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RAC: Breakdown cover reviews

Name: Breakdown cover
Rating: 1.83 (221 reviews)

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1.83

Based on 221 reviews, last reviewed 16th Oct 2026

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

10% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

81%

Latest highest rating:

5

good pricesgood for money good prices/good communication/reasonable time to solve your problems Reviewed on: 21st August 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

RAC breakdown cover failed us when we needed it RAC supplied and fitted a replacement battery to our company vehicle in February 2023 for £192.49, with a five-year warranty. In September 2026, the ... Read more Reviewed on: 16th October 2026

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About this product

RAC breakdown cover is available in three levels – Basic, Standard and Extra.

RAC claim to get to most breakdowns in 60 mins or less and say that patrols fix 4/5 breakdowns on the spot. In the myRAC app you can get savings on fuel and tyres. Options are available for vehicle cover, personal cover and family cover.

RAC breakdown cover reviews help you find out what it’s really like to be a customer. If you’ve used RAC before, you can also leave a review and share your experience.

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RAC Breakdown cover reviews (221)

RAC breakdown cover failed us when we needed it

RAC supplied and fitted a replacement battery to our company vehicle in February 2023 for £192.49, with a five-year warranty. In September 2026, the vehicle failed to start. RAC attended and recorded a battery voltage of just 5.70V and cold-cranking performance of 465A against its original 800A rating. Despite this, the patrol classified the battery as serviceable and jump-started the vehicle. Crucially, the patrol's diagnostic report instructed that the battery required recharging using an external charger. This instruction was never communicated to us, nor were we provided with the report. Three days later, the vehicle failed to start again. RAC demanded an additional £85 to dispatch a patrol, claiming the previously identified problem had not been rectified. How could we follow corrective instructions we had never been given? RAC offered recovery instead, but with an estimated wait of up to nine hours. Rather than send a patrol for a straightforward jump-start, RAC's policy appeared to favour a potentially more expensive recovery that would leave us stranded for hours. We declined to wait and arranged our own rescue. RAC subsequently refused to replace the battery under its five-year warranty because it had discharged below 11.9V. We questioned whether an underlying battery defect could itself have caused the discharge, particularly as RAC had not established the battery's remaining reserve capacity. RAC's final written response stated: "Our warranty policy is clear that batteries found in a fully discharged state are not eligible for replacement, regardless of the cause." In other words, RAC's position is that even if a battery defect caused the discharge, the resulting discharge would invalidate the warranty. On 15 October, following a charging cycle using a quality Victron intelligent battery charger and an overnight period disconnected from the vehicle, we drove approximately 10 minutes to Kwik Fit for an independent assessment. Their equipment reported: • Battery state of health: 56% • Cold-cranking performance: 448A (originally 800A) • State of charge: 34% • Battery voltage: 12.11V Given these results and the repeated breakdowns, we replaced the battery at our own expense. Despite our complaint, RAC maintained its warranty refusal. It acknowledged our concerns about the failure to communicate essential instructions and promised to review its procedures, but offered no remedy. RAC also stated that no further internal or external escalation routes were available. Most people purchase breakdown cover for peace of mind, trusting they will not be left stranded. Yet RAC demanded an additional £85 for a patrol because we had not followed instructions they had never communicated, offering instead a recovery service with an estimated wait of up to nine hours. We were effectively left without timely assistance for a straightforward starting problem. This experience has destroyed our confidence not only in RAC's battery warranty and complaints process, but, more importantly, in its breakdown cover. What value is the reassurance of breakdown cover if you cannot rely on it when you need it most? I would urge prospective customers to examine RAC's terms carefully, particularly how its battery warranty exclusions and repeat-attendance charges are applied in practice. Reviewed on: 16th October 2026

Absolutely horrendous!

Absolutely horrendous! Stay away I’ve already made a complaint under the case reference CC79617471 and heard nothing back I needed car assistance a couple of months ago, not too far from my house. I called the RAC. This was not even peak time, but the time that they quoted to arrive to me was a very long period. Other breakdown companies are not like this for example my next door neighbour is with AA and they’ve come round extremely quickly on a few occasions when she needed assistance. They are money grabbing and a rip off And then I wanted to cancel my renewal First of all, I cannot cancel my renewal on the app ? Okay, I’ve seen this before amongst a couple of other companies however they still do not even let me do on the website ? I then was required to call, paid for this and they put me on hold for quite some time Then I finally get through I speak to somebody who was clearly just interested in the sale and retaining me for his bonus I wasn’t very impressed with the way that he came across if I’m honest and I think he had a problem with me I rejected the offer to stay on with them and asked him in particular to cancel my renewal He then cancelled my full policy despite this expiring with the company in 10 days time- leaving me with no valid breakdown cover!! Even though I asked for a renewal to be cancelled There would be absolutely no reason for me to want to cancel my policy when I’m still in a contract This left me making long-distance journey with no breakdown cover This is unacceptable, and for that reason I would highly suggest staying away from this company. They’re just interested in your money. And offer very poor customer experience Reviewed on: 11th October 2026

