European Breakdown Cover???

[Don Phil]

Any tips for decent yet affordable cover? My car is 18 years old so i know that counts out some companies. I'll only need it from 10th June til 14th June.

Cheers.

[ellroy]

I always use the AA, £30 or so if I recall; not sure about the car's age and the impact of that though.

[DrainTheSpuds]

I used Direct Line last year, cost around £35 for the 5 days we were down there. Was a good level of cover too. You can get a quote from the website, which will take into account the age of your car.

[lost in espace]

Posted in another thread:

If anyone needs cheap european cover £59 here and I can't see any age restrictions, if your car cannot be repaired they bring it home.

www.quotelinedirect.co.uk/ This is a full UK breakdown cover for a year plus 90 days european cover.

[johnhere]

I use More Than it cost me about £80 a year (Volvo S80) for there full cover. Cars must be under 26 year old

www.morethan.com

[Cerberowner]

ellroy said:

I always use the AA, £30 or so if I recall; not sure about the car's age and the impact of that though.

Age seems to make a difference. I've been quoted £32 for a 2 yr old car but £58 for a 12 yr old TVR.

Or maybe it's TVR's that cost more.

[FranSpeed3]

Give Adrian Flux a call. The Euro cover they add into their classic policies works out very cheap so if they do it standalone it should still be good value.

Age shouldn't be a problem - my buggy is on a 1962 chassis and there's been no problems getting cover.

Cheers

Fran

[Nick M]

I use ADAC - about £70 for 12 months cover all over Europe, regardless of the age of the car.

[SEE YA]

I am a RAC member so far there best £33 for my 911. I got my travel insurance for £19 at insure and go.

Edited by SEE YA on Thursday 25th March 09:28

[Don Phil]

I'll be checking all these out when i get sort car insurance at end of this month, as some do deals that arent really worth it when can buy cheaper seperate anyways!

[andyps]

I added Europe cover to my RAC membership a few years ago (I go to France 5 or 6 times each year so it is cheaper to have an annual policy) - as I have personal rather than car based membership there are no age limits. Family cover for 4 people in any vehicle anywhere in Europe with recovery is £240 this year. A couple of years ago when a wheel bearing failed in France on the way home it more than paid for itself for a few years with the cost savings for all the recovery bills, but the hassle it took out was worth even more - I wouldn't know how to find a hire car on a Sunday afternoon in rural France, but the RAC did!

[Viper]

Nick M said:

I use ADAC - about £70 for 12 months cover all over Europe, regardless of the age of the car.

ive been with ADAC as well for a few years, only used their service once for a on the drive broken ignition, great service, they use the AA for UK recovery and they arrived in 20 mins of the initial call

[cbrown7]

I always use www.insureandgo.com , never claimed, so don't know how well they would perform in that area, but the premiums are very competitive.

£20 for a '96 Impreza for the duration of my LM 2010 trip.

[A10ARF]

Cerberowner said:

ellroy said:

I always use the AA, £30 or so if I recall; not sure about the car's age and the impact of that though.

Age seems to make a difference. I've been quoted £32 for a 2 yr old car but £58 for a 12 yr old TVR.

Or maybe it's TVR's that cost more.

Around same price for my '96 VR6, so that doesnt seem too bad for a TVR !

[vetteheadracer]

My car decided to blow the clutch hydraulics up on the way into the Mulsanne car park in 2005 and luckily I was with the RAC and had European Cover. Cannot praise their service highly enough.
They arranged for the car to be collected from the car park and taken to a local garage in Ecommoy where it was fixed and I return to France the following weekend to collect it. Meanwhile RAC arranged for a rental car to take me back to the UK and paid for the train for me to travel back to France to collect the car and also the ferry for me and the car back to UK. No hassle, no quibbling, just excellent service.....it isn't the cheapest but it is the best.....and until you breakdown abroad......you only think about the cost.....you DON'T think about the service.

Having previously been with the AA who lied to me and cost me over £400 in relay fees (just in the UK) I would never ever ever ever go back.

RAC for me every time.

[chevy-stu]

I've just switched from AA to RaC as I paid £70 for just 5 days euro cover on last years le man's trip.. Paying about £300 per year all for top cover including my 33 year old chevy.

[bernhund]

I used to get AA cover. Breaking down in France as a rule is bad news.I wouldn't be too keen to use AA again unless things have improved in recent years.
My old Beetle based 356 Replica broke down one year about 30 miles from LeMans. I waited around 5 hours for the AA to get a local breakdown service to me. (Meaning a local french mechanic with a tow truck). The French do not do road side repairs and will only tow you to a garage. This fella put the car on his truck and we drove 2 hours North almost back to Caen, where he dropped my 'VW BASED 356 REPLICA' to a Vauxhall dealer at 1 in the morning. They were, no surprises, closed. The AA then had to find me accomodation, which they couldn't locally. So they got me a cab, which took me 50 miles to the West coast to a Gite, where I arrived at 2.30 in the morning. The next morning they got me a cab back to the Vauxhall dealer 50 miles way. They, in a very French manor, shrugged their shoulders and said 'this is a Vauxhall dealership'. The saga went on and on and was quite surreal.
This is my experience with the AA. My mate broke down another year and was with RAC. They just got him a hire car and took his car home to England. All he had to do was drop his hire car at Caen when he got the ferry and pick up the next hire car in Blighty. Simple. End of story!

[nawarne]

I've had good experiences with RAC.

This year, because I'm doing both Le Mans and a trip to Ireland, I opted for annual trip cover for ca. £102, which I didn't think was too bad.
Nick

[Sortie 10]

Whatever you do, make sure you take cover. Most years you will not need it, but if something goes bang on an autoroute it is very, very expensive and a royal pain - try arranging recovery back to UK, arranging a hire car etc and finding the cash to pay for it all. Then think of the time you are wasting sorting it all out.
Fellow PH-er MikeN had the engine let go on his Subaru in a big way a few years ago, within 3 hours he was back en route to LM (albeit in a Laguna) and didn't miss any action - he just had a hefty catch-up beer session to contend with on the Thursday evening. He also had a Noble let go on a Swiss mountain pass - again insurance saved a fortune