Who are AA Cars and what do we do?
You might think the AA is all about roadside assistance. While we're experts at that, we're much more! We provide a complete motoring solution, supporting drivers at every stage of car ownership. From buying a car and insuring it, to servicing and maintenance, breakdown cover, and even selling when the time comes.
AA Cars is backed by a growing network of approved dealers who meet our strict quality standards. This means you can buy with confidence, knowing there are no hidden surprises.
When you buy through AA Cars, you also receive free 12 months' AA Breakdown Cover and a £75 MOT & Service voucher. We believe buying a car should be enjoyable, straightforward, and stress-free.
Why you can trust AA Cars reviews
There are plenty of car reviews available, often packed with technical data and specifications. Our reviews are different. They're designed to be practical, trustworthy, and genuinely useful, built around three key elements:
AA Mechanic Review
Unlike most car reviews, we bring a unique perspective on cars, more from a reliability/technical perspective, thanks to our expert AA roadside patrols. This section will focus on what to look for before buying used, reliability concerns, any preventive maintenance and such information that you won't find elsewhere. Think of it as a veteran mechanic assessing a car in simple language that you can easily understand.
Editorial Expert Review
Our editorial reviews are written by experienced automotive journalists who put each car through real-world road tests. We cover everything you need to know - from pricing and running costs to interior quality, comfort, technology, and how the car actually drives. Cars are tested across a variety of road conditions to reflect real-life use. We highlight both strengths and weaknesses, giving you a balanced and transparent view to help you decide whether a car is right for you.
Owner Reviews
Finally, we include reviews from real owners, our AA members who have lived with the car for at least six months. These insights provide a valuable, unbiased picture of long-term ownership, covering reliability, comfort, running costs, and overall satisfaction.
How we test and rate the cars
1 Engine and performance
This is where we give you an overview of engine/gearbox options (battery/motor for EVs) followed by how the car performs. Our road tests evaluate numerous aspects of a car such as performance, refinement, and efficiency to give you an accurate picture of how the car drives. We extensively test a car over different roads including B-roads and motorways before sharing our findings with you. Rather than relying solely on figures, we explain how the car feels from behind the wheel, because numbers don't always tell the full story.
2 Ride and handling
Here we assess ride comfort, handling, body control, grip, steering, and braking. Using jargon-free language, we explain how the car copes with bumps, how stable it feels at speed, how confident it is through corners, and how strong the brakes feel. We also evaluate steering feedback and how easy the car is to manoeuvre in tight spaces, such as car parks and urban streets.
3 Interior & Features
Before we even turn the wheel, this is the first thing our experts go through. We spend hours inside the cabin poking around to find the good and bad bits. We also check for cabin quality, and the all-important space and practicality tests. Numbers rarely tell everything, so we judge the interior space and boot space and let you know how it stacks up against rivals as well.
4 MPG, emissions and tax
In this section, we provide clear information on fuel economy, emissions, and vehicle tax. For petrol and diesel cars, we assess whether real-world efficiency matches manufacturer claims. For electric vehicles, we take a closer look at real world driving range, charging times, and overall usability.
5 Safety and reliability
Safety is paramount for a car, and we take this section seriously. Apart from looking at the crash test data, we also evaluate the safety features on the car to check if everything works in the real world.
6 Our Motoring Journalists score it out of 5
Based on all the pointers above, our editorial experts give the car a score out of 5. We rarely hand out 5 stars, but if we do, that means the car has really impressed us and aced all our tests.
7 Mechanic review
This is where our expert AA Roadside Mechanics share their feedback on the car, more on the reliability and technical side. We also score the car out of 5 based on our mechanic review. The more reliable and trouble-free the car is, the higher the scores.
8 Real owner reviews
Our members are our strength, and this brings a vast range of user reviews on various cars. Hear it right from the owners whether they like the car or not.
9 Final AA Rating
We give the car a score out of 5 combining scores from editorial, mechanic, and owner reviews.
How we keep our car reviews up to date
Our car reviews are regularly reviewed and updated. We strive to keep the reviews up-to-date and cover all the mainstream cars available today. There is a dedicated editorial team that audits content for relevance, updating the content as we go.
