Advice needed re. breakdown cover

[pandamonium]

I am going on a holiday in Devon in two week. I need a good breakdown cover. Most important prerequisites are...1 - Must take me to my destination if I break down, no matter the distance.2 - Must not have any hidden surcharges.3 - Must have facilty for a full lift - my car is an auto so can't be recovered with a tail-lift.4 - Must not be the RAC - We have fallen out!Price not really the biggest worry, I'd rather decent cover.Any suggestions?

[Mat.T]

rac once transported my stranded mazda from the outskirts of leeds to colchester a couple of years ago I thought that was quite a good service, Why have you fell out with them?

[Father Ted]

Try GEM motoring assist - once carted my caravan back from Taunton to Preston on a flatbed when the brakes siezed and caught fire.£70 ish a year.

[pandamonium]

http://autoshite.commlm/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5008

Thats is why I dont like RAC.

[Mat.T]

http://autoshite.commlm/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5008Thats is why I dont like RAC.

ahh what a sod, i must have different cover (goes off to check small print )

[MrRegieRitmo]

Good this has cropped up as with the Bromley Pageant only a couple of weekends away & me planning on taking the R9 up there, a few 'what if's?' have crept into my head. I, like Pandamonium have only got a recovery distance of upto 10 miles, so what should happen if I break down in Kent & they can't sort me out by the roadside? How much would it cost me to get transported back home without that level of cover??That said, it's probably not much more than twice the journey distance to work (25 miles) & I cover that everyday without trouble 9 times out of 10 & even when problems have arisen, the car's always got me home! (touchwood).Also back in 2005 I took the R14 to Bromley & back with no more breakdown cover than I've got now & completed the journey to/from unscathed. Obviously there must be an element of luck to it but I don't want to put myself at unnecessary risk (sod's law & all that jazz).What sort of fail-safe do other people have in place, or do they just put their faith in the lap of the gods & keep their fingers crossed it doesn't come to that?

[Volksy]

I think whichever recovery service you go with - greenflag, RAC, AA et all, it does all hinge on the driver and what he can be arsed to do.Having been a G/F recovery bloke, most of the other lads were muppets, or tow'ers as we called them. Its rare these days that you get an actual mechanic at the road side. except with the AA.One of the only reasons to not go with the AA used to be their relay policy. as G/F, RAC etc. would just take you home on one truck.But these days due to extension of drivers hours (Recovery used to be exempt), they all have to relay.

[Father Ted]

GEM use local garages / recovery agents and because they get paid a proper rate, tend to do a proper job. Plus if its FUBAR and they cant repair it within a reasonable time they will tow you home, no matter how far it is.

Recovery EXTRA * Roadside Assistance Roadside assistance for breakdowns occuring more than 1 mile from your home. * Recovery - Local If we can't repair the vehicle quickly at the scene of the breakdown we will transport the vehicle, you and up to 6 passengers to the nearest approved garage or to your home address provided it is within 15 miles of the breakdown. * Recovery - UK If we can't repair the vehicle at the scene of the breakdown, we will transport the vehicle, you and up to 6 passengers to any destination in the UK. * Home Assistance Home assistance for vehicle breakdowns at home or within 1 mile of your home. * Onward Travel Refund of up to £100 for alternative travel arrangements or overnight accommodation. * Accident Management Service£81.90

[MrRegieRitmo]

GEM use local garages / recovery agents and because they get paid a proper rate, tend to do a proper job. Plus if its FUBAR and they cant repair it within a reasonable time they will tow you home, no matter how far it is.

Recovery EXTRA * Roadside Assistance Roadside assistance for breakdowns occuring more than 1 mile from your home. * Recovery - Local If we can't repair the vehicle quickly at the scene of the breakdown we will transport the vehicle, you and up to 6 passengers to the nearest approved garage or to your home address provided it is within 15 miles of the breakdown. * Recovery - UK If we can't repair the vehicle at the scene of the breakdown, we will transport the vehicle, you and up to 6 passengers to any destination in the UK. * Home Assistance Home assistance for vehicle breakdowns at home or within 1 mile of your home. * Onward Travel Refund of up to £100 for alternative travel arrangements or overnight accommodation. * Accident Management Service£81.90

Have you got personal experience of them?Is the £81 plan the top plan which will give you the full works? (if so do you have to pay upfront or can you pay in instalments?)As a Natwest Ad Gold customer, I get Green Flag cover thrown in which is a good perk. I've already had to use them a couple of times for home jobs, they seem to send out a local company rather than do it with their own men/vehicles, all very efficient though, no complaints so far. But this only covers me if I break down upto 10 miles away, what I want is the assurance that I'm covered no matter how far from home I am. As I'm not paying anything towards it though it's all good, so I suppose all I need to do is ask them to upgrade it & pay the extra if that's possible!

[Father Ted]

Been in GEM for years, it does have a bit of a stuffy attitude to young drivers (as witnessed by all the letters to the quarterly magazine along the lines of " I have been driving accident free in y Volvo for 4 years in the middle lane of the M6 and find it disgraceful the number of young people under the age of 40 who tailgate me at 59.8 MPH").But as mentioned they lugged my furbaed caravan from Somerset to home, and have hauled me off the motorway once, quick fettle and all was well again -oh and that was Christmas day after coming off a night shift on Paeds.The £80 is for a free jint member too, you can get it for about 67 quid if you take the same cover but use the pay and claim method, where you pay upfront for repairs and claim the money back off them - I use this myself and have got the money back within the week.

[FredTransit]

I think whichever recovery service you go with - greenflag, RAC, AA et all, it does all hinge on the driver and what he can be arsed to do.Having been a G/F recovery bloke, most of the other lads were muppets, or tow'ers as we called them. Its rare these days that you get an actual mechanic at the road side. except with the AA.One of the only reasons to not go with the AA used to be their relay policy. as G/F, RAC etc. would just take you home on one truck.But these days due to extension of drivers hours (Recovery used to be exempt), they all have to relay.

