Breakdown Cover

[paulie b]

A few months ago I allowed my AA membership to lapse. In readiness for my holidays, I decided to rejoin. I got normal membership plus recovery for £30! Apparently there was a (very) special offer on. They'll try to hammer me next renewal, but I'll just cancel my membership - leave it for a short while then re-join. I recommend that anyone paying for breakdown cover (especially by DD) take a look at the amounts going out and change accordingly. Someone I know pays £27 a month for cover - not sure which provider - for the same level of cover as me!

[paulie b]

Just to add to the above. The £30 is for one years cover.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Cost of cover is one aspect to be taken into account when choosing breakdown cover.

In this month's Which? they have reported on breakdown cover using data from their annual survey, and taken into account customer opinion, response time to a breakdown, ability to repair at roadside, capability of mechanic, and value for money.

The three top scoring companies providing third party breakdown cover were: Gem Motoring Assist (score 80%); AA (78%); Saga Breakdown (75%). As regards car maker branded breakdown cover (which provides memdership, at home and national recovery), Toyota Roadside Assistance came second (score 84%) at a cost from £72.

For those members who already have Toyota Roadside Assistance and who either buy a new or used Toyota where Toyota Roadside Assistance comes with their new or used car warranty, or who buy a Toyota Extended Warranty, the balance of their existing Toyota Roadside Assistance membership can be added to the membership provided with the warranty.

For example if one has a balance of six months membership of Toyota Roadside Assistance remaining, and one buys a new Toyota, the balance can be added to the 12 months Toyota Roadside Assistance provided with the new car warranty, giving 18 months of cover. Just need to contact Toyota Roadside Assistance to arrange.

[TotallyToto]

That's worth knowing, re. the Toyota Roadside Assist, I have that cover, it came free  for the first year. I think it is covered by AA..

[FROSTYBALLS]

Yes, the AA provide the breakdown cover for a number of car maker branded breakdown services, including Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Ford, etc.

They also provide cover for some manufacturers using manufacturer branded breakdown vehicles (eg. Audi, Skoda, VW, Landrover, Jaguar, etc) - so in the case of VW, the breakdown vehicles will have VW Roadside Assistance livery rather than AA.