Car Breakdown Discussion

hanvyj · 19 February 2014 at 12:46PM

lisyloo wrote: »

Yes I've used them and anecdotally they are very good.
I would check the docs or call them for limits.

Sorry but have to ask - is this all down to luck?
Having old cars is a factor, but maintenance is a factor too.
I usually have old cars, but I only have break down now and again - say once every 5 years, which is 1/25th of your experience.
Apologies if I'm wrong but it's odd that some people have serial good luck and some people have continal bad luck. It's only natural to worry if it's related to bevaviour some how.

I went though 3 condensers in 3 months, and I'm not sure you can badly maintain a condenser... (The points weren't closed!). I got an electronic ignition after that, pretty well known for their reliability, but I went through two faulty coils. Again, I don't think you can do much wrong with a coil... I sent photos to the manufacturers of the ignition and they agreed it was wired in fine.

Overheating because of hoses splitting (replaced everything with silicone now, so that shouldn't happen as much). Petrol tanks rusting though at the seam. Mysterious but never worked out misfiring that kills the engine but disappears the next day when I try diagnose it...

I really do try to keep them maintained. I've stripped the Carbs down and rebuilt them, put in brand new ignition modules. Hell, I even put a new engine in one, now the diff is going (or the prop shaft universal joints) and all you can do to maintain a diff is whack some oil in it every 6 months.

Latest breakdown:
Yesterday: Managed to dump all its water without leaking, but running at 80 dec C, so didn't boil it (no idea where it went)
Sunday: Starter motor chewed itself up.

It really does seem like I'm unlucky to me...

PinkPrincess · 19 February 2014 at 10:42PM

Hi everyone,

My car insurance is up for renewal and after I did a search on comparethemarket.com I found I could get it for about £100 cheaper (surprise, surprise).

The cheapest provider for me is Cooperative Insurance and as I was going the options before purchasing, it offered Breakdown Cover. I don't currently have a breakdown cover policy in place but need one (car is old and likely to break soon!) so considered adding it.

I thought I'd check on here first though and it seems the general consensus is that it's cheaper to buy it separately but after reading the T&C's, it seems you get more by adding breakdown as an option for cheaper than buying it separately.

The T&C's are listed about half way down the page if you click on 'Vehicle & Options' here : https://ecoinsurance.insure-systems.co.uk/PrivateCar/vehicle/Common/pages/FAQ.aspx

It appears that you get recover, at home and onward travel included or am I missing something here?

From my calculations, it would cost me £20.04 per year to add the optional extra to my policy or £119.95 per year if I go direct with RAC?!?

Can anyone please advise me? I really need to sort my insurance out asap.

Thank you!

SarahTG · 20 February 2014 at 9:55AM

Following the MSE advice, I haggled between RAC and Green Flag. Had a renewal from Green Flag and a leaflet offering 50% off with RAC to go back to them. Rang them for a quote - still expensive but got £25 further knocked off when said that. Had online quote from Green Flag cheaper. Told them that I had a cheaper quote which he said he would honour. I said he had no choice as I could cancel existing and go with online but what could he do better. Knocked £40 off so I have renewed with them. Result!

george999 · 21 February 2014 at 5:59PM

I had the misfortune to suffer a problem travelling home on 27th Dec. The brakes on my car were seized, fortunately I was very close to a services area on the M40. I called the AutioAid helpline and was hold for 40 minutes before I got through. I was told that it was busy and someone would be with me 1 hour. Luckily being in the services I was able to use their facilities. After 1 hour no sign of the rescue vehicle so another call only to told someone would definitely be there within the hour. This time elapsed and still no rescue, another call and more excuses and another promise of help on its way. Waited another hour and called for a fourth time to told he's only a few minutes away. Someone eventually arrived more 4 hours from my initial attempt to contact the helpline. It was a busy day but I wish the operators could be more honest with their response times. I wonder if I had been a lone female if the service would have been better.

kundan · 27 February 2014 at 9:50AM

Hello MSE experts, I am a newbie at this, but hey, I did take your advice and went for the AutoAid breakdown cover. At the time of taking out this policy I was extremely sceptical about buying a cover from a relatively unknown company for a third of the going market rate for breakdown cover. However, given the trust one has on :money:MSE:money: I went ahead.

The policy was paid for on 16th Dec 2013. I had a breakdown on the 21st Dec 2013 in Bishop Stortford, about 100 miles away from where I live. HELP SENT OUT STRAIGHT AWAY! I paid the recovery guy about £60 once the matter was sorted. He only gave me a job sheet saying he didn't carry invoice/bill book with him on the trailer.

