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[tickmike]

Going to collect my wife from from her works party in a near by town tonight, I had to take avoiding action on a country lane on a tight corner when the car in the opposite way cut the corner and I clipped the pavement edge.
I had only gone about another mile when I realised I had a Flat tyre , I limped into the edge of this town and pulled off the lane opposite a street light and changed the wheel.

We are both not getting any younger and this set me thinking is it time to have ‘Breakdown Cover’ for the both of us.

If the flat tyre had been on a Motorway or busy road     

What do you think about car breakdown cover ?.

Un-Edit ...

[sevenlayermuddle]

Mixed feelings.

From mid 80s to mid noughties I went without cover. Then one day, out of the blue, my fairly new Saab cut out, ignition module failed, leaving me stranded, just before Christmas, en route to pick somebody up from hospital.

Was that a problem?   No, I just called the AA and rejoined, on the spot.  I had to join for a whole year and pay a suffix to allow for the fact I was already broken down, but the suffix was nowhere near as much as I’d saved over the years.   Plus, being eager to please a new customer with cooling off rights, they turned up in just a few minutes.  That was 15 years ago, not sure if still allowed.

A lot of bank accounts, service deals and the likes, include free breakdown cover these days.   My experience is they can be ok, but usually just sub out the attendance to a local village garage with time on their hands.   And if a garage has “time on their hands” it may be for a reason, ie the locals know they are cowboys.

[Ronski]

And if a garage has “time on their hands” it may be for a reason, ie the locals know they are cowboys.

I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as that implies, I work in the trade so have first hand experience.

A lot of breakdown services do use a network of local garages, but it most certainly won't just be ones that arn't busy, basically if a garage offers a breakdown service then they have to be able to attend no mater how busy they are, unless they are busy on another breakdown then the service will try elsewhere or add you to their queue. Of course you may still get a useless garage, but if that is fed back to the service operator and they get enough complaints one hopes they stop using them.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Fair enough Ronski, I did say “may”, not “must”.

We’ve used cover provided by Nationwide’s bank account twice for the Polo.   Each time, car had engine warning light on, and was misfiring badly, at home in our driveway.

First time was excellent, the guy turned up in a small van with a new coil pack at the ready as, he explained “It’s nearly always a coil pack with these cars”.    Plugged in his code reader to confirm his assumption, installed a new coil, problem fixed in minutes.

Second time, the guy didn’t even bring a code reader, just a recovery truck.   He sniffed at the car confirmed it wasn’t running right, and offered to recover us to a garage.   I declined, drove my own car to Euro Car Parts and bought my own code reader and (speculatively) a coil pack.  That second plan worked to perfection.

But on each occasion the breakdown service was from the same small local garage in a nearby village, just two different mechanics.

[Ronski]

Good mechanics are very hard to come by these days, as I've said before we struggle, and I have to choose very carefully which jobs I give to which mechanics as their skill sets are different. Sounds like the second guy wouldn't have a clue when it comes to reading codes, just the same as one of my mechanics.

[tickmike]

Had to order another new Tyre  £120 (thanks to that inconsiderate driver last night ) as it had an hole in the side wall, it had only been on 4 weeks 
I have AA car insurance so may consider there breakdown service.
Being mechanically minded I would not call them out for lots of things, It is peace of mind if my wife was in her car and she had a flat tyre on a busy road I do not feel that would be safe for me to tackle that.


Re Edit.... I did not know Nationwide did that free breakdown, We are both with them.

[Ronski]

Tickmike, you need to change to the Flexplus account, it costs £13 a month but you get breakdown cover, travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and I think a slightly better interest rate. If it's a joint account it covers both account holders, I cancelled my AA cover and holiday insurance after Nationwide introduced this.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Re Edit.... I did not know Nationwide did that free breakdown, We are both with them.

It's not necessarily  free, in that particular case. We upgraded from their basic flex account to an account that has a small monthly fee, in exchange for other 'inclusive' benefits.  We decided it was worthwhile on the various other  benefits that were of value to us, possibly not cost effective just for breakdown cover on its own.

Ps:      Basically as Ronski said!

[rpdmallett]

Get your Ford car serviced at a Ford dealership, and you get 1 year of Ford Assistance for free.

https://www.ford.co.uk/owner/service-and-maintenance/service-promotions/assistance

I had to use this today - what would have been a short trip into town ended 0.5m from home with a red engine warning light.  A quick phone call got the AA round within 30 minutes and my car towed to my Ford dealer to fix next week.

PLUS I get a courtesy car for 2 days (arrives Monday) :-)

[renluop]

I do hardly any mileage nowadays, but still have cover. And have used it, when I left lights on with a fading battery.

For a long time I was with AA, until numerous years ago, the car wouldn't start late at night. Their truck wen to the wrong location, (must have been very slowly), and blamed me. Since then I've used Britannia Rescue. They use local providers, and seem a lot quicker and better at what is needed.

[gt94sss2]

While some now get Breakdown Cover included with paid for bank account accounts like the Nationwide one mentioned - its not worth paying so much in a monthly fee just for the breakdown cover(a different case, if you actively use the other benefits provided as well).

Most others think of the AA/RAC (or Green Flag) for cover but depending on the deal you have again this can be expensive.

We used AutoAid for years - who we found much cheaper than others - for £48 they will cover you and your partner in any car you're driving.

Its worth reading https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-insurance/breakdown-cover/ for their views.

[speedyrite]

Was an RAC member for many years, then discovered the joy of flip-flopping between RAC & AA to get cheaper prices as a new customer. Both however have become quite expensive even using that ploy. So new tactic this past year - Axa Assistance. No idea if they are any good, but at least I will have someone to call if necessary! If only to get a tow to the garage of my choice.