The AA vs RAC: Breakdown cover comparison

If you’re looking for breakdown coverage in the UK, chances are you’ve heard of The AA or RAC. They’re the 2 biggest providers in the market, with the largest fleets and the most members. While they both have similar policies available, they have their strengths and weaknesses. We’ve compared the pair so you can decide which is best for you.

The AA vs RAC: Vital statistics

Round 1: Breakdown cover options

The AA offers personal cover, joint cover, family cover and vehicle cover. Once you’ve chosen one of them, you can opt for the level of cover you want by including add-ons in your policies. The available add-ons are At Home, National Recovery, Onward Travel, Parts and Garage Cover, Tyre Cover, Commercial Use and Key Cover.

RAC also offers personal cover, joint cover, family cover and vehicle cover. In terms of add-ons, it’s very similar, with RAC offering National Recovery, Home Cover, Onward Travel, European Rescue, Business Cover, Tyre Replace, Battery Replace and Key Replace.

Winner: Tie. Both have very similar packages to offer and there’s not much to separate the pair here.

Case study: The AA helped Nigel when the battery in his van failed

"A few weeks ago I got into my van, which was a Fiat Ducato 2005, ready to drive to work but when I tried the ignition it wouldn’t start. Thankfully I’ve been a Gold member with The AA for over 30 years, and I’ve always had At Home breakdown cover, so I phoned them up straight away.

An AA professional came within an hour, and very quickly found that the battery was unserviceable, meaning it needed to be replaced. Unfortunately I wasn’t covered for a battery replacement, so I did have to pay extra, but I knew that was very common for a severe issue like this.

The entire process was really quick and the professional was very friendly and explained the issue clearly and concisely, which helped me stay calm and understand the problem.

My advice after this experience would be that you should ensure that you always have breakdown cover as you’ll never know when you’ll need it!"

Nigel Mortimer

Bristol

Round 2: Breakdown cover flexibility

Both providers have the same range of policy options, but which one has more flexibility in terms of what or who the policy covers?

Single and joint cover have the same offerings from each provider, but there’s a difference with family and vehicle cover.

The AA will cover up to 4 people in the same household with its family cover. If you take out vehicle cover, it only covers 1 vehicle per policy. If you want another vehicle you need to take out another policy.

RAC will cover up to 5 people in the same household with family cover, which is a handy bonus over The AA. But where it really excels in this department is cover for up to 3 vehicles under 1 policy. This can really simplify things for a family with multiple cars.

Winner: RAC. It allows you to cover more people and vehicles under a single policy.

Round 3: Response times

This area is a key consideration for breakdown cover. When you need help, you’re going to want it to come quickly.

There are a number of factors at play when it comes to callout and repair times. A lot of the time it’s out of the hands of the breakdown provider. Especially if it’s a busy day, you’re in an area that’s hard to get to or there’s traffic.

The AA says it aims to get to you within an hour if you’ve broken down and then have you back on the road within half an hour if the issue can be fixed at the roadside.

RAC also aims to get to you within an hour and have your back on the road within half an hour.

Winner: Tie. Both have the same timeframes to get to you and to get you back on the road again.

Case study: RAC's fix for George's accelerator problem

"Recently I was driving my Vauxhall Corsa 2015 to work and suddenly my accelerator began not giving my car sufficient power. I was on a dual carriageway at the time, and I was starting to panic. I immediately called my parents who told me to try to get to their house as it was around the corner, which thankfully, I was able to do.

As soon as I got there, I knew I had vehicle breakdown cover with RAC, so I called them up and one of their professionals arrived in a short amount of time. He knew pretty quickly what was wrong, went and got the car part needed to fix the accelerator, then fixed the problem fairly quickly.

Thanks to them, I was back on my way to work in no time."

George Frost

Weston-super-Mare

Round 4: Electric vehicle support

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a fast-growing part of the car market. Thankfully, both these providers offer breakdown cover for EVs as standard. But there’s a difference between what they offer.

More than 2,500 of The AA’s patrols (99%) are level 2 EV trained. They’ll attempt to repair your EV at the side of the road and tow you to your nearest charging station or garage if they can’t. Some of The AA’s patrols are specialist vehicles for EVs and they’re equipped with a charger, so you can get enough charge to get to a charging point.

