RAC

Wife hit object on road surface with her Mini, holing the sump. 154 miles from home. Top cover price paid to RAC for many years.
Called RAC to be told we are not covered. They class this as an accident! Recommended to me that I claim on our car insurance! Complaints process is a joke. Their staff must be trained just to P you off. My auto renewal had gone through the previous week with an increase of £28.
I immediately cancelled when they said they wouldn’t recover my wife's car and they kept £25.
To cap it all, today I received a 50% off offer email on their membership. I’d rather lick a fistful of nettles!
They shouldn’t be able to use the word Royal.

Had two punctured tyres which had to have two space savers,Rac followed me to kwik fit…. When we got there he said “did you hear anything drop off?” He said that he had left the locking wheel nut on the wheel…. Kwik for them told me I can’t drive away without one as it’s dangerous.Rac promised to send in post as the vw shop was closed… this was Saturday… I waited until the following Friday to call… I couldn’t get through.. so I used another phone to call his mobile…. He said that I had blocked him 🤣.. I don’t think so…. The other way round… he said he would be coming to fit one…. I wait and wonder… tyre pressure symbol has Come up now… do I complain to the Rac now? Kwik fit know the truth so his not waggerling out of it…. I’m flabbergasted…

Absolutely terrible service after our recent breakdown. Today I've spent 3-4 hours on hold with them to speak to staff who would pass me from pillar to post, only to then rudely hang up on me mid-sentence so the whole farce could start again. That was just to establish where my towed car actually was! They have not delivered the car to the garage and now say it will be 48 hours before they do. So, provided I can trust that version which I don't, that will be 2-3 wasted garage days during which I cannot get to work. The RAC staff have lied, cut me off, refused me the right to complain, refused me transcripts of the recorded calls and have not got back to me when they 'promised' to do so. All of this, several times, all day.
I have the most expensive level of cover you can get and have had no level of service from this joke of an outfit. Been with them for many years but when you finally need them they are not there for you. Avoid at all cost - certainly can't wait for my policy to finish so I can go elsewhere!

Broke down at Stafford M6 services yesterday morning at 8 45 am
RAC patrol was great.
1st tow truck driver was great.
2nd tow truck driver decided to drive via London M25 to M3 Fleet services and drop me in the lorry park at 6pm.
5 hours later still no word from RAC as to when a truck was coming.
Gave up in the end and paid for a private recovery company to take me the last 50 miles.
RAC uggested I get a taxi home and leave my camper van with the keys on the wheel and they would get it at some point.
Their animal welfare policy is absolute CRUELTY.
Dog die in hot vehicles.
They would not let my dog be crated in the back of the tow truck cab.
Not loose but in a secure crate. no rise of mess or attack.
Just let him cook to death in the vehicle on the back of the truck.
It was a sunny day
Disgusting cruelty.
Will be putting this review on every social media platform I am a member of.
Apparantly
GREENFLAG MAYDAY
is the scheme to be a member of.
and endorsed by the Caravan and motor home club.
I will be joining today.

My van , broke down 120 miles from home last night (04.07.2022) and they promised someone will go and collect it.
Then they called to advise it will be taken into their storage, and we will receive a hire car (estate to replace a van). After another hour or two, they told us, we will not get a hire vehicle today... it is now about 20:00, and we are stranded 120 miles away from home.
We checked into a hotel and left in the morning, as the van was "taken" to their garage. Well, surprise - the van was still where we left it last night and now they will take it today to the storage and hopepuffy will deliver it back where it should be in London TOMORROW - 06.07.2022.
Absolutely absurd, no wonder the rating is so low....

What went wrong???
Left for almost 7 hours, constant text messages saying they were "working hard" to get to me but were busy.
I had enough battery to eventually phone a friend who kindly towed my car home.
At 11'30pm a mechanic messaged to say he had arrived but I'd gone. He knew I'd managed to get home but didnt want to wake neighbours up which is understandable.
The following day I phoned the office but was told basically it was my fault for leaving the location without telling them.
They wouldn't help as I dont have home recovery. The staff member spoke to a team leader who blatantly wasn"t interested. 5 minutes after the call ended I suddenly start to receive text messages again saying they were trying to send a patrol to me!
I felt as if I was being made fun of.
A mechanic then phoned me, arrived 10 minutes later, was able to fix my car in half an hour. He was very professional and efficient. I have no complaints at all regarding the mechanics but I do feel sorry for them having to work for such an appalling company. The rac is happy enough to take peoples money but dont provide the service they claim to. As for supposed "customer care" its non existent. They really need to employ people who can actually communicate with customers. Shame on you rac.
Disgusting.

