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Breakdown Cover


TomsFocus
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Who are you all using for breakdown, and at what price/experiences?

I've had some bad experiences with breakdown companies so don't really trust any of them but have no other way of getting the car (and myself) home if it should happen so reluctantly pay for it.

However they're taking the mick this year...  Been with RAC for 6 or 7 years now and they add a tenner or so each time, but they've added £27 this year, and that's after my £7 'loyalty' discount!    

I have roadside and recovery home (not just nearest garage), no home start, and it's for me in any car rather than car specific.  So any recommendations? :smile: 

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I think with my insurance (admiral) they were charging I think £37 for breakdown cover. Other insurance I saw were charging less than that about £10 more cheaper but the insurance itself was either more or wanted a black box. Best to get both breakdown cover and legal assurance. You never know when an accident will happen and when your car might breakdown. 

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You have to check what you get with insurance for £37, it might only be roadside assistance for one car, I'm after national recovery and for me in any car.  I do have the legal through insurance though, or I think I do, will have a look lol.  

 

Has anyone heard of Action Call?  They've quoted £43 for what I want, and seem to have good reviews...can't say I've even heard of them though!  https://action-call.co.uk/home/

 

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I am with RAC. I have found that they are much more polite than AA in the past.

I pay £110 a year for mine and my partner's vehicle, with roadside recovery and home recovery. Although, this is not really a fair value since I get a discount through my employer... :biggrin:

Have you threatened to take your custom to AA? Sometimes that forces their hand and they reduce your renewal.

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10 minutes ago, dansallis said:

I am with RAC. I have found that they are much more polite than AA in the past.

I pay £110 a year for mine and my partner's vehicle, with roadside recovery and home recovery. Although, this is not really a fair value since I get a discount through my employer... :biggrin:

Have you threatened to take your custom to AA? Sometimes that forces their hand and they reduce your renewal.

I'm not too fussed about politeness as long as they arrive quickly and get me home lol. 

I hate using phones or dealing with 'real' people, so haven't threatened to leave.  I know they play on that though, same as insurance.  Tried it via email a couple of years ago but that didn't really work lol.  I also realise I'll have to phone if I ever actually need the breakdown service, but by then I'll probably have bigger issues lol.

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I have the 3* cover. It's national recovery and home start with replacement car too. Plus it has a free legal policy which I then don't need through my insurance company so save money there. Policy is only £29 so works out at about £15 if you tho k about how much legal costs on your car insurance.

 

https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover

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Also, you can report via an app if you breakdown, no phone call or real people to deal with.

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I have Green Flag cover via my NatWest Reward Platinum account, equates to their Recovery Plus cover (£60/year)

https://www.greenflag.com/breakdown-cover/recovery-plus

I'm limited to 5 call outs a year, and apparently 2 recoveries (so I'm out of mine!)

Can't really fault them, they've helped when required and the call staff are helpful. Obviously, this is just my experience, and the NatWest account fee is £19/month BUT we use the other features of the account as well (mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, etc.).

 

I was historically with the AA, but this was only cause my Mum has been a life member and I got free membership on her account with roadside relay and home start but they stopped that, hence me using my account cover.

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11 minutes ago, Jonro2009 said:

Also, you can report via an app if you breakdown, no phone call or real people to deal with.

That's a good idea, I wonder if they'll all do that eventually.  Unfortunately my phone doesn't have the space for any more apps though, I didn't realise how small 8GB was when I bought it...or that half of that would be taken up by the OS lol.

Your cover is for a single car, but they do also do personal cover, would be £58 for national recovery etc which is still decent.  I guess you haven't had to use them so far though?

 

I've just checked both AA and RAC as a new customer.  Both cost roughly the same for the same cover - and both cheaper than my renewal, even with the loyalty discount...not sure what that says for loyalty lol!  When using TopCashBack that then becomes £40 cheaper to use either as a new customer.  Not sure whether to cancel and start new with one of them for ~£75 (after TCB) or to try one of the lesser known places which are a lot cheaper but may not be as quick/helpful in the event of a breakdown...

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1 minute ago, EddyOS said:

I have Green Flag cover via my NatWest Reward Platinum account, equates to their Recovery Plus cover (£60/year)

https://www.greenflag.com/breakdown-cover/recovery-plus

I'm limited to 5 call outs a year, and apparently 2 recoveries (so I'm out of mine!)

Can't really fault them, they've helped when required and the call staff are helpful. Obviously, this is just my experience, and the NatWest account fee is £19/month BUT we use the other features of the account as well (mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, etc.)

So what happens if you get an unfixable breakdown now then?  Do they come out and go 'Yeah that's broken mate, bye...'? :unsure:

I don't have a credit card but will check the price of Green Flag on it's own now. :smile: 

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16 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

So what happens if you get an unfixable breakdown now then?  Do they come out and go 'Yeah that's broken mate, bye...'? :unsure:

I don't have a credit card but will check the price of Green Flag on it's own now. :smile: 

I'm hoping it won't come to that! I'm sure they'd take me somewhere, just not the other side of the country. I don't know.

