Shrimpsvoices

It's that time of the year when I have to renew my Vehicle breakdown cover.

For the last 3 years I've been with Green Flag but as per usual they have increased their fees to £82.88 for a full year.

Having to think seriously about changing and LV Brittania Breakdown give me all the cover I need for considerably less of a financial pay out.

Any fellow SVer had experience of LV as they appear to come out top in a recent What Car survey...

Neil - I have used Rescuemycar.com for several years and would recommend them. I have had cause to make use of their breakdown cover on two occasions - service was very good.

In the past I have used AA, RAC, National Breakdown, Brittania Breakdown, Green Flag. Rescuemycar are quite a bit cheaper. They don't have their own breakdown vehicles, but use breakdown trucks and services from all over the UK. Rescuemycar are essentially an insurance-based company. When you need to use them their telephone service is good and they get assistance to you fairly quickly and efficiently.

As I say - fairly cheap and good service. Check them out on Trustpilot - rated 4.6 out of 5 based on 23,000 reviews.

Thanks for that recommendation...will get quote and compare services with LV.

Oh, for goodness sake, if it isn't about Morecambe FC then it's... ...OH! Hang on...

Have you checked your bank? I've got an HSBC account which includes up to four recoveries each year, telephone insurance and travel insurance (includes my wife) for about £8 per month. They stopped doing this particular account for new customers, but they still do something similar, as do some other banks.

Keith wrote:Oh, for goodness sake, if it isn't about Morecambe FC then it's... ...OH! Hang on...

Have you checked your bank? I've got an HSBC account which includes up to four recoveries each year, telephone insurance and travel insurance (includes my wife) for about £8 per month. They stopped doing this particular account for new customers, but they still do something similar, as do some other banks.

Beware the small print.....lots of things that are needed by the policyholder won't be covered without additional cost.

Scouseport_Shrimp wrote:Beware the small print.....lots of things that are needed by the policyholder won't be covered without additional cost.

Due to my disability, I've carefully read the travel insurance, and it is good cover.

The breakdown, I have used without a problem. My Land Rover Discovery used to either be broken down, or looking for where it would next break down! That included one trip from the M61 back to the Isle of Man. I was about 200 yards from Rivington Service Station when it made a brief, odd momentary loss of power. It was late at night, middle of winter. I had a split second to either ignore it, or come off the motorway. I went to the service station, to see if everything was okay, as I entered the car park, it died, and I was able to coast into an accessible parking space, then wait in the cafe for recovery. If I'd have ignored it, I would have broken down within sight of the services, but beyond them!

However, your point is worth considering. My account was opened years ago. HSBC closed it to new customers a long time ago, apparently, because they made a loss on it, so new customers prossibly have more restrictions?

Keith wrote:

Scouseport_Shrimp wrote:Beware the small print.....lots of things that are needed by the policyholder won't be covered without additional cost.

However, your point is worth considering. My account was opened years ago. HSBC closed it to new customers a long time ago, apparently, because they made a loss on it, so new customers prossibly have more restrictions?

I reckon there's a lot of complacency when it comes to 'free' insurance provided by banks and the like.

The included cover will more often than not be quite basic. For example with free travel insurance, it'll only usually cover travel to Europe, definitely not cover Caribbean and the USA. It won't cover Cruises, or Adventurous Sports. On the Adventurous Sports, if you fancy riding a quad bike even if you buy the extra cover it'll only be to 100cc, you must wear a safety helmet, and I suspect that you aren't covered unless the helmet is of a certain standard. And the need to have declared pre-existing conditions is a hot potato.

That's just to name a few things, its all a bit of minefield.

The cover with nationwide is comprehensive, for our needs anyway.
Breakdown cover is for both of us, in car, motorhome or on motorcycle & the travel insurance covers us on the bike anywhere we go, so, with a 2300cc bike, I had to be sure so I phoned them & got them to confirm.
Our AA cover is 'on hold' 'til we request it to be reactivated, & with the fact that the Nationwide are increasing the price by £5 a month, that may be sooner rather than later!
Oh, & they give 'phone cover too, but , as our phones have a combined value of about 3s6d we're not overly bothered about that!

