Car Breakdown Discussion

hybernia

Catherine_91 wrote: »

Have recently taken out a RecoverCover '1Call' policy for £20.90. It includes home start and is limited to one call per year but my car isn't quite 4 years old and I've only done about 12.5k miles so I think I'm unlikely to need room for any extra callouts for quite a while!

Oh, and there's no excess either.

I don't know anything about the company you mention. But I'd hope you've looked VERY, VERY carefully at the Terms & Conditions of contract. Here's why:

Our car is 3 years and 2 months old, and was purchased new. It had all the things we wanted on it apart from. . . a spare wheel. Instead, there's something called "a tyre repair kit".

On Christmas Day -- the Christmas Day just gone -- we drove 110 miles to be with family members for a festive party. We left at 5.45pm so as to get home at a reasonable hour. We drove no more than half a mile and ccccrrrunch: a sound like ice breaking underfoot. But actually, glass breaking under a tyre.

The car's tyre pressure alert screen came up to show a catastrophic loss, from 33psi to 0psi in mere moments. We have full breakdown cover with the RAC so rang them on our mobile. Explained what had happened.

The RAC said words to the effect: oh Gawd, not a tyre repair kit? It also said, we have no RAC patrols operating in your area this Christmas night. But leave it with us, we'll send out a local contractor ASAP. Which they did -- and quickly, too.

The contractor duly arrived 30 minutes later driving a very large, very new Volvo recovery truck. He looked at our damaged tyre. Shook his head. Said: "No point in even bothering with the tyre repair kit. They're all useless. But this tyre's shredded anyway."

And so, on a cold, cold Christmas night, our car was driven up onto the load deck of the recovery truck, locked down, and we clambered into the warm spacious cab, sitting behind the driver in a comfy bench seat, and returned home.

In chatting with the driver on that journey -- there being nowhere else to go, because no tyre suppliers, garages, breakdown centres were open on Christmas Day night -- we learned that the standard call-out fee is £80. But double on Christmas Day. To that £160 charge is added a £4-a-mile fee for recovery distance, thus: 110 x £4 = £440. Total call-out & recovery, punctured tyre: £600-00.

Fortunately, as holders of a £110 RAC breakdown covers-everything policy, that's not a bill we had to pay.

Next day, Boxing Day, meant that tyre suppliers, garages and breakdown centres were also closed. Our car was going nowhere. The day after Boxing Day, we rang round mobile tyre fitting firms in our area. Turned out, there are 4. Two never answered, another asked us to wait until January 3rd, and one promised to ring back but never did.

So. We rang the RAC again. They said, but we've brought you home, as per the contract. We said, but you haven't been able to get us up and running again -- as per the contract. They said, oh, all right, we'll send out a contractor to recover your vehicle to your nearest main dealer. It'll be £80 call-out plus £4 a mile. We said nope. Not paying that. The RAC said, oh all right. It's Christmas after all. And so everything was duly sorted.

Moral of the story?

(1) On Christmas Day night we could've incurred a £600 bill because the terms & conditions of our breakdown insurance policy excluded tyre puncture call-outs. If you think that kind of exclusion is rare, think again: there's a current post all about Green Flag's T&Cs exclusion on this thread. It's worth reading;

(2) As confirmed by the RAC and its contractor, "tyre repair kits" are a cosmetic sop provided by manufacturers who would rather you had that than a spare wheel. Our recovery guy actually said: 'It's great for our business. You'd be amazed, the money we make because modern cars don't come with spare wheels and repair kits are completely useless". If your car doesn't have a spare wheel, but only a repair kit, then you're a lot more vulnerable to potential costs than you might think;

(3) Do not deceive yourself into believing that just because you have a 4 year old car, everything's fine. It isn't. A shredded tyre is not a mechanical failure and has nothing to do with your vehicle's condition. A shredded tyre is, instead, an incident-waiting-to-happen.

(4) If you're certain your £21 bargain-basement cover insures you against a potential several £100s bill for recovery from an irreparable puncture, fair enough. I somehow doubt it. I also doubt the wisdom of buying breakdown cover for just one call-out in an entire year: what you're actually doing is betting £24 in a high stakes game with the odds stacked against you.

(5) Finally . . . if you have a new-ish car that doesn't have a spare wheel but only a "tyre repair kit", and if you're not sure of the T&Cs of your breakdown policy . . . don't drive anywhere on Christmas Day.

Terry_Lloyd

Green Flag are cheaper than, say AA, but are they any good? Are they reliable?

saltpeter

had to use AutoAid today they provided a very fast and efficient service, really pleased, thank you.

Hostage

Hi - I've gone and left the interior light on in my car and the battery's dead.

My super-cheap RAC cover doesn't include home start.

I've missed out on something tonight but I'm not in a hurry now.

What do you recommend I do? I don't think I know my neighbours well enough for them to help me out with a jump start.


Uber? Autoaid or similar?

H

Hostage

I summoned up the courage and get my neighbours involved and they sorted me out. But I'll definitely get Home Start when this policy runs out.

SpideressUK

Terry_Lloyd wrote: »

Green Flag are cheaper than, say AA, but are they any good? Are they reliable?

I have used them in the past and had no problems with them.

SpideressUK

It seems Emergency Assist is coming up as my cheapest option this year (normally use AutoAid) has anyone had experience of using them for a callout and if so were they reliable?

lisyloo

Hostage wrote: »

Hi - I've gone and left the interior light on in my car and the battery's dead.

My super-cheap RAC cover doesn't include home start.

I've missed out on something tonight but I'm not in a hurry now.

What do you recommend I do? I don't think I know my neighbours well enough for them to help me out with a jump start.


Uber? Autoaid or similar?

H

I’d put it on charge.
If you haven’t got a charger borrow one from a neighbour?

edgeygee

I recently received my renewal notice from Green Flag.Premium last year was £59.36, new premium was to be £78.40,this may partly be due to 1 callout for a flat battery.I went online onto the website of Green Flag as a new customer,put in all the same details, quote came up as £49.28. I called Green Flag,and told them this, they agreed this price on the spot,so I renewed at £49 28. I did not even have to threaten to leave,but while I was on I turned off Auto renewal,in case I forget next year.

athonjon

Hi. Does anyone know of any current discount codes for Autoaid? Thanks