Campervan European breakdown on BBC

Gellyneck

Gellyneck

LIFE MEMBER
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Posts
10,802
Likes collected
22,974
Location
Scotland
Funster No
31,836
MH
C Class
Exp
More than toes wet now!
Article on Rip Off Britain on BBC 1 now.
 
Thanks, watched that.

I think the message gleaned from both stories is, as ever, stay with your van. Once it's in the corner of a compound somewhere, out of sight, out of mind and earning the compound owner money it won't get fixed in a hurry. If at all possible, Stay with your van!
 
Yet another RAC tale off woe, but a Green Flag one also, both cases were utterly horrific for the campervan owners.
Its another case of checking out the policy term & conditions, more importantly its limitations to make sure the cover we pay for is sufficient and provide the service and peace of mind we expect.
I must admit to arranging our Breakdown Cover for the UK and EU via the van insurer at the policy renewal date, and although they do send the key features out each time, how many of us actually read them and raise further questions about potential shortfalls. I for one would never have considered being charged a storage fee from the receiving garage, after all in most cases we don't have a choice of where the van is initially taken, let alone how long it will take to diagnose, and if possible repair the vehicle.
Having read a few breakdown stories here on Fun, its sad to hear that in many cases the insurer regardless of repair time, do their utmost not to repatriate the van, and we know why, its because of the haulage costs, plus it can take weeks.
Its a frightening situation that any one of us could face if we break down on the continent, we in the most part only now how good or bad the breakdown cover is when the worst happens, even then some will have a better/worse experience than others, seems to be the luck of the draw, as to who is handling the claim and where you break down.
Its not good to hear and read that in most cases the claimant has to call the breakdown company many times for updates for the repairs, or what else is on offer, like hotels, hire cars and repatriation for specialist repairs like Comfort Matic Gearboxes like we have read about so many times.

LES
 
Begs the queston what do the natives do if they breakdown. I feel sure the wouldn't be pissed around.
 
This is useless without the content… 🥱

Anyone got a link please? 🤪

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Did you watch the article on Rip off Britain today

I showed a couple of MH owners who had RAC and Green Flag EO breakdown cover who were badly let down in France and Spain one ended up nearly losing his specially adapted wheelchair van and waited several months for it to be sent back to UK even though all it needed was a clutch He was Charged £5700plus by RAC and the van was not repaired , he had to sell it to recover costs

The other van was returned by Green Flag but had been written off due to negligence in the recovery and had to be scrapped with no redress

it was a very worrying article ,, of incompetence , malfeaseance, lack of care and down right chaos .. Also DO NOT EVER RENT A CAR FROM GOLD CAR there was another article about those lying scamming cowboys
 
Thanks Gellyneck. It was very useful and thank you for the post. One of the most stressful aspects of motorhoming around the EU is the prospect of a breakdown. Cheers, Simon

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Warnings duly noted!! I would have thought £2,500 would cover a repatriation from that part of Europe… I’ll be taking a closer look at my RAC policy having seen that article!!

Looked like they dropped that silver camper off a garage lift- I had a vehicle very similarly damaged in a local garage at home - they somehow let it roll off the back of the lift…. and that was a tough and costly compensation process in spite of the glaringly obvious failings by the garage…never mind the overseas repatriation element…
 
Well I'm in this situation right now Brocken down in Spain.Steering box has packed up and can't get one in Europe or the UK. 12 weeks backlog for new box so I'm carrying on with a hire car for 6 weeks leaving the MH in the garage compound and the MH will be shipped back to the UK well I been told that let's hope that works
We are with Red pennant and so far they have been marvellous experience RP are in touch daily and are keeping us updated all the time but the biggest issue is the language thing. I'm not sure how this will pan out for sure but so far it been around 12 days sitting around Tobe told it can't be repaired here for 12 weeks Or so
This is on a Ford cab 2years old less than 6,000 miles 😢
 
We’ve been with Comfort for years other than NFU for 1 year to cover Turkey. We’ve always assumed they’d be fine but I think there was a recent thread on here when someone’s repatriation costs were so high that Comfort wouldn’t cover it. This has now got me wondering about ours.

I can’t of course find the post. Is this a neurotic dream/nightmare or is it true?
 
carolyn said:
We’ve been with Comfort for years other than NFU for 1 year to cover Turkey. We’ve always assumed they’d be fine but I think there was a recent thread on here when someone’s repatriation costs were so high that Comfort wouldn’t cover it. This has now got me wondering about ours.

I can’t of course find the post. Is this a neurotic dream/nightmare or is it true?
Click to expand...
We also broke down in Spain. It was a nightmare. Mainly the communication with third party and the garage. Luckily we had very good friends who helped and let us stay with them in Spain.

We ended up buying a car in Spain to bring us and our two dogs back. Looking at our policy we had a limit of £3.5k total costs. We looked at private repatriation. We were lucky the Insurance Company covered all the costs we had a bill for including repatriation.

I then went looking at all the breakdown policies I could find. From memory Comfort has around a £5k limit and I wasn't impressed with some of their terms and conditions.

I went with LV as this was the breakdown cover I put in place with the car I bought in Spain. They were the only company I could find who would cover you if you were not starting the policy in the UK. Bring a Boundless member gave me a discount and all our 3 vehicles and us personally are covered. (Overkill probably) The Motorhome and 1 car are covered for Europe.

I can't stress enough read the in depth terms and conditions and not just the bullet points.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Red Sonja said:
We also broke down in Spain. It was a nightmare. Mainly the communication with third party and the garage. Luckily we had very good friends who helped and let us stay with them in Spain.

We ended up buying a car in Spain to bring us and our two dogs back. Looking at our policy we had a limit of £3.5k total costs. We looked at private repatriation. We were lucky the Insurance Company covered all the costs we had a bill for including repatriation.

