RAC seems to be cutting corners no end. For example, people who hit a pot hole and their tyre burst are treated as a road traffic collision and won’t touch you.
6 hours and you can’t go anywhere with a baby is insane that they treat that as non-urgent
D1789 on
Vote with your wallet guys.
RAC is another company that seems to have a marketing budget that has no limits, whilst the budget for the service that they supposedly provide is dwindling.
It’s about time these companies realise that word of mouth on product/service quality is much more powerful than ramming ads down our throat.
cenjui on
Good job from the highways team helping her. Bet she was glad to see them!
Really don’t understand how the RAC could have been so shit here. They didn’t even pretend she was next in the queue and important!
EvilInCider on
Does anyone have a good story about RAC in recent times?
They’d quite happily let a postpartum woman wait for six hours, potentially piss herself in her seat after being unable to reach a toilet, all the while trying to keep her baby warm.
Imagine the stress and the sheer mechanics of trying to breastfeed on the side of the M40. And if the baby is bottle fed, well I guess it’s got to starve for six hours instead. And she’s bloody paying for this service! It’s not like she didn’t think she’s covered for this exact scenario.
Perhaps the RAC would like mothers and babies to stay at home and out of the way, less of a bother that way.
Alutus on
To be fair, I broke down in the middle of nowhere, think it was november(about 4 years ago). Had my mum with dementia in the car, RAC told me we were a priority. Still took four hours for someone to turn up lol.
JayneLut on
AA told us we were a priority (blow out on the M4, on the way to Heathrow. With 17 month old toddler). Took them 90 minutes to come. They did offer a partial refund of our membership for that year though. I would have rather not have been stuck on the side of the busy M4 in February with a toddler for an hour and a half though!
CyberRaver39 on
I had them for motorbike breakdown, a single blown type due to a screw in the road and I was waiting for 4 hours in winter in the rain
SchoolForSedition on
I had this from the AA thirty-odd years ago. Broke down mikes from anywhere with a one year old. Found a pay phone and was told it would be four hours. Nothing to do but wait … until a couple of Polish farm workers invited us in.
The AA arrived in only two hours, found an empty car, went ballistic.
But then put the car on their van and drove us all the way in the cab of the van. When the baby learned to talk it was one of the first things she talked about.
soggyarsonist on
I broke down and they didn’t even bother turning up after repeated promises someone would be arriving soon. After hours of lies I eventually just asked for someone to pick up the car and take us back home.
Eight hours with two small children. No toilet facilities or shops nearby.
Broke down at 1pm, didn’t get home until 11pm
laeriel_c on
Yes RAC is shite but a 3 month old is hardly a newborn, journalists always having to over dramatise everything
mydadisnotsanta on
Gonna get stick for this but…….yes the RAC are completely shit.
She was by no means a priority, if she was having a severe panic attack then she should have called 999 and got professional help because if she wasn’t in a fit enough place to drive her car she also was not fit enough to look after a baby. I’m not slagging off a panic attack, I myself have had one or two that have left me incapable of walking let alone drive, but the RAC are not and never will be someone you call when you having a medical problem…..if you think like that you’ll end up dead at the side of the road.
The RAC/AA fix cars not people
magicbluebear on
Partner was in a 7 vehicle accident on a dual carriageway, fortunately no major injuries.
RAC took THIRTY (yes 30) hours to get him and his car home (an hour away)
They take advantage of the fact you’ve got little/no choice, any other service provider wouldn’t get away with it
2breel on
RAC are the absolute worst. Should be investigated by regulators. Scumbag corporation.
Timely-Employer-7076 on
Had RAC cover via Barclays for over a decade, it came bundled with a few other things at first but has since been split into different products/fees. Wasn’t too bothered when it was £8 a month (same as the RAC cover direct) but the monthly cost was ratcheted up year on year, with the latest rise being 20% to nearly £18 a month, for RAC cover, an interest free overdraft we no longer need or use, and travel insurance we “use” every two years (who tf can afford to go more often than that with their own car).
A few callouts in that time – hydrostatic suspension issue with an old rover 100, enterprising RAC mechanic tried “pumping it up” with air compressor and just flooded his whole rig with hydraulic fluid. Had to pay for a tow to a garage + proper refill.
Once had a hose pop off the radiator and the RAC turned up with 2L of coolant only (brilliant). We filled the rest with a combination of bottled water and coke (the drink) to make the remaining 5 miles without cooking the engine.
Another callout, again hose popping off a radiator (different car), my dad was able to take the 50mile trip with tools and fix the car, meanwhile RAC ETA was still 4hrs+ when we were finished – took a family trip to the beach after so not all bad.
