The Automobile Association, otherwise known as the AA. They operate a
breakdown recovery and
repair service for
automobiles in the
UK. Basically if your car breaks down these guys will pick you up, take you
home and fix the car.
The
AA has been around for a while, and its
history is closely linked with the evolution of the British road system and
motoring regulations. It started in
1905 in
London, when a group of '
motoring enthusiasts' (read into that what you will) met in the
Trocadero restaurant in the
West End. Aside from proving that the
Trocadero's been around longer than most people think, this was the rag tag beginning of the AA.
With initially only 100
members, its main goal was to "help motorists avoid
police speed traps". This worthy cause was of course, in time, augmented by the perhaps more
acceptable effort of erecting
road safety signs. No doubt these early signs warned of police speed traps, but hey, anything to get members. This policy clearly worked, as by
1914, the AA membership base had grown to 83,000. In fact, the AA was responsible for all road safety signposting until the
1930s, probably because no one else was prepared to do it.
The AA began issuing a "Members' Special Handbook" in
1908, which listed AA appointed
repair centres around the country. This was the humble beginnings of the modern recovery service, which only really came to
fruition in
1949 after the introduction of
two-way radio meant the AA could offer a vehicle breakdown service in London, which subsequently spread to cover most of the
UK.
The AA has something of a
colourful history, and classic AA
memorabilia is very
collectable these days. It's gone from little more than a
gentlemen's club for people wishing to avoid
prosecution for speeding to a major national organisation with 9.5 million members (at the time of writing).
Today the AA offers a bundle of services such as
driving lessons,
financial loans,
insurance, pre-purchase checks on a car's history and they also publish
travel books (they shifted just over 10 million books last year).
As for the company itself, it was obviously an attractive venture, as
Centrica bought it in
September 2000 for 1.1 billion (pounds
sterling).
And the service itself? Well, on the only occassion I've had to call them out they did a fine job, so I don't have any complaints. As for the
competition (despite what they'd have you believe, other breakdown rescue services do exist) I couldn't say, as I've only used the AA. Maybe someone else can node the
RAC.
The main sources used in my reserch on this were the AA website (theaa.com) and a handy little yellow booklet I found in the glove compartment which started all this off.