Euro breakdown cover for the car

[wickedfairy]

Hi,

We will be camping in France for 3 weeks and will be taking the car - have been advised to make sure we have breakdown insurance.

At the moment we have UK breakdown insurance (AA) through our bank account (we pay a monthly fee for bank account and get travel and breakdown insurance included, amongst other things) - phoned them up and basically it's about £140 to get Euro insurance - surely that can't be correct? DH says they wouldn't upgrade/add on and that he thinks it is probably a new policy. He also got similar prices from other companies.

What do you think - surely there must be something cheaper? He did find somewhere that does something for about £50 but he thinks it is some different kind of policy that will refund some money, once we;ve already paid out the full cost, which maybe sounds a little dodgy.

What do you all do when motoring in France/Euro? TIA

Thats ridiculous.

I got 2 weeks cover with AA for £53 when we went to France.

RAC and Green Flag were similar prices iirc.

What make of car is it? I get annual UK and Europe AA cover through Toyota (Club Toyota) for £64 a year. If you have Toyota it's definitely worthwhile, maybe other brands have something similar? £140 seems to be the cost of annual AA European cover if you buy it separately though.

DH spent a lot of time looking into this last year, as he was concerned about exactly what would be covered. When we camp, we have a LOT of stuff with us, and lots of policies, when you really delve into it, wouldn't transport all our stuff in the event of a breakdown.
Can't remember who we used in the end, sorry, but just wanted to say that I'd recommend looking at what is covered, not just the price IYSWIM.

Obviously we all hope we'd never need it anyway, but.....

Wickedfairy - do check what your bank account related travel policy does and does not cover. These bank a/c attached policies arent always as comprehensive as policies bought directly. It is worth checking the details in case anything is excluded which you dont expect.

Dont forget your EHIC cards.

thanks for the advice, I thought the prices were ridiculous! We have a Zafira, will definitely look into policies and what they cover.

GdP - thanks - will check the details of the travel insurance. I am sure it is ok, as checked this out before we went to Asia a few years ago but will definitely check again. We all have our EHIC cards already!

I can recommend Europ Assistance, they were amazing when our car broke down the day before a national holiday in France. We were towed to the garage and on our way in a rental within six hours! I think it was about £60 for the year's policy.

Always always always go for the rental not the accommodation ifyour car does break down as they will extend the rental no problem if it takes a while to get parts etc but once you've had your night in the hotel or whatever that's it.

I've booked our crossing with Eurotunnel, and they offered a good deal. Might be worth asking whoever you're crossing with for a price?