Member Since: 14 Jan 2020
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 1509
European Breakdown Cover
Hi,
We are travelling down to Spain in May and planning to go in the D3. In the past when I got cover the car would've been worth recovering back to UK as the costs of recovery wouldn't be above the value of the car. However, my concern is that may no longer be the case with the D3. I always used AA and had good experiences with them both times I needed them in France and would prefer to stick with them as I have had issues with cheaper cover in the UK, my cover only covered up to 26' caravan and mine was 27' so they wouldn't come out.
So, what are the likely costs of getting the car returned if it does die? Any idea of how theyre likely to assess the value of the car?
Do you have any other recommendations for cover? I am looking at about £250 for AA which also covers £500 parts and labour.
ThanksDiscovery 4 GS 2009 Auto Stornoway Grey
Discovery 3 s 2005 Auto Bonatti Grey Gone
Discovery 3 SE 2005 Manual Zambezi Silver Gone
Range Rover Sport HSE 2006 Black
Aston Martin DB7 VV
27th Apr 2022 9:07 am
nigethecat
Member Since: 11 Sep 2016
Location: Marnoch
Posts: 4252
I'm with Green Flag and I know they are the provider to the Caravan Club so it might be worth checking out their cover (no size or weight limits for caravans) as they also cover 7 days "pre-departure" so if something were to go wrong with your Disco just before the holiday then they would provide a replacement car...I want to see the sweets before I get into your windowless van... I'm not stupid!
Corris Grey D4 Commercial SE 2016
Zermatt Sliver 2007 D3 SE manual (gone)
Indus Silver D4 HSE 2015 (gone)
Bonatti Grey D3 HSE 2006 (gone)
White D3 S (LHD) 2007 (gone)
Firenze Red D4 HSE 2014 (gone)
Black RRS 3.6TDV8 2008 (gone)
Rusty Green Defender 110 1997 (gone)
Black FL2 HSE 2013 (gone)
I am pretty sure the last time I took my Disco over I was covered by the RAC because they were the only ones to guarantee to repatriate the vehicle even if it exceeded the value of the vehicle.
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73121
Re: European Breakdown Cover
pwheeldon wrote:
So, what are the likely costs of getting the car returned if it does die? Any idea of how theyre likely to assess the value of the car?
Depends on where you are overseas but way, way, way more than you think. When my car died in NW Norway (summer 2017) I was covered up to the value of the car, which they said £5,300 (in reality was half that) and I had to fork out another £6k on top. Car was stripped and consigned to the local scrapper. When looking for cover, if it’s got “market value” as a claim max then you’re not going to get them to pay to get your car back to UK if you’re any moderate distance from home. I was lucky, scrapping a visiting car in Norway is free and straight forward then, no idea if that’s the same all across Euroland now.
27th Apr 2022 10:03 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73121
Ivan wrote:
I am pretty sure the last time I took my Disco over I was covered by the RAC because they were the only ones to guarantee to repatriate the vehicle even if it exceeded the value of the vehicle.
Ivan
If that’s available bite their hand off up to the elbow, the other elbow. Considering the fun and frolics I went through its well worth the extra cost.
Oh, and if the AA is anything to go buy don’t even think they’ll give you a hire car that you can use to get home. They’d daisy chain the rentals so you had to change car at every border crossing.
27th Apr 2022 10:05 am
Trailered Movements
Member Since: 16 Jan 2020
Location: East/West Sussex Coast Borders
Posts: 1200
With regards to scrapping a vehicle abroad, Aviva transported one of my trucks back from Italy, scrapped it, and sold it as scrap which was exported again.
I was told it had to be returned to the country of registration, even though the Italian garage that recovered it were interested in buying it.
There was no chance it was ever going to be repaired for less than it was worth as a working vehicle.
Dave2011 Discovery 4 Commercial SDV6 (Gone)
2010 RRS TDV8 (Gone)
1980 OBLIC 4.0ltr Range Rover (went a long time ago)
27th Apr 2022 1:29 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73121
Glad that didn’t apply to Norway! The Norwegian scrappers only had the stipulation that the VIN could be read. Plates were taken off mine, after the private reg had been removed. Mind you, steering wheel position was a bit of a giveaway re country of origin. Once I got home the car was flagged as “exported” with DVLA, all then over bar selling a D4-full of parts.
