A BMW owner is fuming after the AA left his high performance motor at a service station for two nights – with the keys placed on the tyre.
Luxury car owner Wade Hassan called the recovery company to take away his £20,000 motor because of a faulty turbo.
But he was furious after learning the roadside mechanics – whose motto is “It’s ok you’re with the AA” – had left it open to thieves by leaving it with the key fob under the wheel arch.
When the Bristol-based 33-year-old complained he was told it was “correct procedure” and was stunned when they offered him just £50 in compensation.
Wade said his BMW 4 series, fitted with a car tracker, was collected from his home in Bristol on January 21.
The souped-up motor was to be driven on a low-loader 111 miles to Milton Keynes, Bucks, for repairs.
He watched on his tracker as it was first driven to a Welcome Break service area near Warwick, then unloaded and left standing overnight with the keys left underneath the wheel arch.
The next day the car was picked up and driven to a Moto service area at Cherwell Valley, Oxon, where it was again unloaded and the keys left in the same place.
Mr Hassan said that despite the faulty turbo, his car could easily have been stolen and driven away by anyone finding the hidden keys.
The following day the car was picked up and finally delivered to Milton Keynes where it is currently being repaired.
Wade, who runs his own performance parts car company, said: “This is an expensive vehicle and is an in-your-face show car which has had extensive work done on it.
“It attracts attention.
“I can’t believe it was left overnight with the key fob unprotected like this.
“I know everything that happened as it is fitted with a tracker and I even contacted people who worked at the service stations and they confirmed it was unloaded and left standing.
“I wouldn’t expect this from the AA and I understand they sub-contracted the delivery to other companies.
“But when I complained about the risk of doing this to my car I was shocked to find out that this was the procedure they followed.”
Despite knocking back Wade’s complaint about the key fob being left in a place where he thought thieves could have found them, the AA said they would send him £50 as compensation for poor communication.
An AA spokeswoman said: “We have spoken to Mr Hassan to offer our apologies for some communication issues during the recovery of his vehicle and have reinforced our apology with an offer of compensation.
“It is standard practice across the recovery industry for drivers to be given the choice of whether they would like to travel with their vehicle in the recovery truck or have it recovered unaccompanied and have the keys left in an agreed location.
“In this instance, the member chose to leave their vehicle and it was recovered unaccompanied within the timeframe given in our terms and conditions.”
The story comes 18 months after the President of the AA, Edmund King, revealed that his wife Deidre’s £50,000 car had been stolen by key hackers.
Mr King encouraged motorists to keep their keyless car fobs inside a secure pouch, locked in a box and then placed inside a microwave after hackers stole his wife’s keyless Lexus.
