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breakdown cover recommendations?

Puddy_Tat

Puddy_Tat

naturally fluffy
My car insurance is due next month, and i get breakdown cover as an optional extra.

Having been let down badly by the RAC last year, and got a really shitty non-response from their customer contempt department, i'll not be renewing the breakdown cover through insurer even if i do renew the insurance bit.

(aware that one or two other urbans have had bad experiences with them in the last year or so)

Any recommendations?

I've been with AA and green flag at different times in the past, and had OK responses from them (can't have made all that many calls in 30+ years of driving, but would prefer to have the cover than not have it.)

Aware AA is now private equity, like RAC, but don't know if it's as shit.

are either AA or green flag better than the others? are there alternatives I'm not aware of?
 
Until quite recently I thought breakdown cover consisted of the AA, RAC and Green Flag and that was it. You had to look at which one of those three was the cheapest from one year to the next. Never really gave it much thought. I thought they were the only options. Until it came time to renew last year and I wondered whether I could get it cheaper so I googled breakdown cover and I realised that you can search on comparison websites in the same way as you might change your car insurance. If you look at Compare the Market or other comparison websites a load of insurance companies that you've never heard of come up that do breakdown cover.

I bought one of those not really sure whether they work the same way as AA, RAC etc. I broke down a couple of months ago and the only difference is that they don't turn up in a fancy own-brand van, they just use various local garages or firms they have agreements with. It's basically exactly the same except a lot cheaper. A tow truck turned up and towed me to my garage. I paid £20 for a year as opposed to £70 or £80 that RAC, AA charge. I went for the option to fix on the road or tow home or to a garage of my choice anywhere in the UK - same as what you get with AA, RAC, Green Flag.

Can't believe it took me this long through life to realise you don't have to go with one of the big three dedicated breakdown firms. They are not the only options available when it comes to breakdown cover.
 
I used some off brand cover a while ago (it may have been Asda, can’t remember) anyway my car wouldn’t start in the work car park, so on an evening in July 2018 I had to wait at office in the middle of nowhere for around 6 or 7 hours for my car to be recovered

It was very hot that day and there’d been some sort of big accident which meant the roads were fucked locally and there were a lot of cars in need of recovery regarded as more important than me.

Since then I’ve gone with RAC I think, needed them once when I had a blow out on the M5 at 70mph and somehow managed to get across 3 lanes of traffic to the hard shoulder. The bloke put the space saver on for me, I wouldn’t have been able to do that as the old tyre was so badly damaged he needed to drive my car onto a small ramp to get a jack under
 
I have Nationwide Plus and breakdown cover is included with the bank account along with travel insurance, free international withdrawals and mobile phone insurance. If you would benefit from all of these features it's worth the 13 quid a month IMO just about.

Otherwise I'd just go with the add on with your current insurer, whoever that is tbh.
 
I also had no idea regarding break down cover outside the three main franchises. After my dreadful experience of RAC last year, this time I went with Green Flag.
 
Riklet said:
I have Nationwide Plus and breakdown cover is included with the bank account along with travel insurance, free international withdrawals and mobile phone insurance. If you would benefit from all of these features it's worth the 13 quid a month IMO just about.

Otherwise I'd just go with the add on with your current insurer, whoever that is tbh.
Click to expand...
Depends on the breakdown company though. I am covered for all the things you mention via banking, including breakdown with RAC. However according to reports here it seems RAC are as not as good as they were. I can vouch for this.
 
kalidarkone said:
Depends on the breakdown company though. I am covered for all the things you mention via banking, including breakdown with RAC. However according to reports here it seems RAC are as not as good as they were. I can vouch for this.
Click to expand...

I can appreciate that but honestly how often do you break down? And surely they do actually turn up within an hour.. that's like the minimum you would expect right? Not sure who Nationwide uses but it's not some big name more local contractors I think and they've always been super fast. edit: seems they have now changed to the AA! Probably to save costs.
 
scooter said:
Until quite recently I thought breakdown cover consisted of the AA, RAC and Green Flag and that was it. You had to look at which one of those three was the cheapest from one year to the next. Never really gave it much thought. I thought they were the only options. Until it came time to renew last year and I wondered whether I could get it cheaper so I googled breakdown cover and I realised that you can search on comparison websites in the same way as you might change your car insurance. If you look at Compare the Market or other comparison websites a load of insurance companies that you've never heard of come up that do breakdown cover.

