AM Emergecy Assitance outside UK

[TuonoPants]

We're off for a tour of France for a couple of weeks in September and will want some sort of breakdown cover, just in case the worst happens. My car is under warranty so I have the Emergency Assistance but I'm having difficulty getting the details of exactly what's covered. Does anyone know if it provides adequate cover or should I top it up with RAC/AA continenal cover?

[DocW]

I had reason to call for european assistance last year just into northern Italy and can relate our experience. Our problem seemed trivial in that we could not get into the boot but everything for the holiday was stuck in there. When you call you will be asked for you country code of origin, you will find this on the back of the little plastic card with the phone number on it. I also had changed my number plate but the assistance is registered to the original so I had to alter this record from Italy. The assistance seems only to relate to breakdown and does not cover things like punctures unless the damage makes the car un-drivable. Make sure your tyre repair canister is there and you could take a spare one. In France there are four mobile technicians to cover the whole country ( so I'm told ) so you could have a long wait. I am in France at the moment and not too far from one of the few dealerships in Bordeaux. You must have an address for the recovery, they would not accept the grid reference from the sat nav "where am I" function. The on-call guy in the UK was great and would have sent out a loader to collect my car but on arrival at our destination a friendly helpful neighbour removed the parcel shelf without damage so I could free up the stuck tailgate. I was on the phone for over an hour so again make sure it's fully charged and perhaps a mobile call package would be worth activating.
Worth knowing, if you travel to Italy, there are no mobile services so its a low loader to Milan or where-ever. I'm not sure if an RAC coverage would offer you anything apart from recovery to someplace you wouldn't want to touch your car or the return home is in relays from area to area which would be soul destroying. I get the car checked over before european jaunts and stick with the AM cover. Sorry if this is a bit rambling and enjoy the trip.

[TuonoPants]

Thanks Doc. With only 4 techs for the whole of France help could be a long time coming if the worst does happen so I think I'll take out some additional cover. Recovery low-loaders will be contracted-out so I suspect that the same guy would show up whether it was the RAC or AMEA that decided that recovery was the only option.

And I'll go and check my tyre sealant and compressor kit now...

[cayman-black]

If you want extra cover i used these for my european trip good value and i check everything out about them on the internet all good.

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/breakdownco...

[JACK6284]

My experience with them last year was poor. Went to Le Mans and the battery had failed on my V8 Vantage It didn't take long to confirm this. Local Citreon garage breakdown truck came out and we got it started. He then said the alternator had failed, it hadn't. I said it's the battery and I can fit one if you have the right size on the lorry. Pierre was having none of this so the car was taken away. Eventually we had a Mercedes taxi to Paris and first class Eurostar home but it was a real battle to sort this out. Suggest taking additional cover