Car insurance is a legal requirement for vehicles driven on UK roads and it is therefore important to shop around to ensure you are getting the best deal on your policy. In this independent review, we look at AA car insurance including what it covers, how much it costs and how it compares to other providers. We recommend reading the review in full but you can also jump to specific sections of the article using the following links:
- What is the AA?
- AA car insurance key features
- What does AA car insurance cover?
- How much does AA car insurance cost?
- What is the excess on AA car insurance?
- How to make a claim on AA car insurance
- AA car insurance customer reviews
- Pros and cons of AA car insurance
- Alternatives to AA car insurance
- Summary
What is The AA?
The Automobile Association was created in 1905 with the aim of protecting the new breed of motorists driving on our roads. With over 14 million members the AA is now the UK's largest motoring organisation offering a range of products and services including car insurance, breakdown cover, travel insurance, financial products and leisure and lifestyle services.
AA car insurance is provided by a panel of insurers which means that your AA car insurance policy is likely to be underwritten by one of the following car insurance providers; AA Underwriting Insurance Company Limited, Acromas Insurance Company Limited, Ageas Insurance Limited, Aviva Insurance Limited, AXA Insurance UK PLC, Covea Insurance PLC, Collinson Insurance, Highway Insurance Company Limited, Liverpool Victoria Company Limited, Premier Underwriting Limited, Prestige Underwriting Services Limited, Watford Insurance Company Europe Limited and Alwyn Insurance Company Limited, or West Bay Insurance PLC (Formerly Zenith Insurance PLC).
You can find out who insures your individual AA car insurance policy by referring to your policy documents.
AA car insurance key features
- Fully comprehensive or third party, fire & theft car insurance
- Insurance for drivers aged between 18 - 99 years old
- Discount on insurance for existing AA members
- Optional extras such as Motor Legal Assistance & Excess Protection
- Optional Breakdown cover for £15 per year
- Uninsured drivers promise if hit by someone uninsured and it's not your fault
- New for old cover if your car is written off or stolen (terms apply)
- 5 star Defaqto rating for AA Gold and AA Platinum comprehensive policies
What does AA car insurance cover?
There are three main car insurance policy types; fully comprehensive, third party, fire & theft and third party, however AA currently only offers fully comprehensive and third party, fire & theft car insurance. Fully comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of insurance available with cover for accidental damage to your car, injuries to others, theft and vandalism. While third party, fire and theft car insurance provides cover for damage caused to a third party's vehicle or property and personal injury but does not cover damage to your own vehicle. However it does provide cover for damage caused by fire or the theft of your own vehicle.
In the table below, we compare the different levels of cover with the AA's fully comprehensive insurance. Their third party, fire and theft policy is not available on their website but you can call them to discuss this on 0330 053 0256 and this type of policy is also available on price comparison websites.
AA car insurance policies
| AA Silver | AA Gold | AA Platinum | |
| Personal accident cover | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windscreen cover | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Courtesy car^ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Loss of theft of keys | up to £750 | up to £1,000 | up to £1,500 |
| Personal belongings | up to £50 | up to £200 | up to £250 |
| EU cover | 30 days | 90 days | 90 days |
| Motor Legal Assistance | Optional extra | Included | Included |
| Motor Accident Plan | Optional extra | Optional extra | Included |
| Car Hire^^ | Optional extra | Optional extra | Included |
^while your car is repaired by an approved repairer ^^up to 21 days if your car is written off or isn't fully recovered following a theft
AA car insurance optional benefits
Below we list the optional extras that can be added to your AA car insurance policy, some of these are already included with the AA Platinum policy (as listed in the table above).
Motor Legal Assistance
Legal help to recover the costs involved with a non-fault claim such as the policy excess, loss of earnings and personal injury compensation. Includes 24/7 legal helpline and a 2-hour confidence-boosting lesson with an AA driving instructor following an accident. To find out whether motor legal assistance cover is worth it, or for the free alternative, read our article, 'Is car insurance legal cover worth it?'.
Car Hire
Taking out car hire cover can ensure you have a replacement vehicle for up to 21 days if your car is stolen, written off or irrecoverable.
Motor Accident Plan
Adding the Motor Accident Plan to your AA car insurance policy can improve the personal injury cover on your car insurance policy. With this additional cover you can get the following benefits:
- Up to an additional £100,000 on top of any payment provided by your AA Car Insurance policy, or any other personal accident and life insurance cover.
- Cover for a wider range of injuries including burns and fractures
- Physiotherapy sessions up to £750
- Counselling for stress or trauma up to £250
- Money towards spending time in hospital (up to £60 a day)
Excess Protection
If you are at fault for an accident or if the other person involved is unidentifiable you can claim back your policy excess for accidental or malicious damage, fire, theft or attempted theft claims.
NCD Protection
Protect your No Claims Discount in the event that you need to make a claim. Adding this to your policy means you may be able to make one or more claims before your no claim discount is affected. However, the AA does state that your premium may still increase following an accident.
Breakdown cover
You can choose to include breakdown cover to your car insurance policy however it is best to compare prices to ensure that this is the best value breakdown cover before adding it to your car insurance. You should also check to ensure that you are not already covered for a breakdown as part of a package deal with your bank or via a motor finance agreement. You may want to consider separate breakdown cover and you can read about this in our article 'What is breakdown cover and how does it work?'
