Jump to content

European breakdown for older cars


skattrd

Recommended Posts

  • 1 year later...

Time for a thread resurrection... I'm just looking buying EuroRescue for an upcoming trip to the continent, does anyone have any 1st hand experiences of using them?

The car in question is the 12 plate TDCI fiesta so my tool kit will consist of factory spare wheel, jack, locking wheel nut key and my 1/2" breaker bar.

Many Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No help with your question but ADAC have now gone anti everyone except the Germans. I have been a member with ADAC since before they stopped accepting Brits (about 5 or 6 years) but have never used them despite taking cars up to 85 years old abroad. They have just written to me to say their "Plus" cover, which covers europe will not be renewed as it will only be available to German residents. For a discounted rate, they are happy to cover me in Germany though! If they would cover France only I would be happy, but that is the end of my ADAC membership.

The big problem with everyone else is the age limit on cars when you have a multi vehicle policy. Looks like I will have to change my bank account.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took out Rac European breakdown cover for a one off trip when I took my 1973 camper abroad, luckily I didn't need to use it though so don't know how good/bad it is! Now I have European breakdown cover included with my car insurance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look into the terms and conditions, frequently it’ll say that they’ll recover the car so long as the cost doesn’t exceed the market value of the car, so if you breakdown in a 54 plate Astra and it’s going to be a thousand quid to tow you back then as far as I know you’d just get the cheque for what the cars worth. Sounds entirely reasonable though you wouldn’t expect them hauling £300 cars halfway across Europe. I mean think about it would you cover a typical 15 year old car with a promise to recover it regardless of the distance? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Look into the terms and conditions, frequently it’ll say that they’ll recover the car so long as the cost doesn’t exceed the market value of the car, so if you breakdown in a 54 plate Astra and it’s going to be a thousand quid to tow you back then as far as I know you’d just get the cheque for what the cars worth. Sounds entirely reasonable though you wouldn’t expect them hauling £300 cars halfway across Europe. I mean think about it would you cover a typical 15 year old car with a promise to recover it regardless of the distance? 

From the stories i have heard this big time.

Make sure you read the small print on recovery costs and THEIR idea of car value..

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

From the stories i have heard this big time.

Make sure you read the small print on recovery costs and THEIR idea of car value..

 

It’s not unreasonable though is it, from a business perspective you wouldn’t fund bringing back a £500 car, you’d give them a cheque for the car. Part of the excitement though, travel light then be prepared to torch it in a lay-by and fly home if the worst happens. You see loads in Spain, 10 -15 year old diesels that have shit themselves just outside Alicante, covered in dust by the roadside. I was in Portugal last year there was a ‘58 plate Insignia on the autoroute just outside Faro, presumably gone wrong big time, it’s scrap, economically not worth bringing back. 

Interestingly enough here’s a snippet from the AA who as much as say ‘break down and your-on-your-fucking-own’. 

D6FAE56E-6FB6-468C-AD66-7326E44BF0D0.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd happily pay what I need to for a more comprehensive breakdown policy if holidaying in a classic/old shed of sentimental value. I guess you either need to factor in to your costs the price of the policy, or walk-up fares for flights home. Not much in it I guess.

Not driven abroad for a decade, but last time ended up changing a fuel pump in northern Spain en route home from the Costa Blanca. No call out needed, thankfully.

1612940173_HolidayJuneJuly2010(284).thumb.jpg.a12218617224a0056d53d7a7bb1d28fe.jpg

1552813146_HolidayJuneJuly2010(288).thumb.jpg.e56037b61686d1bd175fb391463f8ab9.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had no breakdown cover with the 2CV last year, or the Dacia when we brought that back. Having seen just how crap Euro breakdown cover will be (cars disappearing for days, refusal to repatriate and leaving cars with clueless garages) I think I'd rather take my chances. I appreciate that depends on how urgently you need to be home...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

But costs £13 per month...

Also has phone insurance and travel insurance included in that too. 

