Continental Breakdown cover - Yes or No

[Graham]

Hi all,

Soon to be off on a Europe wide holiday pulling my brothers caravan.
I want to feel the combined feelings of taking out continental breakdown cover.

Planning a trip down (East coast) to Palmero, then up again (West coast Amalfi) and heading off to Agde, and to Malaga direction.

As an after thought,,,
What would be the cost to car transport a stricken 4x4 from say Rome, back to UK.

G.

 

[Andrew Prince]

It's not very expensive, especially if it's an addition to an existing breakdown policy - so why not.

 

[Trevor]

Yes and yes again. For the peace of mind of only having to make one phone call and any recovery problem is sorted. Imagine the hassle late at night having to organise it all yourself whilst your wallet develops a large leak.

Takes all the stress out of it, especially if you don't speak the local lingo.

 

[Graham]

It's not very expensive, especially if it's an addition to an existing breakdown policy - so why not.

.
Hi Andrew,
Being with NFU, I have the built-in UK breakdown cover.
They wanted an additional £47 to include EU for 60 days,

Just trying to see if it's a good price ?

G.

 

[Trevor]

That's a bargain in my opinion, recovery back to UK is going to run into hundreds of £ otherwise. A typical tow off the motorway in the UK can be up to £250 in some cases.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Last year I paid £90 for 10 days European cover extension with the AA. This year I paid £55 (or was it £45 ) for a years European cover with flux at the time I renewed my insurance. I'd have more faith in the AA but as it's very much a backup plan I decided to risk the flux policy and expect a few days down time and inconvenience if I had to use it outside the UK (still have AA cover for the UK as part of another deal).

 

[Scott]

The German breakdown company 'ADAC' will now accept membership from non German residents. One price covers you for the whole of the EU, including the UK, and also most of the North African countries as well. In the UK you phone the AA direct if you need assistance, as they are the ADAC's UK partner.

The ADAC cover covers you in any car, or anyone driving one of your cars. There's no age limit to the vehicle, no restricting the EU cover to only one of your vehicles either. No multi level cover that means you have to pay extra for home start, one price for total cover.

I had a long discussion with one of their reps at the Bad Kissingen show, and I can't fault their cover. He spoke good English, their call centre staff speak English and my membership papers will be coming through in November, in English.

The price? Starts from around €80 for a year.

 

[Graham]

The German breakdown company 'ADAC' w
The price? Starts from around €80 for a year.

..
Thats a serious good deal.
Next time I am dure they will get my money.
Do they by any chance do normal UK car insurance ?

Graham

 

[Scott]

Do they by any chance do normal UK car insurance ?

I asked that question, and if they could do Carnets as well, seeing as they are opening up to doing business with non German residents.

Reading between the lines the impression I got was that it would be doubtful in both cases, as both insurance and carnets are completely different kettles of fish, and much more complicated to sort out/arrange/deal with for non German residents than breakdown cover.

They already have all the network/partners in place for the breakdown cover, so it's pretty simple to offer that deal to new markets, and cash in, when the infrastructure is already there.

I'm expecting an email back, from Daniel, on these subjects. So if I find out anymore I'll post it up.

Cheers.

 

[Ecoman]

When I did a run to Budapest in my Hilux a few years ago I opted to get European breakdown insurance through the RAC. Being a Toyota I obviously never had to use it but it gave me peace of mind knowing it was there to fall back on. A bargain at £67 (covered me for Hungary so cost a wee bitty more)

 

[AndyCook]

got AA cover for Spain this year (didnt use it)
but when i took the Subaru to norway a few years ago, we had a wheel stud snap near Trondheim - so very glad of the AA cover recovery then and took us to the Subaru dealer in Trondheim for repairs and we were on our way again by the afternoon

 

[JonP]

I have just put 6 months of Euro Plus cover onto our green flag membership for £76, which seems quite expensive, however we we are going to do around 3.5k miles and there are 7 of us, so it would be a bloody nuisance if we didn't have some decent cover and we needed it.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any experience to compare green flag with the other repair/recovery companies? When I ran a scimitar I was using the AA, but for the first few years until I got it properly sorted, when I called them out they usually sent some kid with a recovery truck and a couple of spanners, not like the AA guys I used to rely on when I got my first ever car (a hillman imp with more rust than metal underneath but bloody brilliant in snow with crossplys on) far too many years ago....

Cheers

Jon

 

[fast but dim]

i'm about to go on a 16 day road trip to the french alps i've just had to pay £30 extra to get fully comp insurance whilst en france ( apparantly i am only 3rd party when abroad with AXA) and the rac initially wanted £90 to extend my cover to europe ( but they'll do it for £60)

green flag are coming up cheapest for the recovery so far at around £35.

there's no way i'd drive here without adequate insurance and breakdown, so there's no chance i'll do it driving in a foreign country. I can only imagine the hassle involved in getting a crashed car repaired or recovered using very rusty 3rd year french.

 

[Matt Richards]

I've had ADAC membership for 4 years now.

They cover myself and spouse for under 100 euros per year and that is for ANY vehicle in any european country, you dont have to own it just be in it.

I've had call to use them once to recover my 110 landy ( ) and it was the RAC they dispatched.

HIGHLY recommended !

 

[Scott]

I've had ADAC membership for 4 years now.
HIGHLY recommended !

Glad to hear that Matt, to be honest I thought that the deal was to good to be true when the rep was describing it to me, but neither I, nor the other people present could find the catch. So my ADAC cover starts at renewal time in November.

 

[Paul]

All free on my Adrian Flux insurance policy

And, yes, i have checked it out.