There are two types of breakdown cover that can be added to your AA car insurance policy and you can have 1 call-out per insurance year:
- Roadside - If you breakdown over 1/4 mile from your home you can get 24/7 breakdown assistance
- Roadside + National Recovery - If you breakdown over 1/4 mile from your home you can get 24/7 breakdown assistance plus travel for you and up to 7 passengers to any UK mainland destination if your vehicle is unable to be fixed
For our independent review on AA breakdown cover read our article 'AA Breakdown cover review' however it is worth bearing in mind the information in this article refers to a seperate breakdown cover policy and not the optional add-on cover that can be included with your insurance which only allows 1 call-out per insurance year.
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How much does AA car insurance cost?
Exactly how much you will pay for your AA car insurance will vary depending on a number of factors including the type of car you drive, your age and where you live. The type of policy you choose will also affect how much you pay for your car insurance, as well as your driving experience. For additional information on the cost of car insurance, read our article, 'How much does car insurance cost?'
What is the AA car insurance policy excess?
The excess is the amount payable if you need to make a claim. Usually, there are two types of policy excess when it comes to car insurance; voluntary and compulsory excess. The compulsory excess is set by the insurer and is the amount you have to pay when claiming. The voluntary excess can usually be adjusted by the policyholder when obtaining a quote and choosing a higher voluntary excess may help to reduce the cost of your insurance premium.
The compulsory excess varies between the Silver, Gold and Platinum policies for certain claims. In the table below we show the differences in the amounts depending on what you are claiming for. For claims relating to accidental or malicious damage, fire, theft and attempted theft you can choose to add a voluntary excess up to £500.
| AA Silver | AA Gold | AA Platinum | |
| Windscreen replacement excess | £150 | £100 | £75 |
| Windscreen repair excess | £25 | £10 | No excess |
| Accidental & malicious damage excess | £200 | £150 | £100 |
How to make a claim with AA car insurance
If you need to make a claim on your AA car insurance policy you can call the AA on 0330 053 0322, report the claim online or via the AA app. It is worth noting that if your car has been stolen, you will need to provide a crime reference number from the police in order to make a claim.
When claiming it is likely you will be asked to provide your policy number, details of the claim as well as any evidence to support the claim so ensure you have these available prior to claiming.
AA car insurance customer reviews
AA Insurance has a rating of 4.4 out of 5.0 stars on the independent customer review site Trustpilot from over 29,000 reviews. It is worth bearing in mind that these reviews are for all their insurance products not just car insurance. 67% of customers rate it with 5 stars and 11% of customers rate it with 1 star. Competitive premiums and quick processing of claims and repairs are cited as the main positive comments with administrative and website problems being cited as a negative experience for some customers as well as a complicated claims process. It is worth considering, however, that not all of the reviews are related to AA car insurance and some are related to the other products on offer with the AA.
AA car insurance pros and cons
Pros
- 5 star Defaqto rating for AA Gold and AA Platinum comprehensive policies
- Fully comprehensive car insurance policies
- Up to 90 days cover for driving in the EU (policy dependent)
- AA member discounts
Cons
- Difficult to get quote and information on their Third party, fire and theft policy
- Optional breakdown cover only allows 1 call-out per insurance year
- New for old cover only applies to cars under 13 months old and you must be the first and only registered keeper
Alternatives to AA car insurance
In this section of the review, we have compared AA car insurance to two other car insurance providers. An easy way to compare car insurance providers, however, is via a comparison site. Comparison sites allow you to compare multiple providers at once to find the best deal for your circumstances. We have partnered with Quotezone* so that you can search and compare quotes from over 120 UK car insurance providers. It is worth considering, however, that not all comparison sites are whole of market and it can be cheaper to get a policy directly with the insurer.
In the following table, we compare AA's comprehensive car insurance policy to two comprehensive policies from car insurance providers Aviva and Direct Line. Aviva also underwrites some car insurance policies for the AA so it may be worth getting a quote directly with Aviva to compare prices. For further comparison between car insurance providers, read our article, 'Best car insurance in the UK'.
AA car insurance vs Direct Line car insurance vs Aviva car insurance
| AA | Direct Line | Aviva | |
| Policy types |
|
|
|
| Uninsured driver protection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-car insurance discount | No | Yes | Yes |
| Temporary car insurance | Yes | No (but does have the option to add a temporary car to an existing policy) | Yes |
| Optional breakdown cover | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Defaqto rating for fully comprehensive policies | 4 & 5 star | 5 stars | 5 stars |
| Extras | New for old cover if your car is written off (terms apply) | Guaranteed hire car with comprehensive policies | Repairs are guaranteed by Aviva even if you change insurers (terms apply) |
Summary
AA car insurance is a reputable long-standing company offering comprehensive benefits with some enhanced benefits and discounts for AA breakdown members. Its Gold and Platinum comprehensive policies have been rated 5 stars by Defaqto for both members and non-members of the AA and the ability to enhance your policy with optional extras means you can suit the policy to your individual circumstances. It is worth shopping around, however, as AA car insurance is provided by a panel of insurers, and you could therefore find the insurance cheaper directly with the provider instead.
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