Is Red Pennant worth it?
Im off abroad in the van. As its already costuing me an arm and a leg, I need to ask - is Red Pennant insurance worth it or can I get cheaper?
Comments
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There are two sides to your question.
You may or may not get personal/medical cover cheaper elsewhere - that depends on your age , state of health and medical history.
You can certainly find cheaper motor breakdown / recovery cover elsewhere - but it wIll be different and will not include the same details or the same provisions. You would need to compare policy documents closely to see what you would actually get and what you actually want. Red Pennant includes some items which other policies do not.
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In our case it is usually very well worth it. Let's just say that on balance, we have probably fad a problem with the car on the continent more times than we have not. Of course, you know how it goes: the time you don't take out cover........
David
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It was definitely worth it for us when we had an accident in our motorhome whilst in France some years ago. Red Pennant were absolutely marvellous from start to finish. We rang them as soon as we had the accident and they talked us through everything, arranged for the breakdown people to come, asked us to ring them again when we arrived at the breakdown garage which we did and a lovely bi-lingual lady on the other end of the phone talked through everything with us and the garage. They arranged a hire car and accommodation in a Logis. We were stuck in France for 5 days until the recovery truck could get to us in France (the weekend and a strike got in the way) and they phoned us everyday to ask us how we were. They also re-arranged our ferry for us. The breakdown truck arrived with a car for us to drive home in and took our motorhome to our local dealer back home and collected the car we had driven home in. The young man who was driving the break down truck couldn't have been more helpful either. Red Pennant paid for everything we just had to keep receipts of all our bills for the Logis and any meals out. We wouldn't travel on the continent without Red Pennant cover. They were brilliant.
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..... Let's just say that on balance, we have probably fad a problem with the car on the continent more times than we have not. ....
What are you driving? Even my ageing Omega made there & back a few times with no problems at all .... other than the ability to pass a petrol station!
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Insurance is one of those things no one likes paying for and when it has been bought no one wants to be in a situation when they need to use it. I would never go without it. My luck is that the once I may try is the time I need it.
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Is insurance worth it? You bet. Is Red Pennant worth it? Well, there are alternatives but nothing as comprehensive. It depends whether you can live without the extras RP gives you plus the excellent back up service. It also depends on the difference between
RP and the alternatives and how long you are going for. You really have to do a lot of research yourself but there are numerous threads on this subject on CT.0 -
My answer to the OP, probably not but it depends how comprehensive you want the cover to be. If your car breaks down do you really want to have another tow car to continue your holiday or do you just want to fly home? If your
Mhome has a serious problem you probably just want to fly home and let somebody fetch it for you - you don't need RP for that.0 -
..... Let's just say that on balance, we have probably fad a problem with the car on the continent more times than we have not. ....
What are you driving? Even my ageing Omega made there & back a few times with no problems at all .... other than the ability to pass a petrol station!
All manner of vehicles over the last 40 odd years. All regularly maintained and service. I think I'm generally not a lucky person with cars. Currently I have a Discovery 3. Apart from the service and cambelts changed within the last month, I have had rear discs and pads replaced, tyes all around and then about 10 days ago we started to get a noise. Mechanic thought front bearings. He replaced the front NS bearing - no different. So he put the good bearing he had taken off the NS on to the OS, just to try it. No difference! Other contenders are propshaft, transfer box or diff. Propshaft now replaced - no different. My regular mechanic has no time to do the repair this week. As it is urgent, I've taken the car to a very reputable local mechanic who specialises in Land Rovers.
He drove it around and said diff. Then he got it on the ramp and agreed with my regular mechanic to try the transfer box. I've now got the part and he will put it on Friday.
Am I going without Red Pennant? Not likely!!
