Which European Breakdown with recovery for boat

blued

We're planning a trip to Italy in the summer and will be towing a boat with an X-Trail. The boat trailer is approx. 7 metres long. Can anyone recommend suitable European breakdown cover?

If the worst happened and the car could not be repaired then I'd like the option to have the car and boat recovered back home to the UK. We'd also need a hire car so we could get home...

GolfBravo

German ADAC PlusMembership for €79.50 a year. It covers the whole of Europe (including UK).

Just send them an email to enquire about the boat - they have 6t weight limit, but I'm not sure about any length limits (generally car/trailer need to fit onto a recovery truck). adac@adac.de

blued

ADAC_Website wrote:

English translations are provided for your convenience only. Please understand that contract documents, terms & conditions and any other notices and information will generally be provided in German.

This puts me off really, what is written in the small print is going to be very important and I don't speak German! Thanks anyway for the suggestion.

GolfBravo

You don't need to speak German, their staff speak excellent English.

I've been with ADAC for 12 months now, just made one claim (November last year, dead battery). You ring their UK number, which in fact is the AA European recovery centre in Lyon (France), and they organise UK help with the AA (they use their IT systems in fact) or other companies within Europe.

Just google ADAC Plus Membership and there are hundreds of opinions from UK drivers, especially many from caravan owners. You will also find PDF with terms and conditions in English.

PS
That €79.50 also includes travel insurance.

blued

ok thanks I will have a look into it. I wasn't worried about speaking German when I have to call them it was to make sure that there is not something in the small print that states for example they would not recover the boat home.

GolfBravo

This is from ADAC email when I first joined them last year:

The ADACPlusMembership protects all vehicles regardless of the vehicle type, which do not exceed the following measures and dimensions:
max. vehicle length 10,- m
max. total width 2,55 m
max. total height 3,- m Motorcaravans max. 3,20 m
max. admissible total weight 3,50 t Motorcaravans max. 7,50 t
max. number of persons (incl. driver) 9 persons
The insurance covers free of charge the towed one-axle trailer which includes the above mentioned dimensions and weights (including cargo). Trailers whose axles are less than 1 m apart are regarded as one-axle trailers.

It shouldn't really make any difference to ADAC whether you're towing a boat or a helicopter, to them it's just a trailer.

Just email them to be 100% sure.

shown73

I've always been put off by the clear requirement that the applicants place of residence must be Germany. Not unreasonable, really. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but it is stated quite clearly.

blued

That appears to be for signing up online only? I'm guessing the system doesn't recognise non German addresses so you have to call to register from outside Germany?

GolfBravo

blued wrote: »

That appears to be for signing up online only? I'm guessing the system doesn't recognise non German addresses so you have to call to register from outside Germany?

This is exactly the reason. Their online sign-up system recognises German addresses only. Once you sign up your address is definitely entered in their system correctly - I get my copy of ADAC Motorwelt each month (BTW, they use a Slough based mail distribution centre for UK members). They are extremely well organised.

You have to either ring or email them and they email you their forms so there is no confusion with postcodes, etc. You get the membership number the next day, membership card within 10 days, and they send you their invoice and you have to pay €79.50 within 14 days. You can do an online IBAN transfer (Natwest charge £10) or email them your credit card details including scanned reverse side with your signature.

I travel to continental Europe 2 to 3 times a year, and I was with the AA prior to ADAC. First year the AA charged me £99 for 12 months (Continental Europe only, no UK coverage), then £139 the following year (they just helped themselves to my credit card six weeks before the original policy expiry date) and for the third year they wanted £230! I guess this is how the AA Ltd. is making £500m annual profit on £2b revenue.

ADAC were €79.50 last year, and I have just received their invoice for the next 12 months: €79.50. So that's around £67 at today's exchange rate.

andrew-the-cat

GolfBravo wrote: »

Just send them an email to enquire about the boat - they have 6t weight limit, but I'm not sure about any length limits (generally car/trailer need to fit onto a recovery truck). adac@adac.de

Generally they will put the car on the breakdown truck, and the breakdown truck will tow the trailer.

blued

I emailed ADAC on the 5th to clarify recovery for the trailer/boat and have yet to receive a reply. Is the email quoted above correct? I'm going to see if there is a form I can fill out on their website instead.