Worried

spamberler

I made a silly mistake! I have breakdown cover but had my old number in my mobile phone. I called when my car was running rough one morning and they advise my policy wasnt showing. I thought there must have been a mistake so they advised they would send someone anyway and I would have to pay upfront incase that I didnt have a policy.

They estimated 45mins... During this time a garage opened nearby so I called and cancelled in hope that the local garage could take a look. Unfortunately they were fully booked so I called the breakdown cover back and they advised it would still be 45mins as the other call had been cancelled.

After the recovery I checked my cover and I did have the wrong number in my phone. Having got a receipt of payment my breakdown cover did agree that I could claim the money back.

Yesterday I came home to letter from the call centre advising that they had incurred a change of £45 for the cancellation of the original call and as I didnt have a policy they wanted the payment to be reimbursed!

Do I have to pay this £45??

gyzmo

I would imagine so. It is not the fault of the breakdown people that you did not have the correct details, or that you cancelled the first callout. Your actual breakdown cover will pay normal rates incurred in a situation like this, so they will pay the cost of the callout that resulted in your car being repaired.

I doubt you could even claim for there not being a contract and not being informed of the cancellation fee. It is reasonable to presume that cancelling a callout would incur some charges. Whether the amount is reasonable is a different matter.

I would grit your teeth, pay up, smile ever so nicely, kick the cat when you get in (no, don't!) and then forget about it. And keep double copies of you breakdown cover details in future!

Astaroth

Depending on who the breakdown cover is with will dictate on if it is actually one of their own vans that comes out (say in the case of the AA) or if it is a subcontractor (in the case of Greenflag).

If it is a company that uses its own vans then it is fairly reasonable to argue that you were not informed of the cost of cancelling the request at the time of phoning and that £45 is an excessive penalty clause.

If it is a subcontractor then I would ask to see a copy of the invoice they have had to pay to the subcontractor, you can still complain that you werent advised of the cancellation fee, but paying their costs at cost value would be reasonable. Most recovery companies charge more than £45 per call out as a simple send someone out fee so it may well be that £45 is the correct amount but there certainly isnt any harm in asking them to substanciate their losses as it wasnt explained to you at the time.

spamberler

Astaroth wrote:

Depending on who the breakdown cover is with will dictate on if it is actually one of their own vans that comes out (say in the case of the AA) or if it is a subcontractor (in the case of Greenflag).

If it is a company that uses its own vans then it is fairly reasonable to argue that you were not informed of the cost of cancelling the request at the time of phoning and that £45 is an excessive penalty clause.

If it is a subcontractor then I would ask to see a copy of the invoice they have had to pay to the subcontractor, you can still complain that you werent advised of the cancellation fee, but paying their costs at cost value would be reasonable. Most recovery companies charge more than £45 per call out as a simple send someone out fee so it may well be that £45 is the correct amount but there certainly isnt any harm in asking them to substanciate their losses as it wasnt explained to you at the time.

Thanks! They havent got back to me yet but she said she would find out what she has to do at her end!