Thanks for the offer Mike, I even found one on ebay for £125 but he's off on hils hols for a week!
Called RAC claims helpline (their docs state " Now that you've chosen us for your car insurance, you can be sure that we'll be there for you whenever you need us: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We pride ourselves on our claims service. If it's 3am, pouring with rain, your car has been stolen or has been in an accident and you're miles away from home, all you want is help as quickly as possible"
"Claims are open 24 hours a day, 365days a year for both an insurance claim or a breakdown"
OK try calling their numbers:
Insurance member: 0800 404 6342 tried twice both times after selecting appropriate options "Our offices are now closed" and call hangs up!
membership Plus members (which we are) - same as above on thrid attempt just waited without selecting options:
"We are experiencing technical difficulties please call again in 1 hour"
Finally got through to a human being on their 8am to 10pm general enquires line. he was actually quite sympathetic and tried to put me through to claims (which is a seperate company not RAC).
Our policy states we have courtesy car option. Guess what!
"You have £60 excess to pay for windscreen cover. We cannot supply you with a courtesy car if there is only glass damage. It is not an insurance claim. You will have to make an accident claim (XS £220)"
But I explained this was not an accident - this was wanton vandalism and here is the crime number from Stockton police station. Surely if i have to pay an excess on a policy then it IS an insuranced claim? "No we cannot help you" came the reply!
I even mentioned that the rear spoiler would have to be replaced with the screen as it is bonded in. "Are you saying the rear spoiler is damaged? If so you will have to make a full claim" the insurers came back!
This "civilised" world we live in is increasingly moving towards insanity. In africa you expect problems and delays. You sort things out with local help and without the added hindrances of protocol, "quality" management paperwork and recorded phone calls!
In the UK you pay good money to end up wasting even more of it talking to useless answerphone machines and people who sound like they'd rather not work night shifts or holidays.
The RAC is a brand name - you don't deal with them at all, just companies they contract or those that pay to use that brandname to attract business.
All those companies then have their own regulations and get out clauses. I called Autoglass and they had me down with the same policy number as Norwich Union! The insurers I spoke to were actually London and Edinburgh. So much for simplicity.
