We have been with The Green Insurance Company for three years now. Our premium for last year was around £57 and free credit over 12 months. This was on our 04 plate Panda.
I just had the renewal for £99.85 + chargeable credit at about 24% APR.
Doing a bit of research it seem that the reason for the increase is that our Jazz is an 02 plate.
Shopping around, as one does, I tried all the usual suspects.
Green Flag came up best by a long way, as their recovery plus level - which meets our needs, gives a free MOT with Halfords and came in at a reasonable £72.08.
Green Flag appear to refine their quote rather more than the other companies , as they ask for your reg. no, which brings up the exact model of your car, plus they ask for the ages of the policy holder(s) and the likely annual mileage.
All the other quotes seem to use the age of the car as the sole criterion for cost, for all cover levels.
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Get a quote from Britannia Rescue.
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I've signed up with Smart Rescue for a year after being with AA for 10 years. They charged me £39 for roadside and recovery on my 52 plate Mitsubishi. Only time will tell if they are any good. I looked at pay and reclaim but the worry of not getting it back put me off.
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>> I looked at pay and reclaim but the worry of not getting it back put me off.
I've been with autoaid a few years and only been taken home once. Absolutely no problem with claiming back the cost.
Autoaid cover partner for the £39 and include any vehicle you're in (so I understand).
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I have been with Autoaid for several years now. Never needed them to date. Boringly reliable 330 and Subarus. Methinks the money would be better spent on beer & cheap Keighley curries.
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>> the money would be better spent on beer & cheap Keighley curries.
Agree with you. My recovery (30 odd miles) cost £125. About three years premiums.
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I'm quite sure that I'll be shopping around again next year, as I doubt there will be offers for existing customers.
Even a discounted MOT is £30 to £35 , so allowing for that I have cover for a net £42 or so.
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>> I have been with Autoaid for several years now. Never needed them to date. Boringly
>> reliable 330 and Subarus. Methinks the money would be better spent on beer & cheap
>> Keighley curries.
>>
You sound like the kind of chap who keeps on top of his cars. Why throw money at insurance co's? You know when something's not right so you get it repaired or fix it yourself. You say yourself you've never used them so dead money. Better in your bank account than someone else's.
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If we were younger I dare say we would risk no cover, but the thought of standing by a broken down car wondering who to call, at our doddery age, is too much to contemplate.
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I understand that but when was the last time a car just gave up on you unexpectedly? I took a 9 year old, 90+thousand mile diesel with DMF down to Italy last summer, It never crossed my mind the car wouldn't make it.
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It never crosses my mind that any of my cars in the last 20 years wont start on the button. Or fail at any time. Even with my previous 10yo Mazda 626, and current 9yo 330, I would be amazed at any kind of failure.
I did have a fright 2 weeks ago. Flew back into Yeadon from Lanzarotty early evening, driving home, I could hear a persistent rattle LHS and was sure that the glass in the door was about to drop out! Both windows up/down several times, seemed to work fine. Then in the dark I spotted 2 cans of de -icer clinking together on corners on the passenger seat. Boy Scout be prepared training gave me a short term concern!
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I do not expect our cars to break down but I'm very happy to pay the RAC £1-25 a week to know in that exceptional event self or Mrs F (in any car we're using) will be recovered home.
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>> £1-25 a week
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£25 per WEEK! How did you get to that figure? mine doesn't even come to £1 per week?
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On the vino early?
£1-25 a week = £1-25 a week!
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you mean 1 . 25 per week?as in £65 per year?
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Yep... which is good for two drivers for any car.
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>> If we were younger I dare say we would risk no cover, but the thought
>> of standing by a broken down car wondering who to call, at our doddery age,
>> is too much to contemplate.
>>
That's part of it in our case, also if SWMBO is alone in the car, she would not only not have a clear idea of where to get help, but also would want a speedy recovery.
And it's not all about regular maintenance. The DI unit (coil pack) on our Saab 9-5 failed in January this year with literally no warning. Luckily I was only 300 metres from home, so I rang the OEAMTC (like the AA, even down to boringly regular mail trying to sell me extra services) and then popped home for a coffee while I waited. As luck would have it I had a spare in the garage (normal practice for Saab owners!), so the mech brought me home to collect it, and popped it on. No amount of regular maintenance would have spotted that one, which could equally have been at 100mph in the outside lane of a busy autobahn,
Last edited by: Mike H on Sun 8 Dec 13 at 10:26
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I have had breakdown cover most of my life. The £39 cost of Autoaid gives me peace of mind. I spent more than that on Friday night watching an AC/DC tribute band in Clitheroe, minibus home + drinkies. Probably double that actually!
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>>on Friday night watching an AC/DC tribute band in Clitheroe
Blimey, how the other half live eh?
;-)
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I buy just because it's not much and when you need it is well worth it. Last time I needed it was about 18 months ago when a throttle cable snapped. Managed to get it across a lane of traffic, it was well worth it that night.
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Runfer...more like existing with regards to Clitheroe. An interesting Friday night experience to say the least.
Life in the old dog yet as I got to bed at 3:15 and was in work at 08:45 feeling fine. The secret is to go onto bottles at midnight, and stop mixing the drinks. Then walk to work (obviously).
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>> I buy just because it's not much and when you need it is well worth
>> it. Last time I needed it was about 18 months ago when a throttle cable
>> snapped. Managed to get it across a lane of traffic, it was well worth it
>> that night.
Same for me. Berlingo died at 6pm on a Sunday in middle of Sheffield. Alternator>battery feed broke. Got Mrs B and I home. Bit of a wait for driver with enough hours to get us home but at least we were in the recovery contractors depot with tea/coffee and TV on hand.
Probably have been a night in hotel otherwise as well as organising a repair away from home.
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The last time we had a car fail on us was in Spain, when our Fabia lost all electrics on our way home, moderately late at night, from a live musical evening at a friend's villa.
We were members of RACE (Royal Auto Club Spain)who got a local contractor to collect the car and deliver it to the Skoda dealer in Marbella who fixed it next day - summat to do with battery connections - not just a tightening up job.
Our daughter and family were and still are for a little while, covered by ADAC (Auto Club of Germany approx.). This has proved invaluable on every one of their three extensive European tours in their VW T2 camper van!
As an aside, said daughter has had an article, with photographs, published in one of those VW camper mags, covering their first trip, to Croatia,and has submitted another one to a different specialist magazine about their second trip. Currently waiting acceptance!
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Breakdown Cover. - jc2