Then, on 03rd Jan 2014 I had another breakdown, this time in London, only a short distance away from home. Voila! HELP DISPATCHED STRAIGHT AWAY. Got the matter sorted, paid the recovery technician £55. Got a job sheet again, but this fellow was prompt at sending me the invoice on email the very next day.

I made two separate claims on the two incidents, sending AutoAid the original copies of the job sheets that the recovery folks had given me (and a printed copy of the emailed invoice in the second instance). I was sceptical whether they would pay me at all, given that both the incidents took place within the first 15-20 days of taking out the policy. Although both were genuine breakdowns, my gut feeling dealing with larger insurance companies has always been that they point to a technicality in the fineprint and refuse to pay out within the first month of taking out the policy.

But surprise surprise - within 3 weeks, I received two cheques, one for each incident. The reimbursement was made in full. If I have to be pedantic about the timelines, their policy promised refunds in 2 weeks but it took them 3, but honestly I am not very bothered because of that slight delay. It's the intention to help customers that counts.

I can't stop praising these people - these guys have given me outstanding service when I needed it most, and for a third of the price I would pay for RAC/AA. After this incident, I have vowed to keep taking out only AutoAid breakdown cover for the rest of my life even if someone pays me to do an AA/RAC cover. :-)

Total convert. Cheers to your good work AutoAid!

SpideressUK · 28 February 2014 at 8:35PM

I have been with Autonational Rescue for the past 18 months and on and off with them in years gone by. Their breakdown service has always been great when I have had to use it and I like the fact the policy is unlimited call outs. However, I managed to get no claims in the last 18 months so got a 25% discount on my renewal policy so instead of the £88 usual price I was offered the chance to renew at £66. I did some comparisons and found the same cover with the same company for £49.50 so phoned them and was told that was for "new customers only". So they expected me to pay £16.50 more as a reward for my "loyalty" to them. Upon asking them how long my policy needs to lapse for in order to count as "new business" and being told it was 6 months I suggested that I would leave and re-consider coming back as "new business" in the future once I "qualified" for their "special price" at which point all of a sudden I was offered to renew for £49.50 ie the "new business rate".

I appreciate it's not the best possible deal I could have got but am pleased I took the advice of threaten to leave as a quick phone call saved me £16.50 and I can stay with a company I know I can trust from a breakdown point of view.

Zither · 5 March 2014 at 1:46PM

Hello,

I have a couple of questions.

1) Is Auto-aid really as good as it seems?

2) I'm tempted to get national-plus breakdown cover via Admiral, which seems a fairly decent offer at around £60 (compared with AA who want me to auto renew at £240/silver membership).

http://www.admiral.com/car-insurance/policy-upgrades/breakdown-cover.php

Is breakdown cover paid for via insurance companies generally poor?

Thanks,

Z

WinnyWoo · 6 March 2014 at 2:01PM

After over 20 years with the AA, we got a bit fed up with the annual haggle over the increased cost, despite our "special gold member status".

We decided to try Autoaid after reading about it on MSE. £39 for both of us for the year. We have different surnames [although married], so we had to prove our marriage - I just emailed a copy of our certificate.

We had a breakdown, in last week of January. I phoned the number provided, and a helpful assistant, asked for my postcode and found my details. We decided that he would send someone to try and restart the car, and I got a text a few minutes later with details of the firm who would attend and the estimated time of arrival.

The young man who attended could not restart the car, so a tow truck was summoned, which took me to a local mechanic of my choice [breakdown was only 5 miles from home].

I paid by credit card, [just over £50] and they gave me a lift to the bus stop, and I received the invoice in the post 3 days later.
I had been sent a claim form, with my policy, so filled it out and posted it. The cheque arrived after one week, and was in my account a month before I had to pay the card.

I have just renewed at the same price for this year.

kundan · 9 March 2014 at 10:20PM

Zither,
I have found Auto Aid to be of exceptional value. The only thing to consider is whether you will be fine paying upfront and reclaiming it from the insurer later on.

As far as Admiral is concerned, I have never used them so can't say.

grimerking · 13 March 2014 at 7:35PM

I had a breakdown. Autoaid were good to their word and refunded costs, etc.

Unfortunately, the person they sent made absolutely no effort to fix my car and only seemed to care about taking it to their repair shop to charge me for 'diagnostics'.

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