Breakdown Cover Including Europe

[NomduJour]

As a result of having various different cars insured with various different companies and no longer getting it included with a bank account, I've ended up with two cars which don't currently have breakdown cover - so I'd like to find personal cover for any vehicle of any age which will include Europe.

First thought was ADAC, but it appears that they only include recovery up to a value of €200 - which is no use if I need to get a car from one end of the country to another. The AA and RAC seem to charge criminal amounts for annual European cover on older cars, most others have age limits.

Can anyone recommend somewhere to try?

[TooMany2cvs]

NomduJour said:

As a result of having various different cars insured with various different companies and no longer getting it included with a bank account, I've ended up with two cars which don't currently have breakdown cover - so I'd like to find personal cover for any vehicle of any age which will include Europe.

First thought was ADAC, but it appears that they only include recovery up to a value of €200 - which is no use if I need to get a car from one end of the country to another. The AA and RAC seem to charge criminal amounts for annual European cover on older cars, most others have age limits.

Can anyone recommend somewhere to try?

I've got the exact same problem - ADAC have just told me where to go.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I think you're going to have to accept the lack of LE-JoG recovery, though - if cover is thinking in terms of continental scope, then they're not going to be taking a car from Istanbul to Tromso for something that could've been fixed in a day locally. That's why ADAC did the local-tow-then-hotel-bills thing.

[marshalla]

LV/Britannia Rescue ?

they state that

"We can provide cover if...
Your vehicle is in a roadworthy condition, has a current MOT and is serviced and maintained in line with manufacturer guidelines
Your vehicle has a legal and serviceable spare wheel, space saver or tyre inflation device
Your vehicle is not used as a taxi for private or public hire or for delivery/courier services
Your car/van doesn't weigh more than 3.5 tonnes when fully loaded and is not larger than 7m long, 2.3m wide and 3m in height
If you're insuring a motorhome it doesn't weigh more than 7.5 tonnes and is not longer than 8m"

http://www.lv.com/breakdown-cover

The policy document : http://www.lv.com/assets/gi/pdfs/britannia/2016/ri...

[NomduJour]

Re the recovery distance thing - my concern is getting the car home, not continuing the journey.

LV Britannia is getting expensive for personal cover - going on for £200. At the moment, it's cheaper to take the two insurers' own options (one is UK-only, but that car wouldn't be going abroad).

[NomduJour]

Other option is getting AA personal cover (with supposed cashback) and then taking out additional European cover per journey, but that also gets expensive with more than one trip.

[TooMany2cvs]

NomduJour said:

Re the recovery distance thing - my concern is getting the car home, not continuing the journey.

The way ADAC do it, if it can't be fixed locally in three working days, it goes home. Meanwhile, you've either had a hire car or a hotel. Both you and car do get taken home...

When we needed 'em in France, we had the opposite problem - we wanted to be taken elsewhere in France, where a mate's workshop was waiting for us, but ADAC were insistent we were going home. Small problem - the vehicle WAS our home.

[andyps]

I have personal RAC cover including Europe cover which works sort of OK. It does have limitations though as they do put a limit on the delivery they will provide as I found out last year. The diff on my XK8 lost all its oil about 80 miles from Calais on the Autoroute, the car was recovered by the Autoroute service (paid for by the RAC) to a garage where the RAC wanted it to stay for repair. They would have sorted us a hire car to get to the port and then another in the UK to get home but that wasn't possible as we had our dog with us and would effectively be crossing the channel as foot passengers. As the car would move under its own power (albeit I didn't want to go beyond walking pace) I asked if they would take us to Calais so we could get on the boat. Eventually they agree but said that would be all they would do, it would be up to us to get home from Dover. Fortunately we have a policy through the bank which recovered us to home but it was a very long night!

Overall, however, it isn't cheap but at least the RAC personal cover does the job with older cars as I am covered in any car anywhere in Europe.

[PositronicRay]

andyps said:

I have personal RAC cover including Europe cover which works sort of OK. It does have limitations though as they do put a limit on the delivery they will provide as I found out last year. The diff on my XK8 lost all its oil about 80 miles from Calais on the Autoroute, the car was recovered by the Autoroute service (paid for by the RAC) to a garage where the RAC wanted it to stay for repair. They would have sorted us a hire car to get to the port and then another in the UK to get home but that wasn't possible as we had our dog with us and would effectively be crossing the channel as foot passengers. As the car would move under its own power (albeit I didn't want to go beyond walking pace) I asked if they would take us to Calais so we could get on the boat. Eventually they agree but said that would be all they would do, it would be up to us to get home from Dover. Fortunately we have a policy through the bank which recovered us to home but it was a very long night!

Overall, however, it isn't cheap but at least the RAC personal cover does the job with older cars as I am covered in any car anywhere in Europe.

Seems a bit mean.

Recovery to Eurotunnel, drive onto the train, collection when you disembark, and recover you home was offered to me as solution. We opted for a hire car and a couple of extra nights in a hotel instead.