Breakdown

[50p]

My Corolla came with 12 months ‘free’ breakdown cover with the AA.

Just wondering, what have forum members done when theirs expired?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Some continue with Toyota Roadside Assistance - which is what we do: 

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance/

Some go with third party providers.

The latest Which? Report on car breakdown services - 8,000 sample of members/non-members and based on customer score, arrived within the hour, and vehicles repaired at the roadside - gave four recommended third party providers. In descending order of Which? score: Axa 80%; Start Rescue 76%; the AA 75%; and LV 74%. As regards manufacturer branded schemes, Toyota came second behind Lexus, with a score of 86%.

 

[StreetHawk]

In my case, bought another new car!

Serious answer.. there are breakdown cover providers that you pay £20 or so for 12 months then every call out has a charge (£40 or so from memory), pretty sure this was only available through one of the price comparison sites though.

Edit - it was Green Flag and was £25 plus a call out excess charge, covered roadside assistance, national recovery and onward travel. 

[Roy124]

I continued with Toyota/AA.  Less expensive than AA and others with the complete cover I need. 

[50p]

11 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

I continued with Toyota/AA.  Less expensive than AA and others with the complete cover I need. 

Where you notified the free period was expiring or did you do it yourself?

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards if you change your car for another Toyota and you still have a balance of Toyota Roadside Assistance remaining from your previous Toyota, you can transfer any balance remaining to your new car by phoning Toyota Roadside Assistance.

[FROSTYBALLS]

2 minutes ago, 50p said:

Where you notified the free period was expiring or did you do it yourself?

You can renew via MyToyota.

[Swanthecat]

18 minutes ago, 50p said:

Where you notified the free period was expiring or did you do it yourself?

 

I was contacted by Toyota - in fact they also extended the renewal date by 3 months due to the first COVID lockdown. They offered a good rate for the second year and were very nice people to deal with so I renewed. 

[trashman1965]

23 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

As regards if you change your car for another Toyota and you still have a balance of Toyota Roadside Assistance remaining from your previous Toyota, you can transfer any balance remaining to your new car by phoning Toyota Roadside Assistance.

 

19 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

You can renew via MyToyota.

Yes and yes...done same . And yes it is full aa cover with home start and cheaper than direct. Granted on a new car breakdown is less likely but it covers things you may need like sorting a flat in the middle of winter. I think I paid 75 quid to extend on the previous car...worth it for peace of mind. Balance was added to new corolla 

[Woofwoof]

Check your regular insurance

it often includes breakdown free of charge

[Catlover]

10 hours ago, Woofwoof said:

Check your regular insurance

it often includes breakdown free of charge

Is anything free? Or do you mean it’s included in the price?
I been with LV motor insurance for a few years now. Every renewal time I go to online comparison sites and LV are always top or in the top 6, but they do more then one quote. There is a “standard” quote and then a higher priced quote. The latter includes such as car hire, personal accident insurance and breakdown cover. What I want is to compare like with like so I have to have quotes stripped back so they equal content, then I start building up with content I want. 
For breakdown, for 11 years I have used Start Rescue.  Ow both my Prius and the wife’s Auris hybrid is on the breakdown policy and in total I pay £75pa and that is for 2 cars, and includes home start. We have used them maybe 4 times, have had to wait no more than 45 minutes, job done.

[Leo63]

I used green flag last year via Quidco which cost £50 and I got £10 cashback which covered any driver home start roadside repair and recovery. This year it was £50.70

[Roy124]

16 hours ago, 50p said:

Where you notified the free period was expiring or did you do it yourself?

Notified and offered extension 

[50p]

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated 👍

[2badmice]

I already get cover through my bank account, however the salesman told me I got 12 months free cover, through them.  I hope to not have to use it, with having a Toyota.

 

As an err of caution and slightly off topic: I'd seriously ask everyone to review their car insurance and review your replacement vehicle options, as courtesy vehicles through repairers are becoming scarce (perhaps only local to my area) and if you have the budget to pay for guaranteed hire, if you CANNOT do without a car if yours is involved in an RTA.

 

I work in motor vehicle repair and I'd also get those who need it to check what size of replacement vehicle you receive, as I often have clients request a larger vehicle due to children/disabilities or back issues and we're contracted just to provide a class A vehicle which is sometimes of an issue for people and I would say it's better to be prepared rather than feel let down at the time of repair.

