Breakdown cover: My very unlucky story & advice request

siliconbits

I took a comprehensive after sales package for my car when I purchased it second hand from one of the biggest second-hand car seller in the country. It included a 2-year breakdown recovery option. Today my car broke down in the driveway possibly due to a rundown battery (which was changed last year). To make things absurdly dumb, my after sales package expired yesterday and I wasn't sent a reminder letter (ultimately my fault though). I'd like to know whether I can buy a breakdown cover tonight and start using it tomorrow? May my mishap be a lesson for others as well? Any suggestions out there by the way?

GoldenShadow

I'm pretty sure a lot of breakdown cover policies stipulate that your car has to be 1/4 of a mile away from your house/registered address.

I think you can join up to the AA by the roadside (my friend seems to think she did a couple years ago) but I think the 1/4 mile or so thing is quite common. My brother's battery died and he had to fix it where it was or pay to have it taken to a garage.

afzaal1988

i think you have to wait 24hours with AA before they would come out for free. not sure about other companies though.

Ultrasonic

GoldenShadow wrote: »

I'm pretty sure a lot of breakdown cover policies stipulate that your car has to be 1/4 of a mile away from your house/registered address.

I'm pretty sure every company selling breakdown cover has an option to provide cover at home, it's just a question of whether the customer chooses to pay for it. But since Autoaid's cover for £39 does cover breakdowns at home, I don't know why anyone wouldn't.

siliconbits - if you think the problem with your car is purely the battery, could you possibly get a jump start? Has the car been standing unused for a while, or do you think there is a bigger problem?

tia86

GoldenShadow wrote: »

I'm pretty sure a lot of breakdown cover policies stipulate that your car has to be 1/4 of a mile away from your house/registered address.

Sorry can't help with whether it would be ok to join and immediately call out a breakdown company, but wanted to add to the comment above that is incorrect - I have 'home start' as part of my breakdown cover - yes it is an additional cost, but I have had to use it a couple of times, so I have found it well worth the money

colino

Buy a cheap set of jump leads, get a mate to get you car started and join AutoAid.

Jamie_Carter

I have heard about people calling breakdown services because they believed that they were covered through their bank account or insurance. And they were offered membership on the spot.

I don't know if this is true, or which breakdown service it was. But it's worth a try.

GoldenShadow

tia86 wrote: »

Sorry can't help with whether it would be ok to join and immediately call out a breakdown company, but wanted to add to the comment above that is incorrect - I have 'home start' as part of my breakdown cover - yes it is an additional cost, but I have had to use it a couple of times, so I have found it well worth the money

I don't have it on mine, don't recall being asked to select it and as I said my brother's policy didn't have it either. That doesn't make my comment incorrect because I didn't say no policy, I said a lot which (from my experience) is actually true.

ETA: classic example,

http://www.greeninsurancecompany.co.uk/carinsurance/breakdowncoverexclusions.html

'Callouts within 1 mile of your home address are not covered'

On the basic policy, so it's beneficial for OP to be aware of this when selecting one.

Ultrasonic

GoldenShadow wrote: »

I don't have it on mine, don't recall being asked to select it and as I said my brother's policy didn't have it either.

Click on the 'Get a quote' option for breakdown cover on the Greenflag website, and the very first thing you are presented with is a table comparing levels of cover, with a row clearly showing which options include Home Start:

https://www.greeninsurancecompany.co.uk/breakdownbol/

As you say though, worth the OP knowing about the distinction just in case they didn't already.

scotsbob

tia86 wrote: »

Sorry can't help with whether it would be ok to join and immediately call out a breakdown company, but wanted to add to the comment above that is incorrect

It is you that are incorrect, some (not all) companies do stipulate a minimum distance.

Bettie

siliconbits wrote: »

Today my car broke down in the driveway possibly due to a rundown battery Any suggestions out there by the way?

Can you get hold of a battery charger?