27th Apr 2022 4:22 pm
pwheeldon
Member Since: 14 Jan 2020
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 1509
I've looked at the RAC cover and the higher level one comes in at about £240 so similar to AA with the parts and labour. RAC say they'll cover all costs of repatriation as long as "We’ll cover costs to recover your vehicle back to the UK, providing the vehicle is not beyond economical repair"
My worry is, what beyond economical repair?
I won't be towing the caravan, it's just the car I need cover for.Discovery 4 GS 2009 Auto Stornoway Grey
Discovery 3 s 2005 Auto Bonatti Grey Gone
Discovery 3 SE 2005 Manual Zambezi Silver Gone
Range Rover Sport HSE 2006 Black
Aston Martin DB7 VV
27th Apr 2022 6:16 pm
Register
Member Since: 29 Nov 2021
Location: SW London
Posts: 261
I paid £124 for RAC cover and have just (6 weeks later) got my truck back from the Alps following suspension drop to bump stops.
They had it on a loader within 2 hours of my call and covered transfers and flights for 6 back to UK, over £1,000.
The car was taken to a local LR dealership where it was pronounced beyond economic repair and I was offered €4.800.
I turned that down so it was delivered to my door as was.
I have a thread on 'repairing' the compressor. May just be nil cost?
Best £124 I ever spent and a lifetimes first insurance win. And no fuel cost to get home
PeteEverything's a hammer.
7th May 2022 7:15 am
al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10360
The Mayday cover from the caravan club, whilst provided by green flag doesn’t have a European extension, although if you are with green flag directly they do ( not sure why it’s like this), so I have used their red pennant cover for annual cover for car, caravan and personal cover ( the cover plus option) for £380
AlVolvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
7th May 2022 8:16 am
al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10360
An update, please read
So I can safely say the red pennant cover is simply the best, here’s why:
Somewhere near Verdun on the A4 in northern france my D5 with tintent on the back decide to f*ck it’s engine. With comedic timing it stoped with us blocking the telepayage lane of a motorway exit. ( stop laughing)
So a call to red pennant, and then the good stuff started 👍
Recovery truck is with us in 1/2hr (had to about working out to get auto box out of park, but know now), car onto transporter and caravan hitched up, off to local french garage. Quite rural so the owner couldn’t really do much, but in the background red pennant ladies had found a caravan site place for us, and once the car was unloaded the garage owner got his own car and towed us to the site so that we were safe and had somewhere to sleep. (Actually a really nice site on the outskirts of Verdun that meant we could walk into town to do some sightseeing and food shopping). Next day a replacement car suitable to tow our 1800kg T/A van was organised and this was driven out from the uk, with a recovery truck a couple of hours behind it, so in 48hrs we were back mobile, and my D5 was on its way back to the uk to be delivered to my Indi garage to start looking at. We will sort it when we get home.
So we continued our trip with next to no real delay. It cost me £380 for annual cover including personal cover, and the costs for this incident alone are over double that, so we’ll worth it and a truly first class service.
So, do we really need a Disco to tow (we all swear by them I know). What we got offered (the only thing that they had big enough) was a Ssangyong Turismo 7 seat people carrier, with a 2.2 diesel, 6 speed auto (engine is a Merc I believe), and it tows really well. I didn’t actually care what it was as long as it did the job. It’s only the 2 wheel drive version but fwd is available. It has all the toys and is very comfortable. Would I buy one, no, but it has made me think hard about what my next tow car might be.
Al
PS, all the red pennant ladies spoke french so when our french let us down in talking to the recovery driver and the garage owner we called and they translated for us 👍Volvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
22nd Jun 2022 6:21 am
D4mation
Member Since: 29 Jul 2011
Location: Ruralshire
Posts: 593
The Caravan Club's Red Pennant insurance is probably the best you can get. However they will only pay upto market value for recovery. See para 2 on page 14 in the Policy Document.
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Once I got home the car was flagged as “exported” with DVLA, all then over bar selling a D4-full of parts. 
about working out to get auto box out of park, but know now), car onto transporter and caravan hitched up, off to local french garage. Quite rural so the owner couldn’t really do much, but in the background red pennant ladies had found a caravan site place for us, and once the car was unloaded the garage owner got his own car and towed us to the site so that we were safe and had somewhere to sleep. (Actually a really nice site on the outskirts of Verdun that meant we could walk into town to do some sightseeing and food shopping). Next day a replacement car suitable to tow our 1800kg T/A van was organised and this was driven out from the uk, with a recovery truck a couple of hours behind it, so in 48hrs we were back mobile, and my D5 was on its way back to the uk to be delivered to my Indi garage to start looking at. We will sort it when we get home.
