Message Forums

Breakdown recovery is one of those policies where there is often a lot 'hidden' in the small print, and last year I got a lot of companies to send me their 'small print' before we decided which insurer we would use.  Often you only get those details AFTER you've committed yourself to taking out a policy with them.

I'm not sure, though, how many people would expect automatic repatriation if the car could be repaired locally - I certainly wouldn't. It does state in policies - even Red Pennant, which is considered the gold standard - 'Towing to the nearest garage' as the first option, rather than 'Repatriation of vehicle'.

Insurers also won't recover the vehicle if the cost of repairs exceeds the 'value' of the insured vehicle - which with older cars, and French repair prices, may be quite a common occurence.

It's very hard, though, to arrange transportation of your car to a different garage, especially if your insurance small print says 'Recovery to the NEAREST garage' which it usually does.  It would also be hard to get 'quotes' for a repair from any other garages until they've actually seen and examined the car. 

Some years ago we broke down and were taken to the nearest Citroen dealer - our car was a Citroen - and because of that the new clutch was far cheaper in France than it was in England!  So it isn't automatically more expensive. We had a little garage repair our starter motor once and he only wanted the equivalent of £20.00. 

If you're on a campsite when you break down then sometimes it's easier to find a local garage and ask them about the problem.  Sometimes they will send a mobile mechanic out to have a look.