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European breakdown cover

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European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Mon May 13, 2019 9:45 pm

Just wondering who you guys get cover with for traveling abroad and at what cost? Just been quoted £141 with RAC for a 10 day trip, seems a bit steep to me that... :o
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby MickYork » Tue May 14, 2019 7:31 am

I usually get an "add-on" with Footman James, costs about £50 extra for the year, i think carol Nash does something similar.

On last years jaunt onto the continent we had an agreement (between 7 of us) that if we had a "fatal" breakdown we would all chip in and rent a van (this was on top of our break down insurance). This would allow the person who broke down to continue his journey and give us the benefit of the van carrying our gear.

We didn't need the van but it it was a nice safety net.

I would say i've heard some horror tales about lads getting there scooters repatriated, in some cases close to 2 months, and waiting days before getting themselves home. I've also heard good tales about prompt and swift service.

Don't break down seems the best option :lol:
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Solid Air » Tue May 14, 2019 9:00 am

Peter James Insurance include both UK and European cover in their policies (around £110 fully comp and agreed value for me). The service provided is very good in my experience but it's the repatriation part of the equation that is the weak point with a 3-4 week wait and expect there to be some sort of damage, without you watching over them they're not too careful with your prized possession :evil:
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby ladsdad » Tue May 14, 2019 11:06 am

Hi
See if a guy called Jim Rose answers your question, he's used the RAC for the past couple of Euro's, they sorted him hire cars/hotels etc.. don't think everything when 100% smoothly but he keeps using them so that's a recommendation of sorts. If you & your shopping bike have a problem £14 a day could be a bit of a bargain compared with the, "don't care" service you get with the f.o.c breakdown add on you get with your insurance.
Like the man says... Don't breakdown!

Good luck.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Tue May 14, 2019 6:55 pm

ladsdad wrote:Hi
See if a guy called Jim Rose answers your question, he's used the RAC for the past couple of Euro's, they sorted him hire cars/hotels etc.. don't think everything when 100% smoothly but he keeps using them so that's a recommendation of sorts. If you & your shopping bike have a problem £14 a day could be a bit of a bargain compared with the, "don't care" service you get with the f.o.c breakdown add on you get with your insurance.
Like the man says... Don't breakdown!

Good luck.

Thanks, when you put it as £14 a day it doesn’t sound to bad and I will probably go with rac. However I contacted my insurer (classicline) who tell me they can add full European cover for an additional £25, hmm if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is springs to mind I’ll peruse the bumph they sent me later then make a decision.
Cheers chaps.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Solid Air » Tue May 14, 2019 7:37 pm

Do you know how the RAC's repatriation works if needed?
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby bookertmgs1 » Tue May 14, 2019 8:06 pm

I think its a pot luck when & where you breakdown. The recovery services are all local subcontractors - so hit & miss

I have head stories of the insurance company writing the scooter off rather than bearing the cost of repatriation.

seem to recall someone also recommending a german firm which sounds bizarre - but they covered all of europe and gave a good service. Price was certainly better than the RAC
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Tue May 14, 2019 8:29 pm

Solid Air wrote:Do you know how the RAC's repatriation works if needed?

No I’ve no idea. Im very new to the whole business of breakdown/recovery. Just something else to worry about I guess.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Wed May 15, 2019 5:17 am

Looks like it’s going to be rac then. Classicline european not worth the paper it’s written on and no mention of repatriation anywhere.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Knowledge » Wed May 15, 2019 1:51 pm

bookertmgs1 wrote:I have heard stories of the insurance company writing the scooter off rather than bearing the cost of repatriation.


I have heard that if the cost of recovery is high, say £2500, they might look at the book price of an old scooter and consider that it is only worth £1200, In which case, they would write it off and scrap it. No matter how much you scream "but it is an SX200 and is insured for a guaranteed £5000", it won't make any difference.

You will then end up saying "OK, I will recover it to the UK myself", in which case, you might as well not have bothered to buy the breakdown insurance in the first place.

Read the small print, and expect to get what you pay for.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby NorthernJordan » Wed May 15, 2019 2:04 pm

Knowledge wrote:
bookertmgs1 wrote:I have heard stories of the insurance company writing the scooter off rather than bearing the cost of repatriation.


I have heard that if the cost of recovery is high, say £2500, they might look at the book price of an old scooter and consider that it is only worth £1200, In which case, they would write it off and scrap it. No matter how much you scream "but it is an SX200 and is insured for a guaranteed £5000", it won't make any difference.

You will then end up saying "OK, I will recover it to the UK myself", in which case, you might as well not have bothered to buy the breakdown insurance in the first place.

Read the small print, and expect to get what you pay for.


The last line is pretty important.

