Autonational Rescue Reviews 842

Be warned, Autonational contract out to Euroroute Recovery who are notoriously unreliable, a reputation we can certainly corroborate. As I write this message, we've been waiting for our vehicle to complete it's journey to our garage since Monday, it is now Thursday of the same week. The vehicle hasn't moved since Monday and we can't even say what Euroroute have event done with the keys. Be wary of using either company if you want a smooth rescue.

Spending the day with friends in Eastbourne, our car decided to switch its headlamps on, meaning the battery was so completely flat we couldn't even open the doors. Fearing a major problem, at 7.20pm I rang Autonational Rescue. The cheery recovery engineer quickly got us into the car, jump started it and we were home 23 miles away in Brighton by 8.30. This was the third time in 30 years they have helped us out, making it a pleasure to renew each year.

Auto National

I have a vehicle recovery recovery with Autonational.

I broke down in Cliftonwood Bristol at about 6.30 pm on 2nd April 2026. Some lovely locals helped me move my car from the middle of the road. At first i could not get through as the phone number given with the policy was an office phone line. I spent 20 minutes googling the number and called them at 7.13 pm. The vehicle recovery truck company messaged me saying they were here but did not appear. After 10 minutes I spoke to the driver who said he was stuck one road away in Cliftonwood Road and his truck was not big enough to get through. The company, is based in Whitchurch Bristol and should have known that Cliftonwood has narrow parked up roads. I told him to go back and approach from Cliftonwood Crescent, which was less narrow, but he refused to try. He said they only had a small truck at the depot tonight which was too small to carry my 4 x 4. He suggested that I leave my keys on a wheel arch and speak to Autonational about me getting a taxi home. He said he would let me know but nobody called me. When I eventually speak to Autonational they knew nothing about the truck and thought I had been towed home. I was told that I had to stay with the vehicle and could not get a taxi home and would not get it reimbursed (about £55). They said they call back but didn’t. I phoned again ar 22.45 on and was told they had another two companies to call. I could not leave my vehicle and they had to call every possible vehicle recovery company in a wide area before they could determine that I was allowed to leave my vehicle. They did not call back and I phoned at 12.30 am. Every call was linked by my phone number to my case. This person insisted he needed my vehicle registration number to look at my case. I said I didn’t know the number and did not feel safe getting out of the car at 12.30 am when I knew he didn’t need my number. He spoke to his supervisor and came back to say I had to wait. This was after 5.5 hours. I asked to speak to the supervisor but he refused to speak to me or give his name. The person refused to give an update saying that his colleague was in my file, after establishing that his colleague was in fact in the same office he went over to speak to her. Was told I couldn’t leave my vehicle. Finally, I was told at 12.50 am that a truck was coming but not until 2.97 am, in the centre of Bristol. I raised that I didn’t have my essential medication and was told to call an ambulance!

As I write this I will get picked up over 7.5 hours after I broke down and 7 hours after I first started calling - as a lone woman sitting in s freezing car late at night - in a city!

Not only was this service disgraceful, the staff really did not care at all, their service policy showed no care for customers and. Supervisor who is probably the worst I have ever come across.

I will be contacting all the comparison websites about them being recommended.

Fantastic service, really impressed. Arrived in just over an hour. Easy to report and they kept in touch at all times.

Best services came under an hour to recover my car.

Awful experience. I broke down in a live land of traffic. Recovery was estimated at 1 hour. However, 2.5 hours later nothing had showed (they just kept saying they were delayed). So the police towed my car themselves as I was blocking traffic. This cost £192 that auto national refused to cover even though it was due to their slow service. The police found a recovery truck within 10 mins so proves it can be done faster if they tried

Autonational Rescue left my son stranded overnight after his car broke down, from 9.15pm on a dark road, nowhere to go. They said they had no one to send to help him. I was worried sick about him all night, no hot drink, it was cold and too dark to walk to nearest city, not knowing whether a rescue vehicle was going to attend or not. He now loses a full day's work. Who can he contact for compensation as this is totally unacceptable, they should not promise a service they cannot keep? Once bitten, twice shy, we will be looking towards alternative providers.

