European Car rescue and recovery service standards

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masood_ilyas
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European Car rescue and recovery service standards

Post by masood_ilyas »

I am planning on taking our 14 year old faithful Xantia in the coming Easter break to South of Spain (Malaga) via France and back to London. I have every confidence that the old girl will make it there and back but the one who must be obeyed would like some sort of rescue and recovery insurance in case it does not. I know one or two motoring organisation offer these services at varying rates, but having not ever used these service providers I am now seeking advice on who to rely on. Does any one on this forum have any experience of being rescued and what their recommendations might be.
I suspect it will be a case of you gets what you pay for, but I do not want to pay only to find that when we need the support we are disappointed, especially with wife and kids in tow. Any advice would be appreciated.

Masood ILYAS

The car is a Xantia 1.9TD with an AL4 automatic gearbox.
My apolgies to the admin team in advance if this thread should be in another part of the forum.
I just could not figure where this request for guidance could be posted.
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Post by myglaren »

It's fine where it is Masood,
There has been some discussion on this subject in the fairly recent past and I'm sure that those in the know will be here to offer advice quite soon.
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Post by Peter.N. »

I tried to take out recovery insurance when we went to France a couple of years ago and found that the firm I spoke to will not recover a car if it will cost more than the car is worth, they will if you pay the difference - so beware.

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Post by Allanxantia »

If you are travelling on the peage(toll roads) in France the recovery charges are several hudred Euros. A friend of mine had his motorbike breakdown in France and it turned into a proper nightmare over £1000. I have just taken out a policy for £32 for 18 days including the caravan.
http://www.vehicle-rescue.com/
In my opinion you would be really stupid to not take out cover, even in the UK. There are a few companies will cover cars up to 15 yo.
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masood_ilyas
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Post by masood_ilyas »

Thank you all for the advice, it is as much as I expected.
It is not that I am being tight, it is just when I pay for a service then it would be nice of an insurance company to deliver, not back out from the deal by hiding behind this and that of the fine print. It gave me a headache when I tried to read one of their pdf document for terms and conditions.

Allanxantia, thanks for http://www.vehicle-rescue.com/ it is a good link, I hope they have a good track record of leaving satisfied customers.
As they are willing to take on the risk of cars of upto 15 yrs old, I hope they will not act like others and say your car is worth only this much and is less than their transportation costs, so tough on you mate!.

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Post by Allanxantia »

Most of the breakdown services have that clause.
Basically they won't spend thousands of pounds recovering a worthless car. But equally would you spend a fortune to repair your car anyway?

All I want is that if I crash or break down, I want someone to take me off the motorway to a garage, or local campsite!
I take a full toolbox on holiday anyway, and french car spares are plentiful in france.......
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Post by Peter.N. »

You would if it was an XM and you could repair it yourself. My priority would be retaining my car - there are not many of them left now.

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Post by GB »

ADAC PartnerPlus for around £85 a year, EU wide roadside assistance and recovery (including UK).

No vehicle age limit on their cover, and it covers breakdown or accident recovery, including ambulances, repatriation, medical, hotel & recovery costs for you & your family EU-wide. Worldwide it only covers medical.

They are German motoring organisation, but they certainly do have English-speaking staff.
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Post by Stempy »

This lot were absolutely brilliant when my Xantia broke down in France

http://www.europ-assistance.co.uk/Template.aspx?ID=14

You need to have the policy running well before you leave though to be covered in Europe.

or here for £59

http://www.quotelinedirect.co.uk/breakdown/?INRN

or here

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insura ... e-recovery
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