The AA Insurance - Newcastle upon Tyne

P E

Shocking is all I can say. I'm an AA breakdown member and took out car insurance. Had a letter asking for a copy of driving licence and proof of address. I sent the details within the time frame asked. I received confirmation everything was OK. I then got a letter telling me my policy was to be cancelled. It also quoted the road traffic act and I had to return my documents. What on earth are you doing AA? When I rang I was told the letter was sent out before they received the information. Nonsense and a poor excuse for terrible customer service . I wont be renewing with you obviously. Shame on you for such an officious letter to a loyal customer

Ramblin Man

The AA has two jobs:
(1) Collect insurance premiums
(2) Pay out costs when the unfortunate happens.
The AA is really good at (1). They accept many payment methods, you can pay by phone or online, it's all very easy. Unfortunately, they are not so good at (2), which is really why you join in the first place. Without (2) they're just kind of taking your money.
I've been with the AA for nearly 40 years, and I've paid premiums for those 40 years. I've probably used it 3-5 times, mostly for dead batteries. In those cases they did a good job. Someone came out and replaced the battery. Yes, I had to pay for the battery, but they had the cost of the mechanic driving to my location and replacing the battery. But this year was the first time that I needed the service. I was moving to Spain, and the car broke down en route in France. I remembered that I had European coverage, so I gave them a call. They said, no sorry you don't have European coverage, but they put me through to AA Europe. They confirmed, no you don't have European coverage. And they gave me a number to call. They didn't tell me what the number was, but I assumed it was a local mechanic, or local roadside assistance company. Nope. It was the number that you call in France to call a towing company that is legally obliged to remove your car from the road. It cost us £300 to pay for that obliged service. Later on (days later - this ended up being an ordeal from hell), a local taxi driver told us - oh no, you never call that number. It's basically a scam. If you have any option you never call that number. You get your car off the motorway at the next exit or get a mechanic friend to come and try to fix the issue in a service station. That number is the absolute last resort. Of course, the AA didn't inform me of this. So now the car was in a storage lock up in the middle of nowhere in France and would be so over the weekend because everything was closed over the weekend and they wouldn't release it, while charging me per day for "storage".
I texted my family to check my AA documentation and indeed it does say on the documentation that I DO have European coverage. So I called them again. THIS time they tell me - OH... yes, but in the small print you need to call us before you leave to "activate" the insurance. Oh..... of course. Do I have to do a special dance as well to activate it? Sacrifice a lamb under a full moon perhaps? It's a blatant scam. They also have a loophole where if you haven't paid your car tax they don't provide coverage. For a company founded to warn motorists of speed traps and help them "avoid punitive government penalties", it's strange they care about what you have or haven't paid to the government. I was stuck in France for over a week, spent close to £10,000, and contracted pneumonia as a consequence of the stress of the experience. This is not all AA's Ïresponsibility, but if they had tried to help me in the original call things could have been very different. It was a complete horror show that would take too long to describe.
What this is, is the financialization of everything. The AA is a good business model, but there are only so many motorists. So there is some maximium profit this business can produce. But they have people sitting in rooms trying to figure out how can we screw more out of customers? They have two mechanisms: (i) increase (1) or (ii) reduce costs on (2). Indeed, while it is difficult to get precise numbers for membership costs, I have found a 2011 annual price of £113.50. With inflation that is £161 in 2024 prices. But the actual cost I was charged was close to £500 this year. Basically a 300% increase. On the other hand they start cutting back on (2) by reducing services or introducing "get out" clauses so they don't have to pay out.
Definitely would not recommend, as you never know when they will actually help you, or when they will pull one of their get out clauses. They will also continuously inflate their prices, individually adjusting them in inverse proportion to your price complaints, squeezing as much as they can

steve roberts

The response to my request, to be put in touch with a particular AA employee, was pathetic. Can I give them a zero rating please?

Pete Kay

Incompetent, chaotic, sloppy, uncaring. This should be a zero star rating, but that isn't possible, apparently! After paying a premium of £266.27 for car insurance with AA last year (2023) they proposed an automatic renewal for this year at £555.12. That is a 108% increase. No accidents, no claims and no change to our material circumstances. Just £108% out of the blue. And they were going to slip this by me with an automatic renewal. I rang them and said that everything - the quote, the auto renewal - was unacceptable. Then they instantly lowered the premium 'upon review' to £532.50. Still unacceptable. Then again to £509.89 'upon further review'. Still a 91.5% increase. I cancelled the AA renewal and went elsewhere (thanks Comparethemarket). Yesterday I receive a huge letter and documents in the post - confirmation of renewal from AA, at £308.98 - despite cancelling everything a week earlier. I check my bank. They appear have noted my cancellation, nothing missing. Phew. But they still have my card details - and they are absolutely incompetent. AVOID!!

Robert Chamberlain

Tried to cancel my extortionate autorenewal and they hung up on me!

Thank you AA, all sorted now, second time lucky! 🙂

Richie Allen

Amazing Customer Service from Marya from the Newcastle AA Branch 5* Service

My Name is Richard Allen and I have a policy with the AA and needed some help in regards to my membership. Marya Answered the phone and was so courteous and professional with me i wanted her to be acknowledged for her service as its not very often someone goes out of their way to help. She was quick and effective in resolving my query and i just wanted to show my appreciation.

Many Thanks to you Marya!!!

Gary Hoggarth

I transfered my car insurance to the AA this year thinking a good recognisable brand.
Paid my annual premium upfront. To receive an email a week into my policy I need to pay 10% more as 4 years ago someone drove into me (not my fault in any way) but as a result the insurance company underwriters deem me to be a higher risk as someone drove into me.
One how is this legal and clearly discrimination against a victim of an accident. I complained and got told the complaint will be a closed complaint (so they are not interested) and I will get a letter in 7 days to tell me tough luck.
Appalling. I will never use them again and will discourage anyone else to do so.

Sarah S

Made it really difficult to cancel policy, when I pointed this out the customer service rep said "well I can't physically force you to pay". Eh? Yeah I should hope you're not going to physically force me to do anything but I'm talking about how hard you make it to cancel my policy.