Ever been refused Euro-repatriation for your shed?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

During a recent driving trip around France in the TVR*, I was shocked to discover a number of facts. Firstly, they don't speak proper English over there and the food's all funny. Secondly, you can't get a decent cup of tea. But most worryingly, I discovered that if you break down in such a way that the local mechs can't fix it ("Bof! Cette voiture est un tas de merde et je ne peux pas la réparer") then most breakdown insurance providers reserve the right to refuse to repatriate your car if they judge that it's too shite.

 

Specifically, if the market value of your car is less than the cost of repatriation, then tough. And we all know how insurance companies define "market value".

 

Thankfully, the TVR passed the "shitness" test and the AA brought it back (very slowly, but that's another story). But if I'd been in my SEAT tractorbox with over 120k and a few scrapes on it, things might have been different. I am also considering that the replacement for the SEAT will probably be something old and bangery - so this could well be a problem in the future.

 

This policy does seem rather unfair, since as far as I can tell the breakdown insurance company isn't offering to pay you the market value of the car - so surely that value shouldn't be part of their risk assessment. If, say, the cost of repatriation is £1000 then you're laughing if they deem your car is worth £1050, but you get absolutely nothing if it's worth only £950. The difference of only £100 could easily mean the difference between full repatriation of your shed versus being completely abandoned.

 

I've been unable to get an answer out of the AA regarding what they actually do in the event that they refuse repatriation. Do they let you pay the difference, for example, to bridge the gap between the car's value and the cost of repatriation? None of the staff I've spoken to have been able to answer that.

 

So, I was wondering whether any shed owners here have found themselves in that position. Have you been refused repatriation for your rubbish car, and what happened?

 

 

* I know. Worst "I've got a TVR" thread. Ever.

[Guest]

Interesting post, I doubt any of my my cars would meet their criteria which would be a bit of a pain as I am planning a trip home for at least one of them. I guess you would be at the mercy of a local garage or a good friend with a recovery truck who would be prepared to drive all that way to get you home.

[DSdriver]

Both our Citroens are on agreed value classic policies so they shouldn't be a problem, and if the Pug had a tantrum abroad it could bloody well rot there.

[dieselnutjob]

All my cars are French and so I don't bother with European breakdown cover. I reckon that a French mechanic is probably cheaper than a London one anyway.

[panhard65]

We had something close to being written off a few years ago. My girlfriend had a galaxy that threw its alternator tensioner off whilst we were coming back from the south of france. She had breakdown cover with swinton insurance and they were excellent. We had a uk contact who spoke to the garage that the car was taken to. It being a ford the parts couldn't be obtained for a few days and we were due on a ferry the next day. In the end they got us a taxi to the nearest airport (they were going to fly us home at one point) to pick up a hire car. We then left the hire car at calais and were given another taxi for the 150 mile drive home from dover. The car took 3 weeks to get back to the uk mainly because it was a people carrier and wouldn't fit on the normal truck they sent. He did say that in the event of the recovery being more than the value they would get us home and pay the write off value of the car as if it had been written off in an accident. I have my breakdown cover with swinton £13 a month which includes all of europe and any car. Most importantly they will recover the trailer as well. It is a little know fact that the rac or aa won't recover trailers they will only fit a spare wheel in france. So if you are towing in europe ask the question of your breakdown company

[dollywobbler]

I've certainly heard of this happening. It is a proper anti-shite stance and we should all complain bitterly. Perhaps via an e-petition...

 

More seriously, I can see where they're coming from on the one hand - why spend thousands transporting a few hundred quid's worth of car in the same way that an insurance company would never fund a full resto of a Seat Marbella - but the other side of it is 'it's my car. Bloody transport it! That's what I pay for!' Breakdown cover is a bit too close to being an insurance policy.

 

A bigger problem is when they get a local foreign garage to try and fix something they've never encountered before. I have a massive advantage in owning French tin.

 

That said, the only time we've used breakdown cover was when the windscreen on our H van exploded in Germany. We got recovered (after almost four hours...) from the side of the Autobahn and the chap spoke enough English to explain to the windscreen company what we needed. They ended up custom making a laminated windscreen for it. Seem to recall we were able to claim back the cost of the windscreen and a hire car while the work was done (four days) but not the hotel rooms or something like that (seeing as we were no longer able to sleep in the van).

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

He did say that in the event of the recovery being more than the value they would get us home and pay the write off value of the car as if it had been written off in an accident.

I suppose that explains why the market value enters into the equation - because at least they are paying out that amount. It would be very interesting to know whether they actually do write the car off, or whether it's just a pay-out.

 

It would be distinctly unfair to actually write the car off for the sake of a low-value component that just happens to be unobtainable in that country - or indeed, due to the lack of local expertise and knowledge of the type of car.

 

Perhaps in future I won't be so quick to push for repatriation of the car. The other alternative would have been to leave the car there, get the AA to repatriate the two of us, and hope that the necessary parts and expertise can be found locally. (For example, a Land/Range Rover garage would have fixed it in 30 minutes - it's just a Rover V8, after all). Then, once fixed, the AA would have paid for me to travel out there to fetch the car. Perhaps that's a better strategy for rickety old heaps!

[Cavcraft]

I've got a Peugeot so none of this will apply as it wouldn't make it abroad.