I had to pay £85 to have a breakdown attended to after paying over £300 for a joint membership with my mother. A single policy allows 6 call outs but this is halved to 3 each person in a joint membership. So between us and 3 vehicles we had 6 call outs for different reasons. Even although its unlimited call outs. The time taken to respond in one incident was over 12 hours, after 12 hours wait I cancelled as I had to consider child care and safety at night. The following day I was told I was priority so a full day was wasted in real terms. Today after I was charged £85 I waited over 5 hours for assistance. I thought I had paid for it to be towed, but I was left at the repair garage miles from the house as I watched the RAC turn and drive in the direction I was walking.(covid is over according to London gov). If I had not had money on me to get a taxi at the nearest tesco I would still be walking home.The workers that attend call outs are always polite and helpful to date but the associate company that RAC use on the island of Lewis was exceptionally helpful when Hughsons sent their worker Robert to tow my LGV into a garage when the gearbox failed. The automated system is diabolical as its not able to understand regional dialects, which are very common on mainland Scotland as well as the rest of the UK. The constant referral to an online system when there is negligible coverage in the North of Scotland, northern and western isles is excruciating and worrying that help can't be found in so much of the country.

There is no place to give no stars for this company. I have been let down dreadfully by them. We are members of this company via Barclays Bank. Left on an empty sixth level multi-story car park in the dark with a flat battery and very sick friend after being promised on numerous occasions that an RAC van was on the way. My husband who was in York even phoned them and told them my friend was very sick and I needed to get her to A and E and could they get there soon. Early that morning she did end up in hospital poorly. After numerous phone calls/attempts to the RAC I was promised someone would come and I would be contacted prior to the arrival. I was phoned at 3 am to say nobody was available until the morning and therefore nobody would be coming before then. the RAC did offer to pay for a taxi home and back to the car park the next day. I tried to explain that my friend had now become so ill that we were now waiting for an ambulance as they have taken so long to get here so I couldn’t book a taxi home as that would mean leaving my friend by herself, and I wasn’t going to do that. I managed though to book one for the next day for a slot between 10.00 and 1200 from York to Leeds. They did pay for this taxi and promised someone would be there that day at about 12.00h to sort my car out. No one came. I Phoned them again at 12.40 and got a reply that there were no guarantees that anyone could come. He would give my case to the mechanics and they would ring me when they could come. I explained that I would be left as a lonesome lady on the sixth floor of a multi-storey car park again. Did this mean I was going to be left here overnight if no one was available. He said he would put my request in again and I would have to wait for a phone call. In the end at 2pm I had lost all confidence that anyone was going to turn up. No updates as promised since 11.30 pm the night before. I rang the Green Flag Company and explained my situation and asked if they could possibly help me. I paid the lovely green flag 150 pound to charge my battery up. It took 4 minutes. They came from 15 minutes from the first phone call I made to them. Later that day at about 4pm ,16 hours approximately after my first call to the RAC somebody phoned me from the RAC. I told them I was at home thanks to the lovely green flag people. He apologised for how I was treated. I told him I felt it wasn’t his fault he had just picked up the call. I would be very cautious in joining the RAC and look at other reviews before deciding whether or not to join this company.

Firstly, I called them 8 :42 am and told them that I have 4 daughters have to go to school. They did not turn up and I called them again at 11:00 am. They told me they are busy and it will be at 3:00 pm. I was very angry and talked hard to them, then asupervisor called Picky called and said at 5:00 pm now. I called .you insurance company as I bought my breakdown cover from them. They said they gave nothing to do. I called again and was losing my oatience and telling them I will sue them, then suddenly they said it us fir sure 5:45 pm. The Patrolman arrived and he started to convince me to buy a battery from him for £184. I was shocked and he told me that I need to sign if I don't buy it from them that next attendance will cost me £85. My cover is covering me as many times from home start.
They let me wait 9 hours. My four daughters missed school and caused me a lot of stress and ruining my day. They are really horrible. I will cancel my insurance and the break down cover. The problem is that courts are only supporting the SHARKS and not looking after vulnerable and innocent people. We are living in a crazy world. I am calling to boycott RAC.

