5th Wheel brakedown/recovery (1 Viewer)

[chatter]

As most owners know this is a thorn to sort.
Well have been talking with the Caravan Club and.......for members with 5th wheel units.

They now insure 5th wheel units and the tow vehicle, along with that you can get brakedown/recovery from Mayday via Greenflag with NO height or weight restrictions for the UK three levels of recovery to choose from. llowance of 5 call outs a year and if your tow vehicle was involved in an accident and unusable they would recover the 5th wheel unit for you.

The downside at the moment is that they are still sorting the Red Pennant side of things out for continental cover for 5th wheels

But 2 out of 3 so far isnt bad, and no doubt the other will follow.

 

[Wildman]

have a look at the ADAC pdf in the downloads section. They offer a service whereby the driver is insured not the vehicle covers you up to 10mtrs and 7,500kgs I think plus you get health insurance and a lot more besides thrown in for under £100, fulltime europe, no problem. Well worth a look and it covers you both with two seperate cards in any vehicle you are driving or being driven in. no one in the UK can beat their level of cover.

 

[chatter]

Most 5vers tend to be over the 10mtr limit when hitched Roger but i have thought about them. My German is non existant though for explaining what a 5th wheel unit is but i do come in under the 7500kg weight limit they seem to set.

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[Maverick355]

Hi,

Are you sure about the Mayday insurance covering 5'ers?.... I just read their policy booklet (from their web site) and on page 8, under caravan and trailer recovery it says they will recover the caravan if it fits a standard 50mm ball.... No mention of 5th wheel hitch.

Im trying to find a solution to this as we just got our 5'er (had the truck for a while now) and I just want the peace of mind that I can get home/somewhere if the worst happens and then fix it from there.

Regards,
Simon

 

[chatter]

Link Removed with regard to insurance just ring the main number and they will put you through or 0800 0284809
for the breakdown ring 0800 7310112
you need your membership number for both enquirries

 

[slobadoberbob]

ADAC speak English

Most 5vers tend to be over the 10mtr limit when hitched Roger but i have thought about them. My German is non existant though for explaining what a 5th wheel unit is but i do come in under the 7500kg weight limit they seem to set.

Just going back over this tread.. ADAC speak english.. when you get answered just ask in English slowly for an English speaking operator.. works just fine as I found out when I had to get help with My American RV with a car trailer ..45' long in June 2012.

Bob

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[Forestboy]

Before you hand over your hard earnt to ADAC check this out

Broken Link Removed

 

[caravaning]

Caravan Club

Hello all
i just tried insuring my 5er with caravan club and they only insure both trailer and truck together you cant not split unit
got cover for the trailer from Coast insurance for just over 250 (new for old)

 

[darklord]

It does,nt matter who you pay your subscription to, the problem is for the recovery company. Towing the complete rig would be the easiest option (same as we do with artics) , the only probelm would come if the unit had to be seperated as the fifth wheel connection is not as for artics etc. We could do it, but you really would,nt like it.
Carrying the hab unit seperate on a bed, would involve (because of the length) a low loader. Now these have their own problems in as far as loading it is concerned. The tow unit would have to be available to load the hab unit, as far as I know, there is no safe way of winching it on. Lashing down would have to b watched VERY carefully by the owners:thumb:, but there is a further problem that I have come across in the past. A low loader will cost on average £100 per hour base to base (ours), , there would possibly be a minimum of 3 hrs booked and that is why one company is already stipulating that the complete rig cannot be seperated. They may also, when contacted, ask whether it is the hab unit or the tow unit that has broken down, if it is the hab unit BEWARE, i can see them refusing cover.
Height "can" be a problem when on some low loaders.
I urge anyone with a 5'er to think of ALL of the scenarios they can, THEN find out what is covered, becaus eif you do not, and break down on motorway for instance, if you are refused cover a rota agent will be summoned, and your rig will not be delivered until the bill has been paid (at above rates).
Sometimes recovery operators dont help themselves "cant touch that mate"...." this is a specialist job"..........i,m not taking all of it, itll hav to be seperated,...and YOU have no say in this.
Make sure the questions you ask are answered by email, then you have proof, crap cover is as good as no cover. Good Luck.

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[Maverick355]

Yesterday I emailed Mayday to ask about 5th wheel recovery, with some (what I think) are quite specific questions. Here is a copy of my email:

[HI]
Hello,

I am very interested in your breakdown cover, especially the Mayday
cover for the caravan club members (I am not a member yet but would
become one to then join your Mayday program).

I have a 5th wheel caravan, pulled by a Chevrolet Silverado pickup
truck.
Are you able to recover such a vehicle in the event of a breakdown? My
main worry is that the pickup and caravan have to be separated for
whatever reason and then the caravan would need recovering on its own.
It DOES NOT have the normal 50mm ball coupling, it is a 5th wheel
coupling (like an articulated truck, only smaller). Do you have recovery
vehicles in your fleet which would be able to cope with such a caravan?

My vehicle specs are:
Pickup truck: Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD
GVW: 3500Kg
Length 5800mm
Width 2025mm

Caravan: Palomino Sabre
GVW: 4500Kg
Length 10250mm
Width 2440mm
Hitch is a 5th wheel hitch
Twin axle caravan

Ive attached a picture of a similar setup so you get an idea of what I
have.

Could you confirm that you can recover such a setup if required?

Thanks very much.
Kind regards,
Simon Baron-Oxberry


[/HI]

I sent the picture Ive attached to this post.

Today I got the following reply:

[HI]Dear Sir

Thank you for your E-mail, we can confirm that if you were to become a
member of the Mayday Caravan Club then you would be able to join
Greenflag on their breakdown scheme as we do cover 5th wheel caravans on
the policies.


I hope this is of assistance to you, if you have any further queries
please do not hesitate to contact us. If you respond to this e-mail,
please reply with e-mail history to member-queries@greenflag.com

Kind Regards

Paul Roberts
Business Support

[/HI]

Sounds OK as I did ask about seperate recovery of the 5er, also gave them details of the truck and 5er and sent the picture too just to make sure they knew what I was talking about! Needless to say I will be saving this email....!

Out of interest, has anyway ACTUALLY had to use a recovery service with a 5th wheel camper?.....

Simon

 

[darklord]

Thats the best you can do, although Greenflag are all franchisee's operating either rescue vans or recovery trucks, they would, I,m sure arrange a contractor to recover your fiver.
If I owned a fiver (and it may happen), the one question i would put to them, is, if my fiver suffered a rear wheel bearing failure, on a motorway, how would they recover it?
I know how I would deal with it as part of my daily work, but I would like to see if they had an understanding of a fivers specific needs.