Breakdown cover idea

[AppleSei]

I received a PM from a fellow member 'combwork' regarding the breakdown cover thread in the insurance section

As i created that thread with Alex (not ghost) for the benefit of everyone and, as it was my initial idea in first place, got to post it, combwork naturally assumed i was a moderator, and because it is a closed thread, also assumed i could open/close it at any time as he has made a suggestion for it.

I explained the situation via a reply and said that i would post his actual PM in this section as it should have been posted here anyway and its quite long so saves having to write out again.

Hi. I gather you are one of the guys behind the Fiat forum. Well Done, it's a very usefull site.

Right; now that the crawling bit's out of the way could I make a suggestion? Open the closed thread you have on breakdown cover; let people post their stories of how good, bad or indifferent they've found different companies service. Not just the big names, but some of the smaller players used by insurance brokers. In my experience, break down asistance is not standard on most fully comp or TPF&T policies. It might be included as part of a package, but along with legal assistance, it increases the total cost.

Best Regards, Jim.

Discuss

 

[custard]

fair enough but you can get patchy service from a lot of companys as they use local garages over an inhouse fleet

 

[combwork]

fair enough but you can get patchy service from a lot of companys as they use local garages over an inhouse fleet

Perfectly true, and kind of backs up the point I was making. If the tow truck has AA or RAC on the side you know what you're getting (supposedly). I was curious about the local firms that work through insurance brokers. I got my breakdown assistance through Swintons Insurance Brokers in Arbroath. Come the day, when my Multipla had to be removed from a lamp post on the A90, it was a local breakdown recovery firm operating out of Dundee that turned up.

 

[sludgeguts]

Many moons ago my dad was a member of the AA. During a particular bad storm the car broke down & my dad had to call the AA from a nearby farmhouse. The farmer tractored the car into his barn.
8 hours later he was still waiting. The AA said they couldn't find the farmhouse - despite it being down the only turning off a main road through the countryside.
They eventually recovered the car the following day - some 24 hours after the call.
The RAC fared no better. His car veered off the road, in thick snow, smashing the car into a wall. RAC sent a small van - which was unable to recover the car (not powerful enough to pull it out of the wall (and the car was in no shape to be towed (they had been told this already!). They then sent a recovery truck.
A four hour wait.
Since then he (and I) have always gone with the indies.

70mph (cough) down the A1, timing belt slips a few teeth & bends every valve stem. Within 15 minutes I was en route to the local garage. an hour later, my car was on the back of a lorry on my way home (had to wait for someone to come back from shifting a pile up) but I was kept warm & comfy & given plenty to eat/drink.

Late saturday evening, water pump split in Scarborough. 10 minutes later, the car was on the back of a truck. They dropped the car at their garage & took us on to our holiday cottage (where they film Heartbeat). They got a 'new' pump from a nearby scrapyard, fitted it then came & picked me up.
I was charged £30 for the part & labour - I guess the car journeys were added to the breakdown company bill. I reckoned the part alone would be a tenner so excellent value for money.

One more thing. You can never get an AA van to come to you because they are all off up the hills serenading a woman in a broken down Galaxy.

 

[jug]

breakdown cover is a very important aspect of owning a fiat, maybe we should have a breakdown cover section.

(awaits custard's flaming)

 

[custard]

(awaits custard's flaming)

 

[mick_131]

I work for one of the aforementioned recovery companies. The orange ones not the yella fella's.

When we get dispatched a job, we could be towing a vehicle anywhere out of our " area ".

This obviously means that if you have breakdown cover from AA, Green Flag, RAC etc they may not have a dedicated/branded recovery vehicle for you.

Therfore, to service your cover requirements, they have subcontractors that will provide the service on their behalf and yes the subby's will have a higher invoice to submit than in house recovery companies. But they are local and in certain circumstances you WILL receive a quicker response.

The best thing I can suggest is that if your car chews a rod, hits a wall etc etc and is no longer driveable, is to request a " total lift " and INSIST ON IT.

They will try and send out a mechanic if this is not specified as it is obviously cheaper.

I am NOT selling any recovery companies services, it's just that this is the job I do.