Intermittent battery light, missus called RAC they replaced battery, seemed fine for a couple of short trips but kept happening – was nothing to do with the battery or charging circuit at all – my OBD reader said misfire cylinder #1, took a look, spark plug insulator was hanging off the earth prong (if it had detached it would have destroyed the engine) – I assume weird sparks were causing some EMI issue the ECU detected as battery defect.
Anyway I’ve cancelled the fucking thing now. Looked at a few alternatives and for our aging vehicles they are all equally expensive. I now have a jump pack in my car, jump leads, tow rope, not much that can’t be sorted with that and private tow arranged later.
Special_Corgi1110 on
Green Flag told me I wasn’t an emergency. Very true because I broke down on Tesco’s car park with no vulnerable passengers. They were there within an hour. Same story in Ireland. Can’t fault them.
Successful-Elk-3754 on
I was left stranded for nearly 6 hours last Thursday on a busy dual carriageway! Lone female,Motability car with a knackered tyre l! I don’t think they have any ACTUAL patrol vans. They outsource them to recovery companies! I’m sure Motability are paying them a good amount of money! No idea why they changed from AA. The difference is night & day. Recovered to my home address then Kwik Fit didn’t have a tyre till Sunday. Recovery booked for 10am didn’t come till 3pm and just made it to KF with 10 mins to spare before they closed at 4, so had to wait till Monday for my car! Sent many complaint emails to RAC
cashmerescorpio on
RAC is a garbage company. Our tire burst a few years ago, and they refused to assist us because we were too close to our house. Wtf
BioelectricBeing on
I don’t believe that they weren’t a priority, perhaps the person she spoke to misspoke or maybe she misheard. A mother with a young baby is seen as a priority and very vulnerable by all the recovery services AFAIK. The Rac comment apologizing for not communicating clearly makes me think that’s exactly what happened, a misunderstanding.
Cold-Society3325 on
I’m with Britainia and they’ve always been really good. I had a breakdown on the M6 Toll a couple of years ago. Waiting on the hard shoulder in the dark in November is not fun but the woman on the phone and the guy with the breakdown truck were both great. I waited just under an hour.
sjw_7 on
A few years ago I was traveling back on the M40 and had a blow out. It was just after 3pm and in the middle of August so the weather was nice and warm.
I pulled over to the hard shoulder, got out of the car and rang the RAC who said that I someone was on the way and they should be there in less than half an hour so I settled on the grass verge to wait.
An hour later I called back to check and they said a priority had come in and I was next so not long.
A bit later a car stopped on the opposite side of the motorway and a chap got out of it and waited on the verge on his phone. Not ten minutes later a police car pulled up behind him and they waited for half an hour until an RAC vehicle came to rescue him. This annoyed me a bit as I had been waiting longer and while i was a bloke on my own and so not really a priority so was he.
The police car left and not ten minutes later I saw it driving towards me on my side of the motorway (i had alot of time to watch what was happening and recognised the registration). I thought they were going to stop and do the same for me but no they just drove past.
I rang them back again and they said it shouldnt be long and if I was ok. I said no as it was baking hot, there was no shade and I had no water left. I was told they made me a priority and the next one would be with me.
That was at around 6pm. I finally had someone turn up after 10 and it was the same chap who had picked up the guy on the other side of the motorway.
I get that as a man travelling alone I am not going to be a priority. But at least be honest with how long things are going to take and tell me you will get to me when you can. Also not sure why the police stopped for one person but not for me. Several police vehicles drove past while i was waiting. I ended up being there for nearly seven hours in the baking heat with just half a bottle of water. It was not fun.
I got a customer satisfaction survey through afterwards and as you can imagine they didn’t score well. I explained why in the notes but never heard anything back.
Suffice to say the RAC is not an organisation I will use again.
MandeliciousXTC on
Me and three others were stranded on a blind corner in 34-degree heat. With no hazard lights and no access back into to my car. Cars swerving around us into the opposite lane.
Spent four hours baked in the sun with zero shade or water. By the time the sun started to set, heatstroke was hitting hard. We had a ginger with us.
The AA’s response? A 5-hour delay, the wrong recovery truck, and a smashed driver’s side window. AA guy had to watch a YouTube video to try and access the car. Then all their bumper packs died and another recovery truck had to be sent out to get the car off the lorry.
But the real ace? They winched me off, the cables snapped off their lorry, and they didn’t even notice.
I drove 200 miles home with 1/4 inch steel cables dragging from my undercarriage. I’m lucky to be home in one piece, but the level of negligence was staggering.
seer88 on
If you have breakdown cover with RAC, you don’t have a breakdown cover. AA is not bad, never tried green flag.
