Motor insurers question ethics of breakdown bonus scheme

With the AA seemingly quid's in thanks to an incentive scheme, Insureyourmotor.co.uk thought they should tell you how to cash in on cheap motor insurance. The very same cheap motor insurance that Insureyourmotor.co.uk offer their customers day in, day out. No flash in the pan, just bare-faced truths. Cheap motor insurance doesn't get any easier to find, than here at Insureyourmotor.co.uk. The home of cheap motor insurance. Don't get taken for a ride by competitors, go straight to the best - Insureyourmotor.co.uk, for cheap motor insurance the no fuss way. One of their journalists finds out what the AA have been upto..

There are many unsung heroes in everyday life that often go unnoticed. Like the definitive public servants of our age, those that demand nothing in return for their dangerous roadside duties, performed as a matter of course, never seeking fiscal reward for their courageous, selfless endeavours that the nucleus of drivers take for granted.

A small band of civilians who laugh in the face of adversity, undeterred by the twin constraints of plastic reproductive organs and a radiation logotype stamped onto their foreheads, they are a band of merry men who know of nothing else from an early age, than how best to smash their resin-based skulls to smithereens on the back of an Austin Montego Clubman's drivers headrest. At fractionally over 30mph. ok.

Full marks, they are of course crash test dummies.

But, when all's said and done, not that far removed from that other legend of the highways, who makes the roadside a far safer place to be - to be stranded that is - the all tissue and sinew we instantly recognise as the AA man.

That's until now. Because these days he's more likely to be doing calculations in his head as he strides purposely toward you, as opposed to identifying your motoring problem from 40 yards off. But before you know it, he'll still have you back on the road. Only his tow truck will be closer to the road, being as your motor will be found somewhere on the back of that - as you hurtle toward the nearest Nationwide Autocentre.

Thanks to an incentive scheme between the AA and the chain of garages, who, according to an AA company circular they are 'working in partnership' with, spondulix-starved patrol mechanics of the leading roadside-assisters are driving up their income to the tune of £10 each time they fail to fix a motor. At the side of the road. With membership of some 15million, the AA are going through calculators at a rate of knots, as each time a car is towed into another forecourt of a Nationwide Autocentre to be repaired, the company coffers are given a cash-injection, as well as the patrol mechanics. Or drivers, as they will soon become more commonly known.

This brazenly propagated missive speaks of;

"It being imperative that we direct as much work as possible in their (Nationwide Autocentre) direction, as every time we take work into Nationwide they pay us £10 for every job".

Union bosses are a tad peeved, and insinuate that the company's very ethos is being brought into question, and worse than that, undermined, by the cash enticement.

Paul Maloney of the GMB union lent his voice of concern by saying; "There is a direct incentive not to repair vehicle at the side of the road, a scheme in operation that benefits our members every time they take a vehicle to one of these auto centres".

In retaliation the AA insisted that roadside repairs were their "No1 priority".

(Along with purchasing a mainframe computer to cope with the enumerations surely).

Maloney, armed with his own facts and figures, went on to claim that some 2250 vehicle each day were not being patched-up at the scene, so, after doing his own quick reckonings in his head, calculated that the organization stand to make £800,00 per annum from this 'arrangement'.

But then had to have arrest.

Refreshed, he continued his verbal assault on the AA by adding that the '4 th emergency service' once boasted of fixing "90% of cars at the side of the road".

The AA hit back by forcibly emphasising that, as part of range of criteria that determined both performance and pay, their patrol drivers (nee, mechanics) were expected to get 8 out of every 10 cars back out on that road, stressing that if cars could be fixed at the roadside, then they would be. (Especially if there were no Nationwide Autocentres in the locality).

They even tried to apportion blame to witless drivers, by saying that member's cover dictated as to which garage their car was taken to.

(As long as it had a Nationwide Autocentre sign outside the forecourt).

Quick to indirectly condemn such practice, rivals RAC waffled on about how their staff received 'bonus credits' dependant on how quickly they responded to customers calls. So expect to see a shed-load of applications arriving at AA's human resources department very soon.

Greenflag twaddled on about having no exclusive deal, and using independent patrol forces and a range of garages. So a marketing failure there then.

All fun and games in motoring land, but one thing is for sure; at least your motor will get sorted; in fact, they'll be fighting over you soon by the sounds of it. A win win situation for the consumer for a change.

Although an everyday story here at Insureyourmotor.co.uk, where we always produce the goods when it comes to cheap motor insurance.

Date - 21/09/2006