VALUE FOR MONEY
SIR,—Lcslie Adrian quotes, evidently with ap- proval, a statement by an official of either the AA or RAC: 'If you have a car and arc not a member of a motoring organisation, you're a mug.'
I once received from the RAC a letter containing
this remarkable statement : . . the motorist who elects not to become a member of one of our organisa- tions can only be termed a motorist without a sense of responsibility. I took the trouble to inquire, `Responsibility towards what?' and the answer seemed to be 'the cause of motoring. In thirty years' car-owning I have belonged to motoring organisations for two years only; and on each of these occasions I joined only in order to take my car abroad. Fortunately it is now child's play to take a car across the Channel on one's own. During my year's membership of the AA my car, while stationary in a traffic stream in Paris, was rammed from the rear. Subsequently my letters to the culprit's insurance company were disregarded. Here, I thought, is a chance for the AA to show their apparent eager- ness to help : let them put pressure on the French insurance company. They were reluctant to move in the matter and when they did they achieved nothing. This was a long time ago and they may be more resourceful today.
I console myself that I have saved some 56 guineas by not joining motoring organisations and that I have
missed nothing in consequence except a large number of salutes. I am capable of finding my way on mY own and of choosing my own hotels. I can stand up in court and say 'guilty' as easily as any AA lawyer. Nor do I need a 'get you home' service; if I could not get myself home I would drown myself.
By not subscribing to these bodies I •have the satisfaction of having contributed nothing towards the encouragement of events like the Monte Carlo Rally or of propaganda with which I have sometimes been out of sympathy. Do the motoring organisations think that their parliamentary lobbying over the last fifty years has been always in the interests of the com- munity as a whole? Some people may feel that they are getting their
money's worth from these organisations. I very much hope they are. 1 am sure that both bodies, on occa- sions, have performed wonders; but I wish they would not call non-members mugs or accuse them of irresponsibility.—Yours faithfully,
E. S. 11.11041:11 The White Cottage, 54 Sevenoaks Road, Orpington, Kent
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