Red Pennant or alternative?
Currently planning for a trip later in the year and considering breakdown cover for the caravan. We have used Red Pennant before but Green Flag and others seem to offer similar cover at a lower cost. Are there any comments from people who have used these alternatives?
Comments
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Beware of comparing apples with pears.
If you just want a simple breakdown service - I.e one which provides a breakdown truck to take a sick vehicle to a garage, and if you are willing to stick around on a nearby campsite or even a hotel until they get the spares and fix things, and then pay them and go on your way - then there are insurers which will cover that for car, caravan or motorhome. It helps if you are independent and self reliant and can speak the foreign language well enough to cope while all that happens.But if you want more than that then Red Pennant does offer more- such as being taken to a pre booked campsite and maybe brought back, and having the possibility (but not certainty) of a big replacement hire car with a tow bar, and even perhaps a chauffeur to drive you home, a certain amount (but not all) towards the garage repair bill, and a greater degree of hand holding during your difficulties.
You have to read the small print of what each insurance includes and decide what you want it to include. But remember that whichever insurance you choose everything will be sub contracted to local operators Some are good. Some aren’t.
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I think Red Pennant is pretty much cast iron insurance to have if the price suits you. I used to use it until I got a motorhome and then it started to get expensive and I sought out cheaper alternatives. Perhaps not so good as RP but I have never had any problem with the alternatives. I have had travel problems a handful of times, one of these was a full breakdown (battery failure) another a less serious problem (fuel leak) and another a turbo problem. I needed help with these, the rest I have mostly been able to resolve myself by limping or calling into a garage. I do accept a small element of risk with the cheaper alternatives but so far the cover I have used has been ok. I have never tried Green Flag for foreign travel. My motorhome is currently insured via Comfort, as it has been for some years and it includes Europe wide breakdown
If my memory serves me correctly the major difference between RP and the alternatives is in the provision of a chauffeur service and pet coverage.
peedee
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Thanks for these responses. Much to think about.
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We had a similar quandary when arranging cover. After a few weeks research to work out if I was indeed comparing apples with apples, we came to the conclusion that given the choice of being a member of a club who have thier members interests at heart 'vs' a more business driven model, all the reviews pointed towards going with red pennant.
It is hopefully likely that you would get good service from both options, but there were too many horror stories from the other companies, where expectations for a rescue when the chips are down did not match anywhere near the reality of what then happened.
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I don’t peddle horror stories but here’s how things happened to us in real life.
On the autoroute heading home near Poitiers but the car started struggling in limp mode. So we stopped at one one of their roadside phones and asked for help. Regardless of who you have paid in UK for breakdown service the autoroute company sends their own contractor out . The depanneur who came plugged his laptop in and said “It’s the number 2 injector, monsieur “He was very helpful - took the caravan to Le Futuriste campsite, the car to a garage, and sent his bill to our insurers. But it was the Saturday of a public holiday and the garage was closed on the Sunday and Monday , but just before they closed at Saturday lunch time they ordered the injector they needed and fitted it on the Tuesday - and we had to hang around for three days.
So did it matter who we were insured with? Could Red Pennant have made things happen faster than three days? I doubt it.1 -
Summer of 2016 we left a campsite deep in the Dordogne one Sunday morning. About 100m out of the gate we had a terrible noise coming from the van. I thought that the brakes were binding following the bearing replacement on one side prior to our departure from UK. Red Pennant contacted and thought similar. We limped back to site where they had re-booked us in. A nice shiny recovery lorry arrived a couple of hours later with two mechanics.This surprised me as it was a Sunday. Van went up, wheel off, brakes cleaned out and bearing re-seated. An hour later we were ready to continue our journey. Our next site had been contacted about our situation and told we would be late. I could not have hoped for better service.
Colin
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Perhaps it is worth repeating for first time visitors to France - if you are in trouble on a peage(toll) autoroute in France neither this Club nor one of the other UK breakdown insurance companies can send a recovery truck or a mobile mechanic to you. The only breakdown service on those autoroutes is with the recovery company which has the contract with the owners of that road - and the way to get help in that situation is to use one of the free roadside phones, or ring 112. If you have a valid breakdown insurance the cost of the service will be charged to them. If not it will be charged to you - and the prices are on line.
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