I bought one of those not really sure whether they work the same way as AA, RAC etc. I broke down a couple of months ago and the only difference is that they don't turn up in a fancy own-brand van, they just use various local garages or firms they have agreements with. It's basically exactly the same except a lot cheaper. A tow truck turned up and towed me to my garage. I paid £20 for a year as opposed to £70 or £80 that RAC, AA charge. I went for the option to fix on the road or tow home or to a garage of my choice anywhere in the UK - same as what you get with AA, RAC, Green Flag.

Can't believe it took me this long through life to realise you don't have to go with one of the big three dedicated breakdown firms. They are not the only options available when it comes to breakdown cover.
Click to expand...
How soon did they turn up scooter ? Did you have to call them out via an app or website or were you able to phone ? I've had some shocking experiences with RAC recently.
 
I'm with the AA, probably not the cheapest (in fact I'm sure they're not the cheapest) but every time I've needed them they have risen to the challenge. Not needed them for a while though.
 
I have been with the AA since I was a youth, I forget how many times I called them out in the earlier years. Most recently I am ashamed to say I called them for a blowout because I couldn't find a jack and I was waring my smartest suit being on my way back from a job interview and not wanting to get mucky. Before that a total battery failure Sunday about 30 miles from home. Both of which they sorted for me with their usual efficiency.

And in fact every time I have had a problem worth bothering the AA for, they have fixed my vehicle at the side of the road. Every single time.

And they will work on any vehicle I am in, it doesn't have to be my vehicle!

They are a profit making company and are quite expensive, but on a couple of occasions when I have been on my financial uppers I called them to cancel my membership and they gave me a free year .. can't argue with that.
 
I just renewed Green Flag. It's cheap - £66 UK+Euro breakdown/recovery - but you can get it for half that with companies I've never heard of.

A brief search gave the impression that the cheaper companies get great reviews for price and ease of sign up, not so good for actual pick up/recovery.
 
Puddy_Tat said:
My car insurance is due next month, and i get breakdown cover as an optional extra.

Having been let down badly by the RAC last year, and got a really shitty non-response from their customer contempt department, i'll not be renewing the breakdown cover through insurer even if i do renew the insurance bit.

(aware that one or two other urbans have had bad experiences with them in the last year or so)

Any recommendations?

I've been with AA and green flag at different times in the past, and had OK responses from them (can't have made all that many calls in 30+ years of driving, but would prefer to have the cover than not have it.)

Aware AA is now private equity, like RAC, but don't know if it's as shit.

are either AA or green flag better than the others? are there alternatives I'm not aware of?
Click to expand...
I've something along these lines plus world wide travel insurance and phone insurance for me and my partner through a nationwide account for £13/mth
 
Sweet FA said:
..
A brief search gave the impression that the cheaper companies get great reviews for price and ease of sign up, not so good for actual pick up/recovery.
Click to expand...
Hi Sweet FA, that is my impression too.

My AA roadside repair-people have always been confidence inspiring, usually after speaking to their base people on the phone they already know what the fault is and how to fix it .. they have a massive database of breakdowns and fixes and usually will have come across your issue before ..
 
I think whatever you do search through Quidco. By my maths it makes things much cheaper. YMMV.
 
Riklet said:
I can appreciate that but honestly how often do you break down? And surely they do actually turn up within an hour.. that's like the minimum you would expect right? Not sure who Nationwide uses but it's not some big name more local contractors I think and they've always been super fast. edit: seems they have now changed to the AA! Probably to save costs.
Click to expand...
No they did not turn up within the hour, did not turn up at all. I made three attempts the first time I waited 6 hours and they did not turn up. I was not a priority because I had broken down in a car park in an urban area. However the communication was abysmal and they just outright lied. I made two further attempts in that week, between shifts and to no avail. In the end I paid my local garage to go and get the van.

Glad you have had a good experience. I always had until the episode mentioned.

How often one breaks down depends on all sorts....like how one buys motors. Previous to having my T4 and now my Crafter I always bought bangers for under £500 and ran them into the ground as it is the cheapest way to motor. However the risk is that one is more likely to break down. Always ended up scrapping them and getting at least £100 back to put towards the next banger. Also they all lasted to the next mot and often way beyond.

I only changed to a van because of back issues and needing to drive a lot within my job at the time.
 