If a couple has a joint account on it, it will cover both on the breakdown for that same £13 pcm. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

I had no breakdown cover with the 2CV last year, or the Dacia when we brought that back. Having seen just how crap Euro breakdown cover will be (cars disappearing for days, refusal to repatriate and leaving cars with clueless garages) I think I'd rather take my chances. I appreciate that depends on how urgently you need to be home...

I think you are right, big difference is if it’s an old banger or a classic, a banger you’d happily dump at the roadside. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends where you are going and what you are doing. Break down on the Autoroute at night could be expensive so if not total recovery its useful to have something to get you off....or...

Drive an indestructible 4x4 and when you blow two tyres on the Autoroute at night drive up the embankment and through a field before fixing the vehicle yourself elsewhere...?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

I had no breakdown cover with the 2CV last year, or the Dacia when we brought that back. Having seen just how crap Euro breakdown cover will be (cars disappearing for days, refusal to repatriate and leaving cars with clueless garages) I think I'd rather take my chances. I appreciate that depends on how urgently you need to be home...

I've broken down in France (twice on the same trip) and suffered at the hands of a clueless garage who charged mightily to replace an in-tank pump while totally fucking the sealing ring so we couldn't fill more than 3/4 full without raining diesel on the forecourt for the rest of the trip. That was a pretty miserable experience however as @lesapandre pointed out I was recovered from the side of an Autoroute and the whole thing could have been 100 times worse without breakdown cover to at least get us off the road and to a garage.

AFAIK most if not all ferries will take on broken down cars if they're put on the boat by a breakdown company and UK breakdown will accept broken cars coming off a ferry. If you have a valuable classic then repatriation may mean organising your own shipley transportation to the ferry terminal to take you back to blighty. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Depends where you are going and what you are doing. Break down on the Autoroute at night could be expensive so if not total recovery its useful to have something to get you off

That's my thinking when driving on the continent.  In the event I can't fix the car by the road side, I just want recovering somewhere safe and the car becomes expendable.  All I'm interested in after that is a bed for the night and onward travel.  Which is why I'll never drive a car abroad that I'm not prepared to junk!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other alternative is to keep off the Autoroutes completely which is possible but time consuming. Most of the old Route Nationales still exist in one form or another but some are slowed with a lot of roundabouts these days.  Some D roads are pretty good too.

These AA maps are good if you want to do that. Not as hip as a Satnav but useful in addition to see a whole route at a glance and plot a way through an area. 

If you like that sort of thing (I do) the cartography and clarity on these maps is superb.

20200715_081659.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Much as I love driving in Europe, I've taken to flying and renting a car.  

My father had a different approach.  He bought a brand new Ford Focus, and 3 days later after their 50th wedding anniversary, my parents drove it to Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain over 3 months, getting it serviced reroute in Italy.  Armed with a Warranty which covered the whole of Europe, and included breakdown cover.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I broke down in Germany in 2014 after an over enthusiastic Autobahn run between Munich and Stuttgart melted my alternator!

I took out a policy with my insurance company.  I think it was £75 so I thought all would be well.  Didn’t quite pan out like that....

So it’s a Thursday evening, I’ve been away for two weeks and tomorrow, Friday, I’m due to drive from Stuttgart to Calais to catch the boat to Dover on Friday afternoon and then head up to Liverpool. 

I was driving along as happy as Larry after spending a good fifteen minutes with my foot to the floor and I’d now slowed down to 90 odd.  I became aware that trouble was brewing when the radio turned itself off.  Due to low voltage but I was unaware the alternator wasn’t charging as the heat from the exhaust had melted the regulator and the wiring so the battery light didn’t make an appearance.
 

Turned the wipers on and it crawled across the screen at the pace of a snail.  Not good.  At this stage, 9pm, rapidly going dark and 70 miles from my hotel in Stuttgart, I knew I was fucked.  Turned everything off apart from my sidelights and hoped for the best.

Within a couple of miles, I passed the Polizei who pulled me over in short order for not having my dipped beam on.  I explained that I suspected the alternator (or generator as it became known) had thrown its hand in.  

