Car breakdown insurance - my head is spinning!

stars_bright

I have been looking at car breakdown insurance and I cannot work out which qould be best for me. I see that Autoaid is highly recommended but it is possible that I might add my son to my insurance later in the year and from what i understand of the policy he would not be covered on that policy (I am divorced so it seems unfair that I cannot use the spouse part for him but I guess thats life!). I can't decide which of the other policies are the best. Also, I notice that 1 policy specified that they would spend up to an hour trying to fix the car at the roadside before taking it to a garage to be fixed at your own expense - is this normal? I don't expect my car to break down but this is a "just in case" policy, I would like homestart and onward travel. Any recommendations?

anniecave

according to the breakdown section of the moneysupermarket.com website if you select a "vehicle specific" policy rather than a "driver specific" policy then anyone insured to drive the vehicle is covered if they break down in that vehicle.

This contrasts to policies such as the rac which cover you as the policyholder, in any car as a driver or a passenger.

I'm with First Call - which is only £42.50 per year - and I've just checked the policy documents and it says "the driver" in all the documents, not just "the policyholder". First call is also not a pay-and-reclaim service, so you don't have to worry about whether they are going to charge you more than you can reclaim.

So this should cover your son if he is insured to drive your car!

The moneysupermarket website has a list of them all - go to

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/roadsiderescue/CarDetails.asp

and enter your details. Ignore the extra driver bit as this would only apply if you want a driver specific policy for more than one driver

Sam2007

stars_bright wrote:

Also, I notice that 1 policy specified that they would spend up to an hour trying to fix the car at the roadside before taking it to a garage to be fixed at your own expense - is this normal?

Its normal for every company except RAC/AA as they use their own patrols. Most companies will say they will spend a 'reasonable amount of time' hmmm is that our reasonable or theirs?

stars_bright

Thanks for your replies. I have gone for Autoaid anyway as I don't even know whether i will add my son to my insurance in the future and its so much cheaper than all the others. My car is serviced regularly and has never broken down yet so its not as if I expect to be using it on a regular basis