Breakdown insurance question (1 Viewer)

Jul 29, 2007
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Hi after what's happened to jacken I was wondering what your options are? Can you ask for your vehicle to be repatriated even if it can be fixed abroad?

What's the position if you couldn't afford to have the repair done, jacken has shelled out close to £10,000, for some people that wouldn't be an option.

Olley
 

Braunston

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May 21, 2008
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Hi, Olley

If you have a look at this thread from David Price i raised the same question (page 5) and it appears that his breakdown company did repatriate the vehicle back to the UK (page 6) even though a Fiat dealership in France could have carried out the work.

Its a little bit more complicated but that's the general idea I got from the thread it would be interesting in David himself could perhaps update us.


Link Removed
 
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Geo

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Jul 29, 2007
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What I have read would suggest that repatriation is an option Only
and I quote from the small print "IF a local, or repair in a reasonable timescale is not available"
They could use that statment to refuse a tow home
as to not having the funds, the hard nose fellow may well say who,s problem is that:RollEyes: and where do you draw the line £100 or £10000
Very intersting questions
I would push for the right to have my vehicle recoverd to a garage of my choice or home, but is that reasonable if im in Spain and need a new starter motor:Doh:
But what if its a new gearbox or engine or-------------------------------
Geo
 

Road Runner

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Jul 26, 2007
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Nowaday eleven grand would finish me as a motorhomer:Sad::Sad::Sad::Sad:
 

Sundowners

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Oct 30, 2007
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Another problem to be aware of - our friends have just returned from 4 months touring Portugal, Spain and France with their motorhome. They were towing a trailer with a brand new motorbike stored inside. The trailer is old but had had a lot of work done on it before leaving, even a new axle and wheels. Unfortunately, the 'A' frame broke both sides whilst in France. Rang AA who they had the breakdown insurance with and found that they and their motorhome could be recovered but not the trailer as it was worth less than £1,000.00

They were told to dump it, but having a new motorbike inside it was not an option. They got themselves to a campsite and repaired it with some heavy angle and bolts. This £1,000.00 limit was never explained to them and they can't find anything in the terms and conditions on this one, has anyone come across this before???

Nigel and Pamala

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Sundowners

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Just to add another point, their trailer had no brand name on it even though it was professionally made, another reason for refusing to recover it. It must also have a 50mm ball.

Nigel and Pamala
 

gazznsam

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May 15, 2009
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i've heard of this grand limit thing when abroad before, always from the AA,

people with type 2 campers have lots of problems if they break down abroad, they are always told 'it'd cost more than the vehicle is worth to recover it home' and that as the vehicle is 30 - 40 years old, it must be worthless.

takes a bit of arguing to convince the AA that a fair few type 2 campers are worth considerably more than a grand,

i'm sure i read somewhere in my rac terms and conditions that if the recovery costs will be more than the vehicles value, they can refuse to repatriate it, but then again, the arrival terms change a lot of things on the standard rac terms, it's bloomin confusing to figure it all out.
 

vwalan

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Sep 23, 2008
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hi , i was with the AA for a while but they had an age limit for recovery . i was at the time anAAaproved garage ,changed to arrivall through c cc. dont think many t2 are covered with aa now (europe cover)

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Road Runner

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OK does the RAC policy through the C & CC cover repatriation to the UK?
 

PeteH

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Nov 22, 2007
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RAC Recovery (CCC Arrival)

Hi

My PERSONAL experiance:- This last Winter, I had a problem with the R-V, and had the RAC find me a repair sevice in Cartegena. They cound not repair it, so I elected to drive it to Bilbao. Just out of Burgos I effectivly "lost" one cylinder. But managed to make the boat.
I was advised by RAC (Leon France) That I STILL had the option of recovery. Had I wanted it.
The R_V Weighs in at 6.8T.

We had in"low loaderd" to West Midland, on arrival in Portsmouth. The upshot was a bill for 2K.

The cost of the Arrival Is roughly £200-00 p/a for euro cover, includes CCC membership

Pete

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pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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Hi after what's happened to jacken I was wondering what your options are? Can you ask for your vehicle to be repatriated even if it can be fixed abroad?

What's the position if you couldn't afford to have the repair done, jacken has shelled out close to £10,000, for some people that wouldn't be an option.

Olley

from the Arrival Terms and conditions

first bit....third paragraph

Link Removed


second bit.....


i read a post somewhere on here that the RAC can arrange finance if required.....ie cant afford the repair bill.

 
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Kon tiki

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It's only when you breakdown that you read the small print on your breakdown policy :Eeek::Eeek: When the clutch went on our homebuilt Renault Master near Limoges I found out it was up to the breakdown company to decide to fix it or repatriate it. I also made the mistake of telling them that our ferry wasn't for a few weeks time. Again the small print had a clause about getting you & your vehicle to the ferry if it was near to the depature time. In the end I drive it 900 miles home without a clutch :cry:
 

gazznsam

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some people can get cover for vans heavier than 3.5 tonners through their insurers, some are ex public sector workers, so can take advantage of a scheem they do,

but for the rest of us, RAC arrival from the C&CC seems the best bet, rac on it's own is useless for a motorhome over 3.5 tons or 6 meters long, but take it out through the C&CC as arrival, and all restrictions are lifted, any length, height, width and weight (well, as long as it'll fit on a recovery vehicle, there is a clause that if specialist equipment is needed then you'll be charged, exactly what they class as specialist i don't know, most recovery equipment is specialist... a spec lift truck aint much use for anything other than recovering vecicles :Smile:

it is confusing the way the rac and arrival do their wording, basicaly you read the rac's bumf first, which specificaly excludes owt over 3.5 tons, wont help you on a campsite as that's off road etc, then you get a leaflet with the arrival stuff on it, which tells you to ignore paragraph so and so in the main terms,
would be much easier if they re-wrote the terms for arrival customers all together,

arrival is about the only recovery scheem that i can use for my van, but i choose personal membership for a little more than single vehicle, and i have the car, motorbike and scooter covered too, as well as any other vehicles we are passengers in,

