European breakdown cover

Nohands

Nohands

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Me and the missus have a 3-week European road planned for May, French Atlantic coast > Pyrenees > Costa Bravo. Have driven to Spain before but it is the first time doing it in the van

Our breakdown cover is also up for renewal - it's currently AA.

I'd like to be as prepared as possible (within reason), as I have heard horror stories about people being stuck in other countries for weeks whilst their van is being fixed. Any providers I should avoid or ones that people would recommend specifically for good European cover?

For reference, my van is a 2017 204 T6, with 50k on the clock which I've owned for the last year. It had a new ERG valve last year under warranty from the dealer I brought it from. No other known issues but will be getting my regular garage to give it a very thorough service before we go.
 
I have to admit.. after 40 plus years of Company car ownership where such things were never an issue :)
I find myself with a T6.1 going out of warrant and some European trips planned, that I have no idea oh the best company to go with for breakdown cover in Europe (and the UK)OR maybe some kind of extended warranty (VW or A N other)
Thought it would be wise to get the feelings in here.. particularly keen to hear of good and bad experiences with any companies?
 
Green Flag were competitive on price but I’ve never used them so as far as value for money it’s a guess.
 
In my 5.1 I was unfortunate enough to breakdown in Croatia heading back to Slovakia (eventually needing a new gearbox). My NatWest account gives it free and at the time it was Greenflag. Now it is AA.

Cant fault it. service was good and they paid out way more than they should have as someone on the first call made a mistake and so they paid for accomodation, a V class mercedes and eventually repatriation of the vehicle to Slovakia where I could then get it fixed. If you have All In then I think Europe cover is inclded in that.
 
I suspect had they asked the right questions I might not have been covered as I had been out of the UK for almost 3 months at the time, however all they asked about was the date of my journey to Croatia to which I honestly answered - I had come 3 weeks earlier.................albeit from Slovakia where I had been for just over 2 months.
 
I ended up going with AA, unfortunately, I ended up using it as well...

Van went into limp mode mid-way through France on the return leg — with a P0299 'turbo under boost' code. AA put us up in a decent hotel for 4 days and organised all the taxi's etc. and were generally very responsive and easy to deal with.

Turns out a rat has chewed through the turbo outlet hose, so although it was very stressful and not a great end to the trip it only ended up costing £100.
 
I’m with green flag who seem very reasonable price wise and although I’ve never used them abroad I had a breakdown in the uk a few years back when the turbo let go on my T5 and they were very helpful.
 
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Make sure you tell the AA that you will be in the EU and when ,as if you don't tell them and you have a mishap they will refuse to do anything to help you ,bast*"£@ !!! like I got stranded in France on a motorbike several years ago .I was unaware that they need to know you are away !!
 
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I've used VW Assist during factory warranty (which is mostly AA provided) and they were great during the Pothole Incident

Currently with the same now I've moved to All In
 
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I was at the club fest , caravan and motor home festival a few weeks ago and have been reliably informed that there club breakdown in Europe is the best by far.
 
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DXX said:
Green Flag were competitive on price but I’ve never used them so as far as value for money it’s a guess.
Click to expand...
Many moons ago I blew a head gasket on a 13 month old Disco (only got 12 months warranty in those days) driving out of a campsite in Brittany, towing a 7m RIB. I had Green Flag European cover & they were absolutely fantastic. We didn’t have a mobile phone then, it was probably around 1994, so all comms were via the French public phone boxes. Within an hour a French tow truck arrived, put the Disco on the back & the boat on the tow hitch & took us 200 miles to our next campsite in Normandy. They dropped us off at the campsite & took the car to the Landrover dealer in Caen. The next day a taxi arrived & took me to a car hire outfit in Cherbourg where a brand new Renault Laguna was waiting with my name on it. We kept the car & a week later the Disco was repaired & Green Flag delivered to the campsite & took away the rental. All we had to pay was for the parts to repair the Disco, which we got back from Landrover when we got home, apparently there was a recall on a faulty set of head gaskets.
We have used Green Flag ever since & had to use them a couple of times over the last 30 years or so, they are my first choice for breakdown cover.
The thing about Green Flag is that it’s an insurance policy rather than a membership of a club. They use contractors who get paid, presumably by the hour, so they have nothing to gain by short changing you or fobbing you off, we have always found that they’ve gone the extra mile, literally.
 
We've never been members of that one and gave up our membership of the CCC a few years ago after being a bit disenchanted with the sites but it's useful information. That said and to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.
 
I was in France a few years back, the AdBlue 650 miles warning came on 800 miles into my trip heading to Spain. I was on a Toll Motorway and had full cover with the RAC (£150.00 for two weeks)
I was told they couldn't recover me from the Motorway services as it was the French law that the Police had to recover me and then I had to try and claim my money back! I wasn't told this at the time of purchasing the cover. I decided to drive off the motorway and find a campsite until I could take it to a VW dealership on the Monday. On the way to the garage the fault cleared it's self!!

Not sure I would go with the RAC again.
 
Kev63 said:
I was in France a few years back, the AdBlue 650 miles warning came on 800 miles into my trip heading to Spain. I was on a Toll Motorway and had full cover with the RAC (£150.00 for two weeks)
I was told they couldn't recover me from the Motorway services as it was the French law that the Police had to recover me and then I had to try and claim my money back! I wasn't told this at the time of purchasing the cover. I decided to drive off the motorway and find a campsite until I could take it to a VW dealership on the Monday. On the way to the garage the fault cleared it's self!!

Not sure I would go with the RAC again.
Click to expand...
Apparently that is the case.

No-one will recover you from the French motorway, doesn't matter which breakdown service you use, it will be their contractors and you will have to pay them, but should be able to reclaim the costs.
 
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Kev63 said:
I was in France a few years back, the AdBlue 650 miles warning came on 800 miles into my trip heading to Spain. I was on a Toll Motorway and had full cover with the RAC (£150.00 for two weeks)
I was told they couldn't recover me from the Motorway services as it was the French law that the Police had to recover me and then I had to try and claim my money back! I wasn't told this at the time of purchasing the cover. I decided to drive off the motorway and find a campsite until I could take it to a VW dealership on the Monday. On the way to the garage the fault cleared it's self!!

Not sure I would go with the RAC again.
Click to expand...
I have just paid for Green Flag cover for our France/Spain trip in the summer and it does say that on the policy that the Police arrange recovery and you have to pay and reclaim it.
 
Yep all the French Autoroutes are private toll roads so only their contractors are allowed to do recovery:


Depending on your breakdown company they might refund the charges or they might only cover you from the point you are recovered from the Autoroute.

While I agree it's helpful if companies point this out when you purchase there are a number of laws and regulations that differ from the UK in each country and as a driver that's your responsibility to be aware of.
 
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It’s all in the contract, might not be obvious at first glance but as with all insurance details you need to read from cover to cover.
 
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