do not be stupid as I was, never had to claim on breakdown cover so put off renewing it and guess what? I broke down 50 miles from home, cost £170 to join AA mega cover and tow home, now have no car as engine wrecked. so lesson learnt and for others a reminder of what can happen.

Thanks for the warning, personally I have been ensured I have cover since I was driving wrecks, even when I bought my current car 3 years ago (at which point it was 6mths old), I happily accepted the breakdown cover (although it was free until the care was 3 years old - but re-instated my cover str8 away after it expired).

Dave

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Dave

P.S. I feel obliged to point out, I am speaking from experience and my own personal views above - I am not an advisor, nor an expert.

I do the same.

Its so cheap nowadays, like £30 for a year instead of £120 I was paying for platinum cover 2 years ago.

Best watch what cover you have,I had roadside cover and brokedown about 6 miles away from Sarn services on my way back from a holiday in tenby,I was towing a small trailer at the time with some camping gear in it and had the wife and 2 young kids with me

I called out the RAC and the man turned up,had a look and said your gearbox had gone,I pointed out that I had a problem with one of the drive shafts when i was on holiday,I then asked him to tow me to the services and he said as i had a trailer he couldn't tow me ,i offered to leave the trailer but he wouldn't let me and as I only had roadside cover he would arrange recovery back to Bristol ( 70 miles ) with another breakdown company,he then got me several quotes from £320 to £180 so I took the £180 quote ,he then left me on the hard shoulder.

1hr 30 mins later ( approx 22-30 ) the truck turned up,the driver had a quick look at the car and said your driveshaft has come out and asked why the RAC man never fixed it ?he then put the car and trailer on the back of the lorry and took me back to bristol,when we got to my house he charged me £320.

The next day I got a new driveshaft seal and clip and fixed the car and complained to the RAC and told them what the problem was and asked why their driver never fixed the car,they ignored my emails until i took it to the local paper,their reply to my complaint was i never appreciated the level of cover I had untill I broke down,and the reason their man never fixed my driveshaft was these problems could reoccure further down the road I then pointed out that their repair man never even found the fault.

I then gave up and joined the AA

Gethro,

Brilliant post, with a good story behind it and a good warning in front of it.

Rated the post with maximum stars!