This is so very true. I have had some take stuff off and repair/replace it, yet others refuse to change a wheel! Latest debacle was a couple of weeks ago when the patrol said raplacing a starter motor was too big a job on the side of the road

[dollywobbler]

My breakdown cover is through my insurance - Footman James include it in their policies. It's European too - got us recovered from a German autobahn in 2007.Sadly, the Alfa isn't on an FJ policy so I'm living dangerously!

[MrRegieRitmo]

Do you think any company would have a problem with you signing up to their 'full' service if you already knew full well you were going to need them? I don't why it would be any skin off their nose if you otherwise wouldn't have signed up to it & you're only doing it cos you know you'll need them right away! I mean for instance don't the patrols allow you to upgrade your membership 'by the roadside' there & then if you've called them out & they can't fix it & it's the only way you can be transported to wherever or does it have to not be predetermined?

[dollywobbler]

Most of them limit the top end stuff until at least 24 hours after you sign up.

[keef]

My breakdown cover is through my insurance - Footman James

Same here, although haven't had to use them.Have been on my father's cover with Civil Service Motoring/Britania rescue in the past and they where very good. Recovered the Sunny when it blew a head gasket and came out to a sticking starter. Also turned up but wasn't needed when I fitted a mini fuel cap (non vented) to the A40 some years back. Took me a while to realise there was a vacuum developing!

[MrRegieRitmo]

Does anyone know if it's standard to have a maximum number of free (or covered) call outs with these companies? We were with the AA till we both found we could get cover for cheaper with other companies by other means, i.e. mum via her insurance with CIS & me with Green Flag as a banking perk. Anyway they had a maximum number of 5 call outs you were allowed to make per year which we met at least once previously. This seems pretty rubbish to me when you're paying anything upto £200 a year & if you need them, then you need them, why should they limit your call outs, it's not as if you plan to have a break down. I know it's to discourage owning cars that require a lot of attention & reward those who never use them, like car insurance but if there are more than one of you under this cover and/or more than one vehicle & your cars are of the autoshite variety it's easy to see how 5 call outs in a year doesn't go very far at all! Then after that I suppose you have to pay the going non member rate like everybody else?!Anyway, it would be useful to find out about any companies that don't limit how many call outs you can make in a year, or at least a lot more than 5!

[FredTransit]

Call out limits are common now, it pisses me right off! We do go over the call out allowance, but get round it by having more than one account at more than one address (business and home for a start. If membership is less than £100 (joint) and one call out over the limit can be £200, it makes sense....

[MrRegieRitmo]

I suppose what I could do is leave the existing 'perk' cover in place & use it for home call outs or local stuff then take out & pay for a brand new separate policy which gives me the full works & use that for break downs away from home & then I would have twice as many free call outs. Do you think that would work?

[FredTransit]

Yes it would. Nowhere I have seen you can't have 2 memberships, or 2 lots of cover with 2 different companies, it's always cheaper than maxing out one membership and paying for call outs over the allowance.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Well, I did it! I rang Green Flag & upgraded my free NatWest cover to the top 'Recovery Plus' level which consists of;Roadside assistance We offer 24 hours roadside assistance, 365 days a year.Local vehicle recovery If your vehicle cannot be fixed at the roadside, we'll recover your vehicle to either a destination of your choice or a suitable repairer, both within 10 miles of the incident.No callout charges We won’t charge to come out to assist you.Message service We'll send a free message to your friends and family so they know what's happened.Cover at home If your vehicle breaks down at home, we'll come and assist you.Long distance recovery We'll take you and your vehicle home or to your preferred location.Options if it can't be fixed If we can't repair your vehicle locally that day we'll give you a hire car or alternatives. For example, the cost for alternative transport or overnight accommodation.Cash to collect your vehicle Cost of a single standard rail fare to collect your vehicle.Only drawbacks are that it is still limited to only 5 call outs a year & I've already called them out to my home address a couple of times. The other thing being that there was an option to have personal cover which means that it's you that's covered not the car, so any car you happen to be driving at the time can receive assistance which sounded like a pretty good perk that I was happy to pay a few quid extra for....but they told me it wasn't available on my upgrade.Anyway, it was £53 to upgrade to the full cover & it's valid from midnight tonight so I will feel happy to try & drive my car back from work knowing that I can get assistance at any point should I require it.I asked about whether I could 'cheat' the system by keeping the perk cover & taking out an additional policy in order to get 10 call outs but apparently I can't exist twice on their system, so 5 call outs it is... I'm wondering whether to take out an additional policy with someone else in order to gain more call outs, I mean what do people do if they break down & have used up all of their call outs? How can they think that it's not possible for someone to require assistance more than 5 times in a year? If you've got a persistent problem or a succession of different things like I've had it's quite easy to use up 5 call outs for feck sake! Anybody know of any companies that provide unlimited call outs? Mum says she gets unlimited cover from CIS who she's insured with. Direct Line wouldn't offer me any breakdown cover as the car is over 15yrs old!

[garycox]

There are some insurance companies who'll give you unlimited cover with RAC, although if you call RAC up directly they tell you that this doesn't exist and they know nothing about it I got unlimited cover through Budget, and I think Moorhouse do it too.

[FredTransit]

I didn't realise there were any breakdown companies left that had unlimited cover, I would be interested in that! When you say budget, do you meant via your insurance?

[garycox]

Yeah, on the van insurance it was an extra £60-odd on top of the policy price to have the unlimited cover.I just took out a new policy with a different company which I think includes it too, I haven't got the details through yet though.

[FredTransit]

Do you think they do trader's?