AA / RAC for cyclists

Richard C said:

Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

anonymous coward said:

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a ye=

ar

Quoted message said:

- I have sometimes thought of joining.

=A330 IIRC. I thought about it... and then it struck me that the /only/ =

time I've ever really needed such a thing I had a free ride most of the=20
way home in an ambulance anyway, and a nice policeman took the remains=20
of the bike back to Dundee for me!

I figure my typical worst case if I couldn't repair it would be lock it=20
up to something and hitch on to arrange a pickup. Nearest repair point=20
is unlikely to be more than =A330 taxi ride away most places, and I can=20
think of quite a few things I'd sooner spend the =A330 on. Beer, for a s=
[censored]!

Pete.
--=20
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

anonymous coward said:

Richard C said:

Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

Have a look at ETA - they do offer a cycle rescue/recovery scheme,
though I think it's fairly expensive, it comes free with their cycle
insurance. However, the quote for a 900 quid bike was aprox 90 quid. I
declined, but am trying to weigh up whether to just stuff that money
into my own 'insurance fund' or get insurance.

The bike's rarely left places that aren't within eye/earshot, or covered
by CCTV, but I do still worry about it. It's rather nice and I'd hate
to have it nicked.

--

Velvet

Terry D said:

Velvet said:

Quoted message said:

Have a look at ETA - they do offer a cycle rescue/recovery scheme,
though I think it's fairly expensive, it comes free with their cycle
insurance. However, the quote for a 900 quid bike was aprox 90 quid.
I declined, but am trying to weigh up whether to just stuff that money
into my own 'insurance fund' or get insurance.

The bike's rarely left places that aren't within eye/earshot, or
covered by CCTV, but I do still worry about it. It's rather nice and
I'd hate to have it nicked.

Having recently been involved in an 'incident' which left me with a
mangled Dawes Audax, I find myself constantly worrying about being hit
by someone with no insurance or who leaves the scene etc. and leaves me
with no bike and no redress. £900 is a sum I can't put together just
like that, but £90 per year seems a huge penalty to pay for someone
else's stupidity.

Yes, that's my dilemma too. I'm not convinced that the insurance would
actually pay out in the event of an accident with third party not being
insured, which is what makes me doubtful as to the idea of forking out
the 90 quid (mine's a dawes audax too, I bumped the value up over what
it *actually* cost cos it's had a lot of stuff changed from stock so it
fits!)

I don't rely on it to get me places, so in that sense I could live
without it if the worst happened, but my addiction would dictate I would
*have* to replace it at some point.

I can't help but think if I put away 100 quid a year, then potentially
after 5 years (500 quid) I'd be looking at being able to top that up to
get another good bike if the worst happened. If I needed to do it
tomorrow, it's another story, unfortunately.

--

Velvet

In message <[email hidden]>, Velvet
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Terry D said:

Velvet said:

>

Have a look at ETA - they do offer a cycle rescue/recovery scheme,
though I think it's fairly expensive, it comes free with their cycle
insurance. However, the quote for a 900 quid bike was aprox 90 quid.
I declined, but am trying to weigh up whether to just stuff that
money into my own 'insurance fund' or get insurance.

The bike's rarely left places that aren't within eye/earshot, or
covered by CCTV, but I do still worry about it. It's rather nice and
I'd hate to have it nicked.

Having recently been involved in an 'incident' which left me with a
mangled Dawes Audax, I find myself constantly worrying about being hit
by someone with no insurance or who leaves the scene etc. and leaves
me with no bike and no redress. £900 is a sum I can't put together
just like that, but £90 per year seems a huge penalty to pay for
someone else's stupidity.

Yes, that's my dilemma too. I'm not convinced that the insurance would
actually pay out in the event of an accident with third party not being
insured, which is what makes me doubtful as to the idea of forking out
the 90 quid

Depends on what the insurance is for - just theft, or damage as well
etc.

If you just want to insure you bike, then covering it under your home
contents policy is the best option - though you may need to change
policy for a good deal. (see previous thread on this)

I don't see the worth in the ETA cycle breakdown cover really.
Basically, all it does it get you and your bike to a bike shop or a
train station.
--
Chris French, Leeds

Velvet said:

Quoted message said:

Have a look at ETA - they do offer a cycle rescue/recovery scheme,
though I think it's fairly expensive, it comes free with their cycle
insurance. However, the quote for a 900 quid bike was aprox 90 quid. I
declined, but am trying to weigh up whether to just stuff that money
into my own 'insurance fund' or get insurance.

