ADAC Cover? -PLEASE BE AWARE-

Update

Hi all,

I emailed a 4 x page report to amanda.moser-wickles@sby.adac.de at ADAC Germany yesterday, which I had prepared as a result of the shambolic service from ADAC's French partners and agents. Within minutes, (the time it took them to read it), the phone was ringing, and a very nice woman by the name of Barbara Lorenz was talking to me, promising that the matter would be dealt with, as soon as the original receipts for out of pocket expenses were received by her. They went via Air Mail last night. :Smile: So, a result is on the way hopefully.

The woman appeared to be genuine enough, and couldn't believe the terrible service we received from her French colleagues. I haven't detailed everything on here, but it goes a bit deeper than just the recovery and the ruined tyres. :Angry:

Cheers for now,

Jock.
 
Fingers crossed for the recovery of your expences, and hope ADAC redeems themselves, as normally ADAC are very good although i have not used them myself but been a member for over 3 years now, and i know that there is a 200 euro recovery to local gge only, and i have no home recovery as i am over all there size limits with big RV but have alternative cover to cover this problem, but all the rest what ADAC offers in there service appears to be 2nd to none for the price. Look forward to the update, Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
Another update? Not quite.

Hi all.

I have been pleasantly reminded by fellow Funsters here at Stratford, that I haven't updated on our situation recently, regarding ADAC.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to update you with, other than, despite efforts by email and phone to try and gain a result, Rita and I are still out of pocket by almost €600.
Apparently, ADAC's translation department are in possession of our report. :Eeek:

Gordon Blooming Bennett, how long do they need to translate our report? :Angry:

Regards,

Jock.
 
Last edited:
ADAC

I feel we should take this time to add our own experiences of ADAC which happened this week
We planned on a 2 week holiday from our home in Peterborough to Nice and Monaco our trip was going well and we almost reached our half way point when on Sunday along the French motorway our engine started making the most disturbing of noises we rang for help via an SOS phone on the side of the motorway and a tow truck come within 10 minutes and towed us to the nearest garage once there we explained to the mechanic we were with ADAC and rang them we then handed over the phone to the mechanic and they discussed the vehicle between them, because of it being Sunday the ADAC told us they were going to send us to a hotel nearby they arranged the taxi and the hotel ADAC texted the address to our phone so we could let the taxi driver see it (our French vocabulary is very limited)
The hotel was paid in advance by ADAC on a room only basis (will not pay for food) which we feel is acceptable

The following day Monday
ADAC contacted us asking if they could move the camper to another garage which had the correct diagnostic facilities obviously we agreed ADAC tried to re book another night in our current hotel but it was closed on Mondays!!(have no idea why) ADAC then arranged a 2 nd hotel in a nearby town and also booked another taxi for us

Tuesday
ADAC advised us that the problem with our camper was unable to be fixed within the 3 day limit and they would be shipping our camper back to the UK to a local garage of our choice or our home
Tuesday afternoon ADAC rang to say we could have a hire car back to Calais then catch the ferry as a foot passenger and collect another hire car in the UK back to home. Or our other option was a train to Paris then the Eurostar to London and connecting train to Peterborough we chose the train option due to having 2 children with us (age 2 and age 4)

Itinerary

Taxi from our current hotel to garage where camper was, to collect our belongings
Then to train station where ADAC had already pre-booked and paid our train tickets to Paris (1st class) and at the same time we collected our tickets for the following morning Eurostar train which were also paid for (premium standard) the combined price for these tickets was 910 euros
ADAC also pre booked our hotel in Paris which was 260 euros per night but unfortunately the hotel would not except there fax as confirmation of their assurance to pay the bill so we paid and will claim back from ADAC

ADAC tell us it will take up to 3 weeks to get the camper home from France
We have worked out that roughly before the cost of retrieving our camper from France ADAC have outlaid 1,900 euros getting my family home

I have nothing but great thanks for the assistance I received, and thank god I remembered to renew our ADAC membership 3 days before we started our trip.

