find no record of my phonecalls where I was advised not to make a complaint and where I was accused of having the incorrect cover. I'm sure that was just a coincidence though. I was offered compensation of £150 (a tiny fraction of my annual membership fee) which took another 8 weeks and several emails before they eventually paid. After this ordeal, my trust in the AA has been irrevocably broken. It's clear the company will do anything possible to shirk their responsibilities to their customers and as such I will never use any AA service again, and I will advise everyone else I speak to do the same. The company is not fit for purpose. Reviewed on: 18th March 2024

Can’t fault them

Never had to use breakdown services but I was with AA for a year and can’t fault it, good price as I passed with AA driving school so I had a discount, they offer decent benefits and discounts and are a very reputable and trusted company for a reason. Reviewed on: 6th March 2024

I have full AA cover and they refuse to help

I have full AA cover . I dropped my key in engine bay by mistake . I rang them and asked for help . They refused to come out . It was hardly 5 minutes job . Avoid . My friend has similar problem few years back and RAC sent help with in minutes . Avoid them they r fraud Reviewed on: 20th February 2024

Treat Loyal Customers like Rubbish

A loyal customer since I passed my test, when I needed them the most to attend an accident and recover my vehicle, the first thing they wanted was me to give credit card details even though I was in a state of shock. They also didn’t provide relevant information about a claims service I could have used, which would have saved me a lot of time and stress. Now months after the accident they are on my case for more money for the recovery. They only want your money and have no interest in helping. Reviewed on: 27th January 2024

Stuck cold and helpless

Me and my mother broke down at 12.15 pm and we immediately rung the aa as my mum has the break down cover well what we thought was break down cover. After receiving the 1st if many times the as would reach us we were hopeful they would be quick and efficient but unfortunately we would be shown how daft we were to think that. After our time was pushed back for the 4th time we rung the number thats provided and the person on the phone did not seem bothered that we could be hit by another vehicle at any point as we were next to a rather busy road. After 3 and a half hours the person finally came and told us we needed to get towed as it wasn't something they could fix at the side of the road but if we were to use this service from the aa they would charge 300-400 pounds but luckily for us we had it sorted and we're able to get it alot cheaper. My mother and I are absolutely appalled the the lack of care and compassion these people have for their customers who pay money. My mother and I were freezing cold and our toes were numb from being sat still in a cold vehicle which we didn't dare turn on. So aswell as waiting a long time to have someone come out we had to then deal with the fact it was cold. As a result of this traumatic experience we have decided to cancel the direct debit for AA and gone to green flag which hopefully is alot better as well as alot cheaper than the AA Reviewed on: 25th January 2024

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