My recently widowed mother has a Toyota which at just 3 years old now has no breakdown cover. It's totally reliable, but for peace of mind she only needs the most basic cover and I've tried to buy her this at around the cheapest price of £25 - £30. Every one I have tried so far wants a continuous mandate on the credit / debit card - something I hate.
Having got nowhere with a good few of them I tried her insurers (Prudential) - they don't do any breakdown cover at all.
In exasperation I thought "stuff it, it's not my money" I'll go a bit more expensive to the RAC at £34.40. Even they demand this continuous payment mandate. I phoned the 0800 number to try and delete this option, but found myself talking to a call centre in India and got nowhere at all.
Am I being too fussy? Does anyone know any decent company which is willing to do a simple one year cover with no other demands?
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decent company which is willing to do a simple one year cover
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yes, try www.tesco-breakdown.co.uk/
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The reason for the continuous mandate is that they want their service to rollover for years instead of the customer shopping around.
Currently new customers can get better deals, from their same insurer, that existing customers who qualify for "No Call out Discounts" of say up to 20%.
You can get 25% off for being new but only 20% for being a loyal "non claiming customer" of 5+ yrs standing.
Insurance Logic I suppose.
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what's 'basic cover' ?
to me, it's a breakdown service that turns out within the hour and recovers the car and passengers to home or destination.
no waiting 4 hours for a van or transporter, no messing about with a bust car. Just recover it and me quickly.
Green Flag used to offer this as a basic service and they did deliver exactly that service. well worth the little extra in the event of a break down.
will this be in your credit card, or your mother's ?
If it's on yours, then you will have time to shop around before renewal.
you might also want to consider what happens if she is in a minor accident which leaves the car undriveable. basic cover may not apply here.
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you might also want to consider what happens if she is in a minor accident which leaves the car undriveable. basic cover may not apply here.
Breakdown cover in general does not cover accidents. A mate of mine had his bonnet flip on the M6 despite having full relay cover which is supposed to get you home if you break down. he was charged extra as it was classed as an accident!
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go???
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Thank you for the responses. It looks like Tesco uses Green Flag and costs £33 for basic cover as we want. I think that will be the way to go.
This basic cover is simply roadside attention for say 30 mins to supply fuel, fix a simple problem or change a wheel or at the very most a tow to the nearest dealer.
Paying extra to deal with a bonnet flipping on the way to the supermarket is not the gravest concern in this situation.
The most the car will ever go is about 10 miles from base and annual mileage will be less than 1000. All I really need is one phone number that my mother can call when in a breakdown or accident even. It doesn't matter that recovery of the vehicle to a garage will be chargeable in the event of an accident - it's just access to a number and service really.
A taxi can get her home from the garage so no vehicle recovery / relay is needed.
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Thanks all.
Learning that Tesco used Green Flag I went to the Green Flag site direct. Job done. GF quote was £27.30 for a one-off payment compared with £33 with Tesco.
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