Breakdown cover: Get the cheapest roadside recovery

donglefan

I wouldn't recommend Green Flag.

I had a breakdown of my fiesta; it was in an evening; green flag sent their local garage.
The guy said it needed a new alternator and would have to go to the garage and they would have to send a collecting vehicle the next day as part of the cover.
The garage I use is a couple of miles beyond the zone they will tow to for free and they said it would cost about £6 to go to my favoured garage, which I agreed to.

So, the next day the vehicle was towed there, but the bill was around £30 insead of £6 because their routefinder planned an odd route and they charged for return to their depot in the opposite direction. I complained and after about 2 months got a refund on the extra towage.

I'd asked my garage (very trustworthy) to put in a new alternator on the advice of the GF mechanic, which they did, but then they discovered some fault on a lead and were not sure that the alternator had been the problem!

I was previously with the RAC who never failed to fix at the roadside; RAC were always excellent (apart from one guy who leered.)

All in all, I'd not return to GF but I would return to the RAC, although this year I'm trying the AA owing to the deal earlier this month.

misha

Hi,
I was unsuccessfully searching for a cover for a 2-day trip to France. All single trip roadside assistance plans seem to cover cars no older than 10 or at most 15 years. Does anybody know of a plan that would cover a 1989 car?
Thank you

Maidenover

Hi all
I'm in need of breakdown cover but confused on couple of points. I have quotes from Saga (yes I'm in that age bracket sadly) and from RAC online. Saga is cheapest for comprehensive cover which includes my husband and comes in at £98 for year. RAC is £106.40 so not a lot in cost. Saga no longer use Green Flag but have it underwritten with AXA and use network of local garages.

Because I am often driving on my own I need to feel I have good backup in event of a breakdown or accident and being of that generation which are used to reliability and reputation of RAC or AA I feel safer with them but after reading comments on here I am now confused.

Are RAC & AA still good reliable organisations, no hassle good response time etc and how can you get RAC at such reduced prices as quoted on here. I want top cover (not European) to cover myself and hubby with 2 cars and must include homestart.

Any advice would be most welcome...ta.

br1anstorm

melchizedek wrote: »

Try InsureAndGo at http://www.insureandgo.com/Breakdown-Insurance.html
Choose European Breakdown.

Just insured my car for a 2 week trip to France for £25.84

Thanks to JuniperBerry's earlier post in this forum for the info:o

After reading this and JuniperBerry's post I thought I'd found the answer to my need for single-trip European breakdown/rescue cover. I got an online quote - and as I already have Insure&Go worldwide travel cover it looked as if I might get a further discount.

BUT.... even though the online system gave me a quote, it turns out that the breakdown cover is only available for cars up to 10 years old (or in some circs, 15 years). My car is a 1990 Mercedes. It's a great deal more reliable, and easier to maintain, than most modern cars - but regrettably Insure&Go, or Europ Assistance who provide the rescue service, won't cover it.

Moral of the story - read the small print!

br1anstorm

br1anstorm

misha wrote: »

Hi,
I was unsuccessfully searching for a cover for a 2-day trip to France. All single trip roadside assistance plans seem to cover cars no older than 10 or at most 15 years. Does anybody know of a plan that would cover a 1989 car?
Thank you

The only one I've found so far is http://www.quotelinedirect.co.uk/breakdown/. They provide cover for cars up to 20 years old. But they only do an annual policy, which includes a year of UK breakdown cover plus EU cover up to 90 days (each trip max of 21 days).

At £59 it's expensive for a single short trip (though still cheaper than the extra I was quoted by my main insurer to add EU breakdown cover for a 3 week trip on to my regular policy!). But compared to most other providers, that £59 policy is a good deal, and it provides EuropAssistance rescue services.

Best and simplest - and probably cheapest - solution of course, is to get a regular motor policy that includes UK and EU breakdown as an integral part of the annual insurance cover.

br1anstorm

Christmasshopper

rinkydink15 wrote: »

Hi,

I use a company called Elstree Insurance Services (www.elstreeinsuranceservices.co.uk) and they offer full European breakdown cover for £47.00 a year through Europ Assistance. I haven't used them for a breakdown call out (yet) but have been informed average callout time is 40 minutes.

The price is shown on their website under the section called "Policies"

This looked like a good deal to me too, but when I went to the payment page on the web site it wasn't a secure page.

rinkydink15

Christmasshopper wrote: »

This looked like a good deal to me too, but when I went to the payment page on the web site it wasn't a secure page.

I completed my transactions over the phone so can't really comment about web payments. Sorry!

westcountry_saver

Tesco are offering their breakdown insurance with 2 months free cover between 19th September and 11th December which means Standard care starts from £27.50 Extra care £49 and Total care £65.50

welshdeedee

Has anyone had any experience (good or bad) with the company First Call.

The £42.50 roadside recovery assistance looks very attractive.

awwwmills

Hi Newbie here,

I have been searching for car & van breakdown cover and cannot believe how expensive it is if you want to take their top covers.

So - I logged into my Paypal account to see if they had anything on their "cashback" deals and i found a wicked company called Insurance Choice. They offer FULL cover for just £69!! This even includes European breakdown.

What's more if you pay with Paypal you get £3.00 back credited to your Paypal account.

Hope this helps you all - they do Insurance also!!

Here is a link to their site www.icbreakdown.co.uk