240 General: breakdown cover..I wish i had thought of that idea!

[t5frankie]

try more than costs me 9.50 a month for uk and european and last year i did have to use it as i broke down in the south of france with a knackered clutch they took myself and my family home (7 of us) on 1st class train travel and the car arrived on the back of an artic a week later all this with only 1 payment of £9.50 bargain i reckon

[Rustee]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Try the Guild of Experienced Motorists/Motoring Assist:

http://www.motoringassist.com

I use GEM too, they have towed me twice in the past year, one of which was a friends car that I use, the other my 740, they are great, turned out both times within 40 minutes. £84 covers me and the other half and you get a good magazine periodically. They have been going since the thirties. Recommend them over previous AA and RAC ecperiences.

[James_N]

Originally Posted by stevo48

Have a word with your bank regarding breakdown cover, I pay £12 per month for breakdown cover through my bank.

Be careful this. My mate got caught out this way after i took him to collect an impulse buy off ebay - a Subaru Legacy. It blew up after 7 miles!

Cue a wait of 2 hours on the hard shoulder, while we get towed to the nearest service station. Cue another wait of 3 hours while we waited for a second opinion mechanic to come out to see if it was fixable (despite steam / smoke still bellowing from under the bonnet!).

Second opinion mechanic comes out, basically tells us, its fecked, then we have to wait for yet another AA recovery truck to come and take it home, only then to find his breakdown cover with his bank only covers him for fixing the car at the roadside, and to tow him home would be £2 a mile (we were 150 miles from home at this point, no need for a calculator!!)

So I had to ring the RAC and use my disabled breakdown cover to get the car home! That was another 2 hour wait for the truck, and then the time it took to get home!

Think it was about 12-13 hours it took us to get home! Bank breakdown cover usually only includes roadside assistance!

[BrianH]

Went 18 years without breakdown cover without a problem, then went to GEM.

The coil went on the Autobahn, no cover on old cars in Europe!!. 120 euros tow. Volvo charged 15 euros for used coil. Funny thing is I had been carrying a spare for years but not that day.

Spent years looking at cover for 20+ year old cars. then when to Britannia for £35 roadside (though as said before, who will know most). I can see now that recovery IS important since the alternator let me down without warning at 403k.

I will check out the cost on this before I go on holiday tomorrow, towing!!

[S40T3]

I'm with the German ADAC. around 80 euro per annum for worldwide cover. Cover is limited outside of Germany. about 200/250 euro towing and some limit on roadside, but it does include recovery to your home if the car cannot be repaired. The English page is here http://www.adac.de/mitgliedschaft/ad....aspx#ank84037 A thread on Pistonheads.com put me onto this, as I spend half the year overseas!

Here's the Pistonheads link: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...ver%20-%20info