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Supacat



Member Since: 16 Oct 2012
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 11018

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS DCPU Keswick Green
RAC’s breakdown in trust as charity is hit with £6,000 bill

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When James Hewson’s Land Rover Defender broke down in north Wales, he was thankful that he had cover with the RAC, knowing that it would most likely do a professional job. But Hewson says the breakdown service managed to lose the keys, temporarily lose the car, and cause more than £6,000-worth of damage.

The first blow to Hewson was finding out he did not have full RAC recovery cover as part of a policy he bought from insurer NFU Mutual. Instead, it only allowed for the car to be towed a few miles. If he wanted the vehicle, which is 20 years old but still robust, taken to his trusted north London specialist garage it would cost £513 – a hefty amount for Hewson, who uses the 12-seater to take groups of disadvantaged inner-city kids on adventure trips with his charity, Mountainwise. Hewson, a trained climbing instructor, says: “In the end it was easier to pay the RAC to take it back to our garage where I knew it would be sorted out properly.”

But the nightmare was only just beginning. The RAC’s recovery contractor managed to lose the keys. And then, as it was being transferred across the country, it was winched on to a recovery truck which ripped the chassis.

The alarm bells started ringing when he got a call from the RAC asking if he had a spare set of keys – which he did not. Next he got a call from his garage asking why there was a Jeep in its yard. In an almost comedic element to the saga, the RAC had towed in a Jeep Cherokee for repair, instead of Hewson’s Land Rover.

When his vehicle finally arrived, he says it was immediately clear to staff that it had sustained major damage to the chassis, and he was quoted £6,600 to fix it, not including the cost of replacing the locks. “It might be old, but these go on for ever if you look after them. They are perfect for us as they go anywhere and carry lots of people. We take the kids all over the place. This is one of our best and we need it back.”

When Hewson complained to the RAC he was astounded when it offered just 20% of the repair bill. This was later upped to 30% and a “final” 50%, that would leave the charity more than £3,000 out of pocket. It offered to replace the locks and refund the £513 recovery fee, but no more. During the three-month dispute the vehicle has remained undrivable. “As far as I am concerned it has wrecked our car and it should fix it. To only offer half is ridiculous,” Hewson told us.

In correspondence to Hewson the RAC said: “The damage to the chassis was caused by the last driver who recovered your vehicle from our base to the garage. As the keys had been lost, he attached the winch to a hook on your vehicle which was the wrong procedure. I’ve highlighted this incident to the recovery driver’s manager and this will be addressed as a training issue.”

Hewson said it appeared to be limiting its payout by claiming there was already damage to the chassis. “Their loss adjuster only inspected the vehicle after the damage, so they have no grounds to suggest that the chassis was already damaged. None of this was noted on the pre-recovery condition report and if there was a pre-existing problem it would have failed its MOT, which it hadn’t.”

However, when we put Hewson’s case to the RAC this week it suddenly decided to pay up. It told us: “We accept there were mistakes made in terms of losing keys to the vehicle and in the damage caused to the rear section of the chassis while our colleagues attempted a recovery, which was felt to be the right course of action at the time.

“Following further review of Mr Hewson’s case, and in recognition of the length of time it has taken to resolve this issue, the RAC has decided to settle the claim, in full, and will be contacting the customer to confirm this.”

And another charge…
Last month the RAC was featured on the BBC Watchdog programme after viewers complained of being wrongly told they needed a new battery by recovery staff. It called the RAC out to 10 staged breakdowns in which their experts had declared that the battery simply needed to be recharged, and the car run for a while.

In eight cases the RAC insisted that a new battery was required, at prices of £90 or more. Experts checked the batteries again and claimed they saw no reason why the RAC had said they needed to be replaced. The RAC told Watchdog that it used the latest testing technology and it stood by its staff’s actions.

In 2014 Guardian Money first highlighted the high cost of RAC batteries, running several letters from readers who claimed they had been over-charged – on top of the membership fees they were already paying.

