Car Breakdown Discussion

jbimmerman · 5 June 2012 at 5:38PM

Hi, I've got GEM breakdown cover for myself and my wife (EXTRA Joint cover, currently about £115). This includes roadside assistance, UK recovery, home assistance, alternative travel/overnight accomodation, driver illness, with personal cover in any car in which we travel in (handy for travelling with 2 small children) but doesn't include any European cover. We are going to France for a week so I'll need to get additional cover which will cost an additional £50 plus. My cover is up for renewal in the next few weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions for an equivalent cover which also includes European recovery?

Thanks,

Bimm

qaz · 7 June 2012 at 11:51AM

hi

anyone know the name of the breakdown insurance where u pay [at the time of breakdown] then reclaim it back from them

MSE_Tony · 7 June 2012 at 11:58AM

Hi qaz,

I believe the one you are referring to is Autoaid.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/roadside-recovery

Check out the 'tab' titled £38 'fully comp' cover.

thriftyspender · 8 June 2012 at 11:12AM

There are good savings for CSMA members, but watch out for the catch..... Recurring payment! Being aware of the horror stories of people struggling to cancel this type of payment, potential customers might wish to avoid this. Britannia Rescue will charge you a £5 admin fee to avoid the recurring payment. Cheek!

bluemore · 13 June 2012 at 9:34AM

We have had this cover for the past 4 years and have made only 1 claim (well, my wife has). The company that came to her assistance told her that they could not diagnose the fault at the roadside and towed her to their garage and then billed her just under £300 for replacing an air filter and then the towing fee (which was paid by autoaid after 6 weeks due to silly issues like the wrong format invoice from the garage or we need to check things with them). They seemed to make it difficult rather than easy to get your money back.
On the matter of the garage rip-off and refusing to undertake roadside repair, autoaid they refused to speak to my wife (as I was the policy holder) and then refused to speak with me as I had not made the claim.
Great headline price, nothing to back it up. I consider this a scam and will not be renewing with them again

remrats wrote: »

I joined Autoaid last year - a bit doubtful about it as it sounded too cheap. Anyway I didn't have to claim, so still wasn't sure if it was a good buy. I joined again this year, and unfortunately had quite a bad breakdown. I let them know what had happened, then phoned our local breakdown man who sent out a recovery truck. I filled in Autoaid's claim form and sent it off. 2 weeks later I received a cheque for the full amount, with no trouble at all. It seems to be an excellent service as it covers the person, rather than the vehicle and my husband is also included in this. For £39 for the year, I think it is a great deal. All power to their elbow!:T

normalpeopleworryme · 13 June 2012 at 5:27PM

I tried autoaid for the first time last year as fed up with AA cold calling me, and having to pay extra for homestart etc. Autoaid do homestart, roadside recovery, emergency accommodation if needed etc...

I had problems with my cars ECU, then battery, so had to call them out multiple times, and make multiple claims totalling approx £150.

I thought "there is no way they'll let me renew...", but renewal letter came through, same premium, same policy, same car. Just got my confirmation of renewal!

AND I submitted one claim a few months after the incident, passed the deadline on the claim form, and they still honoured it!

Nice in this day and age to give such positive reports!

pacmed · 15 June 2012 at 11:17AM

Any thoughts on the cheapest cover for those of us with a car over 10 years old?

Quentin · 15 June 2012 at 11:23AM

Cheapest is the basic cover via the cashback sites

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/roadside-recovery

misterspoon · 18 June 2012 at 10:03PM

I was wondering about that too. My car is more than ten years old and when I followed the link via this site for the AA cashback, then AA said I have to have personal cover for the driver , not for the car. This is £42 a year , rather than £30.
Do you think I will still get the cashback, or would this be a good excuse for them not to pay? I guess there is no way to know until after you pay.

InDebted2U_2 · 20 June 2012 at 11:20AM

I bought AA cover via TopCashBack last year. I got Roadside, Relay and Homestart for just over £100, which qualified me for £50 cashback. Cashback came through no trouble. However, this year they are ringing my phone off the hook trying to accept their 'special discounted continuing member renewal price' of £177+! I don't recall giving them my home number (I never give it out for 'marketing purposes'), so I am pretty annoyed at their repeated calls and refusal to take no for an answer. So if you want to take out AA cover, my advice is not to give them your home number ever. But I can confirm I received the cashback from them through TCB.

Just trying to decide where to get this year's cover from. I need roadside & relay as a minimum for a four year old car. RAC via Tesco Clubcard vouchers is currently looking like my best choice, unless anyone has found better (don't want a pay and claim back service)?

EDIT: Just noticed I have to wait to be sent RAC application from Clubcard. Going on holiday at weekend, so this is no good to me as I need cover by then. So, any recommended deals?

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