The AA Smart Care Reviews 

The garage were very professional

First booking missed as engineer took day off without telling anyone. Once service completed it took a week to get the email saying what had been done. A less than impressive start.

The engineer turned up on time and checked the engine was working before he left. He took it for a drive to make sure the warning lights had gone off.

Poor planning from the aa meant that on the day of my appointment they tried to cancel due to inability to source a replacement alternator (the technician advised that for private customers, they only attempt to purchase the part on the day). They did offer to obtain the part but that would have resulted in a 4 day wait & I needed the car urgently for a family holiday. After phoning around, I managed to source the part myself but due to a mix up by the supplier this ended up being rather stressful too. The technician successfully collected & replaced the alternator. I had concerns for his welfare as he was working in the hot sun & had not been provided with any shelter. The aa invoiced me a reduced cost for labour only as I had to purchase the alternator myself but this has left me £200 out of pocket compared to the original quoted price. The technician himself was fantastic but the process & lack of consideration for his welfare was terrible. I used the aa as they've always been a name I can trust but on this occasion they let me down.

Easy to book, great service

My car didn’t pass MOT for the first time and there was an issue with my right CV boot . Smart care use my warranty to fixed the issue with my car and it pass MOT for the second time

Great service, the guy who did the job was very polite, on time and did the job well.

Very polite mechanic who explained everything very well at the start and also once the job was finished

Clean and tidy

Convenient, well priced and efficient

I started using the AA for my MOTs, as I wanted to be confident the checks are robust and the car is taken care of in their possession. The facilities are spotless, and the employees seem to be very experienced. The prices are also competitive, and booking process easy.

Great service. Scott arrived on time and very friendly, knowledgeable and professional. Very smooth service from initial call out to the completed work.

Terrible experience.

The booking process was easy and the communication on the day of service was excellent. The service personnel was quick and thorough with the service. Recommended.

As I had found my local service stations a bit inconvenient of late, as one had reduced its hours and the other had a fortnight's waiting list, I enquired of the AA Mobile Mechanic and found that one could attend within two days! Ideal, especially as the MOT had crept up on me. The mechanic was punctual, pleasant, knowledgeable and generally helpful - so much so that my neighbour came to enquire about the service too!

Arrived on time mechanic excellent did very good job took a bit longer than expected but no problems price for job very good

I am writing this review to document one of the top ten worst experiences of my life. About five or six weeks ago, one morning my wife's Suzuki Swift would not start ,after working quite normally the previous day. I contacted the AA for a home start. The mechanic came out and told me, after checks, that the battery was flat but otherwise OK and the the problem was the alternator. The battery was only about a year old and that's why it was fine. The mechanic told me that he could get a new alternator from the AA store in Basingstoke and install it. This would cost in the area of £550 and informed me that the cost was guaranteed no matter what. I agreed and gave credit card details. He departed and came back a few hours later with the new alternator. After a reasonably long installation, the mechanic told me that the alternator was defective and didn't work. He than told me that he would arrange for the repair mobile mechanic to attend and sort the problem or I could opt to have the car towed to a garage of my choice for repair. However, he did say that a garage would charge a lot more than the AA and suggested a sum in excess of £700. As the chap seemed reasonable, I agreed for the mobile mechanic to attend. The mobile mechanic was arranged and attended about 5 days later. He proceeded to install the new alternator and after a while told me that this alternator was also defective. He told me that he suspected that he had been supplied with the same dud alternator that the previous AA man brought. He thought this. because the box had been opened when he collected it. There were no other Suzuki alternators of this type, anywhere in the AA stockpile. He informed me that the car would now have to be towed by the AA to an approved garage for repair and that AA SmartCare would update me. This person also informed me that the original cost quote would stand unchanged. I was then contacted by AA SmartCare and informed that the repair would be undertaken by Blackwater Auto Centre , which was approved by the AA. I was again assured that the cost would be as per the original AA quote would stand. I was informed that the car would be given a routine diagnostic test, paid for by the AA. The car was removed to the Blackwater Autocentre by the AA. A day later, I was contacted by the garage who requested around £42.50 for the test. I resolved that matter through AA SmartCare, who contacted the garage to proceed with the test. I was contacted by the garage 2 days later. They told me that the battery was only showing a 1% charge and that the battery could be replaced at a cost to me of £134.50. I explained that the battery was under guarantee but was informed that in order to replace it under guarantee, I would have to arrange my own recovery vehicle to transport the car to Halfords at Farnborough, have that battery replaced and return the car to the garage when this was done. All work on the car was then halted until the battery was replaced. The cost of the recovery was more than the battery cost and I reluctantly paid for the new battery through AA SmartCare. I was then contacted by the garage a couple of days later, requested around £750 for a new alternator and labour. I got back to AA SmartCare but was informed that the garage bill as quoted, would have to be paid as per that quoted amount, around £750. I then stated that I had been given the original quote of around £550. To this, I was told that the terms of SmartCare stated that charges can increase and that the larger sum had to be approved for the alternator replacement to be carried out. I reluctantly agreed to this and paid up. When the car was repaired. I was given a collection date on a Friday. I allocated time for this by cancelling other arrangements. When the time came, I was contacted by the garage, who informed me that they were behind in their work and the car would therefore by repaired on the following Monday and I collected it around 1pm. This review is only a potted history of events. It does not reflect the endless phone calls and emails back and forth with AA SmartCare, which was a shambles of time consuming communications, resulting in a bill of over £900. The whole process took about 5 weeks! After I retrieved the car, I contacted my local garage, who service my cars. They told me that the alternator replacement would cost just over £500 including labour. My dealings with AA SmartCare were atrocious and a tiring experience. I am almost 80 years old and rarely seen incompetence like this before. I was given a ride on a massive gravy train and would not relish a repeat of such circumstances. My advice to others would be get your car sorted privately, if the AA can't fix it, using mobile mechanics. This should be a zero star review but you can't make comments unless you allocate at least one star. I have checked other reviews and I am not an isolated case.

Very poor customer service and communication, I had to phone them for updates on my car and contact the garage due to the complete incompetence of the staff I encountered.
Not one staff member communicated with each other about my case and for a week, there were no management available to speak to, even one manager went home at 11.30am one day.
Booking process straight forward, after that AA felt short of a great service.
A mere £30 compensation for the inconvenience and stress caused due to my car failing its MOT, by far not the AA’s fault that it did, but the process of communicating this and ordering parts 3 times the normal price for it and being without a car for nearly 3 weeks is not acceptable.

Ease of use/booking. Also the mechanic was very accommodating in explaining what he was going to do.

The service and mot were completed promptly and painlessly by C.G.Autos. The car picked up and delivered from the drive made it really convenient. No hidden charges. Will definitely use again. The only niggle being the emails initially which were incorrect and confusing.

Easy to book. Quickly done. Polite staff.