Car breakdown cover for Europe - recommendations?

[MaggieW]

I need to organise breakdown cover, not for me, but for our trip to France. I've tried one company, Quoteline direct, which would cost £59, but unfortunately you have to buy it a month in advance. We go on the 18th. We are RAC members but they are quoting more than £100 for 2 weeks coverage. Can anyone recommend a company please?

Hi there

I will see who we use and get back to you shortly

watching with interest...

Here you go - we found this on Martin's Moneysaving website and have used it last year and this year!

Phone and web broker Quotelinedirect has an exclusive deal with Europ Assistance for a £59 annual 'AutoService' policy covering any individual vehicle (less than 20 years old) for a year. This includes home-start, and onward travel for passengers, plus up to 90 days a year cover in Europe.

It's worth noting though, that if you're likely only to go to Europe once during the year, it is better to stick with a UK-only policy and take European cover out just for the specific trip

Hope this helps!

oops, just realised you said that was who you contacted already

Sorry

Having just been to look at our policy, I see we went with Morethan for that exact reason of a month in advance hassle.

They cost £69 for the year

Just got a quote from Quotelinedirect and I think you can buy within a month of travel, the only thing is that European eassistance only kicks in 10 days after the UK part has started so if you took it out tomorrow, you would be covered in Europe from 10th July. You cannot buy it more than 1 month in advance though.

So, you should be able to go with them for £59 as long as you buy it before 8th July to allow for the 10 day period to pass before you set off on 18th

Thanks very much for that info Azernak. What you're saying makes sense. I was putting in 18/7 as start date for policy and it was saying I'd be covered 10 days later. Didn't think of putting earlier date in. Thanks v much - Mumsnetters to the rescue again!!

Can you not buy a europe only policy then?

I was thinking about my AA renewal and whether to add european cover - but like you say we only need european cover for 10 days of hte year.

If I take my standard AA cover renewal how does this europe assist thing work. Do I essentially end up double covered in teh UK until I go to France?

Or do I not renew my AA and buy from someone else that does cheaper europe cover?

Confused!!!

K.

I can get AA cover for £48 (on top of my annual UK premium).

Is that Quoteline direct 1 years UK + 14days european?

Ta.

Hi there

Quotelinedirect is for 1 year UK and 1 year European (as long as you don't spend more than 90 days abroad in Europe per year). Each trip to Europe cannot be more than 21 days long either.

So, we take 3 trips to Europe each year, Summer, Xmas and Easter. Each is for 2 weeks.

So, if we take Quotelinedirect (or as this year we took Morethan which costs £10 more), then we are covered in the UK and Europe for the entire year.

Hope that makes sense.

AA and RAC are v expensive always and there are always cheaper and equally good options, you just have to find them!

If I haven't explained it well, just say and I will try and do it again!

Makes perfect sense, thanks very much!

I was going to post similar question! AA and RAC are so expensive. I just found www.cheap4travelcover.com - they seem to be around £50 for 16 days. Has anyone used them? Or any other tips for cheap breakdown cover. I already have RAC so don't need an annual policy.