AA vs RAC

Should you get breakdown cover with the AA or the RAC? Now it will come as no surprise that this is a question we get asked incredibly frequently. These are the most to recognisable brands in breakdown cover and they have the largest membership’s within the industry.

Typically the members of each breakdown cover provider the AA and the RAC are incredibly passionate for their own brand. Both of them have incredibly high retention rates of around 95%. This means that around 95% of people who take out breakdown cover with the AA will stay with the AA and around 95% of people who have breakdown cover with the RAC will stay with the RAC. Most people are extremely happy with either company.

The rich very rich and diverse but equally different histories. Both companies are over 100 years old. The AA was formed in 1905 as the automobile Association. Originally it was just an organisation that would help motorists avoid speed traps. By 2006 they had erected thousands of roadside danger warning signs and they continue to manage roadside sign maintenance for around 20 years until those given over to local authorities. The RAC was formed in 1897 by Frederick Richard Simms. Originally formed to provide motoring services. The AA today has diverse that services away from purely breakdown assistance and now is a provider of car insurance driving lessons breakdown cover, lawns, motoring advice, roadmaps and more. Both companies are incredible experience with dealing breakdown cover. The AA patrol said someone at the roadside every nine seconds. That is a lot of breakdown to attend to. Obviously this number increases around winter.

Number of patrols

AA Breakdown has around 2000 dedicated patrols and has 14.5 million members which is a pretty staggering amount of people considering is only 70 million people living within the UK and only 30 million of those were drivers. The RAC has around 2000 dedicated patrol vans and attend 2.8 million breakdowns per year

Response time and recovery rate

both the AA and the RAC report the same average response time which is around 40 to 45 minutes. Obviously this is going to vary quite a lot depending on the exact situation and the time a day. If it’s in rush-hour then you can expect to wait longer to receive assistance. Both of them use prioritisation as well so if you are in a vulnerable situation you get prioritised over someone who isn’t.

Comparing recovery rates both of them get for out of five cars started at the side the road the don’t want any more specific details of how many cars exactly they have recovered within the last year to just postdate that it’s for out of five which is good. Both of them use computer technology to help diagnose problems with your car and also have GPS technology to help locate you in a breakdown situation. Both of them provide apps that you can call in a breakdown situation from and they can locate you from these well.

Price

I would like to leave the price comparison to little bit later on but if you are in the mindset that there are equivalent services and prices matters then you should take a look at the comparison below. They are both premium services and they are not completely equal some do thing’s slightly different from the other that you have similar ways of presenting breakdown cover and same levels of breakdown cover available to choose from. So if you know what level of cover you want and all that matters is the price if you comparing the AA and the RAC look below. You can look at the AA membership costs to get a better idea of how to get the best price.

Levels of cover

Both the AA and RAC offer very similar degrees of breakdown cover. Both offer roadside assistance as the standard lowest level of cover. You can add on National recovery, Homesstart, Onward travel and garage costs to either AA or RAC. You can also save money by having multiple people on one membership like AA joint breakdown cover.

Extra considerations

There are many ways in which you compare the AA and the RAC hopefully most of the main information you can find above. Both of them are award-winning breakdown services the RAC’s awarded five stars by defacto for many years running. You can compare a lot yourselves from looking at the websites. Actually well on the topic of websites we should have a look into that. Don’t be put off when buying online is probably the easiest way to buy either level of cover and you automatically get online discount. Both websites are very intuitive to use and are both mobile responsive which is great so every you’re so if you’re using your computer or your phone for sites pretty easy to navigate and offer the information you need to know right away. Also sometimes they have flash offers the last only a short space of time so it’s good to check both websites to see what exactly you can get. I also like on both websites that you can open chat and talk to someone who works at the company right away without having to pick up the phone waiting a cue. That’s not saying you not going to a weight in the queue but it’s a lot more streamlined and using your phone