The AA were demutualised in 1999, basically turned into for profit company have been sold since to a private equity firm. I know a AA patrol man and he says the same, they just like any other big company now, just looking after the bottom line and not the customers.
However, as a member, everytime I have used the AA in the last few years (not on my Golf) they have been awesome. They still have a lot of patrols, because they have more members than the competition, have a count when you next go out for a drive, you will see more AA vans than RAC and Greenflag.
Slightly off topic. My best mate is an AA patrol for over 25 years. He says the company is a shadow of what it once was, and the things he's asked to do....well let's just keep that a secret then.
The old logo "we fix 8/10 cars by the roadside" he reckons is absolute bo**ocks, and as far as AA HQ are concerned, a "fix" is considered to be towing a broken down car to a garage without even lifting the bonnet. He says it's a real shame as when he joined all them years ago, he was very proud to wear the uniform and the customer was king. These days everything has a maximum time allocated to it, and they are asked to do as little as it takes to affect a "fix". He says down his way, typical response times are 2-3 hours due to the lack of patrols (obviously if you are a single women or have kids in the car - they will prioritise you, but even then, no guarantee of a quick turnaround).
He used to work for the RAC and still has some friends there and they tell him it's not much better there these days either. It's less about customer service and more about stats these days, as both the RAC and the AA are terrified of losing the big manufacturers accounts, and those companies e.g. VW, Aston Martin, Vauxhall etc. use the published stats as part of their decision making process. These large manufacturer accounts it seems are all they are worried about.
It comes to something when a 35 years technician (10 years with RAC and 25 years with the AA) can't wait for retirement and would gladly take VR next time round, and that's not just him, that's at least 10 patrols he knows round his area. He says morale is at an all time low for the time he has been there 
