European Breakdown Cover. Which One? (1 Viewer)

[Morganboy1]

Hi, We are off to France and then down to Spain soon in our Swift Bolero. I need to buy some sort of European Breakdown Cover, but am undecided which one to chose. The Red Pennnant scheme and AA Euro Breakdown look ok, any forum members got any suggestions as to which one is worth buying, or had any experiences in Europe which involved using a breakdown service and can offer some advice or recommendations.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Always used the rac however both us and our son broke down in various parts of France last year. He waited 9 days for his to be repaired and the rac refused to take him anywhere else. The problem was a faulty spark plug !!!!!!!
With our MH breakdown they did the conversing for us but no hotel or car hire was paid.

When our renewal comes up we won’t be using the RAC!!!!

 

[Morganboy1]

Thanks for that. I will rule the RAC out!

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[Rapido925M]

We have a NationWide FlexPlus account which comes packaged with Euro breakdown (including MH upto 7.5T, 8m) and World-wide Health cover. It costs £13pm but pays back £6.20 in interest IF you keep £2500 in credit and pay in £700 and pay out 2 Direct Debits [all of that being easy with phone/elec/council tax etc and getting our pensions paid in].

So, we get cover for approx £7pm = £100pa.

Additionally, if you don't have a Nationwide account, they will pay you £100 for getting one via the "recommend a friend" route (and also pay the friend £100!). I'm always prepared to be "friendly".

Gordon

 

[Duffer]

Hi, We are off to France and then down to Spain soon in our Swift Bolero. I need to buy some sort of European Breakdown Cover, but am undecided which one to chose. The Red Pennnant scheme and AA Euro Breakdown look ok, any forum members got any suggestions as to which one is worth buying, or had any experiences in Europe which involved using a breakdown service and can offer some advice or recommendations.

Have you asked your insurance company? Most of them seem to offer cover. I tried RAC as I have their Arrival through C&CC. They wanted £80 but it would only run until the Arrival was renewed - about three months! That would then mean nearly 300 a year for breakdown cover! It is cheaper for me to cancel RAC, cover the two cars and van for UK and then just add on euro for the van with someone like Green Flag. When you ring round, check their height and length limits - some will only cover < 7m and 2.3 wide.

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi.
Red Pennant. Although i have heard on here about ADAC,they seem very good,so,one of those two for us,when Fiats own European cover wears off.
Tea Bag

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[The Dotties]

I may be wrong, (often am!) but I think you need a German address now for ADAC, for new customers.

 

[Duffer]

I think I you're right - they are now only taking German residents.

 

[The Wino]

We have a NationWide FlexPlus account which comes packaged with Euro breakdown (including MH upto 7.5T, 8m) and World-wide Health cover. It costs £13pm but pays back £6.20 in interest IF you keep £2500 in credit and pay in £700 and pay out 2 Direct Debits [all of that being easy with phone/elec/council tax etc and getting our pensions paid in].

So, we get cover for approx £7pm = £100pa.

Additionally, if you don't have a Nationwide account, they will pay you £100 for getting one via the "recommend a friend" route (and also pay the friend £100!). I'm always prepared to be "friendly".

Gordon

We do the same but cost is £85ish after interest and it includes the health travel insurance incl ski. We decided (possibly incorrectly ) that as they are a well known business it will probably be reasonable insurance rather than what we used to do and just go for the cheapest (which would work out as more now Ford have stopped extending the breakdown cover if you have it serviced at a main dealer)

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[MitchandJenny]

ADAC.

 

[Badknee]

We have a NationWide FlexPlus account which comes packaged with Euro breakdown (including MH upto 7.5T, 8m) and World-wide Health cover. It costs £13pm but pays back £6.20 in interest IF you keep £2500 in credit and pay in £700 and pay out 2 Direct Debits [all of that being easy with phone/elec/council tax etc and getting our pensions paid in].

So, we get cover for approx £7pm = £100pa.

Additionally, if you don't have a Nationwide account, they will pay you £100 for getting one via the "recommend a friend" route (and also pay the friend £100!). I'm always prepared to be "friendly".

Gordon

We have the same cover with Lloyds but it's only for 30 days ar a time. We're with ADAC 12 month mainland Europe cover but have heard on the grapevine their stopping accepting UK members.

 

[Alistair33]

We have

ADAC ...... direct paid to Germany

AA ..... personal membership in the U.K. covers the individual regardless of vehicle

AA .... as part of our Comfort van insurance

and ......

