Fiat Roadside Assistance

[Inglepid]

Can anyone help me get my head round the Terms and Conditions for Fiat Roadside Assistance? I'm trying to figure out if it's better to pay for dealer servicing, which includes "SARA" (Service Activated Roadside Assistance", or go for non-Fiat (hence cheaper) servicing and pay for AA/RAC.
The Fiat Roadside Assistance Ts and Cs, as I understand it, say that they will only get you home if you break down more than 30 miles away - although they will send someone to try to do a repair. That could be a long way in some circumstances!

Thanks
Stephen

 

[The Panda Nut]

Well don't rely on dealer servicing to get this SARA breakdown automatically, because not all dealers are party to the scheme. Mine dealer is not, much to my irritation. I wouldnt trust the Fiat scheme because, if not all dealers are in the scheme how water tight is it inreality?
I have opted for GEM Breakdown even though my car is still supposed to be covered by Fiat. As my dealer stitched me up with a non FIAT extended warranty I wouldnt trust anything they say or do further than I could throw it and specifically the breakdown cover side of things. If you opt for something like GEM breakdown you get cover from the organisation, via specialist contratcors nationwide. Gem recruit and monitor providers and are there as an intermediary if things go pear shaped. I suspect this arrangement will be more likely to work than the AA and RAC who have had some stunningly BAD press in the last few weeks. GEM also have excellent ratings. If you pick your own cover you will be able to see clearly the terms of the cover, which means you can tailor cover to your needs. The choice is not clear cut. I can only say what I have done. Touchwood we have never needed to use the cover.

 

[s130]

For what it is worth I switched after years with RAC (where they covered us for motor sport, off road etc) as they became too expensive and try to hike prices every year.

Am now with Start Rescue. I have 2 Star cover on 3 vehicles (one 34 years old, one 18 years old and my 500X @ 8years) and am only paying £115.

As with all insurance your mileage (no pun intended) will vary and you probably can do better or worse. These people are Which 2023 recommended.

What I like about them is that I can for my 500X upgrade the 2* to 4* full European Cover for just £42. Policies can be updated/upgraded at any time online.

 

[porta]

For what it is worth I switched after years with RAC (where they covered us for motor sport, off road etc) as they became too expensive and try to hike prices every year.

Am now with Start Rescue. I have 2 Star cover on 3 vehicles (one 34 years old, one 18 years old and my 500X @ 8years) and am only paying £115.

As with all insurance your mileage (no pun intended) will vary and you probably can do better or worse. These people are Which 2023 recommended.

What I like about them is that I can for my 500X upgrade the 2* to 4* full European Cover for just £42. Policies can be updated/upgraded at any time online.

That sounds like one of those ‘too good to be true’ but that’s a pretty comprehensive list for little money…the wife n I are due to renew on RAC so will give these a looksee

 

[s130]

Well I did a lot of research and even asked them some detailed questions about towing. With the RAC I had Personal Cover for me and Mrs (so any vehicle), Nation Wide Recovery, no home assist, Euro Cover, and via the Camping and Caravanning Club with the RAC caravan breakdown cover. Last premium from them was £276.49 in 2020.

With Start Rescue if the car breaks down or is in an accident then caravan/trailer are covered for recovery etc. If the caravan/trailer breaks down then they can on the spot quote for caravan recovery. As punctures, electrical, etc. (the most likely events) I can sort myself were the caravan axle or bearings etc. to fail then yes I would have to pay for recovery but so far I'm at least £480 better off. Only thing I really lost was Personal Cover in any vehicle which I don't need. Haven't needed Euro since 2019.

As with all insurance it is not until you come to make a claim do you find out how good or bad the provider. Which have reviews on the major providers.

 

[porta]

Not so sure it will work with us having 4 vehicles, (need driver cover rather than reg cars) although planning on going to 3, wehn I sell the Cherokee XJ, and stick to the panda. Wife’s renegade can take up the largely infrequent towing ‘slack’ to market and the small trailer is fine for a hay bales and feed sacks

 

[s130]

Not so sure it will work with us having 4 vehicles, (need driver cover rather than reg cars) although planning on going to 3, wehn I sell the Cherokee XJ, and stick to the panda. Wife’s renegade can take up the largely infrequent towing ‘slack’ to market and the small trailer is fine for a hay bales and feed sacks

With per car cover then the car not the person is covered. So with 4 cars (all quoted separately depending on make/model/age) they are all covered for being driven at the same time by 4 different people. All comes down to cumulative per car cost vs Personal Cover (usually for two people).

I see the GEM as mentioned by @The Panda Nut are also Which recommended so you can at least compare these two together.

 

[The Panda Nut]

With per car cover then the car not the person is covered. So with 4 cars (all quoted separately depending on make/model/age) they are all covered for being driven at the same time by 4 different people. All comes down to cumulative per car cost vs Personal Cover (usually for two people).

I see the GEM as mentioned by @The Panda Nut are also Which recommended so you can at least compare these two together.

I think GEM is the person not the car as I can claimif I am in someone elses car and it breaks down. We get htree people for around £140 including some extra doscount for RoSPA advanced driver.

 

[s130]

I think GEM is the person not the car as I can claimif I am in someone elses car and it breaks down. We get htree people for around £140 including some extra doscount for RoSPA advanced driver.

That looks competitive as well.

What I eventually hated about the RAC was that every year the system would issue an increased price of X and you had to haggle every year to get anything decent.