TheYankunian on
I get RAC free through my bank and it’s not worth the money. They give you a time and then change it without telling you.
AnndraLabhruidh on
There’s a real lack of information on the story and people are treating the headline as if its gospel.
Godscrasher on
Proper negative experience with RAC and I won’t use them again. Broken down in Milton Keynes when I was just about to return to Newcastle. Waited 4 hours where I was broken down and had to get a hotel after they stopped their promises of getting someone to me, I realised after about 3 hours and it was after 9pm on a Sunday that they weren’t going to get to me, so went to a hotel. Called the next day (no updates from them in-between either), and they said they would get a person to me. Took numerous more calls after waiting from waking up until about 3pm, that they said they had someone to get to me.
In the end they recovered my car to a service station and relayed it. I got it back 4 days after with stuff missing and you could tell it had been rummaged through as I knew things weren’t in the same place as I left them (even though I took the valuables out).
They allowed me to get a hire car to travel home. I ended up complaining and got my hotel costs and hire car covered, but the time I lost is frustrating as they weren’t truthful to me.
Never ever going with RAC again as it’s a terrible service.
ItsDominare on
sucks it happened to her, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to take months-old infants on six hour car journeys in the first place – *especially* driving alone
Careless-Score-333 on
If they even still have a Royal charter, can they be stripped of it? And can they be forced to remove the R from their initials?
_peakDev on
Don’t waste your time paying these absolute scammers. Just use a local 24 hour recovery company, usually a more expensive one-off payment, but more reliable and won’t try to relay you home. Also generally cheaper than paying for RAC/AA/Green Flag cover for a few years and not using it.
Octopus-vs-Shark on
Broke down last year after work and called rac at 6pm- guy arrived after 2 hours, told me he could not tow me my 30 mile journey as he was finishing 2 hours later ( it’s all motorway and takes 40 mins) left me there and told me a tow was arranged … i was there till after midnight on my own and only got given a taxi home after phoning multiple times to tell them i was unsafe. Car was towed 23 hour after it broke down. Never ever again
Recent-Lemon-9930 on
I gotta give a shoutout to the recovery/assistance drivers. Have had interactions with them 4 or 5 times in mine and my mate’s cars and they’ve been quick, fixed what could be fixed or quickly (correctly) reckoned it was fucked. One was after a small tip (my mistake) and the driver had a laugh saying he got someone there at least once a month for the same reason.
Genuinely can’t think of service I’ve been happier with, particularly given it’s a shit time when dread can be pretty strong.
Willsagain2 on
RAC say they didn’t communicate well enough? I think they were pretty clear.
31 Comments
RAC seems to be cutting corners no end. For example, people who hit a pot hole and their tyre burst are treated as a road traffic collision and won’t touch you.
6 hours and you can’t go anywhere with a baby is insane that they treat that as non-urgent
Vote with your wallet guys.
RAC is another company that seems to have a marketing budget that has no limits, whilst the budget for the service that they supposedly provide is dwindling.
It’s about time these companies realise that word of mouth on product/service quality is much more powerful than ramming ads down our throat.
Good job from the highways team helping her. Bet she was glad to see them!
Really don’t understand how the RAC could have been so shit here. They didn’t even pretend she was next in the queue and important!
Does anyone have a good story about RAC in recent times?
They’d quite happily let a postpartum woman wait for six hours, potentially piss herself in her seat after being unable to reach a toilet, all the while trying to keep her baby warm.
Imagine the stress and the sheer mechanics of trying to breastfeed on the side of the M40. And if the baby is bottle fed, well I guess it’s got to starve for six hours instead. And she’s bloody paying for this service! It’s not like she didn’t think she’s covered for this exact scenario.
Perhaps the RAC would like mothers and babies to stay at home and out of the way, less of a bother that way.
To be fair, I broke down in the middle of nowhere, think it was november(about 4 years ago). Had my mum with dementia in the car, RAC told me we were a priority. Still took four hours for someone to turn up lol.
AA told us we were a priority (blow out on the M4, on the way to Heathrow. With 17 month old toddler). Took them 90 minutes to come. They did offer a partial refund of our membership for that year though. I would have rather not have been stuck on the side of the busy M4 in February with a toddler for an hour and a half though!
I had them for motorbike breakdown, a single blown type due to a screw in the road and I was waiting for 4 hours in winter in the rain
I had this from the AA thirty-odd years ago. Broke down mikes from anywhere with a one year old. Found a pay phone and was told it would be four hours. Nothing to do but wait … until a couple of Polish farm workers invited us in.
