Vehicle Breakdown Recovery & Insurance

Vehicle breakdown is something you must be well prepared for, especially for those of you that frequently drive on the road. You must have seen your fair share of motorists stuck with their immobile vehicles on the shoulder of the road, and causing a slowdown in traffic flow. Each year, several hundreds of thousands of cars are stalled and cost their owners a substantial sum of money if they do not have appropriate vehicle breakdown insurance.

When looking for cheap car breakdown cover, you need to first differentiate between two major types of plans available. Firstly, there is the auto service break down cover policy, where you call for roadside recovery and a mechanic will be dispatched to try to solve your car mechanical problems and have you continue driving towards your destination where possible. This is the type of car recovery services offered on the familiar AA and RAC breakdown cover plans, and you do not need to pay anything upfront for the covered benefits.

Next, we have the lesser known pay-and-claim car breakdown insurance policies. Your insurer is likely to work with a local network of roadside recovery mechanics. When you request for help, your insurer will forward your case to the most appropriate mechanic and you need to pay for all the car breakdown services rendered.

Remember to keep all the receipts because you need them to claim from your insurer later on. As you can see, pay-and-claim vehicle breakdown cover is more troublesome but is always cheaper compared to the plans offered from AA insurance.

The appropriate type of car break down cover to buy depends on the individual driver. Normally, older cars tend to encounter more problems on the road and if you think so, auto service car breakdown cover will be more convenient for you. If you seldom drive, then a pay-and-claim vehicle breakdown insurance can be cheaper. Next, you have to choose the level of breakdown cover you want. Not all car rescue insurance policies are created equally. Roadside recovery is the most basic found in all the cheapest breakdown cover packages available from any company which helps to fix your car on the spot if it encounters a problem while driving on the road.

Limitations of Vehicle Breakdown Recovery

Note that these vehicle breakdown recovery cannot be activated if you are unable to start your car at home or if you are still within a specified radius (usually 1/4 of a mile) from your registered home address. The best policy level is at home recovery, which covers the above mentioned locations where you encounter a vehicle breakdown. Both types of breakdown recovery services will provide free towing of you vehicle to their nearest affiliated garage for further repairs if the problems cannot be resolved on the spot by the dispatched mechanic.

You can also buy onwards transport cover to pay for your expenses incurred to continue towards your destination if the roadside recovered is unable to help you immediately. Such cases happen around less than 15% of the time and usually mean there is a serious electronic or microcomputer fault with the car's core controls. The onwards transport cover will either pay for your public transport, provide a free rental car or even one night's accommodations if you are far away from home. Finally there is also the breakdown repair cover that will pay for the expenses incurred at the garages to remedy the problems that cause your vehicle to break down.

Cheap Breakdown Cover

You can also choose to buy vehicle breakdown cover that insures a particular individual or a specific car. For example, if you own several cars and vans but you are the only one driving them, a cheap breakdown cover for single driver will be more appropriate.

Alternatively, if several persons are sharing the same family car, the latter plan will be cheaper then. Note that there is the usual restriction where secondary drivers named under the same policy must be staying at the same residential address. Some companies may require all named drivers to be part of the same family, while others will allow friends and relatives as long as the address is the same.

European Car Insurance & European Breakdown Cover

If you frequently or intend to drive over to other European countries, it will be prudent to buy European car insurance and breakdown cover. Trying to repatriate your spoilt vehicle home back to UK can cost a lot of money, typically several thousands pounds.

You will also face problems asking for roadside recovery and repairs in a foreign country, and you must have heard many stories of driving being exhorted by dishonest garages while being overseas. You need to be careful when your car cannot be repaired there due to lack of parts and you cannot drive it way to UK. In these cases, hefty towing charges will be incurred to return your vehicle back to UK or repairs.

Although many car insurers provide free European breakdown cover in their plans, you want to check whether their coverage is sufficient for you situation. Another caution is that, outside of UK, the experience with these vehicle breakdown recovery depends entirely on the partnering companies sought out by your insurer.

Going along with a bigger company such as the AA or RAC breakdown cover is likely going to be better in this case as they are likely to provide more experienced and complete services in handling vehicle breakdown situations overseas since they have much more members around.

Compare RAC, AA & Green Flag Breakdown Services

Many people are worried while waiting for their green flag breakdown services or whichever company to arrive after making the call. Usually in the UK, RAC and AA insurance take less than 40 minutes for one of their patrol cars to arrive to your location. Green Flag breakdown goes a step further by offering a cash rebate of £10 if their mechanic arrives later than 30 minutes.

If you are a woman driver alone with a car that is down, or you have several young children or you are on the highway, these are considered vulnerable situations and will be given priority processing among the other requests for roadside recovery from other members such as male drivers. Actually, many more female drivers buy vehicle breakdown protection together with their car insurance for women compared to male drivers.

Note that some vehicle breakdown insurance policies will limit you to a maximum of five free call outs per year. Beyond this, you will need to pay for their car breakdown recovery services. Note that most cheap breakdown cover will note include the cost of replacement parts in order to get your car up and running. Typically, only the labor hours incurred by the mechanic is covered by your insurance but you can choose to pay more and get comprehensive breakdown repair cover for peace of mind over future repair costs.

Some companies will exclude certain vehicle types such as RVs, trailer, caravans etc from their car break down cover plans, so make sure you ask carefully when you compare breakdown cover packages from several providers. Losses on livestock and animals carried onboard a vehicle that breaks down are typically not insured as well.

To get the best vehicle breakdown services, you can use a price comparison website, but make sure you check their terms and exclusions carefully and not make your decision based on the cheapest car insurance quotes given.