David
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We usually take out RP but this year we found out that the trailer isn't covered in its own right, so we had to look elsewhere for cover, we found it with Green Flag. It covers everything we wanted and for 12 mths not just for a given period of time, full
UK and European cover. There is non of the faff about home to home, losing days off your holiday because you want to take your time going to the ferry etc. RP is good but there are other choices out there and the world doesn't stop turning if you go with someone
else
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We had a problem on holiday when the Central Locking on our habitation door failed. Now it can be locked by a key but I was having problems with that. I rang RP and they did two things for me. Firstly they got our dealer to ring me direct and talked it through
and they also rang a local motorhome dealer to see if there was anything they could do. I suppose I could have done all that myself but was concerned I might have had difficulty if my limited German could not get the problem explained properly. Fortunately
our UK dealer was able to help explain why I was having difficulties and resolved the problem enough to make the van secure. I am not sure how many other insurance providers would have gone to so much trouble?David
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What price for peace of mind? It may be more expensive but when my husband was taken ill a few days before driving back to the ferry last year, it was worth every penny to know that if he couldn't drive I could ring the CC and everything would be taken care
of for me. In the end we didn't need them but it was so reassuring to know that they were there if we did.0 -
We had a problem on holiday when the Central Locking on our habitation door failed. ....
Hardly a break down then ......
I don't really understand your point! It was a serious problem for me as I was initially unable to secure the van. Had it not been resolved we may have had to abandon the holiday, a week into a seven week trip. However the point of my post was that Red Pennent
was there to help in a quick and efficient way and I was very grateful and so to me it provided good value.0 -
Milliehull said how pleased she was with Red Pennant, but I thought having to hang around for five days waiting for a hire car to arrive was pretty bad. I could have found a hire car myself within an hour so I guess it depends whether you want everything
done for you or not.0 -
We took out Red Pennant breakdown insurance and had Personal cover with Nationwide as we have an account with Nationwide. The Personal cover is free! This saved us quite a few quid. Plus we have the EHIC card just in case. RP is expensive, but it works!
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Broke down a few years ago when the gear box went on the sorento, had a replacement tow car out to me within 3 days and sori taken home at my request, a couple on the same site who used another well known break down cover also had a brake down with a knackard
engine and were told they had to have it repaired locally and had to extend their holiday as it took 10days, For me RP is worth every penny.0 -
We would not travel without ADAC. Excellent efficient service all speak English so no problems there. Covers items RP doesn't. And for under £100 a year covering you in UK too. up to 10 metre long caravans/trailers, covered if not attached to car eg on
campsite both vehicles covered. Been members over 10 years now used 3 times each in a different country, sorted in no time. The 2nd largest Breakdown Organization in the World to AAA of US.DianneT
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I have paid for it every trip (over 40 now) and never claimed, must be around £5k now at todays prices but one incident could easily cost that and more. I have looked for alternatives including ADAC but by the time medical/personal cover was found elsewhere
for the length of trips we take (free bank cover only does short trips) there was nothing in it but the added complication of dealing with multiple agencies.It may be for a shorter trip there are savings to be made but I have not found them for 120 days a year.
David
Not sure we have spent as much as you on Red Pennant but I am sure that if I added it up it would come to a tidy sum. I think there are any number of alternative breakdown packages that you could buy that would do the job but as you point out it is the medical
side that causes us the problem. Supposedly free bank based products are not as free as they claim and by the time you add the excesses in they end up more expensive than RP. Even ordinary overseas medical insurance policies add pounds for every medical condition.
One well known company even refuse to cover us, whether that was because of Margaret's bypass operation or the fact that she uses insulin its difficult to tell. With RP you answer a few simple questions and its all arranged, simple.David
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To me the cost is not excessive when you consider the potential cost of a claim where a car and caravan or motorhome have to be repatriated from the South of France. In proportion to the cost of a foreign holiday it is not that great. It was set up by the club knowing the needs of members better than those who just see it as a way to make money or as an add on to a standard motoring policy but not knowing exactly what is needed..
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Im off abroad in the van. As its already costuing me an arm and a leg, I need to ask - is Red Pennant insurance worth it or can I get cheaper?
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We find that CCC has always offered an equivalent level of cover for a cheaper price. Comments from members who have needed to use the service seem to show the same high level of satisfaction as fom CC members who have used RP.
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