They told me that they would follow me to Ulm West services which was only a couple of miles away.  Much appreciated.  I got there and rang my breakdown company.  This is where things really went tits up.  They acknowledged that I had a fully paid policy, but that it wasn’t scheduled to start for another 6 years.  I calmly explained that I had taken the policy out 2 weeks previously just for this trip and there must be some mistake.  Computer said no and I was to call back in the morning!   Not happy.  
 

Luckily, there was a Travelodge type place on site so I booked a room there and sulked furiously.  The next morning, I decided I would bypass all this recovery nonsense and get the car to a garage myself.  The hotel receptionist recommended somewhere a few miles away so that was my plan.  Turn up and get it sorted.   Of course it wouldn’t start but a helpful local left his Passat idling to charge my battery enough to get it started and me underway.

I made it a couple of miles and it conked out in the back of beyond.  What a carry on this was turning out to be.  So I wandered back the way I came and knocked on the door of a printing company.  The door was opened by a girl who was basically German Melinda Messenger.  She kindly let me use their phone.  Mine was now flat and my charger was in my unoccupied hotel room on Stuttgart, 70 miles away.

The breakdown people apologised for last nights cock up and promised me sterling service.  A truck turned up within half an hour and I was taken 10 minutes up the road to the garage I was headed to.

Next stumbling block.  They said they couldn’t look at it until Tuesday.  It was now mid morning Friday, and I’m supposed to be well on the way to Calais.

I said that I would fix it myself, I just needed a Jack.  They said I could do that and would have to wait until next week.  The policy wording stated that if the car couldn’t be repaired within 48hrs, they would repatriate.  So I got onto the breakdown provider but kept being put on hold.  This was a nightmare.

Soon enough, all the mechanics went for lunch so i helped myself to a Jack and started to remove the undertrays in the car park.  The wiring to the alternator has melted.  Looked like it might be an easy fix at this stage...

Back from lunch, Francesco, a bad tempered Sicilian man now working in Germany took pity on my and we got it up on a lift.  After some light soldering we put it back on its wheels and jump started it.  Alternator was only putting out 7 volts and that didn’t change with engine speed.  Definitely not making my boat now!  We removed the alternator to get some numbers from it.  The German staff members no longer made fun of the broken British car when the BOSCH alternator revealed itself to the world!   Their part supplier now said it was too late to get a replacement alternator same day.  If only this could have been diagnosed the night before when I was told my breakdown policy didn’t start for 6 years...

The garage offered to put me up in a local hotel at this stage, FOC.  I declined and asked to swap this generosity for one of their hire cars so I could go to Stuttgart and collect my belongings and return to Ulm the following morning.  They said it would cost me, but the breakdown people would probably refund.

So I returned to Stuttgart for a second night of furious sulking.  From here on in, things were pretty straightforward.  Returned to Ulm early the next day and fitted my new Alternator myself as they were short staffed.  When they gave me the price the day before, I was expecting it to be made from solid silver but when I saw it, it was just the same as the old one.  Just without a melted voltage regulator and with silent bearings.

I hot footed it to Calais having long since missed my sailing and made it home safe and well.

I complained first thing Monday morning to the breakdown people.  They said put it in writing and we will do the right thing.

Two days later I was refunded my hotel in Ulm services, the hire car to get me to and from Stuttgart, the petrol for the hire car, the cost of my sailing home and a £50 voucher that could seemingly be used in every shop in the land.  The said the date confusion was down to my car insurance company who sold me the policy using one version of Windows or Excel and the breakdown insurance people using another!

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daily merc is 26 this year and covered by aviva with rac eu wide and uk recovery for about £60 extra. Only used it in uk so far ( well my dad did seven years ago). The 2cv and x1/9 are with footman James with eu cover, but I’ve not had to use it. When my c5 broke down in France aviva rac did cover the extra hotel costs (excl food and drink) and the re-arranged ferry crossing. But they wouldn’t agree to cover the tunnel cost, despite it being cheaper than the ferry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...