Breakdown cover

[Mrs Trellis]

I put this as a reply on someone's topic, but no reply.  Try again!

We live in France so can't benefit from Saga car insurance with breakdown cover.  I would like better breakdown cover here. When we had an accident the insurance company got us home but we had no car for three weeks and had to make a long journey by train to collect our car. What would have happened if we'd broken down in another country hundreds of miles away?  (The driver of the breakdown lorry was surprised when I asked him to take us to the garage with the car.  We had no way of getting there easily, even if we knew where it was and it wasn't somewhere with easily available taxis.  Some years ago we had a problem in Cornwall and the breakdown lorry took the car and 4 of us back to Nottingham.  Brilliant!

Is there in France the equivalent of UK style breakdown cover?

I can hope.....

[Hereford]

Not in France as such but ADAC (Germany) will cover anyone in Europe.  Search ADAC on forum and you will see earlier comments, or google it!! You have to telephone to join if you are not in Germany but website is in English and they can speak English when phoned.

Hope this helps.

[Jay]

I'm with ADAC and they couldn't be more helpful. The telephone number for membership is 0049 89 76 76 66 32 and it costs 79€ for single person and 99€ a couple. That includes roadside assistance anywhere in Europe, recovery to destination of choice etc.... It also includes some health cover (get you home etc.). Recovery etc is only from 50km (about 30m) or more from your home address.

I queried what would happen if I had a breakdown in the UK for instance and they said the AA would recover the car/passengers just as they would for a UK reg. car. All their breakdown and medical phone lines have multi-lingual staff. The usual German efficiency puts the lousy French recovery service to shame!

Link http://www.adac.de/mitgliedschaft/adac_membership/

[sid]

That sounds good, Jay. The prices you quote appear to be for PartnerPlus whereas a Partner package is just 60€. However there doesn't appear to be a summary of what's in each package on the link you provided, except in German. Do you have to phone up to find out?

Do they have agreements with local recovery firms in each European country? And do they offer the option of taking you back home or to your final destination like AA recovery? What if you broke down in say Northern France en route to the north of England (for example) ?  [:-))]

Loads of questions there, sorry!  [Www]

I've only had one experience of the French recovery linked to my motorcycle insurance here in France, but was astonished when the recovery vehicle turned up in less than 15 minutes and delivered me 30 minutes later to a motorcycle dealer in Angouleme . Really, it wasn't "lousy French recovery service", just limited in what they'll do - take you to a garage.

Also, if you've ever had experience of AA Relay (do they still do that?) it can take hours! They take you from the breakdown to point B and you then wait for another truck to continue the journey, sometimes with another breakdown on the truck and a group of strangers in the passenger cab. Literally a realy. I only had one occasion to use this in UK and vowed never again; the journey home was 110 miles, nearly all motorway-class roads, and it took 6 hours; I was knackered and hungry after waiting an hour for them to turn up in the first place. [+o(]

[Chancer]

I havnt had cause to use the breakdown cover included in my french insurance but have heard nothing but good things from those who have done, in all cases their breakdown/towing to garage and onward travel was dealt with very swiftly, quite simply it appears, unusually perhaps for France to do exactly what it says on the box.

And dont forget it costs deux fois rien, OK its hard to know how much of your insurance premium goes towards it but when I pay €107 for a years insurance which includes european cover without franchise kilometrique it cant cost much can it?

I do however miss the peace of mind that the UK style cover used to give me, as someone driving an old car,living on a strict budget, who does all his own repairs and who has already found to his cost what a French garagiste with a captive audience is capable of; I have to accept the reality that the day I use the insurance to get my car towed away from the scene I will be waving goodbye to it. I even have a couple of fold away trolleys and bins to cart away all my tools and affairs before they go walkies.

The ADAC price seems very good value as from what I have heard the UK full breakdown prices have rocketted, only those long standing Green Flag customers who keep the same contract are getting anything like a good deal, all the others tempt customers with a good price the firts year and then ramp it up, is the ADAC policy available to UK motorists?

Notwithstanding the county of residence, if you are say French resident and have a breakdown in the UK would the car be recovered back to your french address or only to your onward destination?

[Jay]

They only allow the "plus" packages outside of Germany. If you ring the number on their website they are more than happy to list all the benefits provided but basically it is much the same as the AA top of the range recovery service to home or destination of choice (garage for instance) + medical assistance. If you care to wade through the German try http://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/ADAC_Leistungsordnung_9121.pdf

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I seem to recall there are people on here who have used their service:

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http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2574513/ShowPost.aspx

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/664112/ShowPost.aspx

.

As for the French breakdown service I think you were very lucky. Friends who had an accident a long way from home were taken into hospital and on release found that their car had been scrapped without their permission. We broke down locally and had our car recovered to a main dealer garage in Poitiers and were told it was in Angouleme, no communication from them for over a week. On another occasion (same car) we were asked for the postcode of the place we had broken down (they can't trace your mobile like the UK). With an older car which I service myself I prefer to be recovered home.