Virgin Money Club M - breakdown cover upgrade cost

scottishblondie

We've got an old TSB Silver account with packaged benefits, and we had the misfortune to need the included AA breakdown cover a couple of weeks ago.  It was at that point I realised that we don't have national recovery included with the cover, which could well be a big problem in the future (it was a fairly big problem at the time, as we were 28 miles from home, well outside the 10 mile coverage!).

I've started looking around, and realised that the VM Club M account is the same price per month, but has better travel insurance and phone/gadget cover than our TSB account.  The packaged breakdown cover with Green Flag also only includes local recovery, and there is no information on how much it would cost to upgrade to national.  I was hoping someone on here might have the account and know the price of an upgrade?

TIA.

grumbler

For me packaged accounts are a waste of money, but if it's worthwhile for you and national recovery is that essential, why not Nationwide for £13 p.m. with "Recovery to a single UK destination of your choice if the AA is unable to fix"?

No 'gadgets' cover,  but do you really need it?

scottishblondie

grumbler said:

For me packaged accounts are a waste of money, but if it's worthwhile for you and national recovery is that essential, why not Nationwide for £13 p.m. with "Recovery to a single UK destination of your choice if the AA is unable to fix"?

No 'gadgets' cover,  but do you really need it?

For us the packaged account has been well worth it over the years, and works out better than having to buy everything separately. 

I hadn’t seen the Nationwide one - that is actually perfect for us. For “gadget” cover I was really thinking of our phones, and it covers those too so that’s fab. Looks like we’ll be headed to Nationwide, thanks!

WillPS

Also worth considering Halifax Ultimate Reward, which is effectively £12/month if you do the 'spend £500' on a savings account deposit workaround.

Doesn't include national recovery tho.

I'm confused now. The policy document on the AA website says:
"Recovery to any single UK destination of your choice if the AA is unable to fix your car at the roadside or arrange a prompt local repair."

(The same as the Nationwide account)

However the Halifax website does not have the 'National Recovery' box ticked:
https://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/landing/aa-breakdown-cover.html

Are these not one and the same?

EDIT 3: I'm totally confused now. I think that policy document is for some kind of upgrade rather than the standard insurance but it's not clear.

MDMD

WillPS said:

Also worth considering Halifax Ultimate Reward, which is effectively £12/month if you do the 'spend £500' on a savings account deposit workaround.

Doesn't include national recovery tho.

I'm confused now. The policy document on the AA website says:
"Recovery to any single UK destination of your choice if the AA is unable to fix your car at the roadside or arrange a prompt local repair."

(The same as the Nationwide account)

However the Halifax website does not have the 'National Recovery' box ticked:
https://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/landing/aa-breakdown-cover.html

Are these not one and the same?

EDIT 3: I'm totally confused now. I think that policy document is for some kind of upgrade rather than the standard insurance but it's not clear.

The £5 cash back shouldn’t be netted off the fee as you can get that on the standard reward account - so you could have Nationwide packaged account and Halifax reward for a total of £8

Futuristic

It asks to call to upgrade so not sure what it will cost. Local recovery with greenflag is also upto 10 miles. 

If you are eligible and go on holiday frequently you may want to check out the Natwest Premier Black acc. 

WillPS

MDMD said:

WillPS said:

Also worth considering Halifax Ultimate Reward, which is effectively £12/month if you do the 'spend £500' on a savings account deposit workaround.

Doesn't include national recovery tho.

I'm confused now. The policy document on the AA website says:
"Recovery to any single UK destination of your choice if the AA is unable to fix your car at the roadside or arrange a prompt local repair."

(The same as the Nationwide account)

However the Halifax website does not have the 'National Recovery' box ticked:
https://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/landing/aa-breakdown-cover.html

Are these not one and the same?

EDIT 3: I'm totally confused now. I think that policy document is for some kind of upgrade rather than the standard insurance but it's not clear.

The £5 cash back shouldn’t be netted off the fee as you can get that on the standard reward account - so you could have Nationwide packaged account and Halifax reward for a total of £8

Or you can have 3 Reward accounts, 1 Ultimate Reward account for a total of -£3. Or your partner can also get 3 Reward accounts and you can make the Ultimate a joint, for a total of -£18 between you.

Totally valid to net it off as holding an Ultimate Reward does not affect the number of (non-ultimate) Rewards you can hold.