Should I buy European car breakdown cover?
Written by Karen Bryan
If you’re taking your own car to mainland Europe this Summer you may be asking yourself if you should purchase European car breakdown cover. It’s hard to decide if you should buy breakdown cover but you have to weigh up the reliability of the your car, against the cost of the cover and what it might cost if you did break down on holiday.
In order to evaluate whether I’d buy European breakdown cover I though that I’d get prices from the two best known breakdown companies, the AA and the RAC.
Firstly I got a quote for cover for a two week period from 16 – 30 July 2008 based on my car a 2004 Skoda Fabia.
AA £62.73
RAC £59.30
Then I got a quote for the 12 month cover where you’d be covered for trips of up to 90 days duration, If you plan to take a trip of more than 3 weeks or motor to Europe on more than one occasion during a twelve month period then an annual policy would be a good buy.
AA £103.90
RAC £103.50
So there’s not a lot of difference in the price between the two. Both offer an additional 10% discount to existing members.
Would I buy cover? I’m not sure, if I was only going to make one trip for a couple of weeks as my car has been totally reliable over the last four years I would be tempted to risk going without breakdown cover. However if I was going to make a long trip of more than 4 weeks or multiple trips to Europe during the twelve month period then I’d consider it good value.
photo by andrijbulba
I think it is a must to buy it when you’re travelling by car. Why not? It’s just 50 pounds, not 500. And you can drive your car safe anywhere.
Hi we are planning to return back to the UK driving our Croatian car. We have been living in Croatia for the past 3 years.
I am finding it extremely difficult to get cover for roadside assistance/breakdown cover driving from here back to the UK. They all seem to say that you have to be leaving the UK!!! Got any suggestions, the car is only three years old but would feel much better if we were covered. Thanks if you or anyone has a solution. Regards
it is always better to buy a cover before you are on road…
I would be very interested in finding a way of getting car breakdown cover for my return to the UK, but every insurance company I have contacted insist that you have to be departing from the UK and will not offer cover for a single trip from Portugal.
Does anyone have a solution?
I would definitely consider getting European breakdown cover like its mentioned above its only £50. Like you said it’s about weighing up the cost of the cover against how likely you are to breakdown but it also gives you peace of mind knowing your covered if you do breakdown.
Very definitely have Car Breakdown insurance even if a new car under warranty.Remember that in event of accident or breakdown a vehicle recovery to anywhere in UK would cost around £1,000 + from South of France plus another £800 or so for replacement hired car or flights home. Annual breakdown cover can be purchased cheaply these days – eg: I have annual UK + European cover for £59 (yes a year) through QUOTELINEDIRECT.CO.UK which includes 24hrs emergency service by EUROP ASSISTANCE, one of Europe’s largest rescue organisations. GREEN FLAG is another such organisation for British clients.,though a little more expensive.; brokers like CITYBOND SURETRAVEL also offer this type of service .,and as said in your article AA/RAC
Similarly such cover is available for persons already resident in Europe needing cover back to UK from organisations in their country of residence such as Mondial Assistance, Axa Assistance, ADAC, ANWB or Europ Assistance which includes similar “get you home” benefits to those who live in Europe.Travelling without such cover is in my view a risk too great