I then went looking at all the breakdown policies I could find. From memory Comfort has around a £5k limit and I wasn't impressed with some of their terms and conditions.

I went with LV as this was the breakdown cover I put in place with the car I bought in Spain. They were the only company I could find who would cover you if you were not starting the policy in the UK. Bring a Boundless member gave me a discount and all our 3 vehicles and us personally are covered. (Overkill probably) The Motorhome and 1 car are covered for Europe.

I can't stress enough read the in depth terms and conditions and not just the bullet points.
Click to expand...
I suppose unless you have an idea of repatriation costs you don’t really know how much cover you need as a starting point. I think that’s the baseline and even that’s going to be variable depending on where you are in Europe. Minefield!
 
carolyn said:
I suppose unless you have an idea of repatriation costs you don’t really know how much cover you need as a starting point. I think that’s the baseline and even that’s going to be variable depending on where you are in Europe. Minefield!
Click to expand...
When we broke down in Spain a couple of years ago, we were with LV and the limit on repatriation costs was the value of the MH. So in most cases you would be covered with them. In our case the MH was repaired, mechanical failure so at our expense, in Spain and we picked it up 6 weeks later. LV were brilliant.
 
Barchetta47 said:
When we broke down in Spain a couple of years ago, we were with LV and the limit on repatriation costs was the value of the MH. So in most cases you would be covered with them. In our case the MH was repaired, mechanical failure so at our expense, in Spain and we picked it up 6 weeks later. LV were brilliant.
Click to expand...
It’s a real pity that LV have stopped taking on new MH clients for MH insurance.
 
Red Sonja said:
We also broke down in Spain. It was a nightmare. Mainly the communication with third party and the garage. Luckily we had very good friends who helped and let us stay with them in Spain.

We ended up buying a car in Spain to bring us and our two dogs back. Looking at our policy we had a limit of £3.5k total costs. We looked at private repatriation. We were lucky the Insurance Company covered all the costs we had a bill for including repatriation.

I then went looking at all the breakdown policies I could find. From memory Comfort has around a £5k limit and I wasn't impressed with some of their terms and conditions.

I went with LV as this was the breakdown cover I put in place with the car I bought in Spain. They were the only company I could find who would cover you if you were not starting the policy in the UK. Bring a Boundless member gave me a discount and all our 3 vehicles and us personally are covered. (Overkill probably) The Motorhome and 1 car are covered for Europe.

I can't stress enough read the in depth terms and conditions and not just the bullet points.
Click to expand...
Comfort have increased their “total package” ie accommodation, repatriation of occupants and motorhomes to £10k according to our current policy.
 
maison said:
Comfort have increased their “total package” ie accommodation, repatriation of occupants and motorhomes to £10k according to our current policy.
Click to expand...
That's not a lot we spent around £2'500 all ready doing nothing

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Barchetta47 said:
The LV breakdown cover was via Britannia who still offer MH breakdown cover. In retrospect I should have praised Britannia and their EU agents!
Click to expand...
I couldn’t see it on the list on the Boundless website under LV. I will have look. We’re going to Iceland and we’re with Comfort and it’s a new van so we have Fiat Assist but now that I have my lithium etc sorted I need something to worry about! Just realised our Comfort renewal is due before we return from Panama in March.

It is very difficult to understand what Fiat Assist would actually cover and how much re repatriation.
 
carolyn said:
I couldn’t see it on the list on the Boundless website under LV. I will have look. We’re going to Iceland and we’re with Comfort and it’s a new van so we have Fiat Assist but now that I have my lithium etc sorted I need something to worry about! Just realised our Comfort renewal is due before we return from Panama in March.

It is very difficult to understand what Fiat Assist would actually cover and how much re repatriation.
Click to expand...
It's definitely there I just checked. It's under Insurance LV Insurance.
 
Red Sonja said:
It's definitely there I just checked. It's under Insurance LV Insurance.
Click to expand...
Oh yes I’ve just found it . I think I might well buy it as a free standing thing as it says it will pay repatriation costs up to the value of the vehicle! As it’s not even a year old and cost £100,000 I think that will be £116 well spent. To repatriate from Iceland would cost rather more than £10,000 I would think. Thankyou very much indeed.
 
carolyn said:
Oh yes I’ve just found it . I think I might well buy it as a free standing thing as it says it will pay repatriation costs up to the value of the vehicle! As it’s not even a year old and cost £100,000 I think that will be £116 well spent. To repatriate from Iceland would cost rather more than £10,000 I would think. Thankyou very much indeed.
Click to expand...
If you add personal cover this will cover you and your partner in any vehicle you are travelling in.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
We have used Britannia Rescue for our two cars for nearly 30 years. When we bought our MH in 2019, they said that as long as the MH was listed as our principle vehicle we could add it to the policy at no extra charge (!!!) because the policy covers the drivers and the vehicles they are in rather than the vehicles themselves, the vehicles are only listed for recovery purposes. I've never had to test their European efficiency but in the UK, I have had outstanding assistance on multiple occasions over the years.
 
just thinking about my trip to France ,,if i had a problem with the van ,,who should i call first ? i have cover with nationwide ,,and i took out a 5 year warranty with fiat ,that has breakdown cover included ,what would the preference be,,?
 
rob1234 said:
just thinking about my trip to France ,,if i had a problem with the van ,,who should i call first ? i have cover with nationwide ,,and i took out a 5 year warranty with fiat ,that has breakdown cover included ,what would the preference be,,?
Click to expand...
We’re a bit like you. We’ve got the Fiat Assist but not sure how much use it would be for a big thing. We changed vans mid Comfort policy so are currently double covered as well. We wanted it more for big bills on the van other than breakdowns.
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top