Having been covered by the AA, RAC and Green Flag over the years we currently have no cover apart from my car as it is a company car.
What we want is cover that will take us and the car HOME if it cant be fixed.
Cover would be for my wife (not in case she breaks down!) rather than for a specific vehicle as we have several.
Any suggestions very welcome as always!
Thank You
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Tesco - backed by Green Flag, cheap and cheerful.
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Thanks PU, I never thought of them and my wife works for Tesco!
However, they actually come out £10 more expensive than the RAC : o (
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I'm just renewing mine with Britannia (through CSMA). I've got me and SWMBO, in any car, recovered to home for eighty quid. Home start not included.
I looked at GEM, but I felt Britannia was better.
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Same hassle as last year - Renewal from Direct Line £120+ for 2 cars inc home start
Took Policy with Green Flag (same company as DL and same cover) - £92 last year.
Renewal in this year £99 inc 10% NCB
(GF and same cover for same cars) Took out new policy in SWMBO name £85
Person at other end suggested that it was a bit a silly beggars with renewals and new customers getting better deals.
Next year? it might be in the dog's name it it works out cheaper.
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Just took out a policy with Autoaid - slightly different in that you pay the garage and then claim it back from them. Do a search on here for them, I took it out as a result of the glowing references on here!
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What about taking out cover when you renew your car insurance ?
This usually works out cheaper than taking an individual policy.
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If you run a fairly up to date car, sevice it and look after it then you are very unlikely to need breakdown cover.
This is how I treat my cars. I take out Autoaid through Boncaster at £35 for my own and wife's cars. Now, I've not had a breakdown for years so don't know how good they are. In addition you pay the recovering garage and claim back, but that's what credit cards are for.
They suit me fine, but if you run a 1992 Metro that's not seen a service for 5 years it may be a different story.
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The car it will be covering is a 1990 low mileage Mini 1000 plus a 1978 MGB GT both of which have engines rebuilt by me and have never let me down BUT if we have just one motorway breakdown it will cost a small fortune to get recovered.
>>>If you run a fairly up to date car, sevice it and look after it then you are very unlikely to need breakdown cover.
This is nonsense. I have company cars that are always serviced on the button, always driven considerately and they have been the subject of more calls to breakdown services than any of my classic cars ever have
>>>In addition you pay the recovering garage and claim back, but that's what credit cards are for.
I dont have a credit card and have no intention whatsover of getting one. If I cant afford something I dont get into debt, I save and buy it when I have the money. Thats why I choose to pay for breakdown cover rather than breakdown insurance.......
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Don't the MG Owner's club have a scheme ?
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I got GF's top UK cover for my 9 year old 406 HDi,through Quidco,for £58 instead of £78.
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If you book online as a new customer, it is considerably cheaper.
Despite being a customer of a well known break down group since 1982... and on a large company discount scheme... i checked on line to see what the price would be for an upgrade to the top cover... and was surprised to note it was about £60 cheaper on line than me as a 25 yr old customer AND on a 25% discount scheme.
Rang up to moan and as i was speaking to Mr Uninterested and got to the bit where I advised him i'd change to a rival and book online, i got transferred to 'retentions'... where a very nice chap agreed the anomaly didn't reward long term customers and knocked off about £40 off the premium....which was good enough for me to stay
down side is i'll have to do this every year
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This is exactly the problem I have with the two major rescue services, every year the premium seems to double from the year before until I ring up and say I will go with another company then all of a sudden it becomes much cheaper. I get fed up with being taken for a mug and having to waste my time every year!
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It is now like car and every other insurance, you have to ring around.
We were amazed to discover that for company insurance with a major bank, a new 'temp' can give an automatic 30% off to a customer who doesn't want to re-new AND can refer on to a superior who can give another 30% off! How many pay the original quote?
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Direct Line, when I rang to cancel my ins policy (& overseas breakdown cover) suddenly knocked 50% off the breakdown cover. Didn't make me change my mind - and they wouldn't knock anything off the insurance.
You may find the cheapest breakdown cover available is with a Lloyds TSB current account (the sort you pay to upgrade to) - provided you also want mobile phone insurance, worldwide travel insurance and sundry other benefits.
