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RAC getting alot of negative comments, watchdog BBC 30/10/18. Most mobility cars new but ,
If you need assistance it’s reported RAC kept people waiting hours & hours ,invited to BBC to explain, whats gone wrong they refused to attend ???.
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I worked for the RAC for 21 years. Unfortunately it is a plc so once again shareholders need their dividends before people need to be rescued. It is amazing that it has still got the Motability contract. Things must have slipped even further. Motability were once incident managed, not sure if they still are but it looks as if they might have let things go completely.
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline PlusThanks for the heads-up, will try and catch it when it comes available on the i-player.
Twitter is awash with horror stories about the rac at the moment, though i wonder if the article had been about the AA would the twitter response be the same?
RAC was investigated by Watchdog in 2016 as well – not the best track record it seems.
Important to note about us motability customers, our news cars will sometimes come with the manufacturers own recovery / breakdown service which you are free to use if you wish.
Please make sure you are aware of their t&c’s and what is/isn’t included if you wish to use them instead of the RAC.
My dealer told me Ford MONDEO has Ford assist for a year ,so she said if a problem quickest to use that, I personally had problems & was let down by AA so I would never use them,but of course motability now.
Hi Trev
I left 9 years ago now but when I was there it created problems with procedures i.e. hire cars etc if other breakdown organisations got involved. At one time if the car was covered under the manufacturers whichever breakdown organisation got a call and it was a Motability vehicle they would transfer the call to RAC Motability.
Things may have changed but I thought I would mention it.
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline PlusCheers Newfie,
That may very well still be the case, i only mentioned it as it was pointed out to me by the Mazda salesman as something we could use if we needed to.
My first port of call would always be the motability package, but if the horror stories of 8hr+ waiting time for RAC happened to me, i would be looking for alternative, quicker methods to get someone out to me…. or getting back to motability to sort it.
As you say, very wise to stick with the motability package, at least in the first instance.
Hi Trev
Firstly I am not saying the RAC are brilliant because they are not but these cases of people waiting ages has gone on for years and to today with social media the way it is these stories spread like wild fire.
Within the RAC each area has a deployer he is in control of the breakdowns within their area they are covering. It is they aim to manage that workload with the resources they have at hand and on exceptional busy days i.e. bad weather in rush hour it is a nightmare to control. Unfortunately the RAC now relies on a computer to dispatch breakdowns to a patrol and still to this day it cannot do it as well as a human and I would challenge anyone from the RAC who said differently.
Breakdowns are marked with a classification code. Life threatening being the highest of course which we never saw many of thankfully but the next highest was what we called an LFM (lone female) if an area where they thought they were at risk. The next was a motorway breakdown. When I was there it was the aim to get to motorway breakdowns within 30 mins. Often that went over due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. the next classification down was classed as a “priority “. Now Motabilty vehicles which had broken down away from there home address were classed within this category (Unless the need for a higher classification was needed). Like I said all Motability jobs were incident managed by a dedicated table for Motability only and it would be these incident managers chasing the deployment tables to get the Motability jobs sent out to patrols. So if Motability customers are being kept waiting I would say that there is a lack of incident management for Motability breakdowns.
I will say the AA are equally as bad as the RAC as they both have employed patrols. So of course they want all these patrols to carry out the workload and not to contract any breakdowns out to the network of contractors under the breakdown network. So it is all down to cost and keeping those costs within each organisation so as to keep shareholders happy.
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline Plus
Everyone expects amazing service theses days or the power of the review goes to people’s heads, I’ve never reviewed RAC or the AA and I’ve been a member of both over the years.
But ive personally never been left more then a hour more then once and that was a Friday rush hour and the M40 was jammed, but we did get telephone updates every now and then.
The biggesr rip rip off though and I wasn’t in the mobility scheme at the i ever as my health was fine.
Was the cost of a new 201/15/55 tyre at 530 pm on a Friday , now I know quick fit open till 8pm on that day and they quoted roughly £70 if I could get the car to them which wasn’t possible as the wall exploded and all I had was a gunk kit.
