Breakdown cover - advice please

Scaredy_Cat_3

Hi

Firstly, sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place - also sorry if I'm asking stupid questions! I hope you can point me in the right direction and save me a few hours of research!

We have RAC breakdown cover which is up for renewal and I'm wondering if I should shop around for a better deal. I've read a bit on here, and quite honestly I prefer the way the RAC and AA do things - ie you call and THEY come out and fix it - end of story. Not so keen on the others where the breakdown people send out a local company, you pay them and then claim your money back.

We currently have personal cover, so either me or my husband will be insured in any car we happen to be in. We also have vehicle cover so anyone is covered in the named vehicle. I will enquire about reducing this to just personal cover and drop the vehicle bit, but would still like some advice before I do that please.

Is there a cheaper way to get this type of personal cover? We currently have cover for problems at home if the car won't start, or if we break down on the road. I'm looking for similar cover. I have tried confused.com but it doesn't seem to give anything like the level of information I need, so I'll be reduced to ringing each company individually and I'd like to narrow the field a bit before I start that.

Thanks in advance.

AMO

Yes, RAC are good especially for offers on joint membership.

A few tips:

1) Ring them up - you'll get a better deal if you haggle.

2) Ask for Standard Cover - their new cover has No Claims Bonuses meaning that they give you 10% off each year - to pay for this they bolt on an additional 25% onto the cost of cover and call it something else with a few minor bonuses chucked in worth less than nothing.

3) Standard Cover Joint should be around £94 (haggled) which includes Roadside, Relay and At Home.

Even if you can't get it down to £94, it won't be far off. You can always ring repeatedly until you get a sales person that will give you a deal.

Hope that helps!

AMO

Crabman

You could also try to price them off against the AA or buy using Clubcard Deal vouchers, although for RAC it would be much cheaper to go for a vehicle based policy with Norwich Union (which owns the RAC). With Norwich Union they end up sending RAC vans out anyway and it costs £54 for a full onward travel cover policy. Have a look

poppy_f1

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

Hi

Firstly, sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place - also sorry if I'm asking stupid questions! I hope you can point me in the right direction and save me a few hours of research!

We have RAC breakdown cover which is up for renewal and I'm wondering if I should shop around for a better deal. I've read a bit on here, and quite honestly I prefer the way the RAC and AA do things - ie you call and THEY come out and fix it - end of story. Not so keen on the others where the breakdown people send out a local company, you pay them and then claim your money back.

sorry just to point out that sometimes the RAC abd AA have local people come out and fix the problem as well as have their own vans

Scaredy_Cat_3

Thanks everyone! I'll ring the RAC tomorrow and see if I can work out a better deal.

Poppy, I didn't know that. Whenever we've called them out it's always been their own van. In fact it had never even occurred to me that a beakdown company would work this way (send out a local company and have the customer pay them direct and reclaim the cost) until I read it on this website! I know I'm naive!!! We've been with the RAC for 20 years (how sad am I?) and never even thought about how these companies work! We hardly ever use the service anyway, just wanted the peace of mind.

Crabman

Don't worry, if you have AA/RAC and should they use a local garage, they won't ask you to claim cost back afterwards.

And if it's not too late, don't brush Norwich Union aside! Compare your quote from RAC with NU's quote of £54 for a full Roadside, Recovery, At Home, Onward Travel policy. No claims involved, simply call them and they do the job (they are the RAC!). We had this on my mother's car and the one time she needed them they were just brilliant. Good luck

dnc1781

See:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/roadside-recovery

Scaredy_Cat_3

Hi Crabman

I wasn't brushing Norwich Union aside (well, not exactly). Maybe I misinterpreted your post. Are you saying £54 per person, or would that cover both of us? I read it to be £54 EACH which would make it £108. Our quote from RAC is £125 but that is for personal cover for both of us and also vehicle cover for one nominated vehicle (which seems a bit pointless if we both have personal cover).

I was assuming that if we drop the vehicle cover that would probably bring us down to the region of £54 each, total around £100. Or have I got it wrong? Are you saying £54 for both of us? We have 2 cars, so need cover either for 2 separate cars, or 2 people.

Crabman

Sorry I wasn't very clear - the £54 covers your vehicle, no matter who is driving. On the phone it's £59 but do phone for questions etc. if needed, and then do it online

http://www.norwichunion.com/breakdown-cover/index.htm

EDIT - Ohh you have two cars.... yes that would make it £108 I'm being a dopey crab tonight aren't I? :rotfl:

Scaredy_Cat_3

So, do you think maybe the RAC are offering a good(ish) deal then? We have roadside and at home (not recovery) but it does cover both of us. I hope if we drop the vehicle cover it will reduce the price, but I won't know until I speak to them.

I may be wrong, but I understood that they no longer offer personal cover to new customers - we signed up for it a few years ago and as existing customers they couldn't take it off us, but new customers won't be given that option. Does anyone know if this is right or not (just curious, but that is one of the reasons we stayed the past few years as we didn't want to leave and come back a year later and find we couldn't get the same level of cover).

Crabman

If £125 is the best RAC can do then NU would still be cheaper. Though it's strange they included a vehicle based component along with you and husband covered personally. I'd speak to them again and ask for removal of the vehicle based component and get two prices, first, for you two on personal cover and second, both the vehicles covered.

If neither of those are good then quote the Norwich Union price of £108 (or lower if you feel cheeky/lucky) and ask them what they're going to do to retain two customers who've been with them for x years and not claimed at all (assuming you haven't claimed). Good luck!