Never in my life have I ever had a…
Never in my life have I ever had a worse experience with customer service than I have today with the RAC. Their office is full of liars and deceivers who say anything to get you off the phone and if you don’t hang up, or if you ask too many questions, they will happily hang up on you while your stranded on the side of a motorway on the hottest day of the year. Let me explain what happened, the van broke down at 9am on the 17th of June 2022 so immediately the rac was called. The company I work for pays extra to get service quicker during emergencies and I was told a 2 hour wait time at 9am. Not an issue I’m happy with that and if I got that I would be giving them a 5 star review. However as you can probably guess that didn’t happen, 11am rolls around and I call for an update on the recovery and am told they are running behind. Another hour goes by and I’m fed more lies that they are running late but will be there soon. Eventually I call again at 12:30 and am told they are struggling for a recovery truck so they will order us a taxi. Of course I was happy with this but again this was a lie and no taxi was ever ordered so I’m there wondering again how and when I’ll be recovered while baking in the heat. More phone calls later and I am physically pleading with an operator on the phone to put me onto a manger or anyone higher up so that we can sort out how I am going to get home, I’m disgusted to say that the operator hung up on me and I can honestly say that I lost my cool at that point. The time was now 3pm and I was no closer to knowing how I was going to get home. More phone calls and more lies pursued until I was eventually told they have sorted a driver to take me from Warwick to Sheffield and he would be there for 4pm, 7 hours after the break down was first reported. The driver did come at 4pm and I was happy the nightmare was finally over but oh wait, no it was far from over, the driver was only willing to take me to Tamworth service station just 20 miles down the road. I receive a text saying a new driver will take me the rest of the way and he will be at the services at 5:30 at the latest. Get to the services at 5 and wait around and again no driver at all. Call customer service again and am told there has been a mistake and it’s going to be a 3 hour wait. So I’m abandoned at a services with a dying phone, sunburn from the hottest day of the year and paying £3 for a bottle of water to stop myself from dying, more customer service calls and again when begging to speak to a manager being told it’s not possible and pleading to speak to anyone higher up than the people who answer the phone, I get hung up on twice more. Not once did I swear at the customer service people, I was begging and being distressed from being stuck in the sun since 9am. They are the most unsympathetic and horrible people I have ever had to deal with in my life. Not once have I ever left another review with a company but this is the most appalling experience I have ever had. I wish the story had a happy ending but I am currently writing this review at 7:15pm at the Tamworth service station. I’ve looked at my call log and have made over 20 calls to the rac today. Every-time I called they said a manager would speak to me and guess how many return calls I have had from a manager, if you guessed 5 you would be wrong because the answer is 0. Not a single person cared enough to call me back. Over 10 hours since my first call was made the only progress I have made is being dumped at a service station 20 miles down the road. They say a taxi is coming but who knows if that’s just another lie to get me off the phone. Hang your head in shame rac because this is appalling and I would encourage anyone who’s thinking of taking a policy with them to reconsider.

Auxiliary belt snapped on my van at 9pm on a Friday evening in the middle of Wales. I was initially told there were no patrols in the area or the following day and that they would pass the call on to a contractor. I spoke with the 3rd party recovery guy and told him it was a 10 minute fix if he could get me a new belt. Even though I was initially sure that a patrol van would surely carry such an item as an auxiliary belt for one of the most common vans on the road I finally accepted that I wouldn't get one until the next morning, which meant sleeping in the van on the side of the road until the Auto spares shop opened at 9am the next morning. The 3rd party guy promised to call me at 9:15am the next morning and let me know if he'd got the new belt. By 9:30am (after waiting now for over 12 hours) I still hadn't heard from him and started to call him, he eventually answered his phone and told me that he couldn't get the belt and had passed the call back to the RAC. The first thing I did was phone the Auto Spares shop in Welshpool where he told me he would get the belt from and asked if they had the belt for my van. Yes, they had the belt £20 and they also told me that nobody had called them that morning besides myself trying to get that belt! Thankyou very much ERS recovery in Welshpool for lying and leaving me all night with false hope that you would help get my van rolling again. I eventually had a friend bring a belt out to me and we fixed it within 10 minutes. Still waiting for RAC to call me about the complete mess they made of my recovery. Absolute shambles of an organisation, Been with them for over 20 years, but won't be renewing.