Scouseport_Shrimp wrote:I reckon there's a lot of complacency when it comes to 'free' insurance provided by banks and the like.

The included cover will more often than not be quite basic. For example with free travel insurance, it'll only usually cover travel to Europe, definitely not cover Caribbean and the USA. It won't cover Cruises, or Adventurous Sports. On the Adventurous Sports, if you fancy riding a quad bike even if you buy the extra cover it'll only be to 100cc, you must wear a safety helmet, and I suspect that you aren't covered unless the helmet is of a certain standard. And the need to have declared pre-existing conditions is a hot potato.

That's just to name a few things, its all a bit of minefield.

On the basis of this, I thought I'd re-read my insurance with HSBC.

* It is 'world-wide' cover, including cruises.
* It does cover skiing etc and water-skiing, but not off-piste skiing or "jumping". Some adventure sports aren't covered, such as kite-surfing and potholing. I'm confident that I won't be tempted to do either of those!
* It does cover motorcycle & quad riding, as long as the person riding has a licence to ride that vehicle in the UK (including Isle of Man & Channel Islands) and wearing a helmet.
* Yes, you have to declare pre-existing conditions, but I think that is with almost every travel insurance.

It is actually five call-outs per year for vehicle breakdown.

It would appear that it is still available to new customers, but I've no idea how much it now costs.
https://ciiom.hsbc.com/insurance/insurance-aspects/

Keith wrote:On the basis of this, I thought I'd re-read my insurance with HSBC.

* It is 'world-wide' cover, including cruises.
* It does cover skiing etc and water-skiing, but not off-piste skiing or "jumping". Some adventure sports aren't covered, such as kite-surfing and potholing. I'm confident that I won't be tempted to do either of those!
* It does cover motorcycle & quad riding, as long as the person riding has a licence to ride that vehicle in the UK (including Isle of Man & Channel Islands) and wearing a helmet.
* Yes, you have to declare pre-existing conditions, but I think that is with almost every travel insurance.

There are plenty of exceptions and/or exclusions that are covered in the small print.

Scouseport_Shrimp wrote:There are plenty of exceptions and/or exclusions that are covered in the small print.

Which ones?

Keith wrote:* Yes, you have to declare pre-existing conditions, but I think that is with almost every travel insurance.

When I 'phoned the travel insurance company to verify motorcycle cover, somewhere in the conversation, for some reason, I mentioned I was perfectly OK, fine & dandy in fact, apart from tendonitis that was just about sorted out anyway. Lo & behold when the paperwork came back it 'excluded' ...tendonitis....right leg...!
So, whilst whizzing round the TT course at a fair rate of speed (as if! ) I was consciously thinking 'don't fall off & wallop my right leg, it may not be covered under the travel insurance!'

Keith wrote:

Scouseport_Shrimp wrote:There are plenty of exceptions and/or exclusions that are covered in the small print.

Which ones?

All the insurances are different, which is why it's very important to make sure that you are covered.

HSBC, on the face of it, looks pretty good. But just looking at the cruise insurance, itineraries change, often due to the weather. I think changes to itineraries are excluded.

On cruises, are medivacs covered? It would cost £thousands in the middle of the Atlantic for a medivac.

It be very important to be be properly inoculated. So if you were going off the beaten track in SE Asia I doubt whether you were insured if you hadn't got the mandatory vaccines.

There must be a maximum regarding the engine cc of quad bikes. What if the Operator of the bikes isn't qualified to operate or doesn't having the appropriate licence to operate. What about Public Liability Insurance?

Helmets...surely they have to be be to a minimum safety standard.

Lots and lots of things really, and all policies will be different......buyer beware.