[50p]

Reviving my original thread ..

I have now owned my vehicle for just over a year and have received no notifications of the 'free' recovery coming to an end, nor any invitation to renew?

[Swanthecat]

I renewed last year and just received a reminder to renew. £76 for 1 year and this year they also are offering £135 for 2 years cover

[FROSTYBALLS]

54 minutes ago, 50p said:

Reviving my original thread ..

I have now owned my vehicle for just over a year and have received no notifications of the 'free' recovery coming to an end, nor any invitation to renew?

As far as I'm aware, you don't get an automatic reminder at the end of the first year of breakdown cover. Think one can set reminders within MyT though. 

Renewals - https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance

[bigblock]

I renewed recently for £76. Got reminder in post. You don't get a little card with a membership number and expiry date on it anymore. Just a covering letter telling you  you are now covered for the next 12 months. No mention of a start and expiry date on the letter either. I am waiting a reply from them on this as it's not really good enough proof that you are indeed covered in my opinion.

[Cyker]

Yea it's been a bit depressing seeing the declining quality of the membership card over the years - When I first joined it was a good solid plastic card like a credit card, but it's slowly gotten worse - My last one was pretty much just a piece of printed card. It's a small inconsequential thing but it worries me what else they're having to cut if they're having to cut such tiny corners, esp. as the price has been creeping up at the same time.

I share your concern - It's like the car tax - There's no easy way to prove you have it if it's not on their system for some error (e.g. wrong reg number), 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

31 minutes ago, bigblock said:

You don't get a little card with a membership number and expiry date on it anymore. Just a covering letter telling you  you are now covered for the next 12 months.

Hyundai do something similar. With our last i20, breakdown assistance lasted for the duration of the new car warranty - five years.

With the current i20, breakdown assistance was officially for the first year (though we got two years as part of the deal when we bought it). After the first year, breakdown assistance is renewed automatically when the car is serviced by a Hyundai dealer. No card, but you get e-mail confirmation of the renewal.

[Hornet3D]

I received a letter a couple of weeks after buying my Aygo confirming the years free cover and giving the date when it will end.  I cancelled my RAC cover saving almost £200 and have budgeted for another £76 for Roadside Assistance membership in a years time.  In fact I have already registered my credit card details in the hope it will auto renew.

[Cyker]

It's pretty good as it's served by the AA - The only downside is it follows the car and not the driver, as in my pre-Toyota days I had a normal AA membership which came in handy when my mate's car broke down! But it's a lot cheaper than the equivalent AA membership. Then again I've only used it once for that time I had a flat tyre on a Smart Motorway section of the M25 in the Verso (Scariest 2 hours of my life!  ) so maybe they take that in account.

It's not been such an issue anyway these days since, for some reason, I always seem to end up being the designated driver!

 

Edit: Also, although they don't seem to mention it now, don't forget you can add more Toyota cars at a discounted rate if e.g. you are a 2 car family! But you have to call them to renew to get the lower rate or they charge you the wrong amount.

 

[Kental]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

It's pretty good as it's served by the AA - The only downside is it follows the car and not the driver, as in my pre-Toyota days I had a normal AA membership which came in handy when my mate's car broke down! But it's a lot cheaper than the equivalent AA membership. Then again I've only used it once for that time I had a flat tyre on a Smart Motorway section of the M25 in the Verso (Scariest 2 hours of my life!  ) so maybe they take that in account.

It's not been such an issue anyway these days since, for some reason, I always seem to end up being the designated driver!

 

Edit: Also, although they don't seem to mention it now, don't forget you can add more Toyota cars at a discounted rate if e.g. you are a 2 car family! But you have to call them to renew to get the lower rate or they charge you the wrong amount.

 

Interesting, either this or next month we should be a 2 Toyota family.

[Rambler56]

On 5/3/2022 at 6:27 PM, bigblock said:

I renewed recently for £76. Got reminder in post. You don't get a little card with a membership number and expiry date on it anymore. Just a covering letter telling you  you are now covered for the next 12 months. No mention of a start and expiry date on the letter either. I am waiting a reply from them on this as it's not really good enough proof that you are indeed covered in my opinion.

Got an email reminder that it was running out in 30 days.  I renewed mine online this morning and the email confirmation shows the registration, start date, price paid, and further down there is mention of the welcome pack that should arrive within 14 days.