Overseas Breakdown and Recovery
I tow a caravan and use Red Pennant. I always ask the recovery firm and not the insurance provider the following scenario when looking for cover. I have only found RP to offer the correct answer so far.
I breakdown on the motorway in Europe. Will you take the complete outfit plus dogs to the nearest campsite to the garage, at which the car will be repaired. Then take the car to the garage and provide a hire car while mine is in the garage. If the car cannot be repaired quickly will you provide a big enough replacement car with tow bar. How long will I be able to use the hire car for, if I want to continue with my planed trip?
Anyone got a cheaper cover that will beat RP
Comments
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Even Red Pennant doesn't definitely provide all that - a hire car with a tow bar isn't automatically always offered - and if you break down on a French motorway you are in the hands of their contracted breakdown company who will certainly not do all those things for you.
There are lots of breakdown companies cheaper than Red Pennant, and offering less than Red Pennant, but you need to read their terms and conditions very carefully to see what they offer and decide whether they are suitable for your needs.
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If you want to be able to have no disruption at all to your holiday i.e. hire car during any repair, tow vehicle to allow you to continue etc etc, then I agree that RP MAY (or may not - you can't guarantee all of this?) be the "best" or only way to try for that.
If you are prepared for some disruption i.e delays whilst any repair is assessed and carried out so you continue, if possible with your own outfit but be repatriated (at the suppliers decision) if it can't be fixed in a timely way then cover can be much cheaper.
I don't think you can demand a specific solution with any supplier?
If something really major happens to car, van or us, we have decided we are prepared to work with our supplier as backup to assist us in getting everything home. Therefore we are happy to pay much less (£65 UK & Europe) for a solution which is not so comprehensive? However, we would be very glad to hear of a company with all of the items you mention guaranteed and their price.
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RP will just about do what I asked but it costs £320 to your £65 so a lot more expensive.
It is not possible to demand anything but if you propose a £80 cost in a campsite instead of £200 in a hotel (if your policy covers that) then you might get it.
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ADAC used to provide breakdown cover for any length of caravan - and still do for existing customers, but unfortunately no more new customers are being accepted from outside Germany.
Euro Breakdown does seem to offer cover for caravans up to eight metres, and asks specific questions about what sort of cover is required for the caravan and in what circumstances. I checked the quote process and there are various levels of cover, but the circumstances of what is covered seem to be explained extremely clearly.
They also offer up to 120 days single trip limit for travel in Europe - which is twice as much as many of the others.
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In case a question on cost above was addressed to me, the Safeguard Caravan insurance we use has a £65 CARAVAN BASED breakdown as a bolt on addition.
3.5 t max, multiple 90 days etc.
The package price and features suits us.
https://www.safeguarduk.co.uk/caravan/caravan-breakdown-cover/
I agree that negotiating a sensible way which gets you a realistic solution at a sensible cost will always be the way.
Val's link looks interesting if we decide to change later this year but looks like £107 for the cover we'd need?
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The Eurobreakdown cover isn't cheap - but if it's as good as it appears and does everything that it suggests on the website, then it's a good option for those towing longer caravans.
Here's some of what it says about caravans:
Unlike other operators who only cover the vehicle and view your caravan or trailer as an accessory, our policy will provide cover if your caravan or trailer suffers a breakdown whilst its being towed. We will send a mechanic to fix the caravan or trailer at the roadside and if it can't be mended we will recover the towed vehicle to a local garage so that it can be fixed.
In the unlikely event that it can't be fixed in time for your original planned return date we will then either pay your expenses to go back and pick up your towed caravan or trailer or a recovery vehicle will repatriate it to your home address in the UK.
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The OP mentioned dogs, unfortunately for those owners of pets Eurobreakdown will not repatriate or allow into the recovery vehicle, its left for the owner to make arrangements.
Otherwise it looks like a good alternative for humans only.
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Yes..and cheaper.
Also be very aware of the 'Home to Home' clause with RP. ie..the first cost option(Standard cover) is for 31 days away. So a month abroad will take you over this limit which takes you into the next cost bracket..an extra £79..A stay on a 'ferry pitch' prior to embarkation the next morning is counted as one of your days...
C&CC same cost £282 as CaMC for Annual Multitrip with 93 days away in any one trip.
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We fell foul of the Home to Home cover - because we store our caravan in France - so couldn't continue to get cover with Red Pennant.
Metheven mentions something else for pet owners to take into consideration!!! Does the breakdown policy actually state what will happen in the event of you having a pet in the vehicle at the time of the breakdown? Many don't say anything at all, some say the pet can remain in the vehicle being recovered, some say something like 'We won't pay an extra costs for repatriation of your pet' and I don't think anyone says specifically 'Make other arrangements if you have a pet'. Perhaps this is another question we should make sure we all ask.
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Just got my renewal from Driver Guardian....£71.10 for FULL UK & European cover, however, it might not be for all because European cover is limited to 90 days (single trip max 31 days) and caravan not covered for breakdown if not attached to towing vehicle (ok so the tyre goes flat on a site, just hitch up, lol. What else could go wrong?)
Caravans covered up to 8 metres, not including hitch.
They only provide 5 star full cover and it suits me fine
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Two things:
A few years ago I broke down and needed a replacement car with auto gearbox and towbar. The Club RP office went to great lengths to provide me with what I needed. After a 1.5 days searching with no luck they took my advice and spoke to my Volvo dealership who hired them a courtesy car, problem solved.
