Driving in Europe - do you bother buying breakdown cover?

[EldonAve]

We are driving to Europe this summer for the first time

My parents always bought breakdown cover but they drove old bangers and we needed it on more than one occasion

Our car is newish, hardly any miles - would you buy the breakdown cover?

Most definitely yes! Anything could happen, its not worth the risk!

thanks

any recommendations for providers?
we have UK breakdown cover but it doesn't look like they sell European cover

watching with interest...

Ours cost us around £50 for 10 days with the AA.
I have just bought a French road map for £1.99 in Lidl and it has a £10 off Euro breakdown cover voucher inside.

Thanks for the tip

I've used the AA in the past, but we use DH's car abroad, which comes with cover, as its a company car. Try checking out somewhere like Martin Lewis's website?

Thanks, I've looked a MSE and got some quotes
I will call our insurer and see what price they offer too

Definitely, the cost of getting towed back from a holiday would be heartbreaking, not to mention having to end the holiday early.

We get our insurance throught Tesco and with them get an all year round deal with Green Flag. Tesco charges around £75 on top of the insurance and it was around £130. Tesco also does a 22 day one for around £40ish

Thanks

Sorry, I meant to say that Green Flag is around £130 if bought stand alone for a year round policy (we go to France a few times each year so this works out well for us.).

Thanks, I reckon I will be going with the cheapest available option as our existing UK cover isn't due for renewal for 9mths

yes yes yes..... we were involved in a car crash (not our fault) in June 2 years ago. We were stuck on the motorway in Milan with 3 kids and it was the insurance that saved us. We had to be flown home (we had travelled by ferry) put up for one night in hotel, car hire from airport home and cost of repatriation of vehicle(in excess of £1500) all covered by insurance. It was a horrible end to our holiday ( ultimately we were all safe and thats all that mattered)

Financially insurance godsend.....its a must

but surely that would be covered on your car or travel insurance as it was a crash not a breakdown

breakdown cover also covers you for things like someone smashing your windows & stealing all your stuff in a car park.

It's really not worth travelling without it - it's a relatively small cost for what could an incredibly expensive nightmare. We broke down in a supermarket car park in France at around 8.30pm & the breakdown service organised a tow truck for us - simple enough in the UK but imagine trying to do that yourself from scratch

Who are you travelling with? Eurotunnel offers their own breakdown cover plus family travel insurance which might be worth looking at (only if you're crossing with them though I think)

AA, RAC etc are relatively expensive because they charge you for a year even when you're only going for 2 weeks or whatever. MSE def a good place to look. I'll check out Which for you as well

Which no use, sorry, they only do UK breakdown cover

Ponders - Thanks for checking Which

Looks like I will go for Europ Assist for £59 - UK & Europe Just need to read the small print

MoreThan offered a better price but insist you have a spare tyre which our car cannot carry

Eldonave.. car insurers didnt want to know as we were out of the country. The minute we got back then they picked up the gauntlet. So if it hadnt have been for the european assistance cover it would have cost us a fortune.

Had you bought a foreign use extension for your car insurance or not?

already okayed it with insurance co - european insurance included. When it came to the crunch they were rubbish. Our car took 4 weekd just to get back to the UK. Meanwhile we had to foot the bill for a hire car. They wouldnt provide a coutesy car until the car reached the UK. Nor did they assist while we were stranded after the crash.

What a nightmare

Yes, would not go without it. Just bought 12 months UK & European cover for £59 here.

Eldon- also double check what else you might need to travel abroad - my dh got stopped for not stopping long enough at a stop sign. You need to carry your VRD in france - we didn't have it and got fined 150 Euro's you also may find you need to have a spare tyre and could get fined if stopped (not sure where you are driving!) also a yellow jacket incase you breakdown, and all sorts. Just check what you might need - if travelling in winter it is now not legal to travel without snow chains, so there may be something else that I haven't mentioned that you might need that I don't know about.

In France you need a hi-vis jacket for each person, & they need to be accessible from inside the car.
and at least 1 warning triangle.
and a set of lightbulbs.
and if any driver wears specs, a spare pair.

(& yes, the logbook document, I forgot this year but luckily never got caught!)

drive-alive.co.uk has the regs for all European countries.

AA version

actually looking through it I may have got requirements & recommendations (& different countries!) mixed up

Thanks for the links