Beware Mayday shortcomings!
We have the highest level of cover excluding personal Cover. I think the CMC have a duty of care to highlight this to all members that have Mayday cover and used a storage compound for their caravans. Our policy states the following;
Your cover includes;
Cover anywhere in the UK, including your doorstep along with transport of your vehicle to the repairer of your choice within a 10 miles of your recovery destination, if we can’t easily fix the problem on the spot.
However as our caravan is kept in storage our “recovery destination” is the caravan storage depot. Therefore once the caravan has been dropped off they will then take the vehicle to the garage which is within 10 miles. A concern is that the vehicle would be full of our personal belongings plus our pets and we would have to find our own way back from the garage or rely on the goodwill of the recovery driver.
If it is after hours for the garage like a Sunday, Bank holiday or late in the evening, the issue is compounded as the garage will be closed. The chances of getting a taxi home with all our belongings and pets would be remote. Who would want to leave their vehicle parked up on a street with all their belongings and perhaps pets until the next day when the garage opens? This has insurance implications especially if the vehicle has keyless entry.
The alternative is to change the “recovery destination” to your residence and for many this is not practical if there is no room for you to store any caravan. In addition most insurance policies for caravans only allow for it to be parked outside the residence for 48 hours if the caravan is normally kept in storage.
Again if it is after hours for the garage your vehicle may be left out in the street near the garage with you hoping that the recovery driver has been able to push the keys through a letter box at the garage. This would also have insurance implications especially if the vehicle has keyless entry.
Final alternative is for the garage to be the recovery destination and leave the car and caravan there and again this has insurance implications. Again an issue if it is after hours. At least you may then be taken home but probably relying on the goodwill of the driver.
All the above were confirmed to me by a Mayday representative who phoned me to discuss the matter. Although I asked on more than one occasion regarding the issue if it is a Sunday, Bank holiday or after hours the representative evaded the question or did not understand the question.
It looks like we will need to start shopping around for a more flexible breakdown company and one that will ensure that we are taken home after the caravan has been dropped off at the storage compound and that the car is kept safe until it can be delivered to the garage when the garage is open for business I am now wondering if Red Pennant have similar restrictions?
Comments
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I thought it had already been established by a CC rep on the other thread, that the car would not automatically be taken to a garage from the storage compound. That it was at the recovery drivers discretion.
I am confused. Although that is not uncommon.😂
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Cover anywhere in the UK, including your doorstep along with transport of your vehicle to the repairer of your choice within a 10 miles of your recovery destination, if we can’t easily fix the problem on the spot.
I suppose you could say that you have your engineer carry out repairs at your home? Doesn't necessarily help a lot if the car is undriveable following a suspension failure
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Vehicle Recovery seems to get bundled with a lot of other products as an enhancement (maybe with a slight fee increase). Perhaps Club members who could potentially find themselves in this double destination difficulty could arrange to have another cover available to them that would convey the broken vehicle from their home address to the local repairer.
I appreciate not everyone has a vehicle that is still under warranty, but most garages seem to have some sort of arrangement to get broken vehicles to their premises for repair - even if it is no longer an old Land Rover with a crane on the back!
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We are now looking at RAC Arrival even if it means joining the other club. We hardly use the main sites preferring CLs so the main reason why we stay members is CLs, Mayday and RP however we are now wondering if Red Pennant have a similar restriction?
As I have mobility issues and also have our pets with us when travelling is of very great concern to us as we would prefer to pay the extra for the correct sort of cover.
We are now wondering if it is possible to take out Greenflag breakdown to get the vehicle to the garage in the event that we are at the storage depot?
Of course we hope that none of the scenarios above will ever occur, but we need to be prepared with the correct cover and also for peace of mind.
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I would question if the representative had all of this information correct.
Last year, I had to call out Mayday to a motorcycle I was riding on a Sunday under my personal cover.
The first technician that attended was unable to get the bike going, but didn't have a suitable vehicle for recovery, so he arranged for a second vehicle to recover the bike. I was told because it was Sunday and thus repairers would be closed, that they would recover me home and that I would then be able to call Mayday again on Monday and they would recover the bike a second time from my home to a repairer.
As it was, I never tested this - it was going to be a further two hours wait for recovery, and during this time managed to fix the bike at the side of the road myself!
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Not really as Mayday is a current product that is offered by the CC, but supposedly only to members. The other refers to an issue that the person had with Mayday so perhaps it should also be under the heading "Products" rather than "Membership"
BTW I have noticed that Green Flag offer the identical cover for caravans.
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I've just been looking into this and called Britannia Rescue, which provides our car breakdown cover (through LV=, our car insurer). Apparently caravan breakdown cover is included already, provided: -
1/ The caravan is no longer than 8m including the tow bar/A-frame
2/ The breakdown is more and 1/4 mile from your home.
Works for us!
Policy details are at...
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Hi Surfer
I experienced a pretty horrendous recovery situation last year with Mayday. If you have double destination cover and Green Flag cannot recover to your compound in opening hours, they have to arrange to take it to their local agent's compound for overnight, or longer, until your storage compound and garage open.
The local agent will arrange onward travel when they open, the double destination part of the agreement means that you and your essential luggage have to be taken to your home address, either before, or after, the vehicle goes to the local agent's compound.
Good luck with dealing with Green Flag as you always end up speaking with a different operator and they all have a different interpretation of the terms.
Be firm and insist on talking to supervisors and if you're in business hours pester The Club to help deal with them.
You subscribe to The Clubs Mayday Service, get them to ensure you get what you've paid for.
I eventually got mine sorted, but it was akin to pulling teeth and spoiled a lovely fortnight in Dorset.
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I am in the process of searching for an appropriate recovery service which would recover the caravan to a CC storage facility before then taking the car to my home. Interested in the comments about Mayday cover and the restrictions imposed. I currently have RAC Arrival cover available through the Camping and Caravan Club, but would not recommend it if, as in "Surfer's" case and mine, the caravan is stored away from home. With RAC Arrival they will take the caravan and car to different destinations, but there is a 75 mile limit for the caravan. That could prove awkward if you are touring more than 75 miles from home, or storage, and need recovery. In my situation I store at Lady Margaret's Park, Chirk but live near Southampton, a distance of 220 miles. I do this for convenience because a). no where to keep caravan at home and b). I spend most of my time caravanning in North Wales therefore it saves towing distance. When I took out the policy I was told on the phone by the customer service agent that the policy covered my situation and the caravan would be recovered to wherever I wanted. Since found in the terms and conditions small print that the 75 mile restriction applies, therefore policy miss-sold. RAC will not admit liability saying I should have read T&Cs earlier. But having been told on phone (call recorded) that policy met my needs I should have been able to trust that information without having to resort to reading T&Cs in case a mistake had been made! Still battling with RAC about that issue.
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As there is a vast distance between the caravan storage and your residence I suppose it is understandable. We have now switched to RAC Arrival for peace of mind as they have assured us that will take the caravan to the storage, drop us off at home which is 10 miles from the storage and then take the vehicle to the dealership who are 65 miles from our residence once the pets and luggage have bee off loaded.
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Going a bit off topic, but I received a letter in the post today inviting me to take out breakdown cover with mayday. I already have recovery plus with Green Flag. I checked before I took out the cover to ensure that it would cover my caravan. The total cost to us £43.00 and some pence. Granted that it doesn't cover dual recovery, but we store the caravan at home.
I would always call Green Flag direct to get a comparison.
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