Car Breakdown Discussion

so basic cover by rac on the clubcard rac page is £55, yet when i go onto the normal rac page, it is £45. So they increase the price for clubcard voucher users. Not on.

My wife's car broke down on a slip-road on the motorway after she drove over a metal object. Her tyre was completely flat but thankfully it wasn't a blowout. She phoned Nova Direct & was greeted with a number of questions before they could proceed; one of the questions was if she had a jack available. She said she wasn't sure but she thought not as she hadn't put one there herself. The immediate response from the gentleman in the "help" centre was that they could not send someone to fix her tyre as it was a requirement of the policy to have a jack on-board the vehicle.

I phoned up after this & was greeted with the exact same person that my wife had been speaking to & was informed in typically monotone & robotic terms that they couldn't send a breakdown van as it stated in my policy that you had to have a jack on-board. I have had numerous breakdown cover policies over the years & never once has it been a stipulation for a jack to be on-board the vehicle. I explained to the man that she didn't think she had a jack but that it was a redundant question as surely the breakdown van would have one anyway. After a few back & forths & absolutely no progress being made I asked what the next steps would be for me to get someone to go out & help my wife - I was given nothing. I asked to speak to a manager & was told that I was speaking to the manager, which I think highlights the budget nature of the business. I ended up hanging up as he had absolutely no empathy for my wife's situation, no professionalism & no intention of sending someone out to help.

I emailed after this demanding a refund & received 4, yes 4, fairly substantial emails with legalese jargon. They refused to offer a refund yet bizarrely also sent an email asking for a small additional payment to cancel the policy even although in one of the other emails they said it was not possible to get a refund. I have never dealt with such a cowboy breakdown cover company in my life. One of the emails received was from PEX insure, who perhaps not uncoincidentally, had the same address as Nova Direct, yet I'd never had any dealings with PEX insure. In all my email communications I never once received a name, just a generic 'Customer Services' email sign-off.

I cannot stress enough that consumers should avoid this company at all costs.