Breakdown Cover?

[jollygiant]

After being with the AA for 15 years and needed them once this year and found them to be completely useless and had to argue with them for 30 mins for them to take me and my family where I wanted to go and take the car to a garage!

They apparently knew what was wrong with the car without looking at it and said it wouldn't be able to be fixed for 4 days due to garage not having parts [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

Anyway its up for renewal for the cost of £216 per year for Mrs Giant and I and wonder who you lot use and how much you pay for roadside, relay and home start and are they any good??

[Guest]

Britannia rescue - I have full euro cover for any vehicle me or Mrs Trevini are in for less than half what you've been quoted (I do get a heavy discount for being an ex employee, though). Much better service generally than the AA in this area (we used to work for them too and they were poor at best). Average call out time nationally is about 40 min. They use a network of local agents (as do Green Flag) can cater for bikes as well as cars. My main cover is on the TDM, with personal cover for anything else. Last renewal was under £100 for me.

[Guest]

I gots RAC cover for about £90 per year and was quoted an extra 30 to put swmbo on too.
If you check here you can build your own cover, but for what you quoted above(cover wise) yer looking at £138ish if you buy online.

[Guest]

Think mine was £96 for me and the misses with the AA. The renewal was something like £136 but got a reduction after a phone call which I seem to have to do every year now.

[TonyDevil]

i had a nightmare with RAC when the trailer i was towing had a blowout
i found that with all 3 major breakdown companies (AA,RAC&greenflag) you have to pay for seperate 'caravan cover'
i argued i didnt have a caravan i just had a simple trailer that would easily fit on the back of a flatbed, but that wasnt good enough
i found the cheapest way of getting the cover i needed was to use the insurance companies cover which came for free and pay the £50 to upgrade to the "plus" package

i did the same on the bike insurance which cost me another £48
so for £98 i got the same cover for all my vehicles (car one also covered vehicles driven by me insured by someone else, ie not in my name) that the AA/RAC etc would have charged me over £200 for

[Cavey]

<!--quoteo(post=145332:date=Sun 27th Dec 2009, 10:50 PM:name=Jolly Giant)-->QUOTE(Jolly Giant @ Sun 27th Dec 2009, 10:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->After being with the AA for 15 years and needed them once this year and found them to be completely useless and had to argue with them for 30 mins for them to take me and my family where I wanted to go and take the car to a garage!

They apparently knew what was wrong with the car without looking at it and said it wouldn't be able to be fixed for 4 days due to garage not having parts [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

Anyway its up for renewal for the cost of £216 per year for Mrs Giant and I and wonder who you lot use and how much you pay for roadside, relay and home start and are they any good??<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Don't bother. As you have said yourself, you've needed them once in 15 years. That works out bloody expensive. I vote for going without, and if you need recovering (which is pretty rare these days - I'm not a high miler and cars are more reliable), bite the bullet and pay the breakdown truck fee. It works out cheaper in the long run.

Guess what's going to happen to me on my way home from work tonight...... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hide.gif[/img]

For the bike, go with Carole's Gash; breakdown cover is included. Even if you jsut get a quote (if you don't like her), you can use this to barter with other companies.

[colinellis]

<!--quoteo(post=145332:date=Mon 28th Dec 2009, 12:50 AM:name=Jolly Giant)-->QUOTE(Jolly Giant @ Mon 28th Dec 2009, 12:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->After being with the AA for 15 years and needed them once this year and found them to be completely useless and had to argue with them for 30 mins for them to take me and my family where I wanted to go and take the car to a garage!

They apparently knew what was wrong with the car without looking at it and said it wouldn't be able to be fixed for 4 days due to garage not having parts [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

Anyway its up for renewal for the cost of £216 per year for Mrs Giant and I and wonder who you lot use and how much you pay for roadside, relay and home start and are they any good??<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hi J.G.

I recently changed from AA to a company called Gem Motoring Assist. I joined on line.
The cover is for me and Mrs Fatchap, it covers two cars,two bikes and the caravan. All for £83 per year! I have called them once for a puncture,(couldn't undo the security nuts) They arrived within 20 minutes of my initial call.
I thoroughly recommend them.