For clarity this is my RAC log.

Note the Oct 2020 best offer and that I've only ever claimed twice in all those years. RAC offer Club discounts which is what the AROC, FIAT, CCC is all about.

10 July 1990​	£60.00​	Associated Club Membership + Personal Cover	AROC
10 July 1991​	£51.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1992​	£55.50​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1993​	£59.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1994​	£60.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1995​	£63.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1996​	£63.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1997​	£65.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1998​	£65.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 1999​	£65.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2000​	£67.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2001​	£62.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2002​	£65.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2003​	£72.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2004​	£79.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2005​	£79.00​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2006​	£75.25​	Associated Club Membership, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	FIAT
10 July 2007​	£86.50​	Arrival, Camping & Caravan Club, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	CCC
10 July 2008​	£83.79​	Arrival, Camping & Caravan Club, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	CCC
10 July 2009​	£94.58​	Arrival, Camping & Caravan Club, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	CCC
10 July 2010​	£85.12​	Arrival, Camping & Caravan Club, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	CCC
10 July 2011​	£97.55​	Arrival, Camping & Caravan Club, Rescue & Recovery + Personal Cover	CCC
10 July 2011​	£84.15​	European Breakdown Cover - Zone 1
10 July 2012​	£180.00​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 July 2013​	£180.00​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2014​	£180.00​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2015​	£174.40​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2016​	£175.51​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2017​	£175.99​	Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2018​	£167.01​	RESPOPNSE + Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
10 October 2019​	£177.49​	RESPOPNSE + Arrival, C & C Club, Rescue & Recovery, Personal Cover, Euro Cover	CCC
Total RAC Paid	£3,047.84​	AND ONLY EVER TWO CALL OUTS - 1 cam/aux belt - 1 accident
10 October 2020​	£276.49​	Haggled to £249.0 - DID NOT RENEW

 

[The Panda Nut]

I was an RAC member 47 years ago and called them out when stranded. They never showed!!! They didnt explain or apologise either inspite of hourly reminders over a 7 hour period. Suffice to say I wouldnt go near them if they offered cover for nothing. I read last week of a family stranded on the M1 and their experience with a disabled child in the car was the same. The police didnt help either , shame on them indeed.

Someone somewhere is making a lot of money on this breakdoen lark if s130 and my records are typical as I have subsequently only required assistance once after an accident in a company car. It would be very interesting to see some statistics on call outs.

Perhaps these days , and as I get older I may get some value from the insurance if I cant undo the wheel nuts or similar and need someone to help.

 

[porta]

I have to say that the only time the RAC let us down was wehn the release bearing went, ducato 2.8td, on the journey between Italy and Switzerland…we’d got full European RAC cover but trying to get someone to understand our issue and where we were, we might have as well have been on a different planet.
I was quite happy to continue driving it till we got off the motorway, but an accident in front of us, and some over zealous police who noticed us kangarooing on start-up in first, meant they intervened and pulled us onto the hard shoulder.
They did take pity on us and phoned a breakdown truck, who similarly took pity on us, wehn he got us off the motorway, and tried to communicate with the RAC liaison, who wanted us to go to a dealer…he took us to a ‘mates’ garage. After a great deal of RAC ‘wriggling’ of fine print ‘interpretation’ I argued their terms and eventually they paid for a hotel in Zurich and my choice of repairer…they actually wanted me to go to main dealer, for which I’d have to pay top dollar, or they’d relay us to the ferry port, get a transfer on, (donkey/mule) then transfer off and relay back home. That would also mean paying for another ferry as we had five or six days left…the new clutch kit, fitting and kindly done overnight cost the equivalent of £750 to which RAC eventually made a £200 contribution…but WHAT a palaver

 

[s130]

Well not picking on RAC as such I've heard similar from others when it comes to claiming.

I've mentioned elsewhere some time ago back some time ago my Uno was shunted on my private drive by a builders vehicle. The insurance assessor (I presume appointed by the builder's insurers) came round to inspect the damage. He had the cheek to check road tax, MOT, tyre tread depths, etc. just looking for a get out clause. I politely reminded him my vehicle was on private property and did not need to be road legal, have an MOT or be insured etc.

As I recall he was a little pissed off because I can only assume he was paid to find a "get out" or potentially limit/adjust the insurance claim.

Since then I've never really trusted any insurance.

To add salt to the wound a few years ago I was hit buy another party. I was fully in the right and their insurance paid up. But on further investigation through I was told that "even though you were not at fault you enter the incident/claims stats and thus statistically this event increases your future risk and thus your insurance premium can be increased". WTF!

Of course you can never prove or disprove all this behind the scenes *rap and sadly just have to go with the flow and this is how these companies make their money. Show an insurance company who have actually gone bust via legitimate claims and non catastrophic events.

 

[porta]

Yes ‘knock for knock’ is the favourite wehn neither insurance party can be bothered to investigate…I once had it with swinton insurance (brokers) they told me a claim had been settled in my favour, came to renew and the insurance went up 50%, the actual insurance company said due to ‘both party fault’.
I’ve not used either of them since.
And don’t get me started on AF

 

[s130]

Yes ‘knock for knock’ is the favourite

Well my case was not a knock for knock. I was an innocent statistics casualty

 

[porta]

Well my case was not a knock for knock. I was an innocent statistics casualty

Neither was mine