And it's not a credit card I have, it's my general joint current account with the wife. Learnt the hard way as a student that a CC is a baaaaaaaad idea :laugh:

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1 hour ago, EddyOS said:

I'm hoping it won't come to that! I'm sure they'd take me somewhere, just not the other side of the country. I don't know.

And it's not a credit card I have, it's my general joint current account with the wife. Learnt the hard way as a student that a CC is a baaaaaaaad idea :laugh:

I have learnt that lesson too, in a slightly different way though. Moral of my own story is ‘don’t let your cheating wife (now ex) have a 2nd Card on your account and then don’t check the bills because she assures you she is paying them off’.

52 minutes ago, dezwez said:

i am with start rescue had one callout last year and they did charge me for it £25. 80 full year

 

https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover

@dezwez why were you charged a callout fee? I have the 3* cover at £28.79 and I don’t expect to be charged if I call them out.

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1 hour ago, Jonro2009 said:

I have learnt that lesson too, in a slightly different way though. Moral of my own story is ‘don’t let your cheating wife (now ex) have a 2nd Card on your account and then don’t check the bills because she assures you she is paying them off’.

@dezwez why were you charged a callout fee? I have the 3* cover at £28.79 and I don’t expect to be charged if I call them out.

meant to say fee never went up when i renewed this year :smile:

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4 hours ago, EddyOS said:

And it's not a credit card I have, it's my general joint current account with the wife. Learnt the hard way as a student that a CC is a baaaaaaaad idea :laugh:

Well I've learnt something there, always thought bank accounts were free and it was just credit you had to pay for.  Either way, I don't have a wife or a spare £19 a month so it's just as well mines free lol.  :laugh:

 

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I used to get a  service done at my local ford dealer this cost £125 and I got a full years full cover included in the cost, the same level of cover from the AA was £160

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2 hours ago, pragmatix said:

I used to get a  service done at my local ford dealer this cost £125 and I got a full years full cover included in the cost, the same level of cover from the AA was £160

Same here, but this year the car was serviced before I bought it even though it was only 9 months old. So I have had to get my own cover, but the cover you get from Ford is excellent. Makes it worthwhile paying the extra and getting it serviced with Ford.

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Aye, I also have the breakdown cover from the Ford service, it's great. One less thing to bother with, I hate comparing breakdown cover/car insurance/energy companies etc. 

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I get my vehicle serviced by Ford for this very reason. £149 for motorcraft service and breakdown included (plus the Ford stamp) + mot for £30. Did the pollen filter myself (£12?).

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1 minute ago, Micro said:

I get my vehicle serviced by Ford for this very reason. £149 for motorcraft service and breakdown included (plus the Ford stamp) + mot for £30. Did the pollen filter myself (£12?).

Is that the standard price for MOT if you have the service at the same time? 

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The Ford breakdown is only for one car though, and it's only recovery to a Ford garage rather than home I think?

You also can't have a Motorcraft service on a 'new' car.  MOT costs £54 at my local...courtesy car another £12.  But they do wash it for free. :whistling1:

Also just had a giggle at Sudbury Fords 'extra services'... Rear wiper blade change £ 24.99  :lol: 

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15 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

The Ford breakdown is only for one car though, and it's only recovery to a Ford garage rather than home I think?

You also can't have a Motorcraft service on a 'new' car.  MOT costs £54 at my local...courtesy car another £12.  But they do wash it for free. :whistling1:

Also just had a giggle at Sudbury Fords 'extra services'... Rear wiper blade change £ 24.99  :lol: 

I have been recovered Home under the ford recovery and then recovered from home to the ford garage the day after, which is a bit of a stretch but they did it. 

Is a car that requires and MOT, ie 3yrs old counted as a ‘new’ car though? I wouldn’t class it as new so you should be able to get it serviced and MOT’d under the Motocraft price structure. 

If I was going to pay £24.99 for an ‘extra service’ it wouldn’t be a change of rear wiper blade lol :yahoo:

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On 22/04/2018 at 9:09 AM, TomsFocus said:

The Ford breakdown is only for one car though, and it's only recovery to a Ford garage rather than home I think?

You also can't have a Motorcraft service on a 'new' car.  MOT costs £54 at my local...courtesy car another £12.  But they do wash it for free. :whistling1:

Also just had a giggle at Sudbury Fords 'extra services'... Rear wiper blade change £ 24.99  :lol: 

Yes it is for one car but recovery is to where ever you want, only used it once and got recovered 250 miles to my local garage 

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Fair enough, I stand corrected on the recovery. :smile:

Still a single car wouldn't work for me which is why I go for the personal cover.  I'm going to go for the Action Call one at £40 for personal, unless anyone can give me a reason not to go with them.

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