My bike trailer is covered for recovery as is the bike on it if the motorhome breaks down, if i ever sell it, then the smart car on the smart car trailer i hope to buy of camcondor will be recovered too.

but when i towed a beach buggy on an A-frame, many years ago, i was told that wouldent be recovered at the same time as the motorhome, i.e. i'd have to drive the buggy my self,
so dunno what others have been told for A-framed cars,

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jacken

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Dec 9, 2007
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Yes-- it's me the doom monger. I can only answer from our experience this year. We are with Comfort insurance which is, I think, underwritten by Norwich Union. The Break down part is with RAC europe. I cannot fault both the recovery from the motorway and the hotel we are still in. The RAC ring us 3-4 times every day to see if we are okay. There is a limit on the recovery costs (in the small print) of £500.00. There is also a limit of the hotel fees they will pay which in our case is £400.00. Even with Comfort insurance, if you pay their top premium, you only get £800.00 hotel fees.

Now with hignsight (is that how you spell it), I wish we had insurance that covered replacing engine or gearbox but can you get it?

ken
 

gazznsam

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that 500 quid limit must be for the uk and not europe, even then it's very low,

when i worked in the recovery buisness, 12 years ago, the rates we got paid by the RAC was 70p a mile for a car recovery, and £1.25 a mile for commercial vehicle recovery.... that's for upto a 5 tonner, which is the limit i recovered,
those prices are both ways, i.e. from the recovery trucks yard, to the breakdown scene, to the members home, then back to the yard,

i recall a job from newark to dundee, we were paid almost 500 quid for that and it was just a car, a motorhome needing the 7.5 tonner spec lift would have been nearer 800 quid,

so from abroad your looking or around a grand recovery costs if your just t'other side of the channel and live ooop north, which is why the AA try the 'recovery is more than the vehicle is worth' thing with drivers of older vehicles.

To be honnest, the situation that has started all this worry about recovery services is unusual, i'm sure if pushed, the RAC would have recovered the motorhome to england, where the engine would be repaired for a quarter of the cost, not that many people have 11 grand lying about for a new engine, a lot of people dont spend that much on a motrohome alone.

the other thing is, that engine was mentioned to be a complete drop in engine, absolutely everything on it, turbo, injection pump and injectors, all electronic bits that are on the engine i.e. sensors, prolly alternator, A/C pump and so on, those bits alone come to a few grand, and would be re-used on a re-con engine job.


when i bought my van for it's conversion, number 4 exhaust valve head came off 2 weeks after i bought it, bought privately so no comeback,
head was wrecked, as was the piston, and the turbo as the valve stem made it out of the engine and got lodged in the turbine vanes... was doing 70mph when it happened.

i had the van taken to an engine re-conditioners, and when they stripped it and found the extend of the dammage, i was quoted about a grand and a half for repair (new piston, complete head, replacement re-con turbo, injector, gaskets etc.

or for £3.2 grand i could have a compleately re-manufactured engine dropped in, that got me new pistons and liners, re-ground crank, all new bearings and seals, oil pump, water pump, head (either way i still had a 300 quid core charge for the head as mine was too mangled for owt but scrap) 4 new injectors, injector pump re-calibration, replacement turbo as before and so on, that included fitting and the diagnostics so far... i.e. stripping the old engine.

we went for the re-manufactured engine, the vehicle had done around 110k miles, was mechanicaly sound, so spending as much as the van cost on the engine sounded daft, but was worth it we rekon, we were having a 7 grand body built on it, and planning to spend around 10 grand on fittings and accessories to fit it out as a motorhome, so at least we know the engine is as new.
(the we i'm talking about is my family, Sam came along after most of this, i bought the van, mum n dad paid for the body, new engine, and 90% of the interior fittings, dads an IT contractor, just incase someones wondering how i afforded all that, like someone has where i live and has phoned the dwp to report us as living beyond our means, and thus we must have a job on the side or be drug dealers :ROFLMAO:

we could have had a new engine from iveco for about 7 grand, that was a drop in engine, absolutely everything included, but even my rich parents couldnet justify that, we got effectively a new engine for half that, just the block that was 'old' and the accessory drive housing that drives the oil pump, power steering pump, vacuum pump and injector pump, and the gears in there were checked and found to be perfect as part o the re-manufacturing process.
 
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jacken

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Dec 9, 2007
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My insurance states that the £500-00 recovery limit is for the UK and abroad. They tow you to garage of their choice, usually a main dealer. The policy also states that if you want it towed to another garage or back to the UK, then you will have to pay the lot. Always, always read the small print first.

ken

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Braunston

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May 21, 2008
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Hi, Ken

I must say that £500 does seem very low for European recovery, do you know if they provide a higher limit if you pay more as i don't think I would feel very comfortable with those conditions.

I have been looking at ADAC as an alternative recovery system but I can't find any limits on there web site or any conditions for that matter,

My insurance states that the £500-00 recovery limit is for the UK and abroad. They tow you to garage of their choice, usually a main dealer. The policy also states that if you want it towed to another garage or back to the UK, then you will have to pay the lot. Always, always read the small print first.

ken
 

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