The RAC was bought by private equity firm Carlyle for £1bn in 2011.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/dec...towed-away
Post #584020 11th Dec 2016 7:50am
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JOW240725



Member Since: 04 May 2015
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 7866

United Kingdom 2012 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Orkney Grey
What a calamity of errors! Lets hope the RAC do the honourable thing and cough up in full!! James
MY2012 110 2.2TDCi XS SW Orkney Grey - http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic43410.html
MY1990 110 200TDi SW beautifully faded Portofino Red - https://www.defender2.net/forum/post743641.html#743641
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Post #584032 11th Dec 2016 8:41am
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Rosco



Member Since: 03 Dec 2010
Location: Burntwood
Posts: 1797

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Montalcino Red
Makes me feel better I didn't go for the cut price joining fee and haggled with the AA on my renewal 2007 - Stornoway Grey 90 XS SW - Gone
2002 - Black Discovery II - Gone
2014 - Montalcino Red 110 XS SW
Post #584055 11th Dec 2016 10:06am
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Laurie



Member Since: 22 Feb 2008
Location: Sussex, England
Posts: 2897

England 2005 Defender 90 Td5 XS CSW Bonatti Grey
I've been with the AA for over forty years and never had a problem, in fact it's always been 'service with a smile'.
I joined them after the RAC abandoned me while on holiday in North Wales. 
Post #584061 11th Dec 2016 10:30am
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Rickydodah



Member Since: 14 Jul 2014
Location: East Sussex
Posts: 1091

I also have been with the AA for decades and always find that they're happy to negotiate come renewal time Thumbs Up I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Post #584068 11th Dec 2016 10:55am
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shaggydog



Member Since: 12 Aug 2012
Location: Kent
Posts: 3346

United Kingdom 1991 Defender 110 200 Tdi USW Arles Blue
Not cool Sad

From the sounds of things the RAC are going to pay for the repairs though which sounds like a new rear Crossmember so not all bad.

Silver Linings Very Happy Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197

Self confessed mileage hunter Very Happy
Post #584134 11th Dec 2016 4:31pm
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ARC99



Member Since: 19 Feb 2013
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 1831

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Cairns Blue
I changed to the Green Flag some years ago and have had excellent service. I was with the RAC until one of there number tried to tow start my auto Disco. Oh no he was recovering it to a garage according to his report and didn't know about towing auto gearbox vehicles. Don't make old people mad.
We don't like being old in the first place,
so it doesn't take much to Censored us off.

Richard
Post #584156 11th Dec 2016 5:16pm
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Rashers



Member Since: 21 Jun 2015
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 3328

United Kingdom 2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Corris Grey
Has anyone noticed the absolute lack of AA / RAC vehicles on the road these days?

I am not sure about the AA but I think the RAC sub most of their work out around here. Now that is exactly how Green Flag work ( a network of independents who they call on) so you then have to ask why you would spend more on RAC membership?

It would be interesting to know how many Patrols each of those companies actually have?

I left the RAC many years ago when they screwed my renewal up. That was the day of having a local office (Chapelfield Road Norwich if there is anyone old enough and local to me who can remember). After getting no joy at the office, I sent a letter to them to cancel mentioning the fact that the local office were of little use and that how bizarre it was that a motoring organisation had an office with no parking. It closed shortly after......

I'm glad to see that this catalogue of disasters seems to have been rectified by the RAC.
Post #584198 11th Dec 2016 7:12pm
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BuckBlu110



Member Since: 19 Apr 2014
Location: in the pub
Posts: 709

United Kingdom 1994 Defender 110 BMW M57 3.0 Diesel CSW Buckingham Blue
Been with the aa for a number of years now and can't really fault them. I had a breakdown not too long ago, when it came up in conversation it turns out that the aa drivers cover a fairly large area from where they're based, can't remember how far exactly but do remember being quite surprised to how much distance is covered by each driver, might be why fewer are seen when they are covering larger areas.
Post #584254 11th Dec 2016 8:49pm
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Retroanaconda



Member Since: 04 Jan 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 2519

Scotland 
Chassis must have been pretty rotten for a recovery truck winch to 'rip' it.
Post #584258 11th Dec 2016 9:03pm
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miker



Member Since: 13 Sep 2015
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1758

United Kingdom 1999 Defender 110 Td5 CSW Rioja Red
Retroanaconda wrote:

Chassis must have been pretty rotten for a recovery truck winch to 'rip' it.


That was my first thought as well!
Post #584269 11th Dec 2016 9:18pm
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