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European breakdown insurance - what are your recommendations?

FredFlintstone

FredFlintstone

VIP Member
Messages
114
Location
West Midlands
Vehicle
T5 SE 180
Hi Folks,

Thinking France & Espana for our 1st proper outing, have AA in the UK with onward travel repatriation, hire vehicle, hotel, etc, etc. Keen to get same / similar for abroad.

As usual, your experience and recommendations are really welcome.

Thanks
 
Hi Fred! Although in theory we have cover still from VW, we’ve been using Green Flag for Euro breakdown and recovery. This was after discussion on the forum around 18 months ago, looking at experiences of Green Flag, AA, RAC and VW. From memory RAC came out worst, then AA and VW. Others might remind us of thread links.
 
Last edited:
Hawthorn37 said:
Hi Fred! Although in theory we have cover still from VW, we’ve been using Green Flag for Euro breakdown and recovery. This was after discussion on the forum around 18 months ago, looking at experiences of Green Flag, AA, RAC and VW. From memory RAC came out worst, then AA and VW. Others might remind us of thread links.
Click to expand...
Just out interest - what are your reasons for choosing not to rely on the VW assistance which covers Europe?
 
FredFlintstone said:
Hi Folks,

Thinking France & Espana for our 1st proper outing, have AA in the UK with onward travel repatriation, hire vehicle, hotel, etc, etc. Keen to get same / similar for abroad.

As usual, your experience and recommendations are really welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Are you contemplating medical cover as well?
 
Commer63 said:
Just out interest - what are your reasons for choosing not to rely on the VW assistance which covers Europe?
Click to expand...
One of the contributors to the thread had an issue getting his van returned to the uk. VW insisted on completing a lengthy repair on the continent and then the owner travel back to collect it. I thought it would be far simpler with Green Flag should the worst happen. When I get to my iPad later I’ll try and search for the thread.
 
Ch1pbutty said:
Cheapest way is to add full uk/euro breakdown to your annual car insurance. Think we paid about £90 for 12months cover. Insurers tend to use AA or RAC.

Otherwise compare options using below:

Click to expand...
When I checked an add on breakdown cover policy it was only the basic package hence being a cheap option.
What is and isn't included needs careful checking prior to purchase.

My Safeguard Policy has it included as standard.
 
[
B J G said:
When I checked an add on breakdown cover policy it was only the basic package hence being a cheap option.
What is and isn't included needs careful checking prior to purchase.

My Safeguard Policy has it included as standard.
Click to expand...

Agree. Always important to check T&C’s.

You could select the exact level of cover required with our Admiral policy. So we have cover equivalent to RAC complete + euro breakdown.
 
We have Britannia Rescue, which covers us for European travel too.
 
rod_vw said:
Nationwide Flex Plus account, breakdown and travel insurance available with the account.
Click to expand...
We also have this and had to use it a couple of years back whilst in France when catalytic converter collapsed and kept putting us in limp mode. Prompt recovery to a local garage and although the service from that particular garage wasn’t brilliant, the recovery guy had given us the option of going to the local VW dealer but we thought it would be prohibitively expensive! Cali was at garage for over a week and we were provided with a hire car to use in the meantime. Nationwide Plus Account also includes Annual Worldwide Travel Insurance and Mobile Phone Insurance so even factoring in the £13 a month account fee, we find it great value-fo-money.
 
ejmoore said:
We have Britannia Rescue, which covers us for European travel too.
Click to expand...
Have made use of Britannia Rescue a few times, always very helpful.

However it all depends on the garage that they take you to. They put me up in a hotel in France for 5 nights while a VW dealer tried and failed to find an intermittent fault on my car. Britannia agreed that as it was intermittent I could try to drive home and they would keep recovering me if needed. Told not to use paying motorways as they can not recover from them, the police have to. I got home and was pleased with the support they gave me but not the VW main dealer.

Fault was a £9 brake switch making it impossible to put automatic vehicle into drive. I think it worked on way home if I left the vehicle for a couple of hours to cool but was not predictable. I did not risk using the Eurotunnel and on the ferry was put where I could be towed off if needed.
 
FredFlintstone said:
Hi Folks,

Thinking France & Espana for our 1st proper outing, have AA in the UK with onward travel repatriation, hire vehicle, hotel, etc, etc. Keen to get same / similar for abroad.

As usual, your experience and recommendations are really welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Nationwide Flexplus - great value at £156 pa for european recovery and worldwide travel insurance. And the bank account is pretty good too including fee free foreign card use.

The breakdown service is run by the AA and service is excellent. We used it in Greece a couple of years ago following a catastrophic engine failure on the motorway near Igoumenitsa. No probs or quibbling at all with the recovery, then accommodation and car hire for the two weeks it took to find and fit a replacement engine.

The AA were excellent at keeping in touch, and would have arranged accommodation and car hire for us, but we preferred to do that ouselves. As a result we had a bonus two week holiday in Parga.

As with all the recovery services they will try hard to avoid repatriating a vehicle. It's very expensive. Far cheaper to pay for you to go home and return when your wagon is fixed.
 
Zen Dog said:
Nationwide Flexplus - great value at £156 pa for european recovery and worldwide travel insurance. And the bank account is pretty good too including fee free foreign card use.

The breakdown service is run by the AA and service is excellent. We used it in Greece a couple of years ago following a catastrophic engine failure on the motorway near Igoumenitsa. No probs or quibbling at all with the recovery, then accommodation and car hire for the two weeks it took to find and fit a replacement engine.

The AA were excellent at keeping in touch, and would have arranged accommodation and car hire for us, but we preferred to do that ouselves. As a result we had a bonus two week holiday in Parga.

As with all the recovery services they will try hard to avoid repatriating a vehicle. It's very expensive. Far cheaper to pay for you to go home and return when your wagon is fixed.
Click to expand...
I've been to Igoumenitsa! OK, thanks for the suggestions.
 
B J G said:
When I checked an add on breakdown cover policy it was only the basic package hence being a cheap option.
What is and isn't included needs careful checking prior to purchase.

My Safeguard Policy has it included as standard.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.
 
FredFlintstone said:
Yes, I think so.
Click to expand...
In that case you need Travel Insurance that covers the vehicle and passengers for medical, breakdown and accident recovery in one policy. I use Red Pennant from the Caravan & Motorhome Club. Others are available.
Having been involved in medical repatriations from the continent in my former occupation it can be very expensive, never mind getting the vehicle back.
 
Was talking about this yesterday at the Caravan & Motorhome Club stand at the NEC thanks
 
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