Green Flag

For actual green flags, see Green (vexillology).

For the unconnected award for parks and open spaces, see Green Flag Award. For the electronic warfare combat training exercise, see Red Flag (USAF).

Green Flag

Industry	Automotive services
Founded	1971 (as National Breakdown)
Headquarters	Croydon, United Kingdom
Services	Breakdown assistance
Parent	1984 - 1999: NCP 1999 - 2003 Direct Line 2003 onwards: RBS Group
Website	www.greenflag.com

Green Flag is a roadside rescue company based in the UK. It was formed in 1971 as the National Breakdown Recovery Club and operated under this name under the ownership of National Car Parks until 1994, when it was renamed Green Flag as a symbolic brand name^[1]

After the purchase of NCP by Cinven, the company was purchased by Direct Line in 1999. Following the purchase of Direct Line by the Royal Bank of Scotland, Green Flag is now a part of RBS Group. For four years running, Green Flag has been the winner of the Your Money award for Best Direct Breakdown provider.^[1][2]

Green Flag was a major sponsor of the British Touring Car Championship between 2002 and 2004.

They also sponsored the England national football team for the first time in 1994. The initial sponsorship deal was worth £4 million ($6.6 million) over a four-season period ending with the World Cup final tournament in July, 1998.

Differences from other breakdown companies

Unlike the AA and RAC, Green Flag does not have its own fleet of vehicles or a staff of mechanics. Instead, the company maintains a network of locally-based mechanics. One of the advantages of this approach (according to the company) is that local companies have local knowledge and are able to respond to call outs faster as a result. Using this network also has an advantage to the repairs of the vehicle with 86% of call outs being mended at the roadside. Green Flag holds over 5 million members.

In early 2008 Green Flag reduced its contractor network by nearly 100. Green Flag tendered its work out to service providers taking several variables into consideration. These included price, location to area wanting to be covered, size and scale of business and number of sites. The contractors then bid against each other in order to hit a 'target price.' Green Flag has since described its contractor review as a success; however with 100 fewer agents working with them their claim of using local knowledge to assist members promptly has less validity than it did before the contractor review.

As of November 2011 Green Flag has now reduced its contractor network even further to just 5 'super contractors' covering the whole country.

They impose a limit on the age of vehicles that they will assist under personal cover, and will not attend where the vehicle is more than 16 years old ^[3]. AA and RAC do not impose a vehicle age restriction.

Green Flag's average response time is 28 minutes, promoted as 30 minutes on their web site and press releases; this, therefore, puts them at the top of the average response time. This was calculated on 318,000 call outs they had between August 8 and March 9.

Green Flag's web site also contains a "route map" which has also been voted the most effective route map out of the 3 major breakdown companies.

See also

• The AA
• RAC
• Vehicle recovery

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Green Flag press pack March 2007 http://www.greenflag.com/downloads/presspack_mar07.pdf
2. ^ Your Money awards 2007 http://www.yourmoney.com/awards
3. ^ Green Flag policy document: http://www.greenflag.com/downloads/GF004_1209.pdf

External links

• Green Flag website
• RBS brands
• UK Vehicle Recovery History