Realised today that I had been driving without cover

Realised today that I had been driving without cover… Realised today that I had been driving around without any form of cover, due to the RAC ignoring my wish to renew, for the lower price I wanted. Also decided to cancel, for which I was stung for another £25......I would not have minded so much, but the last time I called them out, they arrived 24 HOURS LATE. Hopeless, I will never, ever use these people again, Reviewed on: 21st September 2026

RAC is extremely bad and must shut down

CC00435565 CC73029400 RAC member 200110007695329 RAC damaged my credit records by unfairly putting a missed payment of £2.45 on my credit file with credit reference agency when there was actually no missed payment. Then they sent me threatening letters promising to make further damages to my credit file. One letter dated 26 August 2026 says "if payment is not made by 22 September 2026, RAC will cancel my policy and a missed payment will be shared with a credit reference agency". The other letter (ref LTPCO1) dated August 2026 says the "RAC has cancelled my policy on 27 August 2026 and has already notified the credit reference agency of a missed payment". Now i am very upset with this as RAC should not have cancelled my policy or notified the credit reference agency before their own deadline of 22 September 2026. This is wicked and bad. I do have a CLEAN CREDIT RECORDS for the past 22 years with no missed payment. RAC has just destroyed my clean credit record by recording a wrong missed payment on my credit record. I WANT THIS TO BE REMOVED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and no trace should be left on my credit record. To understand the history of this membership (200110007695329), the membership contract was taken for 12 months in November 2024. After 12 months around November 2025, i sold my car and cancelled my direct debit. I then informed RAC that i no longer use a car and therefore i want my membership contract to be terminated as i have already completed my 12 months contract. RAC refused to terminate the contract under the pretexte that my membership has already automatically renewed for a further 12 months and they demanded that i must continue to pay my membership for a further 12 months until November 2026 even though i no longer use a car or drive. Then after the last payment in November 2026, my membership will not renew and will be terminated. RAC downgraded my policy to £2.45 a month and I then continued to pay against my own will up to 05 September 2026 when out of frustration, i decided to stop payment on 05 Sep 26 because i was paying for nothing as i no longer use a car since November 2025. I was paying around the 5th of every month. The payment for 05 August 2026 was paid on time by direct debit. The Payment for 05 September 2026 was cancelled by myself but is not missed until 01 October 2026. That means i have until 30 September 2026 to make the September payment. Therefore a missed payment should not be notified to any credit reference agency until the month of september 2026 has elapsed i.e. until October 2026. After i cancelled the Direct debit in late August 2026, RAC sent me a threatening letter on 26 August 2026 to say they will report a missed payment to a credit reference agency against my record if i do not pay by 22 September 2026. I phoned up RAC to make arrangement to pay and terminate the membership. A direct debit was set up for 3 payments of £1.96 on 20th Sep, £1.96 on 4th Oct and final payment of £1.96 on 4th Nov 2026. After this RAC membership will be terminated. I was very disappointed and upset when i received another threatening letter on 10 September 2026 from RAC (letter dated August 2026) informing me that they have notified the credit reference agency of a missed payment and this has been recorded on my credit records for nothing. I have done nothing wrong and RAC decided to destroy my clean credit records i maintained for 22 years. RAC is BAD and i will never deal with RAC ever again. This is a dodgy and bad company. I want to claim compensation of £2,000 (Two Thousands Pounds) from RAC for all the inconvenience they have caused me. More importantly i want any recorded missed payment to be removed from my credit record with credit reference agencies. Any record of missed payment will stay on my credit file for 6 years unless RAC removed it completely and immediately. This must be removed. I curse RAC and their managing director RAC memership ANDY BAKER. RAC must be fined and punished by the regulator for doing membership tactics. Reviewed on: 13th September 2026

My car broke down on the hard shoulder of a busy mot...

My car broke down on the hard shoulder of a busy motorway at 2pm. I immediately used the app and got told it would be between 530pm and 830pm before I would get dealt with. I then called them and got told this is incorrect and being in a dangerous position I was a priority and would be sorted within next 30mins. An hour later I called and enquired where my recovery was. They said no one had been assigned to me by mistake and a manager would ring me back. Another 15 mins went by. The call came a lady who was solely focussed on explaining garages were shut and if we drop you at home you would have to pay to sort car as we don’t pick up from the place we dropped you off. I said okay. They then an hour later sent a recovery truck and mechanic. But he was only to diagnose the issue and move me to a services. So I waited another 2 hours until a recovery truck picked me up. Took 8 and a half hours from breakdown to getting home which was an hour away. I complained and explained the level of service was grossly incompetent and asked to speak to a manager to escalate this and basically got told no and here’s the £40 excess you paid back. Truly awful experience. Would highly recommend never using them. Very poor customer service and no want or desire to help someone who was sat on a hard shoulder for almost 3 hours. Reviewed on: 7th September 2026

