[JeffM]

Recently I had cause to call out the RAC as I my car had broken down. Having moved from another breakdown recovery company after waiting over 3 hrs, I was very angry and disappointed to have to wait 4.5 hrs for someone to turn up. The technician accepted my OBDII scanner result so didn’t even open the bonnet. I won’t be renewing.

[olduser]

Re the bonnet - did the patrol get you going?

Waiting time - realistically no organisation is going to be able to have a patrol available to follow each customer along the road, so what is implied in adverts or literature just is not possible.

The only way for us as users is to look at the small print to see if they give any guarantee on waiting time, (I can't think of one that do's) before we hand over the money but of course we don't.

What is really needed is a penalty (cash to the customer) if some agreed time is exceeded.
At the moment, the only incentive to service providers is the potential loss of a renewal, and that is to far down the line to have much effect.
The other problem is, in many cases the ultimate 'hands on the reins' are insurance companies, and they have already got your money.
The RAC are only a contractor to the insurance Co.

All we can do, is get the car serviced according to the manufacturers recommendations, in an effort to not have to wait on the roadside.

[NMNeil]

It's unrealistic to give a definitive responce time, way too many variables, traffic being the most obvious because nobody can predict what the traffic will be like at any particular moment.
Back in the 80's I got a call from a sales rep from Mercury Communications, so I signed up for cable TV. The sales rep promised faithfully that the installers would be there tomorrow between 8 am and midday. Two day later after taking too much time off work he showed up mumbling about overwork, traffic, parking etc.
Salespeople will promise you anything just to get their commission on a sale, the RAC won't be any different and will promise ridiculous responce times.
And if there was a cash penalty they would come back that there was an emergency with a van full of children/nuns/puppies, take your pick, which took priority.

[Rolebama]

During my time with the AA, when it was a private club, I must have attended over 10,000 callouts. I reckon those that I attended who had waited over an hour could be counted on two hands. I am not saying that would have been a national figure though, because I used to meet Patrols with much bigger areas out in the sticks.