C&CC Arrival Overseas Option
Good morning,
When it comes to our overseas trips I have always tended to sign up to Red Pennant without bothering to check what other alternatives are available. Like a lot of people I am sure. Last year, for the first time ever, I had an issue with my car, and I needed to use the services of Red Pennant. To be honest, the service was very poor. And that is being generous.
Although I may stick with Red Pennant, I want to see what other options are available. The obvious alternative is the Camping Club's Arrival service with the added overseas cover. I have checked through the details and can't see any obvious areas where the benefits are not as good as RP. Am I missing anything substantial?
There seems to be some benefits of Arrival over Red Pennant (Annual). The cost for me for Arrival plus Overseas (Ultimate) is about £60 less for the year than the equivalent Mayday plus RP. Also, the Arrival overseas cover is for multiple overseas trips upto 90 days. Whereas RP is only up to 31 days (or longer for a higher cost).
So, grateful for any views of Arrival. Are the benefits just as good as RP? Has anybody used it recently? Was the service good?
Grateful for any comments.
Comments
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And another for you to look at is Eurobreakdown.com
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I suppose it might depend on if you also take out the health cover with RP or have a separate health cover provider. Combined we have always found them good value. Just taking the health cover when we did a Eurostar trip was expensive. Does the same apply if you just take out the breakdown?
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We've not used Arriva but I know there are members on CT who have. They should pick this up and comment soon.
We have used RP a few times but stopped using them about 7 years ago. We now use our bank for both overseas breakdown and holiday insurance. RP is very expensive compared to other suppliers, one year we did use Green Flag overseas service.
Strangely the only times we had to use a service was with RP, the staff were very helpful but it didn't all go smoothly.
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In the past, I have used both but like TG I now use alternatives. From what I recall Club Care had wider geographical coverage, in my case it was better for visiting Morocco. I also seem to remember there was a difference in the cover for pets, only significant if your travel with one. It always appeared as though RP was the more professional but I never had to call on either so that is a very subjective assessment. However, it was some time ago and insurance conditions change. If C&CC Club Care is still available, I can only recommend you read the policies, both should be available on line and decide for yourself.
Some of the alternatives people use are usually through the banks and vehicle insurance. I have European wide breakdown insurance as part of my vehicle insurance and I find the Nationwide World Wide travel insurance policy available to account holders good value.
peedee
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Thank you all for your comments.
SteveL - The figures I have quoted refer to breakdown cover only. I have annual health cover with my bank which I am happy with.
Deleted User User - That's frustrating. Although I was under the impression Red Pennant did the same. I may be wrong.
Tammygirl - I did put a question on CT but it didn't get much traction. Must be a quiet time of year. Or it's a boring subject lol.
Peedee - I have read the terms of conditions of both policies and, on the surface, they seem similar. But I want to make sure I am not missing something obvious. Especially with regard to being able to continue a holiday after a breakdown. Also, hearing of users experiences with Arrival would be useful.
I am a little wary of putting my faith in other "non caravan specific" breakdown policies. I'm sure all of these policies cover the caravan when it is attached to the car, but a vitally important area to me (and I'm sure all caravaners) is what cover you have when you are on holiday but not towing. Whether it's a caravan being immobilised whilst on its pitch, or if your caravan be will be picked up, and if necessary recovered back to the UK, if you breakdown whilst away from the van.
Eurotraveller - Thank you. I had recently heard about Eurobreakdown.com and I have had a quick look at their website. I have yet to ascertain if the caravan is fully covered as I mentioned above. Have you signed up with them?
Are there any other "caravan specific" breakdown policies that people are aware of? Brittania Rescue?
Grateful for any advice.
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Stato, I suspect your requirements may be more demanding than mine ever were.
I was content with breakdown insurance which covered 80% of the problems which might arise, but I accepted there were always going to be exceptions that weren’t covered. My requirements were smaller than some people would regard as essential.
I never required onward travel to a pre booked destination. Several times we sat on a local campsite for a few days while repairs were under way - and then carried on.
I never phoned a UK number to tell the insurer that I had a problem and needed them to solve it. I always got local garages to fix the problem, paid them, and put in a claim when I got home.
I never asked for a car with a tow bar to continue a tour, but once we abandoned a caravan to be brought back from France on a low loader and discovered some very nice hotels on our own drive back. On another occasion in an emergency we flew home from Nimes and went back to collect car and caravan a few weeks later.
We never needed to include medical and health cover for ourselves as we always had an annual worldwide policy in place for our other travels .
In short I am probably not the right person to advise you but I hope your travels go smoothly. Mine rarely did !
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Thank you eurotraveller for your interesting comments.
The value I put on overseas caravan specific travel insurance has changed since last year. I certainly learnt some invaluable lessons. I can't remember the last time I was in a car that broke down. It was an almighty pain in the rear.
My car developed an issue whilst I was away from the van. Fortunately I was able to get back to the van in limp mode. If the car had stopped completely, and I only had a bog standard breakdown policy, the recovery service would have been under no obligation to take me back to the site to pick up the van. At least that is how I read it. That would have been a major headache for me. Fortunately I had Red Pennant which meant I was fully covered. And luckily for me it was only two days before we were due to come home anyway.