The best 79 euros I have EVER spent
 
bungle.bear said:
I feel we should take this time to add our own experiences of ADAC which happened this week
We planned on a 2 week holiday from our home in Peterborough to Nice and Monaco our trip was going well and we almost reached our half way point when on Sunday along the French motorway our engine started making the most disturbing of noises we rang for help via an SOS phone on the side of the motorway and a tow truck come within 10 minutes and towed us to the nearest garage once there we explained to the mechanic we were with ADAC and rang them we then handed over the phone to the mechanic and they discussed the vehicle between them, because of it being Sunday the ADAC told us they were going to send us to a hotel nearby they arranged the taxi and the hotel ADAC texted the address to our phone so we could let the taxi driver see it (our French vocabulary is very limited)
The hotel was paid in advance by ADAC on a room only basis (will not pay for food) which we feel is acceptable

The following day Monday
ADAC contacted us asking if they could move the camper to another garage which had the correct diagnostic facilities obviously we agreed ADAC tried to re book another night in our current hotel but it was closed on Mondays!!(have no idea why) ADAC then arranged a 2 nd hotel in a nearby town and also booked another taxi for us

Tuesday
ADAC advised us that the problem with our camper was unable to be fixed within the 3 day limit and they would be shipping our camper back to the UK to a local garage of our choice or our home
Tuesday afternoon ADAC rang to say we could have a hire car back to Calais then catch the ferry as a foot passenger and collect another hire car in the UK back to home. Or our other option was a train to Paris then the Eurostar to London and connecting train to Peterborough we chose the train option due to having 2 children with us (age 2 and age 4)

Itinerary

Taxi from our current hotel to garage where camper was, to collect our belongings
Then to train station where ADAC had already pre-booked and paid our train tickets to Paris (1st class) and at the same time we collected our tickets for the following morning Eurostar train which were also paid for (premium standard) the combined price for these tickets was 910 euros
ADAC also pre booked our hotel in Paris which was 260 euros per night but unfortunately the hotel would not except there fax as confirmation of their assurance to pay the bill so we paid and will claim back from ADAC

ADAC tell us it will take up to 3 weeks to get the camper home from France
We have worked out that roughly before the cost of retrieving our camper from France ADAC have outlaid 1,900 euros getting my family home

I have nothing but great thanks for the assistance I received, and thank god I remembered to renew our ADAC membership 3 days before we started our trip.

The best 79 euros I have EVER spent
Click to expand...

Well just goes to show that it does work as it says on the tin so to speak, so good to hear that all went well with your recovery home, and thanks for posting a very detailed report on how it all went from start to finish, The best 97 euros that you have ever spent, Long live ADAC, Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

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It kind of makes you wonder what happened to Jock and why they did not do their best for him? As brilliant as you found them they come up short so far for Jock:Doh:
 
Hi Bungle.bear,

I am genuinely pleased that you have had great service from ADAC, and that you were looked after well by them.
That's the sort of service I'd be glad to write about, thereby (like you), providing the best type of advertising ADAC could possibly receive, ie, personal recommendations from satisfied customers.

Our incident came about in mid April, and as we enter the last week of June, ADAC still have not resolved the issue. It's not everyone that can suddenly part with nearly €600, without suffering hardship, but even that possibility has not been taken into consideration by ADAC.

Best regards,

Jock.

P.S. Rita and I are just along the road from you at PE6. :Smile:
 
We had ADAC help as well

We blew a rear tyre on the euro tunnel on the way out to France ( we are hoe bound today) .. ADAC attended and changed the tyre.. I was informed I had a maximum €200 call out (road side assistance... In Cite Europe car park where I limped to with one of my rear tyres flat .. Double back tyres)

The breakdown truck arrived and changed the tyre for me.. Had to use my tools like brace an jack.

Works well.. As it said on the tin... Yes glad I renewed my membership.... I do have safeguard... But I also have ADAC as well...

Great value for money.

Bob:thumb:
 
JockandRita said:
Hi Bungle.bear,

I am genuinely pleased that you have had great service from ADAC, and that you were looked after well by them.
That's the sort of service I'd be glad to write about, thereby (like you), providing the best type of advertising ADAC could possibly receive, ie, personal recommendations from satisfied customers.

Our incident came about in mid April, and as we enter the last week of June, ADAC still have not resolved the issue. It's not everyone that can suddenly part with nearly €600, without suffering hardship, but even that possibility has not been taken into consideration by ADAC.

Best regards,

Jock.

P.S. Rita and I are just along the road from you at PE6. :Smile:
Click to expand...

