Is it cheaper to get breakdown cover as an extra or separately?

PinkPrincess

Hi everyone,

My car insurance is up for renewal and after I did a search on comparethemarket.com I found I could get it for about £100 cheaper (surprise, surprise).

The cheapest provider for me is Cooperative Insurance and as I was going the options before purchasing, it offered Breakdown Cover. I don't currently have a breakdown cover policy in place but need one (car is old and likely to break soon!) so considered adding it.

I thought I'd check on here first though and it seems the general consensus is that it's cheaper to buy it separately but after reading the T&C's, it seems you get more by adding breakdown as an option for cheaper than buying it separately.

The T&C's are listed about half way down the page if you click on 'Vehicle & Options' here : https://ecoinsurance.insure-systems....pages/FAQ.aspx

It appears that you get recover, at home and onward travel included or am I missing something here?

From my calculations, it would cost me £20.04 per year to add the optional extra to my policy or £119.95 per year if I go direct with RAC?!?

Can anyone please advise me? I really need to sort my insurance out asap.

Thank you!

forgotmyname

No idea you link doesnt work.


Are they offering £20 a year or £20 a month??

Seen link in another thread says FROM £34 a year. with axa assistance which is only £60 anyway.

PinkPrincess

Hi,

It's an added extra of £2.83 a month which totals to £33.96 (sorry last calculation was wrong as I calculated the amount for legal protection instead of breakdown cover - whoops!).

Not sure why the link doesn't work but I've taken a screenshot which can be viewed here : http://postimg.org/image/g1ybj4uv5/

Thanks

forgotmyname

That says RAC. They other link in the other thread says they use AXA assistance?

The AXA one wasnt clear on what you got for their £60 plan. But did mention recovery to local garage.

So it depends on the exact terms on each policy. I use the RAC and have the top package where it also covers my caravan etc.

PinkPrincess

I've called Cooperative Insurance today and they have confirmed that they are offering breakdown cover via RAC for £34 for the year (it used to be £64) and it covers everything in the top package eg. recovery, home start, onward journey etc which like I said previously, is currently £119.95 on RAC's website if you go direct!

Plus voluntary excess is only £100 and £50 for windscreen replacement which is cheaper than I've seen anywhere else.

My insurance for the year including breakdown comes to £372.36 which I think is a good deal??

Aretnap

Be aware that if it's a good deal this year it won't necessarily still be a good deal next year or the year after. Companies like to get you to sign up to bundles like this - it's the same logic that drives multi-car policies or telecoms companies offering combined phone/Internet/TV packages. The more things you're signed up to the more hassle changing them all at once will be, so the less likely you are to move on if your renewal price starts to creep up... as it surely will.

So long as you keep that in mind £34 for breakdown cover with home start and onward journey sounds like good value, assuming the price for the car insurance itself is competitive.

rs65

PinkPrincess wrote: »

I've called Cooperative Insurance today and they have confirmed that they are offering breakdown cover via RAC for £34 for the year

Co-op website says its £34 with AXA assistance.

PinkPrincess

rs65 wrote: »

Co-op website says its £34 with AXA assistance.

I know but after talking to them on the phone, they've told me it's no longer AXA and that it is RAC.

PinkPrincess

After purchasing the policy & reading through the documents, I can confirm that it is provided by RAC and includes their top package. The cover is for the vehicle and not for the person.