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[STEMO]

Paid £99 for breakdown cover from the AA last year, got a renewal quote for £166 last week and ignored it because it runs till January 28th. Got a phone call today from them asking if I'd like to renew. When I said the price was too high she said she could knock it down to £150. Still to high, I said. She asked me to look around and see what quotes I could get for the same cover and could she ring me back at three. Looked around and got better cover from Green Flag for £76, I didn't mess around, I just bought it.
She just called back and asked me what I'd found, so I told her. She said she could do it for £75, so I asked her why that wasn't the renewal quote then and told her she was too late. She apologised and hung up, sans commission.

[Rangie]

Well done Steve, always best to play these companies at their own game, I had a quote of over £2,000 for buildings & contents from NFU went to my bank (Nationwide) and got the same cover for £264.

[STEMO]

Well done Steve, always best to play these companies at their own game, I had a quote of over £2,000 for buildings & contents from NFU went to my bank (Nationwide) and got the same cover for £264.

Two grand? Kinnell 

[Rangie]

Yes couldn't believe it up from £495 to £2,000 never had a claim either absolutely crazy !

[Andy B]

Well done Steve, always best to play these companies at their own game, I had a quote of over £2,000 for buildings & contents from NFU went to my bank (Nationwide) and got the same cover for £264.

Two grand? Kinnell 

That's what I thought!

[Rangie]

Well done Steve, always best to play these companies at their own game, I had a quote of over £2,000 for buildings & contents from NFU went to my bank (Nationwide) and got the same cover for £264.

Two grand? Kinnell 

That's what I thought!

. 


I actually phoned them when I received the renewal & went through the whole cover required & they were unable to reduce it to a sensible amount so refused their offer. Walked into my bank with all the information re the house & contents and saved myself £1700+.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I pay around £150 for combined building and contents cover.

[TheBoy]

I think my renewal after I destroyed the garage was sub £150....

[Sir Tigger KC]

I usually just ask the Meerkats (other brands are available) and buy the cheapest. Usually under £150 for combined cover. 

[Mister Rog]

We decided to get our Volvo V70 serviced properly, our local independent is a nice guy but a bit seat-of-your-pants.

Nearest Volvo dealer is 45 minutes drive away, and of course expensive. But, UK and European breakdown cover for a year, and actually not hugely more than the independent.

Happy 

[TheBoy]

We decided to get our Volvo V70 serviced properly, our local independent is a nice guy but a bit seat-of-your-pants.

Nearest Volvo dealer is 45 minutes drive away, and of course expensive. But, UK and European breakdown cover for a year, and actually not hugely more than the independent.

Happy 

I think it's pretty fair to say that franchised dealers are probably some of the worse places to get any car maintenance done, irrespective of marque.  But they do, of course, give you "free" coffee and cake.

[Doctor Gollum]

Depends to a point on the dealership in question.

I have had very mixed experiences from different dealers of various brands. Local VX dealer was very good as when the ownership changed a while after bankruptcy, most of the staff returned to the new dealership. Apart from the Omegas, all my Vauxhalls were supplied by them, both new and used.

I have also had pretty mixed experience between various people in the same dealership and even department. Although if I find a good person in a reasonably convenient location, then I will tend to stick with them.

Obviously some places are more receptive than others if you make it clear that you will do your own work.

I am not afraid to put a car in to keep the book stamped, for example to maintain the Mobilio warranty, but even then I will do the things I can outside of the service/warranty restrictions. Equally, if a car is out of warranty, then there's no concerns with doing it all myself, and when it comes to selling, having a stack of receipts and obviously replaced parts helps to sell a car as it demonstrates that the add isn't full of shit.

The chap who bought The Barge got more receipts from my ownership than the previous owner had handed over after a decade, and not being mechanically minded had arranged to consult with his local Merc specialist about the car and I was able to answer all of their combined questions satisfactorily.

[TheBoy]

Depends to a point on the dealership in question.

Not really, any more, as there aren't any independent dealers now, so all the service bays are tied to the concept of having to complete jobs below book time.  ie, bodge it.

[Doctor Gollum]

Depends to a point on the dealership in question.

Not really, any more, as there aren't any independent dealers now, so all the service bays are tied to the concept of having to complete jobs below book time.  ie, bodge it.

A service is a service, if it takes 20 minutes on the drive or on their lift doesn't much matter... Bigger jobs they're unlikely to be involved with, so if it takes all day to swap out the front arms or a radiator, that's on me.

That said, it's nice not to have a warranty to worry about. Especially when your typical used car warranty isn't worth blowing your nose at... They couldn't understand why I wouldn't renew something that paid an hourly rate that a Kosovan car wash cannot compete with and a component limit that wouldn't cover the cost anything that the warranty actually claimed to cover.

And to be fair to Mercedes, they only times they have seen the Alabama Mumsybus has been for recall work which was arranged for at my convenience not theirs and without any too old/too many miles/not been dealer serviced since 2014 BS that you might have expected. And their parts prices are pretty reasonable compared to some manufacturers.

[TheBoy]

A service is a service, if it takes 20 minutes on the drive or on their lift doesn't much matter

You are assuming they change the oil filter (that's 5 minutes saved, or 50% on time needed).  They'd be dumb not to change the oil, but then again, they aint the smartest.

I once had Crownhill Vauxhall (Pendragon, arguably the worse group of the lot) argue point blank that they had changed the spin on filter, even after I made them read my handwritten mileage and date I'd written on it last time I changed it.


I get the stamp thing in the book.  But wouldn't trust them to actually have done it.