Hi Jock and Rita,, so sorry that your problem has not yet been resolved to your satisfaction yet, as you deserve better than this with ADAC, i am not sticking up for them as they should have resolved this situation by now i 100% agree, but bureaucracy is everywhere even in Germany:Doh:, you would have thought that they would have resolved this situation weeks ago, and i stand by you with this, I think the recovery company that done your tyres in and dumped you in the middle of nowhere, is 100% responsable for the situation that you found yourself in, and as ADAC is your breakdown provider, they should demand the return of your 600 euros and some, for the aggro that you had to go through, but ADAC should refund your money themselves and fight it out with the breakdown company in there time and not yours, so i am on your side here Jock, ADAC should have done better by a mile, and just hope that they pull there finger out and resolve your situation sooner than later as your vehicle is 100% covered by ADAC breakdown and comes within the limits of there conditions for motorhomes, so it was the gge that is 100% at fault here by sending the wrong type of recovery vehicle and then dumping you in the middle of nowhere demanding 500 more euros for a further recovery vehicle to come out when they should have sent the right vehicle out the first time to be within the 200 euro limit set by ADAC, so it is the gge that is 100% at fault here not ADAC but as i said ADAC is the breakdown provider so they should have refunded your money straight away. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
flatpackchicken said:
Hi Jock and Rita,, so sorry that your problem has not yet been resolved to your satisfaction yet, as you deserve better than this with ADAC, i am not sticking up for them as they should have resolved this situation by now i 100% agree, but bureaucracy is everywhere even in Germany:Doh:, you would have thought that they would have resolved this situation weeks ago, and i stand by you with this, I think the recovery company that done your tyres in and dumped you in the middle of nowhere, is 100% responsable for the situation that you found yourself in, and as ADAC is your breakdown provider, they should demand the return of your 600 euros and some, for the aggro that you had to go through, but ADAC should refund your money themselves and fight it out with the breakdown company in there time and not yours, so i am on your side here Jock, ADAC should have done better by a mile, and just hope that they pull there finger out and resolve your situation sooner than later as your vehicle is 100% covered by ADAC breakdown and comes within the limits of there conditions for motorhomes, so it was the gge that is 100% at fault here by sending the wrong type of recovery vehicle and then dumping you in the middle of nowhere demanding 500 more euros for a further recovery vehicle to come out when they should have sent the right vehicle out the first time to be within the 200 euro limit set by ADAC, so it is the gge that is 100% at fault here not ADAC but as i said ADAC is the breakdown provider so they should have refunded your money straight away. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
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Thanks Garry.

Yes, the overall responsibility lies with ADAC, despite any actions by any of their agents/sub contractors.

Cheers for now,

Jock.

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English/French,Spanish, To German translators are ten a penny
Ravin Mad Scotsman to English is where Jocks hold up is:Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1:
Hi Jock:thumb:
Geo
 
Geo said:
English/French,Spanish, To German translators are ten a penny
Ravin Mad Scotsman to English is where Jocks hold up is :Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1:
Hi Jock:thumb:
Geo
Click to expand...
Oi pal, if you had been on that Aire at Narbonne Plage with your blooming tools, I wouldn't be in this predicament, would I, eh? :Rofl1:
Hi Geo, how are you doing?


Cheers,

Jock.
 
Doing well Jock :thumb:Might be cheaper to take me with you in future:BigGrin:
 
Recovery

Hi to jerryflatpackchicken
in this post you mention that you are with ADAC but also with some body else for recovery may i ask who with as i have a 35 footer RV 9.5 tons and i would need a big truck to recover me hope you or other members can help
Thanks dave
 
Geo said:
Doing well Jock :thumb:Might be cheaper to take me with you in future:BigGrin:
Click to expand...
I think you are right there Geo. I'll give you a shout at the planning stage, for next year's wee jolly across the water. :Wink:

See you and Pam at Rutland. :thumb

Cheers for now,

Jock.

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gorsty said:
Hi to jerryflatpackchicken
in this post you mention that you are with ADAC but also with some body else for recovery may i ask who with as i have a 35 footer RV 9.5 tons and i would need a big truck to recover me hope you or other members can help
Thanks dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave, I am with 3 breakdown and recovery company's, as follows

1 ADAC because of all the extra things you get from them that other company's don't give you and very cheap at 97 euros for UK and all European cover + some cover in the USA as well. But do not recover anything over 7.5t from roadside breakdown or back home although will attend breakdown and try and fix, so no good for RVs for recovery only but everything else they offer is good.

2 AA through Safeguard insurance only As they recover from anywhere within Europe with no financial limit, and no size limit so good for all types of RV.

