Van Breakdown Cover

Being towed off the hard shoulder following a breakdown can be a hugely expensive and time consuming process for any road user. Added to this it can be a very stressful situation if you are without adequate breakdown cover.

For many commercial van owners it can be even more of a problem, costing the company both time and hence money. Many businesses rely on their vans to support their business operations, and having just one off the road can problematic in terms of delivering on your business promises. This could ultimately damage the reputation of your company.

Purchasing a van breakdown cover policy can reduce the problems associated with a breakdown, guaranteeing roadside repairs following just one phone call. This not only saves money by helping you avoid the disproportionately high cost of getting your van towed to a local garage, but could also reduce the amount of time that your vehicle is off the road.

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Levels of van breakdown cover

Van breakdown cover policies do not have to be expensive, with their being four different levels of cover available.

The cheapest option is Roadside van breakdown cover. This only guarantees to repair your van at the side of the road, and if initial attempts to get you up and running fail you will be towed to the nearest local garage. This is still worthwhile as you are guaranteed attendance at the side of the road and a free tow, something which would ordinarily cost you far more than paying for one year of Roadside level van breakdown cover.

National cover is the next up from this; both in terms of costs and features. It includes everything which is featured on the Roadside level cover, but instead of taking your van to the nearest garage it instead guarantees to take both the van and passengers to the destination of their choice if attempts by the attendant to fix the van on the road side are unsuccessful.

These same guarantees are made at the Home Start level of cover. However, the big difference is that the van breakdown cover provider will also agree to attend to your vehicle regardless of where it is in the country. At the National level, providers usually place a stipulation on how far away the van has to be from the policy holder’s base of operations or home before a call out is approved. If you feel it is important for it also to be guaranteed that your van is attended to at the location where it is usually kept then it may well be worth paying a little bit more for the Home Start level cover.

Onward Travel breakdown cover includes all the features of the three before mentioned levels, but in addition the provider pays for any accommodation or even vehicle hire costs which are required as a result of the breakdown occurring. There are usually limits on the budget policy holders are allowed to spend on this, and it is therefore worth checking this out with the breakdown cover provider before agreeing to the policy.

Personal or vehicle

In addition to picking your level of cover, you also must decide whether you want a personal or vehicle specific van breakdown cover policy.

Personal breakdown cover is centered on one person. This means that regardless of whether the nominated person is the driver or the passenger in a vehicle, they will still be eligible to make a call out when ever a breakdown occurs in any vehicle. However, some providers now allow for more than one individual to be named on a personal breakdown cover policy.

With vehicle specific breakdown cover, it is the nominated vehicle which is covered by the breakdown cover policy. With this kind of policy, when ever that specific vehicle breaks down the van breakdown cover provider will attend to it regardless of who is driving it.

Personal breakdown cover tends to be the most expensive, but which is the most cost effective option really depends on your specific circumstances and how your van is going to be used.

European van breakdown cover

It could be that you are planning on taking your van abroad into other European countries. If this is the case then it would be wise to purchase a European van breakdown cover policy.

This is an additional option on the breakdown cover agreement, where the policy holder is covered for breakdowns which occur in other European countries in exchange for paying a bit extra each year. This is the logical choice for anyone using their van for business purposes regardless of whether they are regular visitors to the continent or even if it is a one-off event.

You could decide to go without breakdown cover, but this would leave you liable to huge expenses in terms of recovering your vehicle back to the UK which dwarf those required by vehicle recover trucks in our own country. If you regularly take your van abroad, going without European van breakdown cover is a huge risk.

We have more information on this in our European breakdown cover guide.

Read the small print on the van breakdown cover deals

One key piece of advice to remember when choosing your policy is that a cheap van breakdown cover policy will not always be the best value for money. It is tempting in the short term to simply pay as little as possible, but this could leave you seriously out of pocket later on if you are not getting everything that you had expected.

This goes beyond simply choosing Home Start over Roadside level cover, with their being discrepancies in what is on offer from different providers at each of these levels. For example, different providers may have different limits on the amount of time that roadside attendants are free of charge before additional fees are applied at the Roadside level.

On a more fundamental level, some providers will refuse to provide cover to vans that are above a certain weight or height. It is things like this that could invalidate your membership if you have not read the small print before agreeing to the policy.