Single trip EU breakdown cover?

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traineefarmer
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Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by traineefarmer » Sun Apr 24, 2016 9:37 pm

I've got a family holiday to Disneyland Paris in May.

We're driving there in the XC90.

It hasn't broken down in over a year. :lol:

I've never taken out a breakdown policy in my life, but feel like I want to before this trip :?

Any advice or recommendations would be gratefully received.
Tom.

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'03 XC90 D5

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by deano » Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:43 pm

Only one thing... The RAC is better then the AA
1993 Rover 827 SLI Fastback Mk2
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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by deano » Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:44 pm

oh.... and have you checked that you insurance is valid for the trip ?
1993 Rover 827 SLI Fastback Mk2
1999 Rover 825 Sterling Saloon Mk2 (HGF)
------------------
Previously
1996 Rover 825 Sterling Coupe Mk2
1993 Rover 827 Sterling Saloon Mk2
1990 Rover 827 Sterling Saloon Mk1
1972 Rover P6 2000TC

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 12:36 am

What Dean said ^^^^^ - also you can take out personal cover with the RAC which covers you as the driver or passenger in any car, regardless of age. Many breakdown cover companies won't cover vehicles over 10 years old (Green Flag comes to mind for some reason) and if memory serves, neither do the AA or RAC. Having seen many of the misdiagnosed breakdowns from the AA (and next to none from the RAC) i would definitely say go for the RAC. However, you might find that if you upgrade your bank account you can get breakdown cover included (usually with Green Flag and has a car age limit) or that when you get your green card from your insurers, they may have a one-off European cover you can take out. Beware though that it doesn't have age restrictions on the vehicle though.

Sods Law being what it is, if you decide to risk it without cover, that will be the time when it does break down. Have you considered hiring a car to take on holiday instead? It may work out cheaper to do that and it will come with breakdown cover.

A few ideas there, not sure if they're all good, especially the last one but might spawn other ideas for you.
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by traineefarmer » Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:21 am

My insurance does have fully comp EU cover.

I've never been a believer in breakdown cover, I've heard too many stories of hidden costs and roadside bodgery by the various companies. Also I have a rudimentary tool kit in the cars and aside from a couple of occasions, have always managed to get myself home.

I've never taken a car of my own abroad before so with my family on board want that extra bit of reassurance.

Driving there is a cost and practicality decision. Flying is cheaper until you add on costs like long term airport parking and a hire car/transfers. Train is marginally faster, but costly and I have no idea what I would do with my rucksack and the 15 suitcases the women would want to take.

Deano - what makes you say the RAC are better than AA? Other people I've spoken to recommend the AA above all else.
Tom.

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:55 am

Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by CHR15E » Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:33 am

I've had both over the last 10 years and not had an issue with either.

I have personal cover so I'm covered wherever I am who ever I'm with.

They will always take me home which is what I wanted, though if you've spent a lot on a holiday I guess onward travel is worth having?
Chris
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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by gyrobird » Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:51 pm

traineefarmer wrote:what makes you say the RAC are better than AA? Other people I've spoken to recommend the AA above all else.
I feel a lawsuit coming on :wink:

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by deano » Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:14 pm

Well... when I was with the AA I never called them out once in about 5 years.
and then I had a run of bad luck and had to call them out a couple of times, silly things like jump starts, and then I called them out to tow me old mans car off the motorway (had to blag that one, I wasn't even there)
Anyway , couple of weeks later got a arsey letter from them saying that I need to maintain my cars better and if I called them out again they would start charging me :shock:

Liberty :evil:

I switched to RAC the following year after seeing a good offer, and what with running 3 or 4 motors in a year and borrowing my sons car too....
I think within the space of 2 years I called them out to 6 different cars.... Not One word of complaint . Had several cars transport from Kent to London (2 HGF , 1 Ecu problem), not a problem, always helpful :)

Only Issue I had was when my sons Pug 206 broke down on the way back from Manchester, we had to wait 2 and half hours . :(
And then they charged us £90 for a coilpack which i could have bought for half that.
Also we had to pay there and then , if we didn't they would have towed us into the services and left us there, even though we had recovery.
They said `we fix it if we can rather then tow it in.... we can fix it, so if you don't pay for it that's your fault we wont recover it as well`

My point was , if we never had a credit card , why could they not bill us for it afterwards.... I`d been with them about 10 years by then.


anyways, that my experience of them 8)
1993 Rover 827 SLI Fastback Mk2
1999 Rover 825 Sterling Saloon Mk2 (HGF)
------------------
Previously
1996 Rover 825 Sterling Coupe Mk2
1993 Rover 827 Sterling Saloon Mk2
1990 Rover 827 Sterling Saloon Mk1
1972 Rover P6 2000TC

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:19 pm

Fair points well made Dean!

My experience with the AA is they aren't much good at fault diagnosis. The number of starter motor failures i've seen them bring in that have turned out to be HGF is absolutely amazing! Best one was on a Calibra Turbo where the engine had completely hydra-locked because of all the coolant getting into the pistons! Couldn't turn it over until the plugs were removed, then the starter worked fine! The business next door moaned like hell as 4 jets of water shot out of the plugholes all over their premises! :lol:
Cheers,
Dave

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'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by traineefarmer » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:18 am

scoobyh123 wrote:Fair points well made Dean!

My experience with the AA is they aren't much good at fault diagnosis. The number of starter motor failures i've seen them bring in that have turned out to be HGF is absolutely amazing! Best one was on a Calibra Turbo where the engine had completely hydra-locked because of all the coolant getting into the pistons! Couldn't turn it over until the plugs were removed, then the starter worked fine! The business next door moaned like hell as 4 jets of water shot out of the plugholes all over their premises! :lol:
It's got to be a pretty thankless job, especially in the winter. I considered applying for a job with the AA when they were running a national recruitment campaign many moons ago. Later seeing some poor AA man laying under some steaming French scrap in the driving snow on the side of a motorway in the middle of the night made me very glad I never got past printing the application forms.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm now having a good search around for a good deal.
Tom.

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Re: Single trip EU breakdown cover?

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:53 am

Maybe that's why they had the nationwide recruitment drive? I think that was about 10-12 years ago, you could barely move for adverts to join the AA as one of their patrols.
Lovely job on a bright, sunny day when the motorist happens to be a scantily clad female but an evil job laying under anything on the motorway in the driving snow, especially a heap of French junk that is spouting more steam than a Tefal Iron Convention!
Cheers,
Dave

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'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
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