I guess I've been lucky over the years - in not having to put breakdown cover to the test. I'm sure many take it out failing to look too deep and not fully realising that it's fairly illusory when called upon. Find yourself in a crisis and you're also likely to find a bevy of people walking away, finding every reason to fleece you or seeking clauses that they can apply to avoid the cover you thought you had.
I recently had gearbox failure in France. Actually, the gearbox was fine, rather the selector arm detached. My vehicle was taken to a garage (all good so far) and raised on a ramp. When they proceeded to undo the gearbox oil plug I explained the oil was new (in halting Fench) - they still removed the plug and golden oil poured out. I told them (being an engineer) that it was the selector arm - but who would listen. The result was I got charged 107 euro for the oil change and the offer of a whole new gearbox for 2500 euro (and it would take about a month and I'd have to return to collect at my expense). No major gearbox change required and in the UK a fairly cheap fix. However, despite premium cover the RAC would not repatriate saying by their evaluation my vehicle was only worth £2700 and it wouldn't cover the cost (the small print says up to the value of the vehicle). In the end although the RAC arranged it and were very quick to take my money; it has cost me £1392 to have it repatriated. In fact I am still waiting for my vehicle after 3 weeks - I have not had a single communication from the RAC, only my bank account shows a debit of £1392.
From my point of view this has been an unsatisfactory experience - I did expect more, what they say they will deliver and what they actually do are often far apart. The ability of large organisations to wriggle out of their commitments doesn't in fact surprise me too much as whatever they say about customer service it soon gets forgotten in growing the profit margin.
Next time I go back to fly and hire .....
I recently had gearbox failure in France. Actually, the gearbox was fine, rather the selector arm detached. My vehicle was taken to a garage (all good so far) and raised on a ramp. When they proceeded to undo the gearbox oil plug I explained the oil was new (in halting Fench) - they still removed the plug and golden oil poured out. I told them (being an engineer) that it was the selector arm - but who would listen. The result was I got charged 107 euro for the oil change and the offer of a whole new gearbox for 2500 euro (and it would take about a month and I'd have to return to collect at my expense). No major gearbox change required and in the UK a fairly cheap fix. However, despite premium cover the RAC would not repatriate saying by their evaluation my vehicle was only worth £2700 and it wouldn't cover the cost (the small print says up to the value of the vehicle). In the end although the RAC arranged it and were very quick to take my money; it has cost me £1392 to have it repatriated. In fact I am still waiting for my vehicle after 3 weeks - I have not had a single communication from the RAC, only my bank account shows a debit of £1392.
From my point of view this has been an unsatisfactory experience - I did expect more, what they say they will deliver and what they actually do are often far apart. The ability of large organisations to wriggle out of their commitments doesn't in fact surprise me too much as whatever they say about customer service it soon gets forgotten in growing the profit margin.
Next time I go back to fly and hire .....