RP does cover in excess of 8 metres, I know 'cos I have that cover on my Swift KT at 8.06. But, I have to pay an expensive excess for that .06mm! And you have to speak to an agent to get that quote, you can't do it on-line.
We won't travel without RP even at the rip-off price.
BillC
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We were insured with Saga who subcontracted the breakdown cover to AA. The Saga insurance covered vans in excess of 7 meters even though AA didn’t. Saga were unable to provide a replacement tow car when we broke down in Germany but that wasn’t a problem for us as we were on our way home.
If you are touring there is the problem that the tow car has to be insured for all countries but also needs to cover UK and be recovered from the UK unless you drop it at the port. I believe that RP could provide a UK car but am not sure.
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I respect your choice but on first looking into breakdown cover, the major worry for me has always been the possibility of having a breakdown on CAR when away from site and being told that, at worst, they will only repatriate the car because it wasn't connected to the van when the breakdown happened. This would leave you to arrange or at the least, pay for the caravan to be repatriated.
I think what we want as caravanners is that the outfit is covered, connected or not so that either part having a breakdown will get some assistance to repair or simply be brought home together (will always be their choice but hopefully with an agreed solution)
I will never understand (unless someone can explain) why they write the policies with such obvious exclusions that don't cover how people use their outfits.
This leaves a major cause for concern which is why we are happy with our caravan based choice which also covers the car attached or unattached.
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I will never understand (unless someone can explain) why they write the policies with such obvious exclusions that don't cover how people use their outfits.
This leaves a major cause for concern which is why we are happy with our caravan based choice which also covers the car attached or unattached.
It could be that they just don't get the concept? One of advantage of insuring through either of the Clubs is that they know what their members want. The members might not like paying for it but at least almost everything is covered.
David
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David, with respect, I was told that our current supplier Safeguard have a special deal with AA who organise the cover. Which DOES meet our exact needs (and I suspect what others would be happy with as a sensible level of support)
I have said many times that both Club's breakdown offers have far too many bells and whistles that we personally don't need, at a very high premium. There is also a mix of travel, personal and perhaps pet cover that are not needed by everyone AND you are only covered for caravan (and motorhome ;-) ) holidays meaning extra policies for any other breaks you may take. With CAMC I believe you also have to have RP AND Mayday unless you travel exclusively in Europe which seems excessive.
This doesn't seem anything like knowing what members want (more like milking them?) IMHO, the Clubs dictate rather than offer a menu system to give members the choice THEY need which should at least be comparable to the commercial rates mentioned by myself and others?
I'm now finding that there is little to no benefit of being in the Club as even cheap ferry prices (which was the last bastion of discount) is no longer a given but that's just my perception.
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Doug
You did ask "I will never understand (unless someone can explain) why they write the policies with such obvious exclusions that don't cover how people use their outfits." Surely the only conclusion is that they don't understand the needs of their customers? Perhaps the Clubs do over egg the pudding in what they include in their policies but at least they cover your needs even if they cover more than you want.
There have been calls over the years for the Club to offer a Red Pennant "Light" and I thought that some years ago they were considering this. Nothing has changed so I assume,on investigation, led them to believe it was better off sticking with a tried and tested offer. In the scheme of things I don't find Red Pennant expensive as we always get hit by extra premiums for medical conditions which sends the price of personal cover up elsewhere and I am yet to find another all in one policy which is cheaper. I am sure I am not alone. I appreciate you are mainly talking about recovery but there are many, like me, who want both.
David
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We used to use Mayday and Red Pennant but not for the last 3 years purely down to the cost + they would not cover our trike which we used to tow.
We now use the FREE 12mth European breakdown and medical insurance that we get with our Nationwide Flex account. For us this is not a problem as we do not have any medical conditions that are difficult to cover.
The only extra we pay is if we want to go away for longer than 31 days, which this year cost us an extra £80 which allows us to be away for 80 days
as there is no limit to how many times we are allowed to go away in any 12 mth period we think this is a good deal. Of course it also covers us for other types of holiday's including cruises, unlike RP.0 -
David, agree entirely, there is a lot of hard work comparing the various alternatives of separate travel insurance, personal cover, pet cover, breakdown, public liability, the list goes on. If you find a package that works for you then that's great.
Often it becomes so time consuming that it's tempting to give up.
However, my main objection is that the Club's offerings are regularly mentioned on here as being "the best" when equally valid cover can be obtained at a far lower price which may suit some users rather than just paying a very high price for Club products.
Like many other aspects, I feel that there is little to no notice being taken (or explanations given for terms and conditions or price), of views expressed on this forum which, for a member club is very disappointing but since I started on here, it hasn't changed.
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There is a potential gap in recovery of caravan for those who have their van insured with CMC under a caravan insurance policy. The last time I looked, about 2 years ago, there was no recovery of van in the event of it being damaged and untowable. At your own expense.
Don't know what current situation is if caravan detached and car breaks down.
Someone mentioned flat tyre on caravan when detached. As far as I know RP would cover this. They did about 4 years ago when we noticed a flat when on site. We don't use RP anymore as have Nationwide like Tammy and Saga caravan policy covers repatriation costs if van untowable.
If the situations I have described above have changed then can someone let me know so that I can ask Mods to delete incorrect post.
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