So Rac man arrives he puts a odd size wheel on in about 5 mins. I follow him off the m40 to a premier inn car park I needed the loo. He took my old wheel and tyre off to a nearby tyre fitter was I happy with that? Er I had no choice.
He came back 30 mins later said he had to call the tyre place to come back and reopen? As they’d gone home.
I got a new exactly the same bridgestone tyre got the bargain price of £237 plus vat. ? had to pay but I said it’s london tyre shops don’t close at 6pm especially when you phone up first and I would complain to customer service regarding the price.
A week later I got a refund for all but £65 inc vat and an apology.
Next time I hade another blow out on a piece of angle iron on the A3 the guy came out asked me what tyre I wanted I said Bridgestone he followed me with the odd tyre fitted they changed the tyre I paid them direct and was on my way this was a Friday evening at 630 pm
apart from that that once when I was nearly right royally turned over I’ve had brilliant service
The Watchdog programme showed people who had broken down got a patrol and then had to wait for a recovery truck. Now this has been a problem in all the years I have been driving. Mainly all recoveries are contracted out to a network of garages. The RAC’s point of view is once they have passed that recovery on to a contractor it is the contractors responsibility to manage that work. i.e. keep people informed and that has never worked in years I was in that line of business.
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline PlusThat’s very interesting Newfie, thanks for explaining that.
I’ve only had to call out recovery once before, and was when we were not on the scheme and had the megane coupe. At the time i went on one of those comparison websites and just choose the cheapest for roadside assistance with onward travel, think it was only like £13 or something.
Anyhow, called them out on a Sunday and they dispatched a local recovery truck. The mechanic said he couldn’t fix the fault and the policy only allowed him to take us to one destination – so we asked him to take the car to our local renault garage 3 miles from our house, and we popped the keys in the letter box there. I then mentioned that if he had taken us home we could have given him a brew and biscuits……… that was too tempting and he drove us home as well lol
I’m not sure these big players are worth the money, and the cheaper options are just as good, and in the event of recovery you probably end up having the same local recovery firm anyhow.
What i do find disappointing is with the RAC and other major players, they have a mobile app you can register to, and in that app there is a button to press to ask them to come and rescue you – this alerts them to your exact position from your mobile gps. Fantastic idea i think, but not available for motability customers as to use the app you need to register your policy number which we don’t have….. unless someone knows of a work-around.
Just think that faffing around for the telephone number, speaking on the phone distorted with the sound of traffic, and trying to give your location – especially at night in unlit areas, the app is more useful.
If anything this thread has made me input the rac number in my mobile so i don’t have to faff so much if needed now! It’s 0800 73 111 73 if anyone wants to do the same.
What I can see of the app it does not report a breakdown. I have not tried it but it looks as if you have to call them. If you do the telephone number that generates will be the standard jo public number, in saying that anyine should be able to take a Motability call if not they will pass you on to someone who can.
Of course the Motability contract has a scheme number which we as Motability customers do not need as the registration number is our membership number as the scheme is what is know as “Vehicle Based Membership”
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline PlusThe AA were always a little bit more advanced than the RAC which is ironic really as the RAC is the oldest of the 2.
One thing the RAC is more up to the mark with is that all their patrols at one time were all City and Guilds trained mechanics whereas the AA took anyone and train them in house.
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On order Skoda Enyaq 85X Sportline PlusI have added the caravan package @£40.00 August this year so I get a policy no, the APP is rubbish you can log in sometimes, but most of the time it will not recognise your password.
As I was a Caravan Motorhome Club I used to be with Mayday which is part of Greenflag , Mayday is an agreement with the Caravan Motorhome Club exclusively for members, I contacted Mobility and they would rather RAC dealt with their mobility car and Mayday with your caravan ( to be honest is a bit complicated) ? but advised there is a temporary agreement between Mobility and the RAC for caravan cover £40.00.