Riklet said:
And surely they do actually turn up within an hour..
Click to expand...

ha ha ha ha ha

not quite.

my experience with the RAC last november was called them at 7pm. app showed expected time of arrival about 9pm.

fair enough - i'm not a 'high priority' as in not being disabled or with small children, car was somewhere safe (legally parked on road with street-lights, in large village / small town) and i went to get something to eat.

expected time of arrival kept creeping up.

close to midnight, got message that patrol driver X was on way and would be with me within the hour, they would phone me when they were close.

about 1 am, saw a van go past, and thought 'i think that was an AA van'. had not had a call from them.

looked at phone again, message including patrol driver's mobile number had disappeared so i couldn't call driver, and message said call had been closed because they couldn't find me.

rang them again - when i finally got through, person at the other end couldn't contact the patrol, all they could do is open a new call.

got rescued by friend who lives about an hour away (fortunately he's semi nocturnal) rather than having a night in the car.

made a new call the day after and did get the car taken home (and in fairness to them, a call about a year previous went OK)

i raised complaint through insurance company, eventually got a cheque for £ 50 (i said i'd paid friend to re-fuel his car the day after) and a letter that is clearly standard response to people complaining about waiting times, with no mention of the patrol van going straight past me, closing the call, and the app thing deleting the patrol-person's mobile number at that moment.

Letter concludes with "We are now closing your complaint and this will be our final response"

I have e-mailed since and heard bugger all. so far i've not got far with trying to find out if there is a higher level i can write to, or finding the energy to bother...
 
Puddy_Tat said:
My car insurance is due next month, and i get breakdown cover as an optional extra.

Having been let down badly by the RAC last year, and got a really shitty non-response from their customer contempt department, i'll not be renewing the breakdown cover through insurer even if i do renew the insurance bit.

(aware that one or two other urbans have had bad experiences with them in the last year or so)

Any recommendations?

I've been with AA and green flag at different times in the past, and had OK responses from them (can't have made all that many calls in 30+ years of driving, but would prefer to have the cover than not have it.)

Aware AA is now private equity, like RAC, but don't know if it's as shit.

are either AA or green flag better than the others? are there alternatives I'm not aware of?
Click to expand...
Screenshot 2024-07-21 at 13.34.16.png
 
I’ve always used LV were Britania Rescue since they were the civil service motoring association. They have a national call centre but use local companies. I’ve never waited more than an hour.
 
Pickman's model said:
I've something along these lines plus world wide travel insurance and phone insurance for me and my partner through a nationwide account for £13/mth
Click to expand...

i'd forgotten about that. i do have a standard current account with nationwide.

now you mention it, i think they did try to sell it to me a while back, but that may have been when i wasn't in regular work, and they haven't bothered me about it since.

who do they use to do the breakdown bit?
 
izz said:
How soon did they turn up scooter ? Did you have to call them out via an app or website or were you able to phone ? I've had some shocking experiences with RAC recently.
Click to expand...
It did take a few hours but I was broken down on the A406 north circular in London in the middle of the day (probably the busiest road in the UK) and there was a lot of traffic jams everywhere that day so that delayed the tow truck guy who was coming to me from somewhere on the M11. To be honest, I didn't mind - I broke down on my way to work and it was a nice sunny day so sitting by the car sunbathing was better than spending the day working. And I've experienced similar delays with the big companies over my years of driving cheap, crappy cars around. They gave me a phone number to call and they suggest you use whatthreewords so they know exactly where you are.
 
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Puddy_Tat said:
i'd forgotten about that. i do have a standard current account with nationwide.

now you mention it, i think they did try to sell it to me a while back, but that may have been when i wasn't in regular work, and they haven't bothered me about it since.

who do they use to do the breakdown bit?
Click to expand...
AA
 
I'm with Rescue my Car and last year I paid £35 (for the year) for roadside assistance and home start but if you need to call them out it's £40 a time so maybe not so good if your car goes wrong a lot.

The last time I called them out was with my previous car when one of the brackets holding the exhaust pipe up sheared off. They sent out a young mechanic who crawled under the car in pouring rain and did a temporary fix with coat hanger wire so that I could drive it to a tyre centre to have it welded. He would have trailered it to the tyre centre if I'd wanted him to but it was evening and they were shut so I said I'd drive it there in the morning as it was safe on the driveway at home.
 
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