The bike's rarely left places that aren't within eye/earshot, or covered
by CCTV, but I do still worry about it. It's rather nice and I'd hate
to have it nicked.

Having recently been involved in an 'incident' which left me with a
mangled Dawes Audax, I find myself constantly worrying about being hit
by someone with no insurance or who leaves the scene etc. and leaves me
with no bike and no redress. £900 is a sum I can't put together just
like that, but £90 per year seems a huge penalty to pay for someone
else's stupidity.

--
Terry Duckmanton.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/terry.duckmanton
A website mostly dedicated to cycling

anonymous coward <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Richard C said:

Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home. I seem to
remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too? Perhaps I should get in touch with their customer services dept.
to find out the answer for sure.

Richard C wrote:

<snip>

I seem to

Quoted message said:

remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too?

Surely?

Jules

in message <[email hidden]>, Julesh

(') said:

Richard C wrote:

<snip>

I seem to

Quoted message said:

remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too?

Surely?

Why not phone 'em up and ask 'em?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 'I think we should trust our president in every decision
;; that he makes and we should just support that'
;; Britney Spears of George W Bush, CNN 04:09:03

Julesh said:

Surely?

Not necessarily, or you could use it as a cheap taxi service to
anywhere. "Hello, AA Relay please, my membership is XXYYZZ, I was
cycling up to Aberdeen docks to take a ferry for my holiday to Shetland,
but I've got a transmission failure after just 10 miles of the 70. Send
out a van to take me there please!"

I feel the AA might, quite reasonably, take a Dim View of that sort of
thing, though they were happy to do the above for my car.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Richard C wrote:

<snip>

I seem to

Quoted message said:

remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too?

Surely?

Well as they only cover motorised buggy's and not manual wheelchairs I think
there's virtualluy nil chance of them covering a bike. Why a puncture is any
more serious on a motorised buggy/chair than on a manual one I have yet to
find out.

Russ

"Russ" <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Well as they only cover motorised buggy's and not manual wheelchairs I think
there's virtualluy nil chance of them covering a bike. Why a puncture is any
more serious on a motorised buggy/chair than on a manual one I have yet to
find out.

Manual ones weigh less and are easier to flip over to get the tyres off,
I suppose...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Julesh

(') said:

Richard C wrote:

<snip>

I seem to

Quoted message said:

remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too?

Surely?

Why not phone 'em up and ask 'em?

Because I'm sure to get a call centre droid with no knowledge of the
organizations rules and regulations, who is only capable of taking
down the location of my broken down car, offer to renew my membership
or try to sell me insurance.

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

anonymous coward <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Richard C said:

Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home. I seem to
remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too? Perhaps I should get in touch with their customer services dept.
to find out the answer for sure.

Reply from AA customer services, still waiting for the RAC's response -

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can confirm that pedal cycles are not covered under AA Membership, UK
Breakdown Assistance Services are only available to members when they are
travelling in the UK, in a car, van, minibus or motorcycle which complies
with the relevant restrictions in the terms and conditions.

On 9 Jul 2004 11:00:17 -0700, [email hidden] (Richard C)
wrote (more or less):

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

anonymous coward <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:22:18 -0700, Richard C wrote:

> Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
> their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
> and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
> occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
> there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
> considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
> spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
> on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
> wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home. I seem to
remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too? Perhaps I should get in touch with their customer services dept.
to find out the answer for sure.

Reply from AA customer services, still waiting for the RAC's response -

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can confirm that pedal cycles are not covered under AA Membership, UK
Breakdown Assistance Services are only available to members when they are
travelling in the UK, in a car, van, minibus or motorcycle which complies
with the relevant restrictions in the terms and conditions.

TBperfectlyH, I can see why they'd restrict it.

I suspect they're frightened of folk calling for Relay service when
they're tired - something that doesn't happen when driving internal
combustion powered vehicles.

--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

In message <[email hidden]>, Richard C
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home.

The answer's simple: don't defect to the RAC, defect to the ETA. Their
main business is motorist rescue services. I've been with them for years
(and had to call them a few times). There's a basic membership charge,
then the car and cycle rescue services are extra on top - so it's
cheaper if you buy both services from them. And of course, your money
goes to support worthwhile causes, as opposed to the AA/RAC where it
goes towards lobbying the government to cover the whole of Britain in
tarmac. (Exaggerate? Moi??)