3 RAV Arrival through C&CC only as they do the arrival scheme which means they will transport you to your destination (UK ONLY) so you can have your holiday, then pick you up and recover you home after holiday, but they have a financial limit of £3000 for recovery from Europe, so not very good if they have to bring you back from Portugal or Spain or even Greece as you will have to pay any recovery charges over £3000 limit, and a recovery from say Portugal could be well over £5/6000 for a big RV therefore RAC is a big nono for Europe unless you have plenty of money to add to the recovery costs. Hope you understand all this, anymore info please just shout ok even if you don't understand anything i have said. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
have the first two myself

flatpackchicken said:
Hi Dave, I am with 3 breakdown and recovery company's, as follows

1 ADAC because of all the extra things you get from them that other company's don't give you and very cheap at 97 euros for UK and all European cover + some cover in the USA as well. But do not recover anything over 7.5t from roadside breakdown or back home although will attend breakdown and try and fix, so no good for RVs for recovery only but everything else they offer is good.

2 AA through Safeguard insurance only As they recover from anywhere within Europe with no financial limit, and no size limit so good for all types of RV.

3 RAV Arrival through C&CC only as they do the arrival scheme which means they will transport you to your destination (UK ONLY) so you can have your holiday, then pick you up and recover you home after holiday, but they have a financial limit of £3000 for recovery from Europe, so not very good if they have to bring you back from Portugal or Spain or even Greece as you will have to pay any recovery charges over £3000 limit, and a recovery from say Portugal could be well over £5/6000 for a big RV therefore RAC is a big nono for Europe unless you have plenty of money to add to the recovery costs. Hope you understand all this, anymore info please just shout ok even if you don't understand anything i have said. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
Click to expand...


Like you Garry I have the ADAC and the Safeguard.... I know ADAC worked.:Sad:


Bob
 
slobadoberbob said:
Like you Garry I have the ADAC and the Safeguard.... I know ADAC worked.:Sad:


Bob
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Good to see you that you recognize the value of ADAC Bob, it was not ADAC at fault for Jocks breakdown fiasco but the breakdown company acting on ADACs behalf, but ADAC could and should have acted a lot faster on this problem and refunded Jocks outlay money immediately and sorted the money out with the French breakdown company in there time and not Jocks time. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
JockandRita said:
Hi Bungle.bear,

I am genuinely pleased that you have had great service from ADAC, and that you were looked after well by them.
That's the sort of service I'd be glad to write about, thereby (like you), providing the best type of advertising ADAC could possibly receive, ie, personal recommendations from satisfied customers.

Our incident came about in mid April, and as we enter the last week of June, ADAC still have not resolved the issue. It's not everyone that can suddenly part with nearly €600, without suffering hardship, but even that possibility has not been taken into consideration by ADAC.

Best regards,

Jock.

P.S. Rita and I are just along the road from you at PE6. :Smile:
Click to expand...

Jock,
I think some of luck was because our camper is a panel van conversion and is under 3.5T, so the recovery company had no issues with transport of our camper from the motorway.

We have had to pay for all of the taxi's and one hotel, so we will see how we get on claiming the money back.

We are based just down the road in Whittlesey, feel free to PM me if you are going to be in the area.

Regards
Anthony
 
If I can add the following

bungle.bear said:
Jock,
I think some of luck was because our camper is a panel van conversion and is under 3.5T, so the recovery company had no issues with transport of our camper from the motorway.

We have had to pay for all of the taxi's and one hotel, so we will see how we get on claiming the money back.

We are based just down the road in Whittlesey, feel free to PM me if you are going to be in the area.

Regards
Anthony
Click to expand...


Knowing of the issues of the French motorways we travel by national routes where we can... when we had our tyre blow in the Euro Tunnel train... I was aware that I needed to get out of the tunnel complex and away from the French main roads.. so we limped to Cite Europe and the aires.. we then called ADAC ...

We have over a 3.5 ton RV.. intact it is 5 tons all up.. and at 23'9" (plus we had a trailer with car loaded).. we still were within the ADAC help guidelines.. we are a B class and at 9'11' wide on the mirrors we just in inside the requirements as we can fold the mirrors in.

ADAC did send us a small breakdown truck first off.. we thought we had just bumped the tyre and it needed inflating.. but the small breakdown truck did not have a compressor.. the drive returned to his base and bought out a full size one that could recover us, and had a compressor ... but he was unable to inflate the tyre.. on inspection we now know there was a split in the tyre on the inside wall. As we carried a spare in the continental wheel carrier on the back of the RV it was a case of I'm using our 10 ton jack and the wheel brace we have fitted from the factory..

The only thing we had was a €200 limit for the call out.. we just signed for the work and were on our way.

It worked for us even with an RV

Bob

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Hi all,

Before anyone else comments on recovery from French Autoroutes, etc, etc, :Doh: can I remind them that this incident which Rita and I relate to, was on an Aire, at Narbonne Plage, and nowhere near an Autoroute.

slobadoberbob said:
the drive returned to his base and bought out a full size one that could recover us
Click to expand...
And that's exactly what should have happened in our case Bob, without the need to cough up first.

