Breakdown Cover?

[JTaylor2005]

Been looking into breakdown cover tonight as I now own a French  car and was wondering what people have found of different companies if anyone has had any experience good or bad and who they would recommend?

Thanks

Jack

[aircool]

Only ever needed once, and I was with AA. No complaints at all and they simply recovered the car back home with a short diagnosis / tests to say the battery was jiggered.

I would suggest seeing if your insurance co. offers it, some insurers have reasonable pricing and some have European cover on that as well (iirc Aviva might do this).

[bigcheez2k3]

I'm with AA too, never needed to use it but they do like to try and charge me more every year.

Have used RAC twice while at work and they've gotten to me fairly quickly but both were breakdowns within M25 so probably the usual response time.

[Iceman299]

With RAC as i used to work for them and know they're alright. Paid £11 a month last year, this year they wanted £12.50 so i rang them up and they lowered it to £8 straight away. Can't complain really

[7057sam]

Used rac over the has 2 years.

Had about 4-5 call outs and they been ok.The actually mechanic s where great.One time they told 2.5 hours though so I made a complaint and got a few months for free.

[Piggy]

Free greenflag with me bank.
Only had to use once in 8yrs.
Arrived in 40min and sorted me out

[MisterGTR]

Check what age of car the companies cover. Over 15 years was a cut off iirc. I ended up with AA using TopCashBack offer. Home start for under £100 with family cover. My ex has moved out but I've just left it as is.

[Iceman299]

Check what age of car the companies cover. Over 15 years was a cut off iirc.  I ended up with AA using TopCashBack offer. Home start for under £100 with family cover. My ex has moved out but I've just left it as is.

Thats for vehicle based cover. Personal cover is for the named policy holder in any car

[lolsteve]

With RAC with topcashback I got it for £65 for the year and adding Ladysteve and the cuore will cost £25 extra

Had to use RAC once to tow ladysteves fked saxo back to my house once after it snapped a cambelt on her way to me, RAC guy was grumpy but towed us anyway despite him saying at the end "I know you weren't in the car so I should charge you but I wont this time.."
AA guy we used to get it to a garage was much more friendly. But that's down to the people, think in reality theyre all much a muchness

[MisterGTR]

Check what age of car the companies cover. Over 15 years was a cut off iirc.  I ended up with AA using TopCashBack offer. Home start for under £100 with family cover. My ex has moved out but I've just left it as is.

Thats for vehicle based cover. Personal cover is for the named policy holder in any car

Ah okay I was wanting personal cover as I have access to 4 cars I drive. But worth checking the policy covers the age of car. As the car I'm most likely to call out for is my 1998 6 and the only reason I ended up with AA was the restrictions on the personal cover policies of the others.

[1616six]

Free greenflag with me bank.
Only had to use once in 8yrs.
Arrived in 40min and sorted me out

How much do you pay for the account each month? 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,
Please feel free to take a look at out breakdown option. We feel feel it offers a great level of cover at a competitive premium.
https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/breakdown/
Regards,
Dan.

[Paul_13]

I've been with the AA for years, I've used them many many times over the years and can't fault them. It's gold membership personal cover I have.

Always always read up on what cover you actually get with insurance and bank policies!

I've known plenty of people to be stitched up big time because of this

[cully]

ive got a Joint policy with the RAC for myself and the wife which covers us in any car as a passenger or driver

so when my daughters car broke down while i was passenger we were recovered home

cant fault them they were there when i needed them

be warned though they do have different levels of cover
and like you i started getting the recovery since owning french

[Piggy]

Free greenflag with me bank.
Only had to use once in 8yrs.
Arrived in 40min and sorted me out

How much do you pay for the account each month? 

£14, was £13.

But that gets me phone insurance, travel insurance, breakdown, discounted raters on credit card and loans and a £2500 overdraft. 

And they cover my wife too under same policy.

[JTaylor2005]

Got a huge drive coming up Monday which has kicked me back into getting my breakdown cover sorted and I have decided to look at website reviews of each company. I can't say I like the look of any of them 

Look at these review sites haha.

RAC - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.rac.co.uk
Green Flag - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.greenflag.com
AA - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/aa-brea...over.co.uk

How can all 3 sucseed in being that rubbish haha?!

[Magenta Sunset]

Britannia Rescue?
I get mine included in my insurance (Via Carole Nash)

[lolsteve]

RAC have been fairly quick when needed them. Not as bad as some of those reviews by any means. The only thing I don't like about them is they keep passing off my details to people who then try and sell me stuff. It's not all the time but enough to make me wonder why theyre doing it when ive paid for a service

[Toms306]

More people will write bad reviews than good... They're all shit so find the cheapest!

What annoys me with EVERY one I've used so far is that they won't just send a recovery truck straight away, even when you tell them the exact fault and that if it is not at all fixable at the side of the road. They just waste your time sending a crappy van out first.

[JTaylor2005]

Haha "Im telling you the entire rear beam has snapped in half" Still sends a van out with a set of spanners in it.