In my opinion the days of waiting a couple of days for a local garage to fix a car may be over. After my car was recovered back to the UK I was advised by Hyundai that the part required to fix the problem was not available. They estimated it would be about six to eight weeks before they could get the part. I was quite shocked. That is why I would like a breakdown policy which, if required, would supply a replacement tow car to enable me to continue my holiday. We are having a five week trip this year. I would be gutted if I had to come home early due to car issues.
Apologies for prattling on.
Would still be grateful for any views on Arrival, or any other similar type breakdown service.
Thanks
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Are there any other "caravan specific" breakdown policies that people are aware of? Brittania Rescue?
Not exactly caravan specific but the policy provided to Nationwide's Flex Plus account holders is underwritten by the AA. It seems fine and includes European cover, up to normal limits for caravans and M/Hs. One thing I noticed last year when perusing the policy prior to travelling abroad was that repatriation of pets didn't seem to be covered. We don't have any so didn't affect us.
If you don't have the account or thinking of opening one then just ignore post but might be worth exploring AA stand alone cover.
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When I last used the CCC overseas booking service pre covid,I am sure they used a company called Intana or something similar for breakdown insurance rather than adding on RAC arrival cover.
This was part of the additional cost along with the health side of it.I can remember it being good value at the time as it was priced to how long you needed when touring abroad.Luckily I didn't have the need to use their breakdown company.
Looking at their foreign travel service now,I cannot see any insurances run by the CCC for overseas now.
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Wherenext --Thanks. My main concern with these type of bank account policies is what happens if you break down whilst on holiday, but away from the caravan. This is what happened to me (although the car was drivable in limp mode). I may be completely wrong, but as far as I understand it with these type of policies the recovery service are under no obligation to take you back to the caravan, and recover it back to the UK. Some people may think I'm overthinking this, but to me that would cause an awful lot of hassle. If this is not the case I am happy to be corrected.
As I also mentioned, I do prefer a policy which permits you to continue with your holiday, with either a replacement car or alternative accommodation. I really wouldn't want to return home early. Again, I'm not too sure if the bank account policies permit this.
Fozzie - I'm not a member of the C&CC (yet) so haven't been able to check all the details, but the overseas cover is just a standard add on to the regular Arrival breakdown cover. I don't need health cover, and this year have booked direct with the ferry company. I found the Caravan Clubs ferry prices were way too expensive.
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I'm insured with LV and have the overseas cover with Brittania (discounted if you are a Boundless member). Every year, before we leave for Europe, I always discuss the caravan cover with LV/Brittania. I was told that providing the caravan was hitched to the car at the time of breakdown or accident, both would be recovered to a local garage. From there onwards, removing the caravan and taking it to a campsite would be up to the discretion of the garage management, and I suspect, no doubt would incur a charge.
On my car policy, I seem to remember that there is an extra premium if you need a replacement car whilst your own is being repaired. I would think that is the same for when you are abroad.
As always, I will phone LV/Brittania Rescue prior to the renewal to check on my level of cover for when travelling abroad. We also tour abroad for more than 31 days at a time, so need extended cover.
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Thank you HT11. I have had a look at Brittania Rescue's overseas cover. It all seems good, apart from what happens if you breakdown away from the caravan. I think that could cause enormous problems. It would be interesting to hear what Brittania Rescue say they would do in that situation.
As far as I am aware, the only policies that guarantee to reunite your car with your caravan in the event of a breakdown are Red Pennant, Arrival, and Safeguard (but only if you are insured with them). If anybody knows of other policies that will reunite please do let me know.
Thanks
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Seems to me that if I break down away from the caravan and the car is towed to a garage I have all sorts of options to get back to the caravan. The garage or the breakdown man might take me (for cash), or there might be a hire car, or a local taxi, Money always talks - and it can be claimed afterwards on the insurance.
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Thank you eurotraveller. We definitely have differing requirements when it comes to breakdown policies. But if your system works for you then that is great. Interesting that you say you can claim back additional costs from your insurance. Do you mean your travel insurance?
You mentioned Eurobreakdown.com in an earlier post. It looks as if it could be a good policy in terms of covering a caravan. Have you ever used them?
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No, I haven’t personally used that company, Sorry
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Just renewed our Arrival cover including the European option for £266.98, the best bit is they cover a trip up to 350 days, most I think only cover a 90 day trip.
Ours this coming year is 141 days so suits us just fine, going to Romania and Bulgaria to help avoid 90 day Schengen rule problems.
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We have used Arrival for several years but only had to make use of it once when the electric handbrake on the LandRover siezed-up while we were out for the day in SW France. A call to the RAC office in Lyons was all it took to get things moving. The car was recovered and taken for repair, the following day a taxi arrived to take us to the car rental agency to pick-up a hire car which we had for about 5 days while the car was repaired. When the car was ready the taxi re-appeared to take us to the garage to collect it. All-in-all a fairly painless operatiion (apart from the cost of the repairs to the LR!).
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mapman - Thanks. I found the cost of Red Pennant over 31 days to be far too high. Especially when I may only be going for a couple of extra days over the 31 day segment. To me that was one of the advantages of Arrival over Red Pennant. The standard Arrival European add on covers you for all trips up to 350 days.
Landyrover - Thank you for that feedback. It was reassuring to read it all went well. It was in stark contrast to my experience with Red Pennant last year.
Kasspa - Thanks. That sounds a decent deal for motorhomers.
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