Broke down with no Breakdown cover..

joncarpet

Yesterday my car broke down (wouldnt start) and i dont have any breakdown cover.
After checking on here about what policies are the best, I found that pretty much every breakdown provider stated that you had to be a member for 24 hours before they come out.

OR pay a call out charge.

I called as many places as i could and call out charges tranged from £72 (tesco/green flag) to £160 (RAC).

I phoned green flag, all prepared to pay my £72 and the guy told me it might be cheaper if i contact the garage that they use directly as it may be cheaper.
I did and it was cheaper by £20!!!

Just thought id mention it in case anyone was in the same situation.

Quinny_2

I really don't understand why some people have no breakdown cover.

You only have to call a company out once a year,and the fee has repaid itself,and some companies will give you a no claims discount,if you don't use them,for the following year.

Example:

Green Flags Recovery Plus cover,which covers you for home call outs as well,cost me £45 for my Peugeot 406 HDi,for a year.The base price was
£65,but as I went through Quidco,I got £20 back.

Same for the wife.Her 306 cost £13 more on the base price,but again through Quidco,£20 back.

These are just examples of what I saved.There are of course other breakdown companies,and no doubt someone will be along to give their 2p's worth,but for Gods sake,do yourself a favour,and get some cover.

There.Off me soapbox now.........

Ken.

arrowsmith

Quinny wrote: »

I really don't understand why some people have no breakdown cover.

I used to have no cover and still wouldn't if it wasn't included with my car. I've never broken down in several years of driving and was sick of paying 40 + pounds a year.

Get a Japanese or South Korean car and get it serviced when needed. With the money you save not buying the cover you will be able to stay in some great 5 star hotels if you ever do eventually breakdown.

Chaufeurse1956

joncarpet wrote: »

Yesterday my car broke down (wouldnt start) and i dont have any breakdown cover.
After checking on here about what policies are the best, I found that pretty much every breakdown provider stated that you had to be a member for 24 hours before they come out.

OR pay a call out charge.

I called as many places as i could and call out charges tranged from £72 (tesco/green flag) to £160 (RAC).

I phoned green flag, all prepared to pay my £72 and the guy told me it might be cheaper if i contact the garage that they use directly as it may be cheaper.
I did and it was cheaper by £20!!!

Just thought id mention it in case anyone was in the same situation.

I paid £32 for a one year breakdown cover with Auto Aid today https://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk - it took a few minutes to sign up and pay for via credit card. It covers me and hubby driving any vehicle (not sure if it would cover you if you were a passenger but then it's your decision whether you claim you are driving the vehicle) and based on the excellent feedback this company receive (on another part of the MSE chat formum - well worth a read) I don't foresee any problems.

It might be worth a look and is substantially cheaper than the big companies - RAC wanted £80! The only major downside, according to some, especially the hard and fast AA, RAC and Green Flag users, is the fact that you pay and reclaim the money - there is a 24 hour breakdown number to call - not 0870 or 0845 either - nice one Auto Aid, who despatch the recovery truck/mechanic out to you. I would imagine that not many people who drive don't carry a credit or debit card. Reading through the feedback it becomes apparent that cheques are sent by return of post and noticed that one chap faxed Auto Aid his invoice and had a cheque the following morning.

Thought you might find it of interest but take a look at the excellent feedback they receive - especially from the customer of 10 years and one bloke who has used them 4 times in a year and just been invited back to renew his yearly subscription with them.

All the best,

Chris

brazilianwax

arrowsmith wrote: »

Get a Japanese or South Korean car and get it serviced when needed. With the money you save not buying the cover you will be able to stay in some great 5 star hotels if you ever do eventually breakdown.

I have a Japanese car - owned since new, has 6 monthly services and is low mileage.

When I had a small accident in Scotland (engine damage) the RAC drove us back to London. Straight back and to the garage of my choice.

We had to cut the holiday short, but for about £40 a year I couldn't fault them.

Not worth not having.

saintjanet

I have always had cover,even if you are handy with the spanners its not always convenient or possible to solve your'e problem yourself.I have broken down twice ,no sorry three times on the motorway,a nightmare with no cover and none of these were due to lack of maintenance,just bad luck.

A friend who is a mechanic said "whats the point in having cover?"the next week his wife broke down and he had to ask for time off to go and sort it.Not long after, he broke down on his way to a wedding,no tools with him and in his best gear!!I rest my case!!

arrowsmith

brazilianwax wrote: »

I have a Japanese car - owned since new, has 6 monthly services and is low mileage.

When I had a small accident in Scotland (engine damage) the RAC drove us back to London. Straight back and to the garage of my choice.

We had to cut the holiday short, but for about £40 a year I couldn't fault them.

Not worth not having.

I'm not saying don't get cover, if you have an older car or something not very reliable then do so.

But how often since new has your car broken down, let say once in ten years. It will not of cost you £40 but £400 !

Low milage has very little to do with how good a car is (can be bad in many cases), or the frequency of the service. The most important thing is that the services are done at the right time and the correct things are checked/changed.

saintjanet

After reading arowsmiths posting,i would like to add to the one i made earlier,none of the cars i mentioned were more than three years old,Imagine the costs involved if,like me you broke down on the motorway,of course you could be lucky and never breakdown,its an insurance like anything else,you wish you had it when you need it, as the op said.I think its worth it for peace of mind.

brazilianwax

arrowsmith wrote: »

I'm not saying don't get cover, if you have an older car or something not very reliable then do so.

But how often since new has your car broken down, let say once in ten years. It will not of cost you £40 but £400 !

Low milage has very little to do with how good a car is (can be bad in many cases), or the frequency of the service. The most important thing is that the services are done at the right time and the correct things are checked/changed.

Thanks. Car is specialist and only a year old so the servicing is thorough and regular (not to mention expensive). Even so, how much would it have cost to be recovered 700 miles on Boxing Day without the cover??!!! Wayyyyyy more than £400 I bet!

It's taken 3 months for the car to be fixed! No way could that have been done easily!

saintjanet

This is now my third posting on this thread and i continue to wonder,as i do on other threads,why various opinions are given,including my own,yet the op never seems to come back to the thread to agree ,disagree or thank the other posters,makes me wonder what the point is at times.

arrowsmith

brazilianwax wrote: »

Thanks. Car is specialist and only a year old so the servicing is thorough and regular (not to mention expensive). Even so, how much would it have cost to be recovered 700 miles on Boxing Day without the cover??!!! Wayyyyyy more than £400 I bet!

It's taken 3 months for the car to be fixed! No way could that have been done easily!

It's great to hear that you got such wonderful service, but your is a very specialist case, and most people will get sent within 10 miles.

I know people that do one thing to their car each year, get an MOT. The RAC/AA/Green flag then come and pick them up when stuff goes wrong.

saintJanet, if I broke down 3 times on the motorway, I'd be changing my choice of cars, there is no luck involved just bad engineering and practice. I'll break down at some point but with the money I've saved I'll have taken some nice holidays in the mean time.