The AA arrived in only two hours, found an empty car, went ballistic.
But then put the car on their van and drove us all the way in the cab of the van. When the baby learned to talk it was one of the first things she talked about.
I broke down and they didn’t even bother turning up after repeated promises someone would be arriving soon. After hours of lies I eventually just asked for someone to pick up the car and take us back home.
Eight hours with two small children. No toilet facilities or shops nearby.
Broke down at 1pm, didn’t get home until 11pm
Yes RAC is shite but a 3 month old is hardly a newborn, journalists always having to over dramatise everything
Gonna get stick for this but…….yes the RAC are completely shit.
She was by no means a priority, if she was having a severe panic attack then she should have called 999 and got professional help because if she wasn’t in a fit enough place to drive her car she also was not fit enough to look after a baby. I’m not slagging off a panic attack, I myself have had one or two that have left me incapable of walking let alone drive, but the RAC are not and never will be someone you call when you having a medical problem…..if you think like that you’ll end up dead at the side of the road.
The RAC/AA fix cars not people
Partner was in a 7 vehicle accident on a dual carriageway, fortunately no major injuries.
RAC took THIRTY (yes 30) hours to get him and his car home (an hour away)
They take advantage of the fact you’ve got little/no choice, any other service provider wouldn’t get away with it
RAC are the absolute worst. Should be investigated by regulators. Scumbag corporation.
Had RAC cover via Barclays for over a decade, it came bundled with a few other things at first but has since been split into different products/fees. Wasn’t too bothered when it was £8 a month (same as the RAC cover direct) but the monthly cost was ratcheted up year on year, with the latest rise being 20% to nearly £18 a month, for RAC cover, an interest free overdraft we no longer need or use, and travel insurance we “use” every two years (who tf can afford to go more often than that with their own car).
A few callouts in that time – hydrostatic suspension issue with an old rover 100, enterprising RAC mechanic tried “pumping it up” with air compressor and just flooded his whole rig with hydraulic fluid. Had to pay for a tow to a garage + proper refill.
Once had a hose pop off the radiator and the RAC turned up with 2L of coolant only (brilliant). We filled the rest with a combination of bottled water and coke (the drink) to make the remaining 5 miles without cooking the engine.
Another callout, again hose popping off a radiator (different car), my dad was able to take the 50mile trip with tools and fix the car, meanwhile RAC ETA was still 4hrs+ when we were finished – took a family trip to the beach after so not all bad.
Intermittent battery light, missus called RAC they replaced battery, seemed fine for a couple of short trips but kept happening – was nothing to do with the battery or charging circuit at all – my OBD reader said misfire cylinder #1, took a look, spark plug insulator was hanging off the earth prong (if it had detached it would have destroyed the engine) – I assume weird sparks were causing some EMI issue the ECU detected as battery defect.
Anyway I’ve cancelled the fucking thing now. Looked at a few alternatives and for our aging vehicles they are all equally expensive. I now have a jump pack in my car, jump leads, tow rope, not much that can’t be sorted with that and private tow arranged later.
Green Flag told me I wasn’t an emergency. Very true because I broke down on Tesco’s car park with no vulnerable passengers. They were there within an hour. Same story in Ireland. Can’t fault them.
I was left stranded for nearly 6 hours last Thursday on a busy dual carriageway! Lone female,Motability car with a knackered tyre l! I don’t think they have any ACTUAL patrol vans. They outsource them to recovery companies! I’m sure Motability are paying them a good amount of money! No idea why they changed from AA. The difference is night & day. Recovered to my home address then Kwik Fit didn’t have a tyre till Sunday. Recovery booked for 10am didn’t come till 3pm and just made it to KF with 10 mins to spare before they closed at 4, so had to wait till Monday for my car! Sent many complaint emails to RAC
RAC is a garbage company. Our tire burst a few years ago, and they refused to assist us because we were too close to our house. Wtf
I don’t believe that they weren’t a priority, perhaps the person she spoke to misspoke or maybe she misheard. A mother with a young baby is seen as a priority and very vulnerable by all the recovery services AFAIK. The Rac comment apologizing for not communicating clearly makes me think that’s exactly what happened, a misunderstanding.
I’m with Britainia and they’ve always been really good. I had a breakdown on the M6 Toll a couple of years ago. Waiting on the hard shoulder in the dark in November is not fun but the woman on the phone and the guy with the breakdown truck were both great. I waited just under an hour.
A few years ago I was traveling back on the M40 and had a blow out. It was just after 3pm and in the middle of August so the weather was nice and warm.
I pulled over to the hard shoulder, got out of the car and rang the RAC who said that I someone was on the way and they should be there in less than half an hour so I settled on the grass verge to wait.