--

Andy Key said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Richard C
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home.

The answer's simple: don't defect to the RAC, defect to the ETA. Their
main business is motorist rescue services. I've been with them for years
(and had to call them a few times). There's a basic membership charge,
then the car and cycle rescue services are extra on top - so it's
cheaper if you buy both services from them. And of course, your money
goes to support worthwhile causes, as opposed to the AA/RAC where it
goes towards lobbying the government to cover the whole of Britain in
tarmac. (Exaggerate? Moi??)

Yes, I've just gone for them as my breakdown company. I looked at the
cycle recovery, but to be honest I decided if I ever get stuck and need
to be recovered along with bike, it'd probably be no more expensive to
sort that myself. I think recovery is to local bike shop or railway
station, or home if that's closer than the above.

So it's not really quite the same deal as car recovery, and seemed quite
expensive for what it was.

--

Velvet

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

anonymous coward <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:22:18 -0700, Richard C wrote:

> Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
> their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
> and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
> occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
> there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
> considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
> spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
> on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
> wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?

Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
for your car?

The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
- I have sometimes thought of joining.

AC

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home. I seem to
remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too? Perhaps I should get in touch with their customer services dept.
to find out the answer for sure.

Reply from AA customer services, still waiting for the RAC's response -

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can confirm that pedal cycles are not covered under AA Membership, UK
Breakdown Assistance Services are only available to members when they are
travelling in the UK, in a car, van, minibus or motorcycle which complies
with the relevant restrictions in the terms and conditions.

RAC's response arrived today. No luck here either.

"
Thank you for your recent email to RAC Motoring Services. Your
reference is E/3195/6424.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in reply.

With reference to your enquiry, I am sorry to advise you the RAC does
not provide a service for push bikes.
I am very sorry.
If you require any further assistance please contact us again.

Regards

Diane Burnard RAC Customer Services"

I'm right in thinking that you have to pay extra for the ETA's cycle
recovery, on-top of their car breakdown scheme?

Richard C said:

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Richard C) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

anonymous coward <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

>On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:22:18 -0700, Richard C wrote:
>
>
>>Has anyone ever tried to call out the AA / RAC for help while out on
>>their bike? What kind of response did you get from the call centre,
>>and when they arrived were they any good? I can't think of many
>>occasions when I'd need them but it would be handy to know they were
>>there if I was stranded miles from home. The only time when I
>>considered calling them was a loose crank bolt (I don't carry a socket
>>spanner in my tool-kit) but luckily I managed to find a bloke working
>>on his car to tighten it up. In the event of a terminally buckled
>>wheel would they give you a lift home on the Relay van?
>
>Do they help stranded cyclists as a perk if you have a policy with them
>for your car?
>
>The CTC advertise a bicycle rescue scheme for a few 10's of pounds a year
>- I have sometimes thought of joining.
>
>AC

Yes, I'm aware of the CTC / ETA scheme - but as I'm an AA member
already (but thinking of defecting to the RAC) it would be silly to
duplicate the insurace or pay for a 30mile taxi ride home. I seem to
remeber a newspaper story about a pensioner on an electric invalid
buggy being rescued by the AA, so surely they must cover pedal bikes
too? Perhaps I should get in touch with their customer services dept.
to find out the answer for sure.

Reply from AA customer services, still waiting for the RAC's response -

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can confirm that pedal cycles are not covered under AA Membership, UK
Breakdown Assistance Services are only available to members when they are
travelling in the UK, in a car, van, minibus or motorcycle which complies
with the relevant restrictions in the terms and conditions.

RAC's response arrived today. No luck here either.

"
Thank you for your recent email to RAC Motoring Services. Your
reference is E/3195/6424.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in reply.

With reference to your enquiry, I am sorry to advise you the RAC does
not provide a service for push bikes.
I am very sorry.
If you require any further assistance please contact us again.

Regards

Diane Burnard RAC Customer Services"

I'm right in thinking that you have to pay extra for the ETA's cycle
recovery, on-top of their car breakdown scheme?

Yes. And it was quite a lot. I decided I'd be quids in if I used it
once a year or less...

Velvet

--

Velvet