Breakdown cover: Get the cheapest roadside recovery

lisyloo

You will find many good reports about autoaid on these boards.
The cover is known in the industry as "platinum" which means it cover you for

breaking down at home
roadside repairs
being recovered to a garage
onward travel (train, hire car etc.)

pay n claim companies make their money because unbelievably lots of people are't moneysavers and can't be bothered to claim.

I don't get the bit about if work is done at a agrage or at road side, do you have the option?

No you don't get the option.
It would depend on the nature of the fault.
If say your battery was flat (for example) then they give you a jumpstart at the side of the road, but anything that required specific parts can often not be fixed at the roadside (because obviously they can't carry all parts for all cars).
They will always try to fix at the side of the road if possible but if not then you will get towed.
These days most companies will only take your car to a closed garage if they take you too so in a lot of cases they will tow you home and then you call again during opening hours to get the car towed to a garage.

morg_monster

i was disappointed that AutoAid only cover you and your other half if you are married - so unfortunately no good for me and the BF but will consider them if/when we tie the knot!

We went with CSMA's discounted Britannia Rescue Cover this time. I only had to use them once (when my car was covered under my dad's CSMA membership) and they were lovely, i had a slow puncture in the middle of the day in Leicester and a chap appeared within 30mins and put my spare on for me. and didn't give me a lecture that I should know how to do it myself! Their switchboard was very helpful too, ringing me back on my mobile to tell me when someone was on their way and which company they were from.

hansi

May I add to these comments by saying that I have been using Autoaid for a number of years and in that time I have only used their services on one occasion when my car failed to start at home. The mechanic arrived within 30 minutes and got my car started, gave me the bill which i sent to Autoaid and I had the cheque within a week. Excellent service. Wouldn't use anyone else now.

isayoldchap

Is now £56.45.Go through http://www.quidco.com/finance/more-th-n/
and if you buy you should get £13.40 cashback.making it £43.05.

It's £73.30 for the complete package that also includes Homecall

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ciderman69

After all the positive reports about AutoAid's service I'm seriously considering changing to their breakdown cover but just have one query.
In their policy summary they say that if your car breaks down within 1 mile of your home the maximum you can claim for call out charges and recovery is £65.
I don't know how much a garage would charge to come out and try and fix your car and recover it if necessary if you broke down within a mile of your house but £65 doesn't sound like it would cover very much?

Has anyone broken down within a mile of their house and if so can they comment on how AutoAid dealt with it?

hollie.weimeraner

ciderman69 wrote: »

After all the positive reports about AutoAid's service I'm seriously considering changing to their breakdown cover but just have one query.
In their policy summary they say that if your car breaks down within 1 mile of your home the maximum you can claim for call out charges and recovery is £65.
I don't know how much a garage would charge to come out and try and fix your car and recover it if necessary if you broke down within a mile of your house but £65 doesn't sound like it would cover very much?

Has anyone broken down within a mile of their house and if so can they comment on how AutoAid dealt with it?

I understood the maximum to be £45 within a mile of the house. I broke down on the driveway last year (my own fault as I left the interior light on for a week!). Sunday morning and Greenflag truck turned up at the house. Normal call out (Mon - Sat was normally £28) butas it was Sun it cost me £48 of which I was able to reclaim £45. Returned very quickly by Autoaid:D

Optimist

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

I understood the maximum to be £45 within a mile of the house. I broke down on the driveway last year (my own fault as I left the interior light on for a week!). Sunday morning and Greenflag truck turned up at the house. Normal call out (Mon - Sat was normally £28) butas it was Sun it cost me £48 of which I was able to reclaim £45. Returned very quickly by Autoaid:D

It has just been increased to £65 according to the renewal documents I got this month

ciderman69

Thanks Hollie, but as I understood from your post you actually broke down at home.
My concern is that if someone broke down at the local shops (just under a mile waway), and the car couldn't be fixed then they'd then have to pay a recovery fee in addition to the call-out fee to get the car home which would probably take the cost over £65?

adriancresswell

Just rang the AA, and told them I didn't wish to renew. Was offered 30% discount if I stayed with them (I've been with them for 6 years, never claimed).

I'm still moving to AutoAid because it'll cover my wife too, but if you particularly want to stay with the AA it's worth giving them a ring to pretend you're not going to renew.

Hope this helps

coombehouse

gophertoday wrote: »

May I add my voice to those interested in using Autoaid (I certainly am, as the service from AA/RAC over the last 4 years has not been good) and also requiring European cover.

The link from Autoaid's site to Eurocover gave me an expensive quotes for both a Single trip (£45) and an Annual policy (£105). They were also restrictive, covering only 1 vehicle, as was the quote from Quoteline at £59 annually. I need cover for myself and wife for UK plus at least 1 European trip per year, usually about 2 weeks.

Any ideas?

Try ADAC. They are a German company. Their ADACPartnerPlus package will cover you & your wife in any vehicle anywhere in Europe incl UK for 12 months. Includes all usual stuff I think, recovery, hotels, medical assistance etc. Its a bit of closely guarded secret amongst folk who go to the Nurburgring as they will also recover you from there (unlike nearly all the other companies who wont!!). Cost is 98.70 euros which I think is a steal. Ive just done it for me & my wife.
Just follow the link, click on 'Become an ADACPlus member' at the bottom of the page.
Halfway down the next page click on 'Download PDF'
Print the form, fill it in, write your credit card details on it & fax it.

I don't know if the electronic payment bit works - everyone i know just does the fax thing.

http://www.adac.de/mitgliedschaft_leistungen/Ihre_Mitgliedschaft/membership/default.asp?id=257&location=1

Nick