Breakdown Insurance: finding the best cover

It’s not difficult to find breakdown insurance. It’s ubiquitous as an add-on or inclusion in car insurance policies, and you can also take it out separately. But do you really need it? It depends to some extent on what kind of car you have and how likely it is to break down. Then again, you never quite know. There’s a possibility of a high-performance sports car breaking down just as a there is with a ₤200 banger (as friends of mine who own both will testify). And even if you do have an old banger, a car’s sentimental value is not directly proportional to its monetary value. Take Sandra Howard and her - sadly now defunct - Fiat Panda. So breakdown insurance could well be worth it, although if you have a reliable car you might want to check how high your premium is and perhaps reduce the cover if need be.

Breakdown Insurance: the basic package

The most basic breakdown insurance should include roadside assistance with a response time of less than 40 minutes (some companies will offer you ₤10 if they are more than an hour late); a promptly-answered 24-hour helpline; priority response for vulnerable situations and a high proportion – say 80% - of repairs completed at the roadside (preferably with labour included). There should also be a facility to return you and the car home or to the garage if this can’t be done. As you go up the levels of cover you can add things like provision for accident liability and temporary European cover if you are planning to take your car on holiday. Then it’s a matter of comparing cover and premiums to decide what suits you.

You can read about the biggest breakdown insurance providers on this site. But as well as the better known insurers, there are specialist companies such as Autonational Rescue (www.autonational.co.uk) which could offer good deals… the golden rule with all insurance purchases is to shop around as much as possible.

For more information about all kinds of insurance, the Association of British Insurers (www.abi.org.uk) and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (www.biba.org.uk) are good places to start. There are also various consumer magazines and websites which can offer advice about the best insurance deal – try Which? (www.which.net). The Motley Fool site is a good general source for financial information (www.fool.co.uk) but it does sell products on the site. And it’s worth noting that one of the best ways to ‘insure’ yourself against a breakdown is to take as good care as possible of your car. Make sure it’s serviced regularly but also make sure you understand how the car works yourself.

 

 

 

 

© AskFinancially.com 2008

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