Breakdown Insurance

[Phranque]

Breakdown insurance? Perish the thought - Rx-7s never break down, but just in case mine does and I am faced with having to shove it along the A55 for 50 miles ..........

Can anyone recommend a decent service at a decent price for my less than 3000 mile/year, summer only, RX? Preferably a place that does not use 0870 telephone numbers as I never ring them.

[g11ary]

Blimey sounds like theres going to be no helping some people,
I have spent approx 2k having my rx transported from one workshop to another, so I know how expensive it can be, although that said if I owned a trailer I would not do it for nothing either. You cant say how much its going to cost as you dont know where youre going to break down, as they will all have a mincharge + mileage. On the other hand you could join one of several big named companies but that would involve a dogdy tel no. 08 something. But it would cost you from apprx £80 a year but depending on level of service I think I pay the AA £125 a year, equiv to 2 tanks of petrol. I thought an absolute bargan when I was calling for help twice last year and 3 times the year before. And for an extra £25 when I go abroad I get full euro cover.

Best advise is to get over your phobia (Rich check spelling) a join up to one of the big clubs AA RAC etc.

[GaryS]

Yeah I've been using the AA for years with no real problems. Like teh RAC they cover the driver not the car, so your winter transport will also be covered, as is any car you happen to be a passenger in.

[Phranque]

Hello G11ARY

I'm not sure if you are telling me off or if you're sympathising with me !!!!!!!

Yes - I'm sure it would costs a lot to have my "Wrecks7" carted
around if I had a problem, hence my enquiry. I used the AA last year but had this memo from Firebond (0870 Grrrrr!) telling me that they had a scheme for just £24.50 for 12 months cover at <3000 miles/annum with reasonable terms. As I said (or hinted) the only thing that put me off was their 0870 number so I wondered if there were any other firms offering similar deals BUT who used civilised phone numbers.

Anyway I may just swallow the bitter pill and try their £24.50 deal, after all they did me proud on my motor insurance compared with some of the dreadful premiums I've seen quoted on here.

Frank

[Phranque]

Hi GarryS

Actually that's a good point, not that I stray very far from home during winter. I'll think about it.

[g11ary]

Hi Frank
No telling off from here, just my stupid sence of humour, hard to get over sometimes in email LOL

Personally I cant think of any breakdown clubs that have any no's that are not 08? but have always found it easy to use.

But cant reccomend AA enough, every time called out they have always been quick, and text you an approx eta and call you to say on way.

[Phranque]

OK G11ARY ! Yes, I know they're good at their job and you certainly seem to have had good service from them. Mine's been pretty good to date and hasn't given me any problems at all, but one never knows!

It's sitting in the garage now all gleaming and wants to go out, but I've just seen about fifteen rain drops falling past the window so it can stay in for the day.

[GaryS]

Originally posted by g11ary
Hi Frank
Personally I cant think of any breakdown clubs that have any no's that are not 08? but have always found it easy to use.

There is an advantage og the 0870 numbers for mobile phone users. It is classed as a local call. 0800 calls are not and are also not free either.

[g11ary]

Hope your bringing your beaut up to Rotorstock?
Yeah its going to chuck it down here soon :(

[Phranque]

GaryS - g11ary

Not sure if I will go to Stratford. I'd like to but it's difficult for me to plan too much at the moment.

0870 numbers. I didn't know they were treated like that on mobiles - nice! However on landlines they are a HUGE ripoff where we are in effect paying the originator's phone bill for him. There's a website which lists as many as they can find of the ordinary numbers for those establishments which are abusing the public with 0870 numbers. It's at www.saynoto0870.com

It's really wet here now (8.50pm).

[GaryS]

You sure you're not confusing 0870 numbers with high premium ones ?

0870 is normally a local call. Just looked at the back of my AA card in the mean time, and the call out number is still 0800 887766

[Phranque]

Nope - here are the rates:

0800 and 0808 numbers are free calls

0845 numbers, you pay 3p per minute peak times and 1p per minute off peak. The recipient earns nothing from these calls.

0870 numbers - you pay 8p per min (peak) and 4p per min (off peak) The recipient earns 2-3p per minute.

0871 numbers - you pay 11.7p per minute any time, and the recipient earns 3p per min.

090 numbers - you pay 10p to £1.50 per min, and the recipient earns up to 97p per minute.

I can appreciate that in many cases the 090 series are useful - for instance when one is contacting a help line for advice out of guarantee. Not however as TV broadcasting outfits use them in their 'pretend' polls. Here they are just revenue raisers.

The 0870/71 series should be made illegal as it's simply a case of commercial outfits getting us to pay their phone bills. I really object to them and protest wheneverI can to BT for introducing such a rip-off scheme. This is why you get such long inane messages when you ring one of these numbers.. like "if you are wearing green and yellow shorts please press one, if your whiskers are longer than your eyebrows please press two.. "etc, etc, followed by ages and ages of what they laughingly think is music before you get an operator. It's in their interest to keep you hanging on as long as possible.

Grrrrr !

[g11ary]

I know this to be true as last year I was approached by a tel com co. asking if I wanted a 0870 no. as it would make me look national and could earn money from all the calls.

[GaryS]

Originally posted by Phranque
0870 numbers - you pay 8p per min (peak) and 4p per min (off peak) The recipient earns 2-3p per minute.

Typical of my multi-national computer consultancy company to try and make extra money by charging our clients money for calling us :rolleyes:

[Phranque]

Of course it would all begin to make sense if the system was 'tweaked' a little - upended in fact, so that we (the punters) received a rakeoff for all the time these companies kept us hanging on and hanging on and playing dreadful music at us.

Now that would REALLY speed up the telephone service !

[clive]

Hi Frank real good to hear from you, and l hope your well,

l am in the RAC and have had excellent service from them, l even used them for delivering my car to a Garage 100miles away when l had an engine problem, been worth every penny.

This has brought back to mind the fact that on my long 'to do' list is that l must ring both the RAC and the AA to try and secure discounts for our members on production of their membership licence.

l will try and make some calls this week to try and get this underway.

[Phranque]

Hello Clive,

Nice to see you on here, things are not too bad with me I guess.

The AA/RAC discount idea would be just GREAT - as far as I am concerned I would go with one of them because of the discount (if we got it) and their 0800 service.

Fingers crossed for your negotiations.

Frank

[Phranque]

"l will try and make some calls this week to try and get this underway."

Any luck so far, I wonder? I'll be their first customer if you swing some sort of deal.

Frank