Is breakdown cover really needed?

lisyloo

We've broken down a few times and you could say partly related to having older cars (except for puncture).

Had a puncture on the motorway. Did not want to change it because it was drivers side on the hard shoulder (no room to pull over further) so would involve changing a tyre within a few feet of motorway traffic, plus the dog would want to get close to the action.

I've left my lights/radio on once each (not connected to ignition).

Also had a failed thermostat which boiled off the water.

Partner had a belt break.

Ours is not expensive for a couple with multiple vehicles.

Ours if £95 with autoaid which isn't as cheap as it was, but for a couple and rescue, at home, recovery and onward travel I think it still offers good value.

pseudodox

Had a few incidents over past 30 years but having cover has been worth every penny for peace of mind.  Flat battery miles from home in a country park.  Fail to start in a multi story car park.  Fail to start at home.  Flat tyre at home (I don't have strength or confidence to change myself).  Sudden engine cut out on A road.  Tyre blowout on motorway at 5am.  Snapped clutch cable on motorway slip road.  Ran out of fuel (due to long diversion & only petrol station en route being closed).  I have cover with GEM on a pay & reclaim system for less than £80 per year.  Always been reimbursed within 7 to 10 days.  Never had to wait more than an hour for call out.

ButterCheese

Try StartRescue - very good value and cheaper than the big 2.  Have had to use them once but they were very understanding.  Front caliper seized on my car and it was smoking.  Partner was on her way to a special event in London.  She got a Taxi the rest of the journey and asked them to recover when she arrived back to the car, which they did.  They attempted repair but it seized shut again 5 miles down the road.  Got recovered home at 10pm.  You always have to wait with these things, depending on time of night and demand etc.  But I think I pay £40/year for their 3 star cover and even after one use it's more than paid for itself

Newbie_John

Probably similar situation to yours:
1) had to leave a car for 45mins, wife put a heating on without the engine - battery died. AA took nearly 2h to show up
2) had a low battery warning while driving and as I was 10 miles from home I assumed I will make it, I didn't, stopped on motorway, battery recharged and alternator fixed - which I was asked to replace

That was 12 years old Micra, in both cases I guess I could sort it out myself but I'm a bit clueless with cars.

Now with new 5 years old car and only got cover recently as after all the discounts it came down to £7 a year so I couldn't say no.

chrisw

Wiring fault, tyre shredded, alternator fault, clutch plate broke up, cam belt snapped. It would probably have worked out slightly cheaper to have dealt with each incident independently over the years, but it's peace of mind. Sat on a hard shoulder on a wet February night, I was just so thankful I had breakdown cover.

Goudy

This whole thing started as someone in my office phoned up saying they have broken down on their way in and may be late.
A few sniggered and reckoned they wouldn't be coming in which is when the conversation started with who has what cover and what there plans would be.

Some don't bother with breakdown cover and reckoned it was cheaper, faster and easier to just look up a local breakdown or mobile tyre specialist on their phone when needed.
They did have a reasonable point or two. I won't go into it all as it took hours, but the upshot is above, plus the fact there's a slim chance of most repairs being made at the roadside, slimmer out of hours. So it's just a tow to a garage.

Rather surprisingly, these tended to be the owners of, not old cars but older cars, around 6 to 10 years old.

Owners of newer cars in warranty, like me would use the service provided under the warranty if needed and owners of cars coming out or just out of warranty plan to or do actually buy it already.

One or two owners old cars (but don't use them for work) actually said the breakdown companies probably couldn't diagnose them, let alone fix them as they can't plug them in as ask them what's wrong and most "mechanics" in their vans would think a condenser is found on the back of a tumble drier.

One or two have nothing and just haven't actually though about it, they quickly turned away and started searching Google.

We were still at the conversation (and insulting one another) when the person with the broken down car turned up just short of 2 hours late.
Turned out they had no breakdown cover either (and a car that's nearly 10 years old) and just called a local garage that came out within 40 minutes.

Turned out water or moisture had got into the under bonnet fuse box and shorted out a few fuses as the lid was not on properly and it was hammering it down. They were pretty vague but it's thought one of which might have been the fuel pump fuse.
The guy that turned up spotted it in minutes just by looking, tried to dispel the water with a spray (probably WD40 or something similar) and fitted a couple of new fuses to get them on their way.

The guy hadn't come far and charged £45 for the call out and a couple of quid for the fuses, plus VAT.
I though that was rather reasonable.

onomatopoeia99

In the last 10 years:

Tensioner failed on the alternator / power steering / etc belt.  It jumped off, wrapped itself around the timing belt which then jumped a tooth.  The car obviously stopped as the engine had grenaded itself, on the hard shoulder of the M4.  The AA came out and realyed me home.  Totally worth it.

Last week after three weeks overseas I tried to start my car.  Battery was flat.  We jump started it.  It started, but the lights came on and so did the wipers (it was daytime and not raining so it wasn't the auto sensors).  Neither would turn off and the wipers continued 10 minutes after the ignition was turned off.  Called the AA and while he had no idea what was going on to start with, he worked through it and discovered it was a blow fuse on the charge control circuit, which as well as turning on the lights and wipers also stopped the alternator from charging the engine.  Also totally worth it.

I get AA membership through my bank account (Nationwide) with worldwide travel insurance so I find the benefit well worth the cost.

user1977

Have only needed two call-outs in my entire driving history, and the first of those was in 1990 (in relation to a Mark 1 Fiesta, so not sure how relevant that has to the present day anyway!). Quite happy to self-insure for once in a blue moon incidents.

lisyloo

user1977 said:

Have only needed two call-outs in my entire driving history, and the first of those was in 1990 (in relation to a Mark 1 Fiesta, so not sure how relevant that has to the present day anyway!). Quite happy to self-insure for once in a blue moon incidents.

Who do you call if you self-insure? 

Goudy

user1977 said:

Have only needed two call-outs in my entire driving history, and the first of those was in 1990 (in relation to a Mark 1 Fiesta, so not sure how relevant that has to the present day anyway!). Quite happy to self-insure for once in a blue moon incidents.

Very as I realise my original request for information was rather one sided.

It might have been better to also ask if anyone hasn't had a call out in the last tens years (and if they have breakdown cover or not).

My car has a five year warranty package with breakdown and that's up in March 2025.
I'll probably swap it for another new then so I don't know why I took such an interest in this subject, I'm not really sat on either side of the fence yet I can't help thinking what is best these days, call the asylum!