European Breakdown Cover for Older Cars

fred246

When I was young I bought a car on finance. The finance gave free roadside assistance breakdown cover. I would normally have bought better cover but as it was free I thought I would use it. I broke down one night and the roadside assistance man was totally useless. Wouldn't even look at the car. Said it was a major problem that couldn't be fixed. OK take me home then. "Oh dear you have no recovery that will be £00s".
I now have a perfect 15 year old car that I have looked after myself from new. Everything works perfectly. Never broken down. Last 8 MOTs passed without an advisory. Looking to go away to France in August. Loads of companies offer European Breakdown Cover but most won't do a recovery more than the value of the car. That's totally useless. They will only take you 10 miles to the nearest garage. Imagine arriving at a French garage with your family in the middle of August demanding an immediate repair on your vehicle. I used to be with ADAC but they sound a bit woolly. Officially they will recover you 100 miles but sometimes seem to take you home. Anyone suggest companies that will do a full recovery if needed?

AdrianC

You won't find anybody willing to do a blank cheque recovery all the way across the continent. That simple.

Some have a fixed cap on the payout, rather than value - usually about £2k, which won't get you far. ADAC's policy is local fix within 3 days, if not possible then repatriation, and they'll default to main dealer. Who, when we had a driveshaft problem on a ~25yo VW Transporter, simply ignored it for three days then shrugged and said they couldn't get the parts... We didn't want to come back to the UK, and had somebody in France waiting for us a couple of hundred km away, with a workshop - but ADAC would not be moved...

At least at only 15yo, you're not finding every euro recovery simply saying a blanket "no" because of age... If you've got an older car on a classic insurance policy, euro recovery is usually about a £30-40 annual add-on. Something ~20yo+ on a normal policy is damn near impossible - even for UK cover, the market choice shrinks drastically.

Every other European nation has zero trouble with the concept - it's just the UK "small island" mentality. Again.

alan_d

Have a look at the 'Arrival' policy via the Camping and Caravan Club (you don't need a caravan) - but it has a European breakdown / recovery option which should cover your needs.
http://rac.co.uk/breakdown-cover/caravanandmotorhome/arrivalcompare
You probably need to be a C&CC member however !

I checked the T&Cs - couldn't see a vehicle max age specified: https://www.rac.co.uk/pdfs/breakdown/115004013-arrival-policy-document

agrinnall

AdrianC wrote: »

Every other European nation has zero trouble with the concept - it's just the UK "small island" mentality. Again.

Surely that's not strictly true given what you have said about ADAC?

AdrianC

agrinnall wrote: »

Surely that's not strictly true given what you have said about ADAC?

No, because ADAC are quite happy to cover you across the continent - which is the bit UK providers struggle with.

They have other issues, sure. But I can't find any other continental provider who are happy to have customers from the UK.

fred246

I am towing a caravan. My plan is always to go with Red Pennant until I get a quote and then I have always found a cheaper solution. I am beginning to think it is reasonable value given the sort of mess that it looks like the cheaper providers are happy to leave you with.

wazza99

Try Adrian Flux, i buy the European cover for my 22 year old car for £54, not sure if they sell it without an insurance policy.

Apodemus

The only reason I got rid of my last car was that I couldn’t easily find European assistance cover for it at 15 years old. Even before that, the recovery was capped at vehicle value, so I suspect recovery had not been covered for a number of years.

fred246

I was looking at Nationwide Flex Plus. It says we won't cover repatriation if it's costs exceed the UK market value. It says the market value will be from Glass's guide or equivalent. Glass's website says it doesn't provide valuations to individuals. I thought Glass's guide used to have about four columns with trade, private, dealer, condition etc. It would be great being stuck in the middle of France with a broken down car, caravan and family arguing over valuations. When you're requesting quotes from these companies it should be made clearer that if your car isn't worth much they won't recover it. I imagine a lot of people will buy the cover without reading all the small print.