For those of you that drive around on the continent, what breakdown cover are you using and why? And have you ever had to use it?
I've been reading some horror stories on various motoring forums about the most useless companies and I want the minimum amount of nightmare scenarios thank you.
The AA seems to get unanimous approval due to being helpful and painless to deal with. However the prices are a little eye opening! The quotes are much higher than I expected for some reason. Obviously I won't be going without cover, I'll just have to suck it up. But as always, there's got to be some useful knowledge on STW.
No useful information but anecdote forthcoming as requested. 😉
We had AA breakdown cover, checked with them before leaving, paid them the extra. The point that is very important to note is this one, something along the lines of "Local garages may be used to facilitate repairs", got that? Good, lets continue.
We drove about France quite a bit in my old tatty Astra. We made it down to the Ferry at Dover, crossed over and then from Calais down to mid-France quite happily. I went out one day to fill up and when I tried to restart the car, it wouldn't. It was a single pump garage so the attendant demanded I move the car so we both pushed it out to one side.
Almost immediately, and this was in the middle of nowhere, a huge crowd of piss-taking Frenchman appeared. Most weren't bothered about speaking English but those that were cast aspersions on British car quality, British driver quality and generally anti-British sentiment. They were having a great time. Using the number provided ai called breakdown cover while they all jeered and hooted outside the booth and then sat waiting amidst a constant stream of abuse. None of it was worrying, they were just having the best laugh they'd had all week.
Eventually the local garage guy turned up. Now clearly he'd been primed by one of these chaps and they all knew him, there was much shoulder slapping and French chatter before he finally walked over to my car shaking his head. With the bonnet open there was more head shaking (note he'd not tried anything at this point) and egged on by his companions, he informed me it would cost me a hundred Euros to resolve. By this point some wine was doing the rounds (although none was offered to me). It was clear this would take all day.
Getting a little bit cross and restricted by my lack of French swear words, I pulled out my AA Euro breakdown cover certificate and pushed it in front of him. More head shaking and assistance from the crowd and he very obviously, downed tools.
I slammed the bonnet shut, got in the car and more out of frustration than anything else, tried to start it....which it did!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!!
With a happy, two fingered salute, I screeched my tyres off the forecourt and shot down the road followed by an assortment of cheering French and no doubt very colourful, language.
I am already terrified of breaking down in France and this has done nothing to ease my mind 😯
To be fair, this was absolutely in the middle of nowhere and you'd get a local garage guy if you broke down in say, the middle of Cumbria. As long as you break down in somewhere civilized, I'm sure you'll be fine 😉
[url= http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4066/4591669381_44fe0f4c16.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimmenine/4591669381/ ]Rue Le Bastard!. Rennes. France.[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/gimmenine/ ]gimmenine[/url], on Flickr
In France at the moment. Rain,rain and more rain.
My Volvo V70 decided to play up yesterday. Rear tailgate wouldn't close. Because of this the car wouldn't lock and the boot was effectively open. I looked at the lock, checked fuses and then gave Volvo On Call a call. Volvo France to Volvo UK to the Assistance Team. Arranged for a local French mechanic to come out the following day to take a look. Fine, but as we are rural I wasn't holding out much hope.
Needless to say a few hours later I had another look at the car, removed the plastic lock cover and reviewed a "keyway" cutout in the lock case. The lock "tab" was to the right of the half moon cut out with an housing to the left.
What if the housing is where the "tab" should be? Screwdriver and one click later it's fixed. Call to Volvo to cancel assistance and tell them the fix (Nothing on Google). Sorted, until awoken this morning by a French breakdown truck with chain smoking cigarette mechanic at 7.45am.
Used Brittannia, very helpful but managed to sort anyway, slipping belt on old vw jetta.
signed up another year with euro assist, they were crap,never called back & I sorted it again, new exhaust cat for a passat from a little local garage, no english spoken & limited french by me 🙄
[url= http://www.adac.de/ ]Adac[/url]Try adac, they are a German company who are excellent
We pay 99 euro and that covers every eventuality, including getting us back to u.k if we are I'll
They are a massive outfit, it even covers you in the u.k, the a.a turn up if you break down over here
You have to ring them to join, but they speak great English, and are uber helpful
We have the partner plus which covers me and my wife, in any vehicle, including our motorhome, anywhere in europe
I've heard mixed results about ADAC. The price is right but I've been put off by the inconsistent user reviews. Have you ever had to use yours?
This is an excerpt from the VWT5 forum;
You will have no problems finding an English speaking member of staff when they want your payments, but will struggle to find one that speaks English when you need help, I was quoted by several of there staff " we are a german breakdown company for german people" " If you want to use our company you should learn to speak german" I am not kidding.They are a nightmare to deal with, I don't want to go through the whole story as it is a bit long winded, the bottom line is pay your money to ADAC and they are happy until you have to use there services then they are a complete pain.
This was not one member of staff it was most of them.
A couple of years ago i was driving back through northern France on quiet country roads on a Sunday afternoon.Went to change gear and clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there.Pulled over and clutch fluid was all over the road.
A French cycling club arrived and proceeded to look around the engine bay and kept removing the engine oil dipstick.One of them told me his friend was a mechanic,duly phoned him and he turned up.Couldn't help as it was lunchtime.
My wife set off walking,but got a lift from an old french couple, to the last village we passed as there was a pub called The Red Lion.English customers and by remarkable chance one was a retired AA man.Pub did B & B so a couple of nights there,and the AA guy got the car back to his house and fixed it.His wife cooked us a meal and we used their internet to re book our ferry.
We had breakdown cover with our insurance,a company i had never heard of, but just got number not available all the time.
A big coincidence was that the AA man used to live near to me in Bradford and even used the same car spares shop.
Its taught me that it may be a few quid more but i'd always go with the big companies.
P.S. if you're old enough like me AA European cover is available with Saga car insurance for about £60 a year for as many trips as you want.
I know 2 people who have used them, one in France and one over here in Preston.
No problems at all, I have spoken with them on the phone regarding membership, and they phoned back when they said.
When you get your membership card there is a number on the card for English speakers, so not sure from personal experience, but I'll risk it