RAC - would you ask for compensation and what would you expect to get?

[Kingfisherfly]

Lone woman breaksdown on a motorway and manages to limp to the services (so not stranded at the side of the road).

Case logged with RAC 9:45 Friday evening. She is finally "rescued" 2:15 Saturday afternoon.

Yes, same. We use auto aid, it's only about £65 for personal cover (any car). Downside is that if you do break down you need to pay the recovery firm upfront but auto aid refund you really quickly. We had a dodgy car a few years back and were forever calling them out and never waited more than an hour, usually less.

Not necessarily. We are with the AA and a local garage has come out, they are contracted with the AA to do recoveries and repairs.

This is not correct with the AA , we were recovered from South East London by a local garage a few years back , and got compensation from the AA after I complained about the recovery service .

Honestly - this happened to me twice in the snow with kids. I got 40 quid refund. DH now works for the RAC (bit outing) and it's clear the reason it happened is cos if you live in the north they just do not have as many techs. (Even if the ones they do have are lovely). Plus id made myself safe and therefore didnt count. ( Despite being in the snow and dark with two kids FFS).
We cancelled membership immediately. I was livid. When DH started working there he raised this - the retention is terrible because of things like this. I think there will be changes (I bloody hope so) but in the meantime I would absolutely push for something and also make the point that we have huge buying power. Raise the standard for middle class middle aged women with lots of Tesco vouchers or blue light discount (get it reduced price ) and you have a client base. Piss off the women and you're fucked.

Years ago I broke down. It was nighttime, snowy and I was on my own with my toddler.
My dad came to rescue me in the end before RAC turned up. It was hours.
I’m with the AA now and they’re very good and I’ve never had to wait very long on tje few calls I’ve had to use them.
However don’t ever use their battery replacement service. I got compensation for that debacle.

Come to think of it my only prior experience of the RAC was when one of their vans drove into the back of us, writing off the car and making it undrivable. They wouldn't send a recovery truck, as we weren't members, which may be fair enough in terms of legal obligations but seemed a bit rich when they'd caused the situation.

Off the top of my head either the cost of accommodation, or transport home, and the cost of the parking that will be charged for the car going over the 2 hour limit.