I’ve recently just return to RAC insurance after a 2 year period with AA insurance. I’ve recently bought a more expensive car and the quote I got for insurance from the AA wasn’t as competitive as other insurers I found.

I was quoted slightly cheaper with other insurers, but having been insured with the RAC in the past I know that is a company with a strong reputation that will be easy to deal with.

In the past I’ve had to make a claim through my RAC insurance policy and found that once you get past the junior operators in the foreign call centres everything goes smoothly.

In the end I chose their RAC Insurance Plus option which includes vandalism cover.

A few months back I was involved in a relatively minor accident on the motorway (I rear ended someone in poor visibility and heavy traffic) and being insured with the AA I had to make a claim.

As this was my first car insurance claim, I wasn’t sure what to expect but found their claim line people to be polite and thorough in processing my information and overall found they handled my claim with a minimum of fuss.

The car was still drivable so they arranged for me to take it to a local repairer. The AA supplied me with a courtesy car while mine was in the garage (comprehensive insurance included, no car hire policy etc), and after about a week I got my old car back as good as new.

I was happy with the service I was receiving with the info and after having a pleasant experience in making a claim I decided to renew my car insurance cover with them when it came up for renewal.

I was a little surprised to find that my premium had more or less doubled in price (due to my previous car crash claim). So I decided to try shopping around for a cheaper quote.

I used price comparison websites to find quite a few cheaper quotes but was a little concerned about some of the hidden extras in the fine print. Things like young driver excesses, instant insurance cancellation on vehicle write off, no courtesy car, and some had auto renewals with complicated get-out clauses. With that in mind I decided I was probably better off where I was and renewed my car insurance with the AA.

After getting my initial online quote I called up their car insurance call centre and after having gone through all the details with them I managed to get almost £200 off the initial renewal price I had been quoted.

Overall, I’ve found the AA to offer an excellent service at a competitive price, and whilst they may not be the cheapest car insurer out there I think a premium is worth it for upfront prices with no hidden catches.

Also be mindful of just accepting your initial renewal quote, it might save you money getting them on the phone and haggling!

I always get that feeling of dread in my stomach when i know my current car insurance policy is up for renewal.

I haven’t had too much luck in the past with cars and to no fault of my own have never been able to build up any no claims bonus. Because I’ve had 2 cars stolen and 2 car accidents (whilst parked up over night I might add).

Due to the lack of a no claims discount shopping around for a cheap fully comprehensive insurance policy has become something of a nightmare really.

As my current breakdown cover was also drawing to a close (my 1 year free cover) I decided to check out the AA’s website first to see if I could kill two birds with one stone.

I hadn’t used their website before and found it all very straight forward. One of the main hassles about shopping for car insurance online is the amount of time you waste typing in all your details and that of your vehicle.

The AA website managed to populate a lot of the fields for my vehicle after I entered its car registration number, which made things a lot easier. I just had to input my own personal details and confirm my vehicles info was correct, which it was.

I also noticed that other insurance companies want previous claim information for the last 5 years whereas with the AA they only wanted the last 3 years. Not always easier to remember such details.

The car insurance quote I received from the AA wasn’t the cheapest I’d find (Tesco’s I believe beat them on price), but they did offer the best payment plan, so I signed up with them.

So far I can’t really comment on their handling of claims as I haven’t needed to use their claims service, and hopefully never will!

Since I took out the car insurance I have bought another, and found their helpline for changing the car details to be very polite and more than helpful, the new quote was actually a little bit cheaper than the original too.

Overall I am very happy with the service I’ve received from the AA, and found their help centre staff to be very helpful and friendly.