When Rita and I called into ADR's premises, there was an 8 x legger wrecker in the recovery company's yard, along side the small Iveco "spec lift" that they sent initially . We managed to establish that the wrecker was not involved in another incident at the time of our breakdown, so could have been utilised instead. :Angry:

Regards,

Jock.
 
you need to keep bashing at them

JockandRita said:
Hi all,

Before anyone else comments on recovery from French Autoroutes, etc, etc, :Doh: can I remind them that this incident which Rita and I relate to, was on an Aire, at Narbonne Plage, and nowhere near an Autoroute.


And that's exactly what should have happened in our case Bob, without the need to cough up first.

When Rita and I called into ADR's premises, there was an 8 x legger wrecker in the recovery company's yard, along side the small Iveco "spec lift" that they sent initially . We managed to establish that the wrecker was not involved in another incident at the time of our breakdown, so could have been utilised instead. :Angry:

Regards,

Jock.
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Jock you need to keep bashing them with letters until it is sorted... as you say we were in an Aires and not a motor way or duel carriage way.. so you should have got the same as we did. While we were not recovered we were attended to road side.

Just keep writing them letters until they sort it.

Good luck

Bob
 
An update

Hi all,

After several calls to Germany, I (Jock) managed to establish communication with a chap by the name of Herr Pafelinsky, in ADAC's claims/customer service department.
The excuse (once again) for the lengthy delay in resolving the issues, was due to the time taken to translate our report that accompanied the claim. (It only takes a couple of minutes using an internet translation service. :Doh:)

They keep banging on about our MH weighing 8 tonnes! :swear:
Gordon Bl##dy Bennett. It's 5 tonnes, 8 metres long, as written in the report.
ADAC cannot understand our frustration that the €200 limit did not cover the 17Km (11 mile) recovery, ...........due to the recovery vehicle being faulty,( thereby ruining our front tyres in the process), and that a charge to us of €500 to complete the recovery is unreasonable, especially when we were not responsible for faulty equipment.
They say that it is the recovery company (ADR) that set's the charges, and that our MH was too heavy for their recovery vehicle...........................yet our MH is covered under ADAC's limit of 7.5 tonnes. They can't have it both ways, ie, either we're covered, or we're not.
Mr Pafelinsky would not allow me to take the matter any higher, nor would he supply me with any other contact details, to pursue the matter further. Internet searches for ADAC's Chief Executive have been futile, possibly because we may be using the wrong terminology/wording or translations. :Sad:

We are now in touch with a German national here in the UK, whom has had dealings with ADAC directly, and is willing to converse with them on our behalf, subject to reading a copy of our report first. (No doubt Germany's "Data Protection Act" will put the kybosh on that plan).

Apart from being heavily out of pocket, our other big regret in all of this, was not taking photographs at every stage of "Fred Karno's" recovery, which would have told the whole story and provided the evidence, without all this hassle.

Regards,

Jock & Rita.
 
Hi Jock, Thanks for keeping us updated on the ADAC scenario, I think ADAC are 100% wrong here and should reimburse you your costs, straight away, but don't hold your breadth mate, I do hope they come up with the right solution in the end, as normally ADAC are very good, will be a shame to let down a customer like this. Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
Thanks once again for the update:Smile:Hope it gets sorted soon :thumb:

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Sorry to hear that your problems have not been sorted Jock.
It is dragging on a bit now, must be very frustrating for you.
Definately not good on ADAC'c part.
I renewed my membership with them a few days ago, I hope I haven't made a mistake in doing so.

Brisey.
 
I am intending joining ADAC this year and would like to know more of the situation you described, particularly the size of the motorhome referred to ie the length and in particular the weight?
I look forward to your reply.
Gaudie
 
Gaudie - Jock stated 7 hours before you posted that it weighs 5 tonnes and is 8 metres long.
 
Looking at the moment at cover for a French trip----thanks for the advice :thumb:
I think i may extend my RAC membership to cover France with a discount :Smile:
 
joner8888 said:
Looking at the moment at cover for a French trip----thanks for the advice :thumb:
I think i may extend my RAC membership to cover France with a discount :Smile:
Click to expand...
I would if I was you Joner.

Within days of our breakdown, and as soon as we had WiFi at Denia, we rejoined Britannia Rescue online, through the CSMA. We wish we had stuck with them from the start. :Doh:

Regards,

Jock & Rita.

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