Which breakdown company do you use and why?
| Related: | Personal Finance•Insurance•Breakdown Cover |
Previously I used Britannia Rescue and on returning to the UK need to choose a company in case of problems. I thought I would use this sites comparison tables as things may have changed somewhat since I left. No mention of Britannia so I checked to see if they had gone out of business, but no, thay are still offering their services but don't appear in the comparison tables. Quite a mystery as I find them amongst the cheapest and their services to me in the past have been first class (unlike both the AA and RAC who each let me down badly - once).
In particular, their total recovery plus personal service is by far the best (in my opinion) if you have a two car family as all named drivers and any cars are covered. Still checking but so far they still look good for me and I wonder why they don't show up in the tables. (Maybe they are there down on page 18 or somewhere)
Responses (11)
I get mine from MoreTh>n with my insurance. It's very good and not expensive.
Hi Sealate, I have mine with the RAC for the car, and with a different (specialist)company for the motorbike.
So far, I've never had to call the RAC out, so I can't comment on the service etc. Looking at the prices Britannia charge, I'm paying about the same, but that's with my discount for not having called them out so far.
My personal priorities when choosing breakdown cover are, in strict order of preference...
1 Guaranteed priority rescue for 'lone females' (I mostly drive in my local rural area)
2 Distinctive marked vehicles and uniforms (less likely to be an impostor who's intention is not 'rescue'!!
3 Reliability
4 Price
Other people's priorities will, of course, be different to mine.
I wouldn't recommend Green Flag...bad experience in the past!
Also, looking at Britannia's website, I see they got a 'Which Best Buy' award last year...and that's good!
Oh, and I've never had to call the motorbike rescue out either...bikers are incredibly helpful and gentlemanly and will ALWAYS stop and help another biker in trouble!
I got RAC vehicle only cover as I've found them helpful in the past & they came up reasonably priced this time. Previously I've bought RAC breakdown with Tesco Clubcard points though.
Hi Sealate,
Just to confirm, we do list Britannia Rescue products in our breakdown cover comparison tables, however they are a couple of pages down the rankings. I have attached a link to the Britannia Rescue page which details all of their breakdown products and details.
http://www.money.co.uk/breakdown-cover/breakdown-insurers/Britannia-Rescue-Breakdown-Cover.htm
I hope this helps
Joe
Hi Joe,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Perhaps you could also take the time to explain how your ranking system works. Most people will only look at the first page or so believing that they will be the best buys. For a company to be a Which Best Buy 2010 to be well off the first page does not seem right. Please don't tell me that companies 'sponsor' their position.
Hi Sealate,
At the moment we compare almost 400 breakdown cover policies (more than any other site) so I'm sure you'll appreciate that it's impossible for us to list them all on a single page or order them by a single criteria as what people want from their breakdown policy differs so much.
That's why we've added an Advanced Search option that lets you specify exactly what you want from your cover, or which companies you're specifically looking for.
Like all comparison sites we have an element of sponsored listings but unlike the others we aim to include all of the breakdown policies on the market in our comparison tables rather than just a select few. In the vast majority of cases you'll only find sponsored breakdown companies listed on other comparison sites - I doubt very much you'd find Britannia breakdown cover on any of them.
I hope this helps
Joe
Again, thanks. I am now enlightened about the comparison tables and a little disappointed that the assumptions I made about position are totally unfounded. Silly me.
By the way, in your response the automated link to Britannia breakdown cover takes you to Britannia building society. Hmm...
No problem Sealate.
As I said, with something like breakdown cover it would be really difficult to order the comparison table by a single feature or attribute - using the Advanced Search is the best way to find the cover that best suits.
My mistake, the link was directing to Britannia BS as the 'official' name for the breakdown provider you originally mentioned is Britannia Rescue
Joe
RAC here too Sealate, theirs was always the cheaper option for full coverage at the time including European roadside cover.
I use the RAC myself, too.
At the time when I chose the cover, I needed it last-minute and many other companies said cover would take 24 hours to come into effect. I took out the full package for a very reasonable price.
Since then, I've called them twice. The first time, my car overheated on the commute home. I thought it'd be an easy fix, but wouldn't have known where to start, so phoned to ask for a little advice on what I should be looking for. I was told not to do it myself, and an hour later the RAC were at my door looking over the car and confirming that the radiator was wrecked, something I'd never have realised on my own - they showed me the leakage in action, and got my a very fair price on a new one, fitted a few days later with no fitting costs.
The second time I called them, I'd accidentally locked my key in the ignition whilst on a very stressful trip. They were with me within 20 minutes of my call, and I was back in my car within an hour.
RAC have provided an incredible service for me, so far. Wouldn't leave them.
Interesting answers. Will look into the idea of switching for cashback but not just the big two companies.
I still think that if you are a two car family the Britannia Rescue package beats the other competitors for price and in my experience (7 years), service. You can use them even if you are just a passenger in someone else's car.
I have that with my RAC deal, so can call them out as a passenger in someone else's car.
Did an online comparison and here is what I found for the same service and after online discounts.
AA £183 up to 46% off ???
RAC £162 after £62 discount
Britannia £113
The level requested was for two people in any car with full UK breakdown and onward travel.
Fruits, accepted that is now the case. A few years ago that was not available. I started with Britannia around 2001 and obviously did not check out the others again.
I have been a member of the aa for ten years and they have been brilliant to me as i am deaf and drive an old vw campervan they allow me to txt them when i brakedown.1st class service.
I have used britania for years but through the CSMA (Civil Service Members Association). This is now open to anyone to join if they already know a member.
I have used the service several times and it has been excellent, nuch better than other family members and friends who have been with the AA & RAC. Most of my family have now swapped to britannia. I did find a cheaper company this year, this was green flag through a cashback website but relations had used them in the past and didn't have favourable comments so my preference is still britannia.
The personal cover they offer also means it only costs about £20 more to cover any other member of your household which is great.
The other advantage to CSMA is you receive discount rates for insurance through LVE and they have a travelshop which have always provided much better rates than the high street for holidays we have considered. The have a car maintenance scheme with preferential rates and members only holiday parks within the uk. These are all at good rates.
Posts within the money.co.uk community represent the views, experiences and opinions of members only. They should not be taken as financial advice and should not be followed without further research.
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