Roadside Breakdown Car Insurance

Regardless of how carefully we take care of our car, just when we least need it the car will breakdown in the middle of nowhere. If you do not have roadside breakdown car insurance, be prepared to pay a heft repair bill and to be personally billed for all the ancillary costs.

As the name suggests, with roadside breakdown car insurance, if your car breaks down on a country lane then all you need to do is phone a designated number and you’ll receive roadside assistance to help you fix the problem with your car. In the event that the roadside assistant cannot fix your car problems there and then, the roadside breakdown car insurance policy can also extend to reimbursing you for the cost of any hotel accommodation and even a replacement rental car while your car is being repaired.

Things to watch-out for

Each roadside breakdown car insurance policy is different. That said, you do need to look out for the following in your breakdown car insurance policy:

Whether or not

• the cost of any/all replacement parts are covered.
• you’ll be required to pay for the mechanics time. In the case of most roadside breakdown car insurance policies the insurance policy will pay for the first hour or so of the mechanic’s time, thereafter you’ll be expected to pay – so read the policy carefully for both this and when the mechanics time starts (e.g. from when he takes the call, or from when he arrives at your car).
• you will be provided with a courtesy car while your car is being repaired, and, if not, whether you can be reimbursed for a rental car.
• If there is a zone limitation. Essentially, with a zone limitation the car insurance company specifies that if your car breaks down within a certain number of miles of your registered address, then the insurance policy is not valid.
• Any trailers, e.g. caravan, boat, etc., are covered under the insurance policy, or whether the insurance policy is limited to the car only.

What to do if you do breakdown

In the event that you do breakdown and have to call your roadside breakdown car insurance company, here’s what you should be doing while you wait for them to arrive:

• bring your car to a standstill in a place where it is going to have least effect on other drivers and is the safest place to stop.
• put up your warning triangles - both in front of your car and 45 meters behind your car - to alert other drivers to your problem. However, if your motorcar breaks down on a motorway then you should NOT put up your warning triangles.
• put your hazard warning lights on.
• if it is dark, keep your car sidelights on.
• if you have a mobile phone, stay with your car and phone the roadside recovery team.
• if you don’t have a mobile phone, lock your car and find a payphone to call the roadside recovery team from.

Many motorist do not see the benefits of roadside breakdown car insurance, but the fact is that even if you look after your car extremely well, you still have a 1 in 5 chance that your car will breakdown sometime during the course of this year! So ask yourself, for the cost of a minimal roadside breakdown car insurance premium, do you really fancy your chances and can you really repair the car yourself if the worst happens and you do happen to breakdown in the middle of nowhere?