February 10, 2008

In the event that you’re let down by your car it is annoying at best and a disaster at worst. Even the best and most prepared mechanic isn’t likely to have the necessary tools to repair their car most of the time. With this in mind it’s important that you have adequate cover all of the time.

There are many different breakdown organisations to choose from and they all offer a decent, comprehensive service. As with anything the more you pay for your cover the better a level of cover you’ll have. Breakdown services are searchable in many of the comparison engines so you’ll be able to get a good grip on who offers the cheapest cover from these sites but that may not tell you the whole story. The price of your cover is easy to check and evaluate. The essential requirement is that it needs to cover what your needs are. If you will have to pay extra for home start cover but are handy enough under the bonnet to be able to fix most simple problems then you’re unlikely to want home start. Similarly if you have an unreliable car but your cover will not rescue you unless you’re more than quarter of a mile from your house you may find yourself leaving your car behind and walking home.

Here are some of the terms and features explained.

Personal or car covers

Put quite simply this is a matter of whether you want the cover for yourself or your car. It is likely that this will be the more expensive option as the car will not be taken into consideration so you’ll be charged a premium for a less reliable car. This will be great if you drive a lot of different cars or hang out with a lot of people who have unreliable cars and no covers.

If the car is what the cover applies to then you will benefit from a lower premium if you have a newer model, certainly if you own a car with a reputation for reliability then you should feel the benefit from cheaper premiums. In addition to this if there a more than one driver of the car then they’re all covered when driving it. It may not be quite a flexible but it’s probably a more secure way of making sure that you’re not stranded up the hill without a wheel brace. If you make sure that all of the cars that you own are covered even with just the minimum cover then you won’t have to worry if somebody will have their own personal cover to make sure that you get your car home at the end of the day.

Basic packages / roadside recovery

Basic packages are just that. They offer roadside recovery and not much else. The mechanic called out will attempt to fix your car by the roadside and if this isn’t possible will recover your car to a garage or an alternative destination of broadly the same distance. The upshot of this is that your car will be taken to a place outside your control which may well not be where you want it to. Also it’s worth considering that out of normal working hours garages are not open so if you are a distance from home you may have a long journey to get back home.

Nationwide recovery / relay

Forget the cheaper option nationwide recovery is the minimum cover that you need as a motorist. What this means for you and your family is that you will be able to get a ride home, no matter how far away you live, if your car breaks down and can’t be fixed roadside. From here you’ll have to arrange to get your car repaired but at least you’ll be home. This will not necessarily help you if it doesn’t cover you unless you’re more than a quarter of a mile from your house, maybe you’ll have to make sure that your car can crawl that far before conking out, but if you’re that close and your car is that obviously in trouble the only place you should be taking it is the garage.

At home / home start

This covers you for that magic first quarter of a mile. So if your car won’t start in the morning you are able to call out someone to get it started for you although they won’t be doing any great amount of mechanical work to ensure that it can start in the afternoon so it’s a pretty short term fix. If the car can’t be started from here you should have the option of a tow to the nearest garage, let’s hope it’s near a bus stop.

There are a number of different options that can be added to packages or may constitute the difference between basic and more comprehensive packages they include:-
.European cover – breakdown cover when you’re in Europe.
This will probably include roadside repair and may offer recovery back to your house in England, which is good providing it’s not going to cut your holiday short. While you will welcome the peace of mind this cover brings it’s always worth having your car serviced before taking it abroad to make sure that it’s cover taken for peace of mind not to bring you home.
Onward travel
This will cover you for a hire car for a specified number of days after the call out. It means that you can continue with as little disruption as possible while you are without your car and is usually available as either an add on or as part of the better levels of cover.
Relief driver

In the even that you are unable to drive your car to it’s destination owing to illness or injury this facility will provide you with a driver to take your car to it’s destination.

Accommodation costs

If your cars repairs will result in an overnight stay away from home then a level of cover is provided for you, normally enough to provide accommodation in a modest Bed and Breakfast.

If you have to wait overnight for your car to be repaired, some packages will pay for hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation for you and your passengers (there may be a maximum amount - usually around £50 per person).

Breakdown Repair Cover

A new addition to the AA’s list of options offers great cover for garage bills. For £5.99 per month if your car is less than ten years old and has less than 100,000 miles on the clock or £7.99 if older than Ten years or more than 100,000 miles you can claim up to £500 back from any repair work that has been done subsequent to an AA rescue. This is the sort of cover which could really help repair an unreliable car at low expense or give drivers the chance to make a steady budget plans for a potentially expensive car. On the down side you’d have to breakdown to get the benefit from the scheme but if you do break down you’d be able to afford to get the car fully repaired without the same level of expense, and if the repair costs were £500 or less you would just pay the excess of £25.

Typically the people who are most likely to have the best level of cover are the people least likely to need those levels of cover as they’d have a reliable car being at the more affluent end of society. All drivers would be better off making sure that they have at least some level of cover but don’t be seduced into the cheapest option as it may well not give you the cover you need. It’s no use the Knights of the road rescuing you if when they do they then have to leave you as far away from home as when you started, the cost of getting home is likely to outweigh the extra cost of getting more comprehensive cover.

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