An hour later I called back to check and they said a priority had come in and I was next so not long.
A bit later a car stopped on the opposite side of the motorway and a chap got out of it and waited on the verge on his phone. Not ten minutes later a police car pulled up behind him and they waited for half an hour until an RAC vehicle came to rescue him. This annoyed me a bit as I had been waiting longer and while i was a bloke on my own and so not really a priority so was he.
The police car left and not ten minutes later I saw it driving towards me on my side of the motorway (i had alot of time to watch what was happening and recognised the registration). I thought they were going to stop and do the same for me but no they just drove past.
I rang them back again and they said it shouldnt be long and if I was ok. I said no as it was baking hot, there was no shade and I had no water left. I was told they made me a priority and the next one would be with me.
That was at around 6pm. I finally had someone turn up after 10 and it was the same chap who had picked up the guy on the other side of the motorway.
I get that as a man travelling alone I am not going to be a priority. But at least be honest with how long things are going to take and tell me you will get to me when you can. Also not sure why the police stopped for one person but not for me. Several police vehicles drove past while i was waiting. I ended up being there for nearly seven hours in the baking heat with just half a bottle of water. It was not fun.
I got a customer satisfaction survey through afterwards and as you can imagine they didn’t score well. I explained why in the notes but never heard anything back.
Suffice to say the RAC is not an organisation I will use again.
Me and three others were stranded on a blind corner in 34-degree heat. With no hazard lights and no access back into to my car. Cars swerving around us into the opposite lane.
Spent four hours baked in the sun with zero shade or water. By the time the sun started to set, heatstroke was hitting hard. We had a ginger with us.
The AA’s response? A 5-hour delay, the wrong recovery truck, and a smashed driver’s side window. AA guy had to watch a YouTube video to try and access the car. Then all their bumper packs died and another recovery truck had to be sent out to get the car off the lorry.
But the real ace? They winched me off, the cables snapped off their lorry, and they didn’t even notice.
I drove 200 miles home with 1/4 inch steel cables dragging from my undercarriage. I’m lucky to be home in one piece, but the level of negligence was staggering.
If you have breakdown cover with RAC, you don’t have a breakdown cover. AA is not bad, never tried green flag.
I get RAC free through my bank and it’s not worth the money. They give you a time and then change it without telling you.
There’s a real lack of information on the story and people are treating the headline as if its gospel.
Proper negative experience with RAC and I won’t use them again. Broken down in Milton Keynes when I was just about to return to Newcastle. Waited 4 hours where I was broken down and had to get a hotel after they stopped their promises of getting someone to me, I realised after about 3 hours and it was after 9pm on a Sunday that they weren’t going to get to me, so went to a hotel. Called the next day (no updates from them in-between either), and they said they would get a person to me. Took numerous more calls after waiting from waking up until about 3pm, that they said they had someone to get to me.
In the end they recovered my car to a service station and relayed it. I got it back 4 days after with stuff missing and you could tell it had been rummaged through as I knew things weren’t in the same place as I left them (even though I took the valuables out).
They allowed me to get a hire car to travel home. I ended up complaining and got my hotel costs and hire car covered, but the time I lost is frustrating as they weren’t truthful to me.
Never ever going with RAC again as it’s a terrible service.
sucks it happened to her, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to take months-old infants on six hour car journeys in the first place – *especially* driving alone
If they even still have a Royal charter, can they be stripped of it? And can they be forced to remove the R from their initials?
Don’t waste your time paying these absolute scammers. Just use a local 24 hour recovery company, usually a more expensive one-off payment, but more reliable and won’t try to relay you home. Also generally cheaper than paying for RAC/AA/Green Flag cover for a few years and not using it.
Broke down last year after work and called rac at 6pm- guy arrived after 2 hours, told me he could not tow me my 30 mile journey as he was finishing 2 hours later ( it’s all motorway and takes 40 mins) left me there and told me a tow was arranged … i was there till after midnight on my own and only got given a taxi home after phoning multiple times to tell them i was unsafe. Car was towed 23 hour after it broke down. Never ever again
I gotta give a shoutout to the recovery/assistance drivers. Have had interactions with them 4 or 5 times in mine and my mate’s cars and they’ve been quick, fixed what could be fixed or quickly (correctly) reckoned it was fucked. One was after a small tip (my mistake) and the driver had a laugh saying he got someone there at least once a month for the same reason.
Genuinely can’t think of service I’ve been happier with, particularly given it’s a shit time when dread can be pretty strong.
RAC say they didn’t communicate well enough? I think they were pretty clear.