Car breakdown provisions

[minnie]

Our French friends mentioned that they have their car insurance with the mutuelle at Poitiers. They reckoned that theirs includes a provision to recover the car back home rather than to the nearest garage (i.e. similar to AA/RAC recovery). I'm wondering where the snag is....as I thought that you couldn't get this as part of French car insurance. Unfortunately they have no English to expand on this. This being the case we could do without our ADAC recovery. Anyone know any more about this?

[Loiseau]

My French car insurance (Mut de Poitiers) includes breakdown cover. On the occasion I had to use it, the car was taken to the nearest designated garage to the breakdown, and then a taxi was provided to take me home. Another taxi collected me a couple of days later and took me to collect it. It was a mechanical breakdown, so I had to pay for the actual repairs.

There can be a minimum distance from base involved. In my case I was just on the far side of it, which was lucky. I have since upped the cover to include breakdown within 0km of home.

Angela

[AnOther]

If any car of mine breaks down I wan it delivered either back home or to a garage of my choice, particularly so for my MGB which nobody but NOBODY lays a finger on, so for the €100 a year it costs for the two of us I'm more than happy to be a member of ADAC.

[Mac]

ADAC ? (Read it first as ACDC !! )

[Araucaria]

[quote user="AnOther"]If any car of mine breaks down I want it delivered either back home or to a garage of my choice, particularly so for my MGB which nobody but NOBODY lays a finger on, so for the €100 a year it costs for the two of us I'm more than happy to be a member of ADAC.[/quote]

Have you ever had to use ADAC's breakdown service, AnOther? If so, what was your experience? I ask as I too have taken out the ADAC cover a year or two back, but I am not at all sure what would actually happen if I called their helpline. Your concern about your MGB rings a bell too.

[minnie]

Last summer I was unsuccessful when I tried to use them, but accept that I was probably partially responsible. We were in UK at an event and, somehow or other OH locked the car with us outside and everything else (including handbag with spare keys and phone) inside. We still don't know how that happened as it shouldn't have. We borrowed a phone and rang the AA (part of ADAC), but I couldn't give membership number as it was in the car. Neither did we have ADAC number. AA refused to deal, despite us explaining as our car reg was French. Fortunately we had a friend nearby who offered to use her AA personal card, saying that she had attended the event with us in our car. The AA then sent a mechanic who, within 5 mins and with his equipment, had got int the car and retrieved our keys. I just thought that the AA might have been a little more helpful initially and given us the ADAC phone number. Still it was a Bank Holiday Monday!

[andyh4]

I have to say that I was not aware that ADAC had taken over the AA.

I have had to use ADAC a couple of times over 16 years and each time they have arrived within 30 minutes. Both times I was provided with a hire car while the car was repaired.

However do note: They are not allowed to pick you up on the autoroute toll sections - and I assume that applies to French breakdown insurance as well.

[Jay]

[quote user="Araucaria"][quote user="AnOther"]If any car of mine breaks down I want it delivered either back home or to a garage of my choice, particularly so for my MGB which nobody but NOBODY lays a finger on, so for the €100 a year it costs for the two of us I'm more than happy to be a member of ADAC.[/quote]

Have you ever had to use ADAC's breakdown service, AnOther? If so, what was your experience? I ask as I too have taken out the ADAC cover a year or two back, but I am not at all sure what would actually happen if I called their helpline. Your concern about your MGB rings a bell too.

[/quote]

See this post which should answer your question:

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/3105404/ShowPost.aspx

ADAC taking over the AA! No wonder they didn't attend the French car if they were told that. I was informed by ADAC's rep that they use the AA if you break down in the UK, they are certainly not the same company.

[AnOther]

No I haven't used ADAC, and for that matter I have never once in my entire motoring career called out a breakdown service and prior to my current car which is coming up to 12 years old I've never owned a car which was less than 5 or 6 years old at the time of purchase either but that's a different topic.

I guess I'll only find out what the service is like if the day ever arrives when I need to call on it but one thing I think is pretty sure is that I'll have more options than with my French car insurance add-on breakdown service plus they speak perfect English which in a stressful situation can only ever be a benefit.

It's true that only authorised services are permitted to attend or recover you from the autoroute and ADAC have no actual presence outside of Germany, they contract local services such as the AA in UK.

[Hank]

This is something I need to look into during the research into a permanent move.

A couple of tips: at least one leading provider has a 14 day cooling off period so for short term European Breakdown Cover (eg househunting for a week) you can cancel the annual fee when you return, as long as you didn't make a claim. It might not be easy to get them to repay you promptly but it is possible.

The RAC have an 0800 number and a premium 0844 number but if you call the 0800 number you can still connect to customer service staff.

Watch out for the small print on repatriation. Understandably, many insurers will only ship your car back to the UK if the shipping/towing costs are less than the current value of your car. Arguing the toss about £100 either way could be very frustrating. If it is badly damaged in an accident the value might be virtually zero and the insurers will need to be informed before you try to get recovery. I can imagine this being a complete nightmare after an accident in a foreign country.

A lot of breakdown companies won't cover you (online) for travel the very next day (RAC did) so do not leave it too late to shop around. My choices were also seriously restricted because some websites were down for weekend maintenance.

Everyone has a sorry tale about breakdown services. In my experience, the small print has caught me out every time, including being abandoned in the snow on Christmas eve.

[NickP]

I  think you will find that all cars are repatriated if damaged beyond repair, indeed my one was; and if you saw the state of mine the scrap value was minimal. They can't leave them behind because of import rules and taxes etc. Think about French bureaucracy, the paper work and man hours for someone in the UK to work all that out would be colossal, I'm sure it's cheaper to transport. Any way when we had our accident the breakdown dealt with all the arrangements , not the insurer. My experience of breakdown services has been superb when they were needed.

[Gardengirl]

The best service we ever had when we broke down in France was with the Caravan Club. The part we needed for our Saab wasn't available due to the factory being closed for staff holidays.

On phoning the CC we were very soon taken by breakdown lorry from the motorway services to a field adjoining a garage, then taken to a hotel of our choice. We stayed for 2 nights, with regular calls from the CC to keep us up to date, then repatriated, with a taxi to take us to a car rental company. We then emptied our car contents into the hire car and drove to Calais, where we swapped cars and crossed via the Tunnel to our home.

A couple of weeks later we had a call from the CC to tell us that our car would arrive the next day, which it did - they have volunteers who fly out and drive cars home for people who had broken down. All bills from the time we broke down were paid by the CC, apart from meals I think.

We stayed with the CC for our cover abroad for a few more years, despite not having a caravan for years - we were so impressed with the service. It was fairly costly though. Finally we moved to Saga for their very good value car insurance in UK and abroad for both our cars.

It's true that you never know how good your insurance cover is until you need to use it. We've taken car hire cover from insurance4carhire for years when hiring in various countries, but it wasn't until December that we needed to claim - and they were excellent. From sending in the rather long claim form, the money appeared in our bank account within 10 days; we were back in France by the time it appeared and we had received no notice about it - I suppose a letter will be waiting for us in England when we return.