breakdown services

[the butcher]

hello all just a quick question whats the best service company to use in london area as a well known company not rac or aa let me down any advice please oh piaggio assist is total pants

[michaelphillips]

Hi i use swinton bike breakdown, you get three months FREE then £3.99 a month and you can cancel anytime , its a monthly policy, you can call them out 3 times a year max, bike mechanic comes in van, they text you the firm whom will be comming out to you and give you a time frame within 1 hour, i live in se london and had to call them out with a battery issue, kent motorcycle recovery came in half hour and diagnosed fault, crap new battery then took me to shop to buy one local and recovered me home, great service, i know 3 call out a year seems small but whom would normally use them more than once a year, and its national and euro recovery if asked for and you get home start as well cheers

[Ferrit]

I use GEM they have proved to be better than both RAC and AA.

[Data]

A 'Which' best buy...'AutoAid'. Just £38 per year and that covers you for everything. That price is not an introductory offer either. it's the real price everyone pays. It covers you and your spouse, your car too and any car you are travelling in. It has start at home, roadside recovery, relay etc etc. Can't beat it. I use them and they are very very good for people with bikes. Price and service is brilliant. Beats the AA or RAC hands down. Which Magazine tested them a couple of years ago and they were the number one in the 10 company test for service, cost and response time. When I last checked they were the Which number 1.

Here they are: http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/about ... centre.php

[SpikeOne]

Go for the cheapest, there ain't a lot in any of them.
Green Flag was best for me, but I use the free one from Carole Nash now.

[Steve_D]

I have the free one from Carol Nash - UK and European cover. When I got knocked off my bike a month ago they were great. They came to the hospital I was taken to, picked up my keys from reception, picked up my bike and took it to my home. I was surprised to find that it was the AA they used.

[ridinhigh]

dont want to hijack thread ,but reading about Auto aid breakdown cover,they say they can track your phone to find you how does that work then?
only on smart phones?

[StephenC]

Don't know about how Auto aid do it, but anyone with a smartphone can send their precise location via sms or email using google latitude. They don't have to be a "friend", it works for anybody.

[Beardy]

I think anyone who can afford the technology can get a relatively accurate location from a mobile simply through triangulation of the signal from the mobile masts. Even without GPS, Google Maps on my Android phone gets my location within a few metres normally. All the major breakdown agencies will use this technology.

As for AutoAid, they look good on paper but I note that it is insurance and not upfront recovery. In other words YOU cough up for the breakdown costs upfront and then claim it back off them. I would want to read the t&cs on that before committing. If you ain't got the money at the time of the breakdown then you may be left high and dry (one would assume).

[MrGrumpy]

As for AutoAid, they look good on paper but I note that it is insurance and not upfront recovery. In other words YOU cough up for the breakdown costs upfront and then claim it back off them. I would want to read the t&cs on that before committing. If you ain't got the money at the time of the breakdown then you may be left high and dry (one would assume).

Hmmm..well the snag is there that they don't have their own breakdown people and send out someone from a garage, or if you are lucky the AA or RAC. In my experience all the garage people want to do is transport you to their own garage and charge you to fix it there. I'd much rather have someone with their own vans. I stick to the AA or RAC as you can have personal cover ie for whatever you are riding or driving, whereas some companies only cover you for a specific vehicle.