The same applies the main breakdown firms as at the end of the day they are just providing a breakdown 'insurance'.
They can get tempted to right off a vehicle if repatriation is not viable, so read the small print.

I've used the RAC abroad and they were pretty pragmatic and got me recovered to Venlo where I repaired the scooter. The policy I had also covered the cost of the spare parts required to fix.

A lot of breakdown firms don't offer breakdown for vehicles over a certain age. The best work around for this is to a get personal policy in which they cover you in/on any vehicle regardless of age.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby ULC Soulagent » Sat May 18, 2019 7:35 am

For my tuppence worth is that the paperwork issued for European breakdowns from the big players(Footman and Allstyles) is the biggest load of wank as I’ve found out personally. Without fellow Lcgb members helping me out a few year ago my scoot would have been scrapped :evil: not a pleasant experience I can tell thee
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Sat May 18, 2019 7:40 am

ULC Soulagent wrote:For my tuppence worth is that the paperwork issued for European breakdowns from the big players(Footman and Allstyles) is the biggest load of wank


Having gone through the classicline small print I would have to agree with this.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Scooterdude » Sat May 18, 2019 7:51 am

Knowledge wrote:
bookertmgs1 wrote:I have heard stories of the insurance company writing the scooter off rather than bearing the cost of repatriation.


I have heard that if the cost of recovery is high, say £2500, they might look at the book price of an old scooter and consider that it is only worth £1200, In which case, they would write it off and scrap it. No matter how much you scream "but it is an SX200 and is insured for a guaranteed £5000", it won't make any difference.

You will then end up saying "OK, I will recover it to the UK myself", in which case, you might as well not have bothered to buy the breakdown insurance in the first place.

Read the small print, and expect to get what you pay for.


Yes this would have been the case had i taken out standard or comprehensive with the rac. In the end i went for comprehensive “plus” so if they value the scooter at say £3000 and travel/repatriation costs lets say £8000 they still bring it back.

As an existing member i also received a 10% discount on the cover as well but in the grander scheme of things £107 for a years uk cover plus £119 for a single ten day trip abroad plus whatever other trips I decide to do ain’t gonna be cheap.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Storkfoot » Mon May 16, 2022 11:52 am

I haven’t started shopping around yet for my breakdown cover for the Eurolambretta. Before I do, what is the score with Lambrettas that are MOT exempt?

Do you have to have a current MOT for [1] the breakdown cover to be valid and [2] to be legal on the road in France and Belgium?
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Rich Oswald » Mon May 16, 2022 12:16 pm

Storkfoot wrote:I haven’t started shopping around yet for my breakdown cover for the Eurolambretta. Before I do, what is the score with Lambrettas that are MOT exempt?

Do you have to have a current MOT for [1] the breakdown cover to be valid and [2] to be legal on the road in France and Belgium?


I would say, not if it's MOT exempt in UK, however not 100% so i'd check with your insurer.

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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby MickYork » Mon May 16, 2022 8:53 pm

New vehicles are MOT exempt and don't have an issue abroad or with recovery. Always worth reading the small print though
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Storkfoot » Wed May 18, 2022 6:36 am

Thanks for the replies. I did mine through A Plan (the old Allstyles). They advise that the MOT exempt has no effect on the cover. I did try to clarify what they do about repatriating scooters that are broken down and not fixable. That all appeared a grey area and there is definitely no commitment to return it to you within a certain timescale.

As for whether it is okay to ride in France and Belgium without an MOT and with an old vehicle, I can’t find anything for definite on this. I suspect I have just heard a rumour.
Last edited by Storkfoot on Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby Semp » Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:59 am

bookertmgs1 wrote:seem to recall someone also recommending a german firm which sounds bizarre - but they covered all of europe and gave a good service. Price was certainly better than the RAC

Does anyone know the name of this German firm? I'm asking as I broke down on the way back from Libramont and the European breakdown assistance supplied by Footman James was absolutely useless (BTW Thanks to Stuart and the Oxford Road Runners who helped me on the E42 near Manage!)
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Re: European breakdown cover

Postby bookertmgs1 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:06 pm

Semp wrote:
bookertmgs1 wrote:seem to recall someone also recommending a german firm which sounds bizarre - but they covered all of europe and gave a good service. Price was certainly better than the RAC

Does anyone know the name of this German firm? I'm asking as I broke down on the way back from Libramont and the European breakdown assistance supplied by Footman James was absolutely useless (BTW Thanks to Stuart and the Oxford Road Runners who helped me on the E42 near Manage!)


I think it was AutoAid - but I can't be certain.

After more examples of people left in limbo over the last two weeks by recovery arranged by insurance companies - I'm not going to leave it to chance in the future.

There were a lot of instances where fellow scooterists came to the rescue which is heartening - but for rallys which are further afield and less help on hand its nothing more than a lottery.
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