boiler repair and annual gas service question

birdofpassage

Hi, this may be a silly question but I know nothing about the subject, so please be kind My combi boiler broke down this morning and it's displaying a fault error (Vaillant f.61 fuel error valve control) and I called an engineer to fix this, they are on their way. I have HomeRescue cover (co-op insurance) so I don't have to pay for it, as it's classed as an emergency.
A couple of weeks ago though I booked the annual gas service visit and another engineer is due to come in next week, during school half term. Do I still need to do the annual gas service if an engineer is fixing the boiler today? Obviously I would like to avoid paying for this if I don't need to. 
Thanks. 

macman

Yes. one is a repair, the other is a service. If the boiler is under warranty, then an annual service is required to maintain it. 
Analogy: if your car breaks down, the garage will repair it, but they won't change the oil.

birdofpassage

Thanks, that makes sense. It's not under warranty anymore, but I guess I it's a good idea to do the gas annual service anyway... 

Carrot007

birdofpassage said:

Thanks, that makes sense. It's not under warranty anymore, but I guess I it's a good idea to do the gas annual service anyway... 

Probably even more so. Unless it's so old you know it's going to be repalced soon.

birdofpassage

It's Vaillant ecoTec Plus 824, 8 years old and apart from this fault which appeared for the first time, it seems to be working well... so I hope I don't need to replace it. 

macman

Does your boiler insurance cover not require you to have an annual service anyway.
On such a new boiler, these policies are dreadful value. A boiler of that age would have been in warranty for at least 5 years anyway, if you used an approved Vaillant installer. newer ones are 8 or even 10 years.

Talldave

birdofpassage said:

I have HomeRescue cover (co-op insurance) so I don't have to pay for it, as it's classed as an emergency.

Well you've kind of being paying for it in your premiums, and your next renewal will rocket so you'll be paying again.

birdofpassage

The boiler cover is not a standalone policy, it's a Home Rescue add-on to Contents insurance, for which I pay about £8-9 pcm in total, in the 3rd year of the policy, I believe it would have been £6-7 without home rescue, so not adding that much to the cost. It covers boiler, plumbing, gas and electric supply and loss of keys. 

If the renewal cost skyrockets, I guess I have the option of shopping around for better deals? In any case if you guys have any suggestions on better approaches I'm happy to hear them.

thanks