AA test & drive...why bother?

[z3r0]

I bought a vehicle and asked the seller to take it for the AA roadworthy and multi-point check at the Brackenfell AA test and drive.

It came back with flying colours with the only thing being noted as the paintwork having scratches.

Under the gearbox and clutch sections there were ticks for it being checked as well as passing.

The test was done on the 27th Jan I took delivery of the car on 29th Jan (vehicle had done 80km's in those two days).

To my disbelief it turns out both the gearbox and clutch are faulty and barely working. (it takes 5 attempts to get the car in gear and whining noises come from the gearbox while driving)

I complain to the AA and after a week of fighting with them to get the testing of the fault done and get back to me with a verdict Mr Arie Stevens comes back with this reply: "We do not check the internal workings of the gearbox/clutch, merely the functionality of it"

On the test sheet itself small at the bottom it states "This multi-point check confirms the condition of the vehicle on the date of inspection, but does not constitute a guarantee of any form"

WTF!?...so whats the point?...they do the check and if you drive away and the car falls apart they say sorry it was working 2 minutes ago?...utter nonsense...

Now Im sitting with a R10 000 repair bill for a car I drove for 2 days...AA w@nk3rs!

 

[spacemuis]

I totally agree - my car was damaged by a tow-truck driver while towing it and he, because his insurance wouldn't cover the accident, had it repaired on the cheap. I knew about this and insisted on an AA assessment before taking it back. Even with a clean bill of health from the AA, it had such a bent chassis that it was impossible to have the wheels aligned - the right front wheel was set a full 5cm further back than the left one! And the chassis was so weakened from the impact that after inspection by a qualified workshop Outsurance was forced to write the car off entirely...and all this after the AA's post-accident inspection report gave it the all-clear.

What a sham!

 

[supersunbird]

As a AA member I wrote them a e-mail.

Lets see their response...

 

[koeks]

I don't think AA's report is a technical one. It's more like a voets-toets kind of test. because they look at the car and not drive it to do the assessment... or i am wrong?

did you test drive the car?

 

[EvoBunny]

Jip, that's why I gave them a finger when trying to sell a car and they request I pay around R380 to "guarantee" my car is roadworthy... talk about a scam...

 

[z3r0]

They did drive it...apparently they are saying my gearbox developed a leak in the two days between the check and my picking up the car and all the gearbox oil leaked out and in 80km's the gearbox packed up. No mention of how the clutch became that way...spoke to a mechanic, there is no way a gearbox can go from perfect to useless in 2 days.

 

[Tosser]

IMHO the AA report is totally overrated. Without trying to sound arrogant, I'm not confident that their 'techies' are sufficiently qualified to make these decisions/reports on each vehicle tested.
I've had the same vehicle tested on 3 occassions with 3 different outcomes, some nonsense, others better. Also the service I have received from them was rather lacking.

 

[Sparky_za]

I totally agree - my car was damaged by a tow-truck driver while towing it and he, because his insurance wouldn't cover the accident, had it repaired on the cheap. I knew about this and insisted on an AA assessment before taking it back. Even with a clean bill of health from the AA, it had such a bent chassis that it was impossible to have the wheels aligned - the right front wheel was set a full 5cm further back than the left one! And the chassis was so weakened from the impact that after inspection by a qualified workshop Outsurance was forced to write the car off entirely...and all this after the AA's post-accident inspection report gave it the all-clear.

What a sham!

Your car was damaged??? It sounds like the guy took it to the local Destruction Derby and had a good time with it. Wtf did he do??

 

[spacemuis]

Your car was damaged??? It sounds like the guy took it to the local Destruction Derby and had a good time with it. Wtf did he do??

Quite a funny story (in retrospect).
The car was an Isuzu 4x4 double-cab, had problems with alternator (bearings going). Dealer couldn't fix it same day so I took it back cos I had to make a trip from Pretoria to Jhb that evening to visit someone. On the way back the bearings in the alt seized up, fanbelt broke and engine almost instantly started overheating. I pulled over and called Outsurance roadside assist. The tow truck they dispatched was there within 10 minutes but didn't bring a roll-back truck but was planning to tow me behind his bakkie with the little crane on the back. He knew full well that he wasn't allowed to tow a 4x4 like that but took a chance - not that it deterred him from doing about 120km/h, with me sitting in the front next to him.
When we got as far as Centurion heading north, the crane on the back broke clean off. My car's front wheels in the air had turned to the right so when the front dropped on the road it immediately veered sharply to the right.
This pulled the tail of the tow-truck in which we were both sitting to the right but by some miracle my car unhooked itself from all the grappling chains & hooks and drove off on its own down the highway, hazard lights still flashing.
In the meantime we spun around a couple of times and came to a standstill in the middle lane, facing back into the oncoming traffic! Fortunately it was near midnight and the road quiet. I looked over my shoulder to see what had happened to my car - expecting to see it on its roof in the middle of the road but there it was ,racing off on its own until it veered off into the central barrier. It hit it at an angle and with such force that the right front wheel was completely sheared off. Of course this twisted the chassis - which became the main point of argument later on...
So from a broken fanbelt to a written off car ... quite a night!

 

[supersunbird]

I have recieved no reply in whichever way about this issue after 15 days and will update the linked website forum thread accordingly. Poor form AA.

Regards,

(my name)

I sent that to their complaints e-mail listed in the useless automated "acknowledgement of reciept" of my first e-mail.