There wasn’t zero stars .
I called the RAC at 10 am and was told it would be a couple of hours before I was relayed home .
It’s 7.51 pm and I’m still not home . I’m half way, waiting for a truck that I was promised would be here at 7pm and now been informed 1 hour at 7.50pm which means possibly 8.50pm . I’ll not be home until after 10pm at the earliest . 12 hours where I’ve been continually told it won’t be long , it’ll be 90 mins , it’ll be there , it’ll be another 35cm mins , someone will call you back shortly …. ALL DAY LONG . 12 hours of promises so I couldn’t leave my van to go anywhere ,do anything except wait for the van or the phone calls which never came . Wouldn’t be surprised to find out the office staff are playing a game of how long they can keep people waiting .
RAC , I will NEVER give you or your **** services a penny of mine ever again. Oh and I’ll be getting in touch with the Ombudsman too. In fact I’ll do that while I’m waiting .

A 60 hour nightmare!
I'm only giving one star because zero isn't an option. I have just had an unbelieveably bad experience with the RAC. My van broke down and I requested help at 12.30pm on Sunday. It was agreed that they would send a recovery truck to transport me and my van 120 miles to my home. To cut a long story short,they left me stranded, a lone woman with health problems, left for 12 hours at the roadside on a dark lane. Initially I was refused a hotel for the night but 4 hours later after practically begging, I was booked into one and told that I would be collected at 10am the next day. I spent all day waiting and was eventually taken back to my van at 5pm, only to have to return back to the hotel for another night when the van couldn't be recovered that evening. They lied to me repeatedly and I had no idea what was going on. Eventually they got me a taxi home on Tuesday afternoon with my van arriving home at midnight. It was 60 hours in total from when I first contacted them. Disgusting lack of concern and the worst customer service I've ever come across. I must say though, the patrol man who attended twice, was a lovely man and he did his best to help but the people on the other end of the phone made his job very difficult.

No cover for Dual Carriageways or Motorways!!
What an awful experience I had. I broke down on a dual carriageway and I immediately called the RAC. They said because it was a dual carriageway they could not send anyone and I had to call the police. The police arrived after around 40 mins and they asked if I had breakdown cover, I said yes and re-called the RAC. Because the RAC were not able to give a timeframe the police insisted I used their recovery to tow the vehicle. So in essence if you breakdown on the Motorway or a Dual Carriageway their breakdown cover is useless. What's worse is I had to pay the recovery vehicle the police had instructed after the RAC refused to attend and then the RAC are refusing to contribute at all!
If your happy not having any cover for motorway or dual carriageway breakdowns then the RAC could be great. I would very much avoid on the basis of my experience

Called RAC from home at 12.30pm because the car wouldn't start, guessing replacement battery needed. Had the first text at 12.57pm saying they are busy and will get to me as soon as possible. Updated version of same text sent at half hour intervals. At 4.59 pm I received a text saying I'd been handed over to the priority team and would be contacted shortly. At 7pm l called to say I've been waiting over 6 hours and the past 2 hours I've been moved to priority but still haven't got a time for anyone to arrive. Received a call at 7.15pm to offer me either a 7am-9am slot or 6am-8am slot tomorrow morning and an apology because they are busy. I have to be at work by 9am so was assured that it would probably be earlier in the time slot so I've opted for 7am-9am. Assuming they arrive at 7am tomorrow morning it will be an 18 hour wait. Absolutely appalling service

Phoned 10.30 pm for assistance. Told there was a 3 hr wait. 2 hours later received text informing us that a trusted partner would arrive shortly. I phoned Walsall HQ an hour after the text to be told the wait for the trusted partner was 2 1/2 hrs from receipt of the text - so still 1 1/2 hrs to wait till 3.00am. Arrived slightly earlier at 2.30 am. Very pleasant man but simply a recovery truck, without diagnostics on board, to take us home. If we had been given full facts from the start we could have made arrangements for our car to be recovered the next day and enjoyed the night in bed instead of sitting in the cold. As we pay for the highest package in membership this is not what we expected to receive. We won't be renewing in August!