Edited by Mapmaker on 17/05/2008 at 09:52
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I use Autoaid, superb service and I cannot find cheaper
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Like most insurance, if all goes well you never find out what the service is like, all you experience is the cost and the renewal process. A couple of years ago at renewal, I rang [a very big breakdown organisation] and said I would not renew any more (£160 premium, family cover with most options) because they were milking people who hadn't called them out for 7 years while giving discounts to new customers. They immediately gave me the discount. Last year they didn't offer anything to retain me so we parted company and I will not use them again.
I switched then to the RAC - they too offered a discount for new customers, but also offered an equivalent no-call-out discount on renewal, which seems fairer.
I prefer the big two mainly because they have their own fleets - in general I think the other use networks of agents, who could either be very good or very bad. Green Flag I considered, but I found the cover options impenetrable and gave up.
Unfortunately the insurance and savings industries generally 'de-tune' their pricing in some way for existing customers - you take out a new high interest account, take your eye off the ball for a year and then find you're now only getting 1% p.a. It oughtn't to be allowed...meanwhile, caveat emptor.
Edited by Manatee on 17/05/2008 at 11:47
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According to Which? magazine:-
Based upon almost 13,000 breakdowns, assessing speed of response, repairs, overall service, politeness of patrols and skill, the results were :-
1st AA 77%
2nd Rac 75%
3rd Britannia 72%
4th Green Flag 69%
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I am with Autoaid. Cover for self and spouse in any vehicle includes roadside, recovery to destination, hotel for 1 night only, home assistance, attached caravan/small trailer and theft/vandalism. All this for £39 a year. There is one small drawback. The norm is that you pay the garage at the time and claim back. You can ask for a garage that will bill you rather than payment at the time. I can't give any comment on service level as I have not yet had the need to use them. They are part of the Boncaster Insurance Group.
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Dont forget if you use your Tesco Clubcard Points you can get four times their worth with RAC, I year cost me just over £14 in vouchers!!!!
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I've run a few Mk2 Golfs and over the years I check the cost of breakdown cover when I renew my insurance, as normally getting it as part of the insurance package means it's a bit cheaper - but you have to ring around.
In most cases, the deal from the insurance company is for Green Flag cover, and they've been pretty good (depends on which local breakdown firm the call is contracted out to, I suppose).
For the last couple of years, I've done this through my bank, Smile. Their premium account offered basic Green Flag cover, but this didn't include taking you home or to your destination if it couldn't be fixed, only to a local garage (local to the breakdown, not your home!). For a J-reg Golf, this wasn't good enough so I had to get my own cover. However, Smile upgraded this to full breakdown cover - homestart, recovery, etc. so I use that now. It's £10/ month but the account has other perks (travel insurance, etc) so I think it's well worth it.
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I have had breakdown cover with Green Flag, both direct and also through Direct Line's and Tesco's breakdown service and the only problem i would say is that their agents seem to carry little or nothing in the way of basic spares. I had a Renault Megane on which a coil pack failed on two occaisions (a well known problem !) and where both the AA and RAC patrols carry these parts and replace them at the side of the road in a few minutes, all Green Flag's agents could do was recover me to the nearest dealer to get it replaced, which is much less convienient !
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the only time i've used the AA in the past 10 years was for a split water hose that was in an awkward place to get at...i really couldn't have moaned too much if the chap had given up and relayed it. He perservered, took it off completely and did a most professional temporary repair, to the extent the garage commented on it when i changed the hose
1.5 hours on the road fixing it...i consider that good service.
that probably ought to be considered when you're on your family holiday...or it's a Bank Holiday weekend...or it's midnight and raining....probably worth paying a bit more for in reality
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Wha a guy arrived to ask my Dad if he wanted the drive re-gravelled, he quoted £1,100 [in about 1970].
As my Dad was clsong the door saying no thanks, he replied "OK then, how about £550?"
My Dad shut the door even quicker than planned managing to splutter "how can you still expect me to do business with you?"
Ah, those were the days.
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What I found with the motor insurance linked deals was that they were all vehicle specific. ( Or at least those I looked at were.) I need cover for myself as I drive a car, ride a bike and drive a van for work. I found Auto Aid and went for it.
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