Cheers,

Colin

[coolbox]

<!--quoteo(post=145395:date=Mon 28th Dec 2009, 05:50 PM:name=Cavey)-->QUOTE(Cavey @ Mon 28th Dec 2009, 05:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Don't bother. As you have said yourself, you've needed them once in 15 years. That works out bloody expensive. I vote for going without, and if you need recovering (which is pretty rare these days - I'm not a high miler and cars are more reliable), bite the bullet and pay the breakdown truck fee. It works out cheaper in the long run.

Guess what's going to happen to me on my way home from work tonight...... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hide.gif[/img]

For the bike, go with Carole's Gash; breakdown cover is included. Even if you jsut get a quote (if you don't like her), you can use this to barter with other companies.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I agree with Cavey... I guess I have been lucky and havnt needed the breakdown services even when I was running the Mk4 Spitfire. I do have cover built into my current van policy, breakdown, recovery and a replacement van but havnt needed it to date. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

[dapleb]

Have been with the AA for a few years after a very long break partly due to their pricing and also due to it not being of vital importance for me to get anywhere in a great hurry. Breaking down in a camper van when you are a tramp is not exactly the end of the world. I spent 3 days at some stables last time I broke down. Living there quite happily until my ordered parts turned up. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Had to call AA out last year as my ignition switch failed and I am electrickery clueless. The AA man came fast and not only got me going but spent some extra time and effort making me a special lead with correct ends to get me goin again if I stalled. I were ferry impressed with him. Guess its partially the luck of the draw on who turnips.

[TonyDevil]

<!--quoteo(post=145585:date=Wed 30th Dec 2009, 01:47 PM:name=dapleb)-->QUOTE(dapleb @ Wed 30th Dec 2009, 01:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Guess its partially the luck of the draw on who turnips.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->.....and if they have another job waiting
if the conversation is interesting and they aint got anyone breathing down their necks to get to another stranded motorist they'll often be more helpful
neighbours car broke down, the recovery guy spent an hour drinking tea and talking cars and bikes wiv us once he'd dropped him off
said it was pretty close to the centre of his patch so he may as well sit there with us rather than the layby at the end of the road

[jollygiant]

<!--quoteo(post=145586:date=Wed 30th Dec 2009, 02:05 PM:name=TonyDevil)-->QUOTE(TonyDevil @ Wed 30th Dec 2009, 02:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->.....and if they have another job waiting
if the conversation is interesting and they aint got anyone breathing down their necks to get to another stranded motorist they'll often be more helpful
neighbours car broke down, the recovery guy spent an hour drinking tea and talking cars and bikes wiv us once he'd dropped him off
said it was pretty close to the centre of his patch so he may as well sit there with us rather than the layby at the end of the road<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The problem I had this summer was the AA not the bloke they sent out.. In fact the guy they sent out wanted to take us to our holiday caravan and the Rangy back to his garage but the AA would only take us home 300 miles at 5pm from other side of newcastle!!!

In the end they agreed to take us to the caravan and let the recovery driver take it back to his garage to fix it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] It was a split airline coming from the pump for the shocks and they had one made up at the cost of £90 inc labour compared to RR £300 just for the 6ft rubber pipe???

[amarko5]

<!--quoteo(post=145586:date=Wed 30th Dec 2009, 02:05 PM:name=TonyDevil)-->QUOTE(TonyDevil @ Wed 30th Dec 2009, 02:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->.....and if they have another job waiting
if the conversation is interesting and they aint got anyone breathing down their necks to get to another stranded motorist they'll often be more helpful
neighbours car broke down, the recovery guy spent an hour drinking tea and talking cars and bikes wiv us once he'd dropped him off
said it was pretty close to the centre of his patch so he may as well sit there with us rather than the layby at the end of the road<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

and the very helpful rac man i hawick [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/good.gif[/img] IIRC he was told to stay as long as it took to get the bike rideable (cos it would have cost em a fortune to trailer it back dahn saaf) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotflmmfao.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotflmmfao.gif[/img]

[TonyDevil]

<!--quoteo(post=145662:date=Thu 31st Dec 2009, 01:18 AM:name=Hartside Man)-->QUOTE(Hartside Man @ Thu 31st Dec 2009, 01:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->and the very helpful rac man i hawick [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/good.gif[/img] IIRC he was told to stay as long as it took to get the bike rideable (cos it would have cost em a fortune to trailer it back dahn saaf) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotflmmfao.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotflmmfao.gif[/img]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yup he was very helpful, as were the guys in the shop......still the biggest help was you tho matey [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/giveusahug.gif[/img]