Thought I was taking out Business Breakdown cover as I selected the get quote option from their Business Breakdown Cover page. As it turns out, even though applying for Business Breakdown cover, you also need to select the optional add on of 'Commercial Vehicle Cover', which has very little info about it other than "Select comprehensive business vehicle coverage ensuring specialised assistance and seamless recovery to uphold optional efficiency"
As the cover was for a small van used by a small charity for local trips, I didn't think that 'specialised assistance' was required, so didn't select this.
After completing purchasing cover I emailed them to check all was OK as I hadn't been asked to provide the business name which seemed odd. I had a call back saying that as I hadn't opted for Commercial Vehicle Cover (which apparently is the business cover), they would have to cancel the policy and for this I would be charged £22.50! As a previous review states, there is only mention of a £15.00 cancellation fee and not of the additional £7.50. The operative refused to try to understand the point that I was making (that the website was very misleading) and just kept repeating that I'd agreed to the T&C's when I signed up. I wasn't offered the option to upgrade the policy at all (which according to their T&C's would have incurred a £5 fee plus additional cost of policy) and they clearly didn't want to be in the slightest bit helpful or understanding. Whilst I accept that this was my error, the fact that I genuinely believed that I was taking out business cover, as this was the link I had followed, you would have thought there might have been a bit more leniency on their part.
They do have an email address for complaints, but doesn't appear that anyone actually reads them (or if they do, they don't bother replying). I used AR many years ago and have recently gone back to them with a personal policy, as I had found them very good in the past, but sadly this no longer appears to be the case, and so I won't be renewing. I'd rather spend a bit more on a policy then stay with a company who so obviously doesn't care about it's customers.

Fantastic service when we broke down. The call operator answered quickly and was really helpful and the mechanic arrived within 20 minutes and was fantastic. I highly recommend this company.

Don’t purchase a policy from this company
They advertise a £15 cancellation fee but don’t mention a handling fee and service charge so … for a policy in force for 1 month costing £47 they are charging £40 to cancel
Outrageous !

They keep disconnecting my phone and my car has broken down. I am going to request a full refund. Money taken and no service provided.
Since writing above review they eventually answered the phone and arrived quite quickly. They said something was wrong with phonelines

Easy to take out a policy.
Great reviews and price.
When I broke down they were extremely efficient and very friendly
Top marks to them.

I was going to use your service based on the review in the Which magazine, but when looking at the reviews I was concerned that Autonational had not responded to comments in a one star review left in late October. It is always concerning when a company does not respond to reviews on Trust Pilot, particularly negative reviews.

I have been a member for several years. They are excellent value and have provided help when needed (fortunately not frequently)! Clearly, they contact local firms for the service, so it is possible that people may have varied experience, but with any recovery firm some variability is inevitable.

absolutley shocking experience
first they tried to get me to buy some kind of crash recovery service, rather than concentrate on recovery
then the recovery that was assigned didn't turn up after a two hour wait
then the person that I got through to said they would "sort it out" after not getting a call back, I called again to be told that that guy hadn't booked a recovery and had finished his shift, without calling me back
the next person then tried to tell me that it couln't get sorted until the next morning!
my car was in the chverons within 4 lanes of traffic and I was 45 mins from home
no sense of urgency, understanding, competency or ability to do their jobs
Had to literally beg them to get my recovery and would would the 4 hours more than they were then quoting at that time
finally got a recovery back home in the end
oh and they also kept threatening that it would have to go to their "compound"
avoid like the plague

Had to call Autonarional Rescue and the service from them and Fred Camm Recovery was excellent.
Arrived within the time frame and problem sorted.
Highly recommended

The process of aquiring cover was very fast and simple to achieve on the app.
Everything was covered and and explained I managed to sort everything out in about ten minutes.
I was very satisfied.

Easy to understand instructions.
Keeping you upto date when you break down.

I have used this breakdown service for a number of years and the few times I needed them they have performed really well
Unfortunately there was a problem with my auto renewal and my cover would have lapsed I was immediately contacted and made aware of the situation
Then an absolutely brilliant lady handled it and it was sorted within minutes Thank you Libbie you were extremely capable, professional and an absolute pleasure to deal with An asset to your company
I have been through all the other breakdown companies and think Autonational Breakdown is the best and have been with them for years

Renewal was more expensive than buying new so that's what we did.