Regardless of where we breakdown, and of who we call, we will get a local, to that country recovery or breakdown truck.

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[MitchandJenny]

Sat in Spain. Chap 3 vans down, radiator U/S, insured with ADAC, radiator on its way.
They liase with the garage for its fitment and ring him everyday to see that he is happy.
THAT is why I like ADAC.
Not sure if its true about no more Brits, but I have been hearing that for 2 years ! ! !
Mitch.

 

[Speve]

Sat in Spain. Chap 3 vans down, radiator U/S, insured with ADAC, radiator on its way.
They liase with the garage for its fitment and ring him everyday to see that he is happy.
THAT is why I like ADAC.
Not sure if its true about no more Brits, but I have been hearing that for 2 years ! ! !
Mitch.

I’ve just looked on this link and it appears you can still get cover with them.
https://www.adac.de/mitgliedschaft/adac_membership/

 

[MitchandJenny]

Thought so, Ta mate.
Mitch.

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[chesterfield hooligan]

It says on the link for ADAC that your place of residency be Germany .

 

[Speve]

It says on the link for ADAC that your place of residency be Germany .

Yep that's correct, doesn't make sense does it? they then put it in English translation the only reason I could think of is it is aimed at perhaps armed forces personnel stationed out there.

 

[ctc]

I don,t know which chassis your van is built on but after paying for breakdown cover (Europe wide) I found my van was covered for towing to a dealer or fixing minor faults at the roadside for the life of the van, Mobilvan its called other makes sometimes have similar schemes for light commercials.

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[Gellyneck]

Yep that's correct, doesn't make sense does it? they then put it in English translation the only reason I could think of is it is aimed at perhaps armed forces personnel stationed out there.

Probably just not changed their website since they stopped accepting non-German members late last year?
Wonder how long they'll still accept renewal for current non-German members?
Had to call them out a couple of weeks ago for the car and the service was excellent.

 

[iandsm]

Probably just not changed their website since they stopped accepting non-German members late last year?
Wonder how long they'll still accept renewal for current non-German members?
Had to call them out a couple of weeks ago for the car and the service was excellent.

Well they just sent me a renewal reminder so I will be with them for another year at least, if they didn't want members who do not have a German address perhaps they may have taken the opportunity not to invite renewal but in any case I am happy to stay with them as long as I can

 

[Gellyneck]

Well they just sent me a rental reminder so I will be with them for another year at least, if they didn't want members who do not have a German address perhaps they may have taken the opportunity not to invite renewal but in any case I am happy to stay with them as long as I can

In the process of renewing mine. Sent payment off last week. Just hope they don't cut and run from existing members in future!

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[Al-Di]

can't fault RAC,

broke down in Pau (France) cracked gearbox,
recovered to local fiat agent (Pau) 3 weeks to find and fit box, so spoke to Rac arranged recovery to Bilbao following day booked boat only to have it cancelled due to bad weather, spoke with Rac again and got recovered to Santander for Saturday boat, then recovered from Portsmouth to Manchester

we had to pay part cost of recovery to Bilbao & Santander e834 which I was happy to do

alternative was a 3 week wait on side of road for replacement box if 1 could be found or e1800 for scrappy box no guarantee if 1 could be found,


replaced box, clutch, slave cylinder, and both drive shafts for just over a grand,

box was damaged by drive shaft inner joint seizing up,

 

[OwnedbyCollies]

It says on the link for ADAC that your place of residency be Germany .

"Using the links below to acquire ADAC membership requires that your place of residence is in Germany".

This simply states that non German residents cannot use the online application. This has always been the case. You need to phone up to join.

I cannot confirm if they are still accepting new members from overseas, we have been members for several years and I renewed in December. I would however, certainly recommend not to take the first answer as gospel - after years of ringing to renew and giving credit card details on the phone, this last time, I was at first advised to complete a form and send my credit card details to them in an email. I was not happy with this and when I queried it in another call, another operative said I could set up a direct debit. Finally, a call to another operative - a lovely chap who said, "no there was no need for that, your credit card will do nicely"! So we ended up doing what we always do! I do think you need to get the right person!

 

[Viennese]

I have European cover with AA as part of Safeguard insurance - brilliant in France, not so good in Spain. AA have a big hub in Lyon which covers France.

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