What breakdown company

[englisharcher]

What cheap breakdown company would you recommend?

I am looking for a company that is cheap, will take you home if unable to repair your car, and will cover a 21 year old car.

[Cyder]

Personally I would say RAC, we've got 2 people on any car for about £11/month and that's home start/drag you anywhere in the country sort of cover.

Haven't found better yet.

[Toaster Pilot]

AutoAid are the cheapest, only caveat being you need to pay and claim back your charges (it's an insurance policy rather than a breakdown service as such, but they do have a call centre which will arrange your recovery)

[oldcynic]

Find the relevant article at moneysavingexpert.com . We pay £60/year for comprehensive cover including Europe & homestart on each of our cars, but you can pay considerably less if you're able to utilise pay & claim - pay by credit card, send invoice to autoaid, money back in bank before credit card bill arrives.

Watch the small print regarding age of car and homestart excess; also whether you are being offered recovery to a local garage (probably of their choosing) or all the way home / onward travel.

[Lanby]

ADAC

[johnnyBv8]

Toaster Pilot said:

AutoAid are the cheapest, only caveat being you need to pay and claim back your charges (it's an insurance policy rather than a breakdown service as such, but they do have a call centre which will arrange your recovery)

Another caveat is that they don't cover engine sizes above 2.5l. Seems a complete;y arbitrary exclusion...a breakdown is a breakdown whatever the engine size! Not sure if other providers have similar small print..

[Toaster Pilot]

Didn't know that, cheers

Shouldn't be a problem for my toaster though - I'm considering AutoAid as an alternative to KIAssist (RAC) @ £85/year

[Robin Hood]

These do a good deal, it's AXA Insurance backed

http://www.vehicle-rescue.com/

[sday12]

None.


Membership cost £0 over 10 years.


If you need them it's £120 to join on the day.


ETA: You won't get it cheap with a car over 15 years IIRC

[Toaster Pilot]

sday12 said:

None.


Membership cost £0 over 10 years.


If you need them it's £120 to join on the day.

That'd have cost me £360 over the past 3 years

[Stu R]

Lanby said:

ADAC

This.

[hardcorehobbit]

sday12 said:

None.


Membership cost £0 over 10 years.


If you need them it's £120 to join on the day.


ETA: You won't get it cheap with a car over 15 years IIRC

Can't you just cover the driver and not the car? Or do they still exclude?

[dav123a]

Auto aid £38 to cover me and the OH , onward travel homestart etc. A pretty good deal but not had to use them yet.

[sday12]

hardcorehobbit said:

sday12 said:

None.


Membership cost £0 over 10 years.


If you need them it's £120 to join on the day.


ETA: You won't get it cheap with a car over 15 years IIRC

Can't you just cover the driver and not the car? Or do they still exclude?

Everytime I've looked it's been the car.

[All that jazz]

johnnyBv8 said:

Another caveat is that they don't cover engine sizes above 2.5l. Seems a complete;y arbitrary exclusion...a breakdown is a breakdown whatever the engine size! Not sure if other providers have similar small print..

I wish people would learn to read and stop trotting out this bullst. Every time AutoAid are mentioned someone comes out with this crap.

From the full PDF policy :

AutoAid Policy said:

The Vehicle - a saloon car, hatchback, estate car, car derived van or motorcycle. Motorised caravan under 2.5 tons gross vehicle weight and with an engine capacity of no more than 2500 cc.

How strange eh? No mention of engine capacity limits on cars...

Source: http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/documents/AutoAi...

[RWD cossie wil]

Personally I don't think you can beat the AA, best patrols out of the lot, have never let me down, the most notable being a car & trailer recovery from the wrong side of Edinburgh ( don't ask!) all the way home.

Not the cheapest, but for circa £60 you get roadside, recovery, relay ( take you home/garage/destination etc) & home start.. RAC have never been as good, or as able to fix on the roadside as the AA in my experience.

[chrisr29]

If the car's 21 years old can you not stick it on a classic insurance policy? Breakdown cover on classic policy's is cheap as chips and covers the whole of Europe. Usually works out to be about 30 quid pa.

[5paul5]

With AA at moment and find them excellent. Used to be with the RAC and they were worse than useless !

[Heartworm]

Stu R said:

Lanby said:

ADAC

This.

Thinking of using them for going to Europe this year, worth while?

[Stu R]

Heartworm said:

Stu R said:

Lanby said:

ADAC

This.

Thinking of using them for going to Europe this year, worth while?

Yep, they're brilliant. In the UK you'll get the AA, and if you're in the USA you'll get AAA assisting you. Only had cause to use them a couple of times, and only once outside of the EU, but not a bad thing to say about them. Cheaper than the AA for UK only cover, and they won't take the piss when renewal time comes around.

If you're in Germany you're never more than [I think] 10 minutes away from one of their choppers either, should the worst happen