RAC European Cover NEGLIGENT

RAC European Breakdown Insurance. I had a blowout on the autoroute and managed to limp off the autoroute on a complete flat tyre. After 1 hour of speaking to the RAC, they handed me over to RAC France to repeat the exact same information. The RAC said it was not their problem as I had broken down on the motorway and to call emegency services 112. I hadn't, I had managed to get off the motorway through the toll gates and onto a public road. That is why when I called 112, they said I wasn't on the motorway and it wasn't their problem. I spent €1,000 sorting this out and taking 6 hours. My dog had to go to the vets re heatstroke (12 year old dog in 39c for hours all because of the RAC). I hope you read this David Hobday (Head of RAC) because I am taking legal action against you. The RAC left us to rot and almost killed my dog. They are negligent. I went with them as they are cheaper than the AA who I have used before. What a huge mistake. These people take your money but have no intention of helping. The lady on the call in France told me to say to 112 that I had children in the car. How unprofessional to ask me to tell lies. I urge you not to use this uncaring negligent company and use anyone else instead. The service offered by this company on the day was borderline criminal. Reviewed on: 29th August 2026

good pricesgood for money

good prices/good communication/reasonable time to solve your problems Reviewed on: 21st August 2026

Avoid RAC at all costs!

Avoid RAC at all costs! Over promise and mis-selling for breakdown cover and tow service. Raised a complaint with reference no. CC56520139 regarding the company’s over promise about the tow service. After our car broke down on 18 Jul morning, we called RAC for assistance. The staff provided us tow service information and asked if we need break down cover. At that moment, minimal information was provided by the staff. We didn’t have much information about the service and details of the policy. The staff also didn’t mention there is a cancellation charge for the policy. However given that we would like to settle the case soon, we agreed to pay upfront to start the services. After around 2.5 hours, a truck came. The driver asked us the destination. Since we were in the middle of the trip and didn’t know what was available around the stop point. We tried to check with the driver for advice and the garage service nearby. However, he said no information or advice could be provided. This is totally different from what RAC mentioned on its materials on Website that professional advice will be provided by trusted partners. He said what he could do was towing the car to the designation we provided. As a result, we have no choice but to ask him to tow the car to our home area Manchester. Driver said he checked with RAC and it was ok to arrange another truck for that. We then waited for another half an hour. No one came and we called the RAC again to check the status. To our surprise, the staff said Manchester was not covered due to the distance limitation. A surcharge of £600 was required. This is totally nonsense and not what we agreed. After transferring our call to many teams, we finally got no solution on our case with a long for more than 4 hours. The staff told me this was because I bought the policy on that day, some of the cover won’t be available until the next day. This very important information was not provided by the staff who sold the policy to us. With a long conversation which our call was transferred to different teams, the only suggestion for us is to pay £600 to tow our car. I then requested for a full refund of both the tow service and the policy as they were totally not fitting our needs and not matching with the service level promised by RAC. The staff told me that I could only get back the full amount if I cancelled the policy. Again this was not mentioned during the sale of it. The staff also queried about why we cancelled the tow service and asked the driver to leave. Actually, we didn’t asked him to leave. That was the driver said another truck would come and take us to Manchester. Again, only 10 miles cover without any advice on which garage available is totally useless. It was also misleading to ask us to further wait at the point. I can’t see the service quality of “professional and trusted partners” offered by RAC. Now, RAC just agrees to refund the policy premium and rejected to refund the tow fee even they provided towing service. A totally ridiculous and non-professional company. Reviewed on: 18th August 2026

They have stolen £2600 from our account over 5 years.

They have stolen £2600 from our account over 5 years. This is theft. I asked them to sort it and they refused citing that they cant trace where money goes to. They are the most dishonest company I have ever dealt with and I urge you to avoid them at all costs. Reviewed on: 5th August 2026

RAC: Breakdown cover that breaks down.

I pay RAC so I don't get left stranded. When I actually needed them, they completely failed. After hitting a pothole, I was left at the roadside with my two young children. The first patrol didn't arrive for more than 2 hours. Then he realised he had forgotten the hydraulic trolley jack needed to change the tyre. Instead of fixing the problem, he refused to recover us to the town he had just driven from. To make matters even worse, he drove away in such a rush that he left his hydraulic trolley jack under my car while we were still sitting inside with one side of the car raised. He only came back 30 minutes later to collect it. You simply couldn't make this level of incompetence up. By then, I had completely lost confidence in RAC. After around 5 hours of waiting, I had to arrange and pay £250 for my own recovery because RAC couldn't provide the service I was paying for. Their response? An insulting offer of £50 compensation. RAC didn't recover my car. RAC recovered their jack. If you think breakdown cover means help when you actually break down, think again. When it matters most, RAC leaves you stranded. Reviewed on: 30th July 2026

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