Copy article

How to buy car breakdown cover and how to swerve the pitfalls

Journalist: Marc Shoffman, Freelance

ended 26. January 2023

I am writing a piece for money section of The Sun on how to buy car breakdown cover.


I am keen to highlight why you need breakdown cover, what are the typical costs, exclusions and things to look out for.

It has been a year since the price walking rules came in, are there still loyalty penalties for customers, what tricks should drivers look out for?

Also would be good to cover where is it best to get breakdown cover from beyond just the well known brands, eg smaller suppliers, your car dealership/local garage

Would be great to get commentary or to chat about any or all of the above.

Any case studies of people who have had issues buying/using breakdown cover recently are also welcome. Would need to be happy to be named and to provide a hi-res pic.

Kind regards
Marc

4 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Editor
Samuel Mather-HolgateVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
You’re most likely to breakdown where you travel most. Call the major providers and find out how many agents they have in that area. There’s nothing worse than waiting for hours by the side of the road. Make sure you’re covered for what you want. There are so many add ons.

Finally when you know the cover and the provider, call them. Don’t do it online. Speak to a human and ask them to discount it to their very best price. They will. They are salespeople and what you to take the product.
Copy

Premium
Debbie PorterVerified
Managing Director at Destination Digital Marketing
Having had an AA renewal through this weekend that hiked the price by £110 over last year’s price, from the coal face I can confirm that loyalty penalties still exist in the recovery and breakdown insurance world. One phone call with a threat to leave and join the RAC instead resulted in an immediate drop in AA’s offer by £60. Capitalising on consumer inaction and penalising loyalty in this way is immorally opportunistic.
Copy

David RobinsonVerified
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
Next time you are looking for breakdown insurance don't just look at the stand-alone cover. Packaged bank accounts are often maligned but some offer good savings over buying individual policies. Breakdown insurance is one of these. You might find that you can make a decent saving this way.
Copy

Legend
Robert Bolohan0
Co-Founder at Lotuly
The best way to get breakdown cover is to speak to brokers who have deals going on. It's nice to check website comparison sites but won't be of much help if your car is special or you have a van or a campervan. Talking to experts who know what you need gives you not only peace of mind but also the best possible prices. You can also shop around to see which one covers you the most, gives you more for your money and overall deals with you fast. In my experience, sometimes I had to ring the company I had a deal with and try to get the cheaper deal by asking them to apply the same price as new customers who sign up. Most of the time it's much cheaper and you only have to be polite and ask. This is something that surprised me because when I had to renew mine I was quoted £300 more than the previous year so I ask for a discount and got it.