My parents in their 70s are gold star members of the AA, and have been for 40 years. My dad's car became irreparable when on holiday in Sussex and he tried to book a recovery to Liverpool (which he pays £340 a year to be covered for). The AA patrol man named 'Josh' convinced my dad to take it to a local garage that 'was a mate of his mums' without telling my dad that if he did this he would not then be able to claim the free recovery back to Liverpool. The garage could not repair it and charged £130 for the privilege. The AA then told my dad that they would charge him £1500 to recover it back to Liverpool as it now counted as a 'second call out'. This is a total scam. I also hear from friends and family that this is common experience with the AA - their patrol men have side deals with local garages whilst also avoiding recovery despite customers paying large sums for this service. What are customers actually paying for???