I would leave 0 if it let me. They made me wait 3 hours before attending (it was an off peak time) the guy as there 2 minutes and said i needed recovery. It was subbed out and that company told me it would be 5 hours. Totally unacceptable behaviour. An emergency service making you wait 8 hours to get your car picked up. Absolutely outrageous and unforgiveable. i had it recovered myself (i waited one hour) and i will be seeking reimbursement from RAC.
They clearly don't want to use up resources even though i have the absolute top cover with EVERYTHING included. This is obviously their cost saving scheme. Do not use if you have any sort of a life, or, do use them if you enjoy waiting by the road side for 8 hours!

This review is in 2 parts. Re: RAC car insurance/breakdown cover.
Part 1. After speaking to an agent re: my renewal quote, she was most apologetic about not being able to reduce the quote, stating the reasons why.
Part 2. Speaking to a different agent re: a quote for breakdown cover [different division], I found it very difficult to get a quote for more than one particular service to compare which one I should go for. Having accepted a quote, I later went online and found I could have got a more comprehensive RAC cover for an extra £13. Not happy about that. Next time I shall go online to conduct business, only phoning the RAC when unavoidable.

I bought a car and part of the deal was a years breakdown cover. As I had breakdown cover with my insurance policy I did not require renewal. I moved house within the period and thought nothing more. I never passed on my bank details to RAC however, I noticed that £65.98 was taken out of my account by the RAC. I assume my details were passed on by the car dealer.
I called and challenged this and was told that I didn’t opt out. I was told a letter was sent out giving me the opportunity to opt out. As I had changed address I never received this letter.
After explaining the situation I was told I would receive a refund less a £25 cancellation fee. I challenged this and asked for a telephone number to make a complaint. The RAC employee said that didn’t have a telephone number and I should take up with the dealer.
I never had an agreement with RAC yet I am out of pocket for an agreement between the dealer and the RAC. This is sharp business practice by the RAC in my opinion. Therefore, for customer service and refunds don’t expect a great deal. Seeing the low ratings I suggest that potential customers take note and chose a reputable company for breakdown cover.

Where do I start ?
Having never had to call them out and test the service I have paid for I was shocked at the Terrible service.
Firstly the woman I spoke to on the help line sounded like she couldn't careless about customer service.
I've had more engaging conversations with a Cat !
My car broke down about half a mile from home and wasn't drivable, it was on a Sunday and i decided not to call breakdown as it wasn't far to push the car home and call them on Monday to get it towed to the garage.
I called them on Monday to be told that they don't do home recovery but they would if it broke half a mile from home or more !
I was more concerned on removing an obstruction, Half a mile !! This is probably the worst excuse for getting out of something I've ever heard.
Then the belligerent operative tells me that they could recover it from home but it would be an extra £120, even though I had home start cover on my policy because it wont start and needs recovering that's not included unless the breakdown occurs half a mile from home or more.
I phoned an independent recovery company and had my car taken to a garage 15 miles from home for £50, I would have expected this to have been more expensive.
For those in the Bedfordshire area the number of the recovery chap is 07909 777640 (Robert) Who I have to say exemplifies what this type of service should be.
I always thought of the RAC as a prestigious organisation, however after reading the reviews left by others I can see the whole service appears to have gone to the dogs so to speak.
Ironically I also have my car insurance with them and my annual renewal has gone up by over £80, however if I go on to a comparison site I can get it cheaper with them as a new customer !
I have been driving for over thirty years, I have a clean license and have never once claimed on my car insurance yet for being careful you are penalised or ripped off.....
Needless to say I am taking all of my insurances elsewhere this year and have saved over £200 in the process.