[cully]

More people will write bad reviews than good...  They're all shit so find the cheapest!

What annoys me with EVERY one I've used so far is that they won't just send a recovery truck straight away, even when you tell them the exact fault and that if it is not at all fixable at the side of the road.  They just waste your time sending a crappy van out first.

didnt have that problem when i used RAC they said they would send a flatbed and lift it as it sounded like it wasnt to be driven

[Herby7]

Have had Green flag before and they were rubbish.
Now with Kwikfit and have been for a few years not had any problems.

[zx_volcane]

With AA and tbf they've got me home a fair few times without issue, I'm in it purely for national recovery and i've been getting my money's worth.

[RetroPug]

I daily drove a '6 with no breakdown cover.

Living life on the edge.

[Toms306]

Haha "Im telling you the entire rear beam has snapped in half" Still sends a van out with a set of spanners in it.

Pretty much. One was an inaccessible popped radiator hose due to a failed headgasket, took about 4 hours between calling and getting it home from 25 mins away. One was a rear brake drum locked solid, took 4.5 hours between calling and getting it home from 15 mins away. One was a popped turbo oil seal, they wouldn't send a truck, told me a van would be there in an hour so I told them not to bother and I drove it home billowing smoke lol.

But I have rubbish experiences with pretty much all companies doing anything ever.

More people will write bad reviews than good...  They're all shit so find the cheapest!

What annoys me with EVERY one I've used so far is that they won't just send a recovery truck straight away, even when you tell them the exact fault and that if it is not at all fixable at the side of the road.  They just waste your time sending a crappy van out first.

didnt have that problem when i used RAC they said they would send a flatbed and lift it as it sounded like it wasnt to be driven

One of these was RAC... Maybe you sound like you know what you're on about and I don't?

[cpikey316_]

Haha "Im telling you the entire rear beam has snapped in half" Still sends a van out with a set of spanners in it.

Pretty much.  One was an inaccessible popped radiator hose due to a failed headgasket, took about 4 hours between calling and getting it home from 25 mins away.  One was a rear brake drum locked solid, took 4.5 hours between calling and getting it home from 15 mins away.  One was a popped turbo oil seal, they wouldn't send a truck, told me a van would be there in an hour so I told them not to bother and I drove it home billowing smoke lol.

But I have rubbish experiences with pretty much all companies doing anything ever.

Can I add a broken driveshaft to that? Van came, he got out, looked, phoned a tow truck and went away again. Easiest 35 seconds of work ever......

[powerandtorque]

Britannia Rescue?
I get mine included in my insurance (Via Carole Nash)

This, although in my case it's through CSMA.

I've nothing but praise for them in the few occasions that I've needed them over the last decade or so - always come quickly, generally listen to what I say and don't waste my time sending a noddy van if I've told them that it needs a flatbed, and price wise they're quite reasonable in terms of cost/cover when you compare to the big names.

I certainly wouldn't spend my money on an AA membership judging from my (limited) previous experience of them and some of the horrors friends have experienced. They seem fine for anything that can be fixed at the roadside, but as soon as it comes to recovering the car it seems to go pear-shaped. The two that spring to mind are a friend that ended up taking nearly nine hours to be recovered home and left for hours in the middle of the night on her own, and another who's car they lost when they recovered it - it was only "found" a couple of days later when the Peugeot dealer 40 miles in the opposite direction to where it was meant to be getting recovered phoned asking what they were meant to be doing with the car that had been left on their forecourt...

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Can I add a broken driveshaft to that? Van came, he got out, looked, phoned a tow truck and went away again. Easiest 35 seconds of work ever......

Or in my case, broken driveshaft and the AA towed me on a hard bar (i.e. on its wheels) despite my suggestion that it might not be a good idea... as you can imagine, the resulting noise and vibration as the 'shaft tore itself and everything in the vicinity to bits was "interesting"

(it was a discourtesy car I was driving hence zero s**ts given - had it been my own car, I'd have flatly refused unless I'd had an agreement in writing that they would cover the resulting damage in full)

[JTaylor2005]

Seems to be the smaller less known company coming out on top here really then Looking at it as well for £93 I can get UK Recovery & Home Assist which basically is recovery of the car to anywhere in the UK along with overnight stays or hire car / onward travel. Compared to the AA which for the same was near enough £135 :O

Think the Britania Rescue has got my business. Seeing the Adrian flux post in here now as well has reminded me that they will probably be good for next years insurance as well Seem to have a good name in the modified car scene.

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And now I have found this one as well. Gem breakdown assistance which is £83 and covers me on any car I am in. With All of the above mentioned for the LV one. Also has won AutoExpress 6 years running on the reviews for breakdown cover.

[cpikey316_]

Flux beat prices (both by £10 funnily enough) for my imported pajero and standard Civic. All good in my eyes!

[JTaylor2005]

I have just found this and it looks rather promising so it's definitly going to be GEM I think Cheers for all the input guys

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/dr...cover-2015