Which Roadside Recovery?

i got nci

got a honda too tho . . .but thought id go on the safe side of things (for the suzuki)

my mate has green flag, we broke down in newquay (we live in london)

they wouldnt tow us . . as in the policy small print - says will only tow you to the nearest garage.

I'm with the AA and never had any problems with them... called 'em out a few times with the MG, twice with my Suzuki 4x4 and once with my 4Trak - never with the bike though. The only thing thay can't seem to get right is sending out my membership card... hadn't had one for years now!

Well, not my own... was on a ride out with Ping and Mumstoy and friend - one of the bikes had an intermittent electrical fault for which we all waited ages for Carole Nash to turn up... in the mean time round the corner, some bloke in a car had broken down and was seen to by the AA. I ran down the road and collared him saying I was a member and a mate's bike had broken down - could he help.
Sure enough when he finished with the car he popped over to see what he could do (which wasn't very much, but at least he had some good advice and offered to call an AA tow truck).

Carole Nash arrived twenty minutes later... I think we'd waited there for about 3 hours or so, summat like that.

I used to have RAC but was put off by a REAL bad experience.

I broke down on my way to Wales, I had just crossed the bridge on the M4. I phoned the RAC and diagnosed the problem for them. My fuel pump had given up. I made double sure that they were aware that it was a motorcycle and not a car. I told them that it was not repairable by the side of the road and that it would be a recover to home situation.

Three hours later a RAC van turned up. The guy in the van had no idea what so ever about motorcycles, didn't know the reason that I had broken down, didn't have a bike trailer, and thought that I was going back to England.

Another 2 hours later and a car from the local garage turns up with a bike trailer, tows my bike back to the garage, where I sit in the front office waiting for a suitable vehicle to arrive to tow the trailer with my bike on it back to Wales.

Another hour and half and a 4x4 turns up with a rather aged gentleman. The trailer gets connected to the 4x4 and eventually we set off on our way. During the trip the guy is trying to use the hands free phone kit, he's looking down at the handset punching numbers, every time he looks down we serve left or right. I decide at this point that I will dial the number for him. After a while he suddenly pulls over to the hard shoulder. It appears he's not too happy with the security of my bike on the trailer. I get out and look to find that the bike is practically at 45 degrees. I then straighten the bike and make sure it is strapped down properly.

We finally get to the end destination early hours of the morning. My road then was on a downward slope. He parks outside my house facing downhill. Gets the ramp set up and undoes the straps holding the bike down. He then wheels the bike off the trailer only for the belly pan to scape along the edge of the trailer as he's wheeling the bike onto the ramp. He then can't work out how they got the bike on the trailer in the first place if it grounded. At this stage I point out that he needs to put the jockey wheel down and jack the front of the trailer up to lesson the angle.

I leave him to it whilst going inside to get my fags and a coffee. As I come back out I see my bike fall directly off the trailer and hit the ground completely upside down and then roll onto the floor. It seems that the guy didn't even realise that he needed to first apply the brakes on the trailer before detaching it from the 4x4, and that he would need to put the legs down at the back of the trailer. More to the point, he did not strap my bike back down before moving the trailer.

I wheeled my battered bike into the garage took his details and told him that I would be contacting his garage and the RAC first thing Monday morning. (This being early hours Sat morning now) Well Monday morning I phoned the garage and the RAC and they had no knowledge that anything had happened. The git hadn't even reported what he had done.


So THAT is why I would never use the RAC ever ever ever again. EVEN if they were the cheapest around

Originally Posted by BigApe

I used to have RAC but was put off by a REAL bad experience.

I broke down on my way to Wales, I had just crossed the bridge on the M4. I phoned the RAC and diagnosed the problem for them. My fuel pump had given up. I made double sure that they were aware that it was a motorcycle and not a car. I told them that it was not repairable by the side of the road and that it would be a recover to home situation.

Three hours later a RAC van turned up. The guy in the van had no idea what so ever about motorcycles, didn't know the reason that I had broken down, didn't have a bike trailer, and thought that I was going back to England.

