BREAKING down is upsetting.
Avoid stress by getting cover with a breakdown service that suits you.
When it’s cold, wet and windy and the car conks out, there’s nothing worse than being miles from home with no quick fix.
You put yourself in a whole new world of pain without breakdown cover, and your dealership cannot help you fix it.
If you don’t have breakdown cover, your only choice is to call a recovery service and pay for a tow to a local garage.
The cost runs into hundreds of pounds when you then need to work out how you’ll get home and then retrieve your car at a later date if that garage can’t fix it.
Or if it charges a lot for something you might get done significantly cheaper elsewhere.
Breakdown services have various plans, from coming out and towing you to the nearest garage or even dropping you at a station and fronting the cost of your train fare so you can continue your journey.
Knowing that you can get help, even if you’re in someone else’s car makes breakdown cover is a no-brainer for peace-of-mind.
The million-dollar question. On an annual basis by the Auto Express Driver Power survey quizzes drivers on their experiences.
This year GEM Motoring Assist came out top for customer satisfaction, but this can depend on your circumstances.
Plenty of bank accounts offer free Greenflag cover.
Greenflag might not always hit the mark when it comes to response times, but its reputation is better than the RAC’s – which is somewhat surprising.
In order of customer satisfaction, Driver Power found the top five most appreciated breakdown services to be:
The best breakdown cover totally depends on your circumstances, the model and condition of your car and the timing of your accident or breakdown.
If it’s Christmas Eve and snowing, expect a wait.
If it’s a Tuesday afternoon on some beige mid-month day, your experience could be significantly different.
If you travel to Europe often, GEM Motoring Assist’s Euro Plus package has received good feedback on reliability.
The other thing to bear in mind is the network of the brand.
The AA has an incredible network of employees trundling around the roads of the UK in those famous yellow vans.
Autoaid works by harnessing the power of several smaller breakdown services and pulling them together.
While this, in theory, should create a broader network, Autoaid has less control over the standard of customer service, response time and proposed solution.
Car insurance doesn’t tend to include breakdown cover.
They are two very different and separate products.
Some insurers like Admiral also have a breakdown service, available to join if you have broken down, ahead of getting help.
Technically, breaking down has nothing whatsoever to do with your insurance, even if your insurance provider is the one providing the breakdown service too.
The only time your no-claims bonus (NCB) will be affected by a breakdown is if you need to make a claim on the insurance for a component or more-involved repair.
As most often breakdowns can be fixed roadside, it’s unlikely you’ll need to worry about your NCB.
Breakdown cover can be paid for monthly or annually.
The AA offers cover from £4.50 per month- its most popular cover is £11.50, or £115 if paid annually, giving you two months’ cover free.
If you bank with Lloyd’s on an added value account such as Select, Premium or Platinum, your monthly fee includes AA breakdown cover.
Halifax, Nationwide and RBS are amongst the banks that provide the better ‘packaged accounts’.
Nationwide leads the way, since its packaged account includes travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and breakdown cover with Britannia Rescue.
The account is £156 per year, but the package is valued at £346. Going directly with Britannia Rescue on its UK and Europe Assist package is only £142 though, and prices for basic UK roadside help start at £30, so switch bank accounts for the sake of breakdown cover may prove economically inefficient.
It’s worth noting too that where The AA and GEM allow you use their service if you’re the driver or passenger of the vehicle in question, Britannia Rescue will only help if you are the nominated driver.
GEM’s fully comprehensive cover is significantly cheaper than The AA, offering features such as Onward Travel, Home Assistance, Nationwide Recovery and Roadside Assistance. It’s no surprise a package that can be, in some cases, 46 per cent cheaper than other providers has won several industry awards.
Greenflag has recently introduced a Personal Cover plan, covering you whichever car you happen to be in.
It also sells based on the vehicle too, so if you are the owner of a van, shared by employees, they’ll always have a number to call.
It’s also been affiliated with The Caravan and Motorhome Club for the last 27 years so if you’re a stay-cationer, Greenflag’s experience is a worthwhile consideration.
Its Dual Recovery package enables you to continue your holiday destination, then gets you home after the fun has been had, minimising disruption to your time off work.
Autoaidcomes into its own in households of two or more.
Since it offers free cover to the ‘legally recognised spouse’ of any customer, the family vehicles have just become interchangeably covered and cheaper to run each year.
Something all drivers can easily get behind.
Enjoyed our guide on the best car breakdown cover? Why not check out our essential car accessories list?
Looking for more motoring recommendations? Check out our dedicated Sun Selects motoring section.
To browse our full range of Sun Selects recommendations, be sure to head back to the Sun Selects page.
