Is it worth getting breakdown cover?

peter12345678910

You can still use AA and RAC but when you ring them say you have no membership no. and they will give you a quote maybe 30 or 40 higher than normal depending on whether your car is less than 2 miles from your home.

strawb_shortcake

But it's not just breaking down in the normal sense you are covered for. We were travelling to Wales along a busy A road when we got a flat tyre, it was on the drivers side and no hard shoulder. 
Yes, my Husband could have changed it but why take the risk when someone else will do it for you. 
They also recovered the car when I stupidly filled my Diesel with Petrol.
I used to have older cars that I may have neglected slightly so really got my money's worth.
Now I have a newer car that I look after but would not forego break down cover

fred246

annabanana82 said:

But it's not just breaking down in the normal sense you are covered for. We were travelling to Wales along a busy A road when we got a flat tyre, it was on the drivers side and no hard shoulder. 
Yes, my Husband could have changed it but why take the risk when someone else will do it for you. 
They also recovered the car when I stupidly filled my Diesel with Petrol.
I used to have older cars that I may have neglected slightly so really got my money's worth.
Now I have a newer car that I look after but would not forego break down cover

Imagine if you had broken down in Wales and couldn't speak the language. As long as there was an interpreter in your Breakdown organisation you'd probably still get help.

AdrianC

fred246 said:

Imagine if you had broken down in Wales and couldn't speak the language. As long as there was an interpreter in your Breakdown organisation you'd probably still get help.

<blink>
Seriously? I mean, REALLY...? Have you ever actually BEEN to Wales, Fred?

Clue: The chances of being stuck somewhere there were only monolingual Taffyphones is considerably lower than breaking down somewhere there's no phone signal and only sheep for ten miles.

You do surprise me - I'd have thought you'd be avoiding the breakdown organisations like the plague, since they're mechanics and will only take you to a garage... After all, you've got YouTube on your phone and an entire toolkit in the boot, right? Not that your perfectly DIY-maintained car would ever dare so much as hiccup, right?

fred246

If you are in a foreign country and you break down you would have to phone a local operator. It's a bit risky hoping they will be able to speak your language.

AdrianC

fred246 said:

If you are in a foreign country and you break down you would have to phone a local operator. It's a bit risky hoping they will be able to speak your language.

Wales isn't a foreign country, you raging numpty. It's part of the UK. You do not need European breakdown cover to go there.

fred246

With breakdown mechanics you can keep your eye on them. If you take it to a garage they don't normally let you watch. I did go to a place once that had a 'viewing gallery'. They advertised themselves as 'tuning specialists'. It was like an episode of Chuckle Brothers.

AdrianC

Oh, look, the subject got changed back to the usual non-sequiturs.

treeroy

I've been driving for 6 years. In that time I have had 6 break downs. That is across 3 different cars, one which was a bit old, one which was not that old, and one which was a brand new car.

The cost of an AA callout is something like £150. Yes that's the same as their 1 year policy. But if you do a bit of shopping about and make sure you only select the cover that you need, you can get that price down quite considerably. I mean basic cover starts from £30 at many places... you can get good cover for under £100 certainly.

Seems a no brainer to me, that being said, I've just bought another car and I'm in no rush to get breakdown cover. 

xlnc99

most banks offer road side assistance such as RAC, AA etc with the package. You usually pay the bank around 15- 20 per month and it includes a host of other things like phone insurance, break down, laptop cover etc

No brainer to take out one of these policies

Infact - I have HSBC who also give you free excess protection worth 1000 per year. That means if you ever pay excess for anything, yes anything then HSBC will refund the excess up to 1000 pounds. I also have phone insurance, break down, travel wiht them and its about 20 quid all in.