Another 2 hours later and a car from the local garage turns up with a bike trailer, tows my bike back to the garage, where I sit in the front office waiting for a suitable vehicle to arrive to tow the trailer with my bike on it back to Wales.

Another hour and half and a 4x4 turns up with a rather aged gentleman. The trailer gets connected to the 4x4 and eventually we set off on our way. During the trip the guy is trying to use the hands free phone kit, he's looking down at the handset punching numbers, every time he looks down we serve left or right. I decide at this point that I will dial the number for him. After a while he suddenly pulls over to the hard shoulder. It appears he's not too happy with the security of my bike on the trailer. I get out and look to find that the bike is practically at 45 degrees. I then straighten the bike and make sure it is strapped down properly.

We finally get to the end destination early hours of the morning. My road then was on a downward slope. He parks outside my house facing downhill. Gets the ramp set up and undoes the straps holding the bike down. He then wheels the bike off the trailer only for the belly pan to scape along the edge of the trailer as he's wheeling the bike onto the ramp. He then can't work out how they got the bike on the trailer in the first place if it grounded. At this stage I point out that he needs to put the jockey wheel down and jack the front of the trailer up to lesson the angle.

I leave him to it whilst going inside to get my fags and a coffee. As I come back out I see my bike fall directly off the trailer and hit the ground completely upside down and then roll onto the floor. It seems that the guy didn't even realise that he needed to first apply the brakes on the trailer before detaching it from the 4x4, and that he would need to put the legs down at the back of the trailer. More to the point, he did not strap my bike back down before moving the trailer.

I wheeled my battered bike into the garage took his details and told him that I would be contacting his garage and the RAC first thing Monday morning. (This being early hours Sat morning now) Well Monday morning I phoned the garage and the RAC and they had no knowledge that anything had happened. The git hadn't even reported what he had done.


So THAT is why I would never use the RAC ever ever ever again. EVEN if they were the cheapest around

Jees'

Thanks people, looks like NCI has the recommendation then.

BigApe and MattSV, sorry I stirred up bad memories.

sadly i used to be a regulkar user of NCI!

They are great, best value around, only broblem was once i had to wait 3 hours in the cold!

always sent dedicated motorcycle teams out,
go to there website and check out prices on there, cheaper than bike by the sounds of things!!
oh, i only get 4 call outs a yr!!

friendly ppl though

All the best
Alex

[jambo]

Main problem with using RAC/AA is that they are geared to cars, remember watching joe having a conversation that went much like this:
Ok So what's the problem:
"Flat tyre on my bike"
Ok so what make of Car have you got
"It's a BIKE and it's a Suzuki"
Ok and what model of car is that?
"It's a BIKE and it's a TL 1000s"
Ok and where is the Car now?
"The BIKE is blah de blah"

So anyways, as you can guess this car transporter turns up..... though thankfully they then sent a bike tyre repair bloke after that....

I've got both (AA for bike, green flag for car). It may be due to the difference between response times for bikes and cars (presumably fewer bike mechanics, the one good AA guy I've had said that a lot of them are primarily car mechanics and know v. little about bikes), but out of three times the bike has needed AA, twice they've been gash: sent non-AA people, eg used local garages so may as well of been green flag. Wasn't impressed with the people they sent, aside from the one time I got a genuine AA man.

Green flag on the other hand have had better response times, managed more "repairs at the roadside", much better comms, come when they've said they would, warned when they've been late (unlike AA, who you have to ring up every hour to see where they are/the new ETA) and I've had no cause for complaint.

I doubt it is limited to the car/bike thing, a mate of mine has AA car cover and reports the same things.

IMO the AA are doing what a lot of well established companies do; living off their reputation, whilst newer, hungrier companies offer a better service for less.

When it comes to renewal, I'll go for Green Flag on the bike...

[ophic]

doesn't a policy with AA cover the driver/rider, not the vehicle? Just makes me wonder why you'd need two policies.

This is true. With the AA it is the person that has the cover and not the vehicle. Have used them when in someone elses car before, so was very thankful that I had that type of cover.