European breakdown cover
Discussion
teabagger said:
It looks like ADAC is the way to go but the membership page does indeed have this line-
"Using the links below to acquire ADAC membership requires that your place of residence is in Germany."
What that means is their website accepts German addresses only, not ADAC as a whole."Using the links below to acquire ADAC membership requires that your place of residence is in Germany."
Just phone them.
teabagger said:
We are going through France, into the Pyrenees , south of france to Nice, Como, Switzerland, Nurburgring.
That sounds like a great trip. When are you going?We're doing some of that route in June. www.old-gits.org/thenexttrip
We are away in June. Not long now.
Your route does look similar although we are not venturing into the Picos. Nice detail on the web site!
We have toured in the cars but not on the bikes before. Breakdown cover will add some peace of mind.
Your route does look similar although we are not venturing into the Picos. Nice detail on the web site!
We have toured in the cars but not on the bikes before. Breakdown cover will add some peace of mind.
Edited by teabagger on Wednesday 29th April 10:25
Dog Star said:
No. Ring them up. The lady you need to speak to us called Barbara Lorenz. She's very nice and helpful and speaks better English than, er, anyone.
The website has never really been updated and a lot of the other staff may not be too clued up. She is the lady to talk to.
I've spoken to a variety of people both at their membership and call-out lines, and the very worst conversation has gone...The website has never really been updated and a lot of the other staff may not be too clued up. She is the lady to talk to.
"Guten tag, sprechen sie Englisch?"
"No, I am very sorry, but I don't. Please hold for a moment and I will transfer you to my colleague who does."
"Umm, danke schon"
(and, yes, that's about all of my German)
There are times it's VERY embarrassing to be so un-polyglot.
Crossflow Kid said:
Zelda Pinwheel said:
They don't take non-German credit cards so I had to pay a little extra to pay BACS via my UK bank.
They took mine 
Took my credit card numerious times too - I renew by calling them in their office in germany, perfect english speaking germans then take all details.
Whilst they cover the UK and call out the AA on your behalf it isn't quite as straightforward as being able to call the AA directly. Last time I called them out (or attempted to - cancelled as I got the bike to start) mobile phone call to german number trying to explain to the operator who did have good but not native speaker english where I was cost me over £6 in call charges. Some people have attempted to tell me that you can call the AA directly in the UK as an ADAC member this hasn't worked for me though. Recovery using AA via ADAC also has distance limits it seems (guessing repatriation is different here), I found that trying to get a car recovered to a non local garage outside of london where the car was from - they declined basically unless I paid.
Since I've stopped Euro touring now I'll most likely go back to AA to cover my car/bike again in July.
Edited by sjtscott on Wednesday 29th April 12:49
sjtscott said:
Whilst they cover the UK and call out the AA on your behalf it isn't quite as straightforward as being able to call the AA directly. Last time I called them out (or attempted to - cancelled as I got the bike to start) mobile phone call to german number trying to explain to the operator who did have good but not native speaker english where I was cost me over £6 in call charges.
I've phoned them and asked them to call me back. They do...sjtscott said:
Some people have attempted to tell me that you can call the AA directly in the UK as an ADAC member this hasn't worked for me though.
Yep, their number sheet gives you the UK AA Int'l number, who tell you to ring ADAC.sjtscott said:
Recovery using AA via ADAC also has distance limits it seems (guessing repatriation is different here), I found that trying to get a car recovered to a non local garage outside of london where the car was from - they declined basically unless I paid.
It's all absolutely consistent internationally - this is where you do need to sort of change your head a bit.Forget the "Am I at home or in Johnny Foreign-land?" mindset of our indigenous breakdown providers. The country you're in is irrelevant to a continental operator. If you break down, you're taken to a localish garage or home if close. If not, you get onward travel, the car's fixed locally. If it can't be, the car's shipped home if it's worth fixing.
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