The AA has also pioneered a Freewheeling Hub, which lets AA patrols safely tow vehicles that normally can’t be lifted and towed, such as EVs and SUVs.

RAC patrols can safely recover EVs thanks to its All-Wheels-Up lifting technology on standard patrol vans. This can come in handy when an EV is out of battery and can’t be moved.

With RAC, if you run out of battery, you’ll either be towed 10 miles to the nearest charging point or have your battery charged with a portable charger so you can drive there yourself.

Winner: The AA. It’s the leader in breakdown service for EVs, with the most patrols trained for EVs.

Round 5: European breakdown cover

You can get European breakdown cover with either provider, but it doesn’t come as part of standard breakdown cover. You’ll need to buy it as a separate policy. This can be as a single trip or annual.

The AA offers cover in 44 countries, a 10% discount for existing members, £500 for emergency hotel costs, £1,500 for alternative travel costs and up to £50,000 in legal costs. You can also have your vehicle recovered back to the UK.

RAC offers cover in 48 countries, £1,200 for emergency hotel costs, £3,000 for alternative travel costs, £100,000 towards legal fees and 25% off travel insurance through RAC.

Winner: RAC. Both have similar offerings, but RAC offers higher levels of cover.

Round 6: App and tech features

When you need help, you can contact either provider by phone or using their app. Their apps are actually the recommended way to get in touch, so it’s important to compare them to see how they match up.

You can easily report your breakdown with The AA’s app and then track your patrol once it’s on the way. The app shows fuel prices and real-time availability of EV chargers around the UK.

RAC’s offering is fairly similar, with an easy-to-use app to report and track a breakdown. It also shows fuel prices and EV charger availability, but it’s not as comprehensive as The AA in this regard.

Winner: The AA. Both apps do the important part of reporting and tracking a breakdown, but The AA just does it a bit better. Their apps have better reviews in app stores as well, which you can read about below.

Round 7: Member benefits and rewards

You can get a range of member benefits and rewards, but they vary depending on the provider. Whether you’ll take advantage of them is down to you.

With The AA, you can get discounts off travel, pubs, restaurants, car servicing and MOTs, to name a few.

RAC has a similar offering in terms of discounts on travel, eating out and car servicing, but where it excels is with its free MOT it gives to customers who take out its most premium service. If you want or already have the highest level of cover then this can be a nicer little saving.

Winner: RAC. Both offer a fairly large range of benefits and rewards, but a free MOT for some RAC members is hard to beat.

Round 8: Customer reviews

The AA has a Trustpilot score of 4.8 out of 5 from over 202,000 reviews. On the Apple App Store, it scores 4.8 out of 5 from around 140,000 reviews. Over on Google Play, The AA has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 62,000 reviews.

RAC scores 4.5 out of 5 from more than 199,000 reviews on Trustpilot. It has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from more than 141,000 reviews on the App Store and 4.6 out of 5 from roughly 44,000 reviews on Google Play.

In Finder’s 2026 Customer Satisfaction Awards, The AA was the winner for breakdown cover. 92% of those surveyed recommended it. RAC wasn’t far behind, with 88% of those surveyed recommending it.

Winner: The AA. It’s ahead in every review score in this category.

Overall winner: Is The AA better than RAC?

Each provider took out 3 categories, so in that sense it’s a tie.

The AA came out on top in terms of EV coverage, its app and tech features and importantly, customer service reviews.

RAC was ahead for having more policy flexibility, better European breakdown cover and member benefits.

Although the category wins are tied, The AA does just come out on top overall. This is because it has a larger fleet size, better app and higher customer service scores. These are arguably the most important factors with a breakdown service.

That said, if you’re looking at European breakdown cover, RAC has higher levels of coverage, which could give you peace of mind on your next trip.

Written by

Jason Loewenthal

Senior writer

Jason is a writer and editor. He worked as a senior subeditor for Finder for 5 years and in that time became familiar with a wide range of financial products and services. Before that, he worked for Australian Associated Press. He has a BA from Macquarie University in Australia. Jason loves to help other people find new ways to save money. See full bio