Before I was on the Mobility scheme I had reason to call Mayday (Greenflag) I gave them my exact location but the idiot on the phone insisted on the postcode (I lost my temper and asked for a manager). I told them exactly what was wrong with car and we are towing a caravan, 2 hours later they sent out a man and a van, cant fix that, I replied I know I told them, so they arranged a tow vehicle, 2 hours later it arrived you have a caravan, I replied yes I know, anyway 2 hours later they sent the correct recovery vehicle.
At the end of the day they are all the same nice and efficient when they want your money.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
That GPS location would have been a godsend, we broke down after parking on a forestry access road off an unmarked/unclassified road and trying to explain to the RAC handler where the car was, was nigh on impossible. After much explaining, they gave up trying to send a patrol van and called a local contractor to collect us. He called us, knew where we were within 30secs and was there in 10 minutes.
Had something similar on a motorcycle run, one of the guys dropped his bike on an unclassified road, the RAC said they would not attend, he had to get to the nearest classified road – 20 miles away. Luckily we had enough tools, spare oil and bodging experience between the 15 of us that we were on our way in 30 minutes. We carried out further more permanent bodging of his clutch cover (quiksteel over the hole) at Halfords in Inverness 50 miles later.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Before I was granted motability going back few years ,I was with green flag, what a waste of time they where, I had home start ,my car had problem so I rang green flag ,after 3 hours they sent an old man with rusty van a contractor working for green flag , he looked at car ,sometime later he said I have found problem it’s deep in engine bay fuses,but I can’t fix it as Ive forgotten my glasses and can’t see to replace it, TRUE he left ,did not return ,then I had series of complaining phone calls with green flag they where rude unhelpful,,they said he was a contractor not one of us, but green flag sent him to deal with my problem ,I CANCELLED GREEN FLAG NEVER EVER HAD ANYTHING MORE TO DO WITH THAT DISFUNCTIONAL ORGANISATION. And still would never recommend,even if they have improved.
Micky they have not improved.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
I cancelled our RAC membership in May this year as I had a new mobility car and no longer had my personal car. Whilst I was on holiday in August the RAC renewed my cancelled policy taking the money from my credit card which, as it was unbeknown to me at the time, took me over my credit limit. I rang the RAC and they refunded the money, but not until after my statement date thus incurring me an £80 charge for going over my limit. I am trying to get the RAC to refund the £80 because they should not have taken the renewal money as I had cancelled the policy. So far the refunds team have refused to refund it and my complaint been escalated further. I haven’t heard anything more from them as yet but I intend to fight this. Be aware, even if you cancel your policy, they may still take the renewal money from you.
I don’t understand why motability don’t just get the manufacturer to come out and assist throughout the entire 3 years?
I guess some dealers couldn’t cope.
Same as tyres and glass.
I had a lease car once and got the first three year of it life it had bills from Kwick fit who had replaced all the wheels and tyres every 6 months?
It was leased through Loyds bank and we had the car about another 3 years and never had a tyre fitted once
definitely a nice little set up going on there?
Plus the wheels didn’t look new when we got it, they all looked like a dealer had over sprayed them so they looked ok till the first winter.
It
@Phil, had you just taken your medication before writing that? I love your posts immediately after you take your meds, it’s always before or around lunch. ?
Rapster
im I’m so much medication my whole die and night is a blur.
I have a crumbling spine and spinal stenosis so I also don’t sleep more then a couple of hour max a night.
So I find myself daydreaming and just typing away ?
glad it’s entertaining though
but I’ve got pain psychology booked in again, another leaflet about living with pain lol
No worries @Phil, I’m only ribbing… ?
I’m in a similar boat to you, I have a Pain Management clinic appointment next Wednesday which will be interesting from the point of new leaflets. lol
Yes my favourite one living with pain.
Always a rib tickler, just after the morphine etc. ?
i was one of those people who features on the Watchdog report about the RAC. I broke down twice in a 3 day period and was left waiting for over 28 hours in 2 days. 23 hours the first time and 5 hours on the hard shoulder of the M40 the second time. The guys ok the ground were great – once they got there. But customer service was absolutely terrible. They never called me back to let me know when to expect a rescue or to update me on what was going on… and im still waiting for an apology!!
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