Bongo Fury

Asda now offer European Breakdown Cover, as well as selling tyres, and state that they will cover any age of vehicle.

Scratch wrote:Asda now offer European Breakdown Cover, as well as selling tyres, and state that they will cover any age of vehicle.

Hmmm. Thought I'd Google it and came across unfavourable reports:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews158323.html

Somewhere in the browsing, 2gether got listed as coming 2nd for best breakdown cover, which is weird as that's who I'm insured with and I thought they were a niche company.

I see the cover is with Britannia rescue, who have always provided excellent service for me I wonder if Britannia's service has various levels, based on who pays them

francophile1947 wrote:I see the cover is with Britannia rescue, who have always provided excellent service for me I wonder if Britannia's service has various levels, based on who pays them

The funny thing is that I've been driving since 1968 and cannot recall ever calling out the rescue services in my private cars, and only once for breakdown in a firm's car (the other was running myself out of fuel ). Have I been exceptionally lucky

Looking at some of those reviews, would you really call out recovery for a blown bulb, and would you be touring Europe without any spare bulbs on board?

I think for most people the European Cover is a peace-of-mind thing in case the worst happens, like you blow the transmission and need the vehicle repatriating without you etc

On a previous company car (Audi A4) you had to call Audi Assist to change a headlamp or tail lamp bulb and they would either send one of their own vehicles or subcontract to RAC. This was entirely down to the design of the lamp units which had to be removed by undoing various fiddly fixings and using plastic trim removal tools to avoid damaging the paintwork in the process. I guess in France you still have to carry the bulbs with you even if you are not able to fit them yourself. There is no requirement that the spare bulbs MUST be suitable for the vehicle. I've got HID headlamps but at the time I last went to France I kept a couple of H7's in the back which were never going to fit but at least it was legal. Have since splashed out on new bulbs so have the correct old ones as spares.

As with any breakdown cover, read the small print and if it does everything you require at a price you are happy with, then I'm sure the Asda policy will be fine. Personally, I've stuck with the more established companies like Europ Assist as you know you have got the backup in case of problems. Only called them once while in Poland and I was very glad they got us to the nearest Mazda dealer on the back of a truck (not that the garage had a clue about Bongos, but that's another story )

Whereas with a Bongo, I can carry fork handles....errrrr....four candles to stick in the lighting units should a bulb go. So much to be said for driving older more basic technology

My vote both hands for Britannia Rescue. BTW, I bought it 1st time via ASDA too. That time I had very good chance of using it after getting to accident immobilizing my car when driving in Russia - because they cover literary whole Europe, i.e. up to Ural Mountains. (Yes, exactly: they provided me all help and compensations instead of my usual-silly-incapable-UK-local-insurance for everything but car repairing costs). Since then I bought it from other sources too, e.g. bundled with my main insurance (as ASDA stopped to serve cars >10yrs), and they helped me professionally.

I'm on the look out for european cover since 2gether no longer cover the bongo. Found an interesting one with firstcall motor breakdown..looked too good to be true at £76 then I read the small print...oddly, the European Breakdown policy doesn't cover

a) labour cost of fitting/replacing parts at the scene of breakdown
b) cost of replacement parts used in the repair
c) human error

kind of rules out anything doesn't it ! Anyway...it doesn't cover campervans either

RAC cover any age vehicle if it's a 'personal' policy but not if it's a vehicle specific policy...it's all daft....

Ant.

Very few policies anywhere (UK or abroad) will cover cost of parts unless you take out a full warranty. Otherwise loads of Bongo people would be claiming for new cylinder heads on their AA policy . Their main purpose is to recover you and your vehicle to a suitable garage, or in the case of full cover, they will get you and your vehicle home and pick up the tab for accommodation and transport costs incurred.

Try Green Flag, or if you're properly set up as a campervan, try Camping and Caravanning Club.

Yeah, I've concluded its cheaper to take a tent for the family to sleep in whilst I fix the bongo

cookan wrote:Yeah, I've concluded its cheaper to take a tent for the family to sleep in whilst I fix the bongo

Account on autobahn breakdowns too. Sitting in tents would stop to be an option very quickly. And don't forget that in lots of cases you just cannot use your engine to operate the tent freely.

Looking back at my stats of calling them to my Bongo:

* 1 case of the described uninsured accident in Russia (faulty driver's insurance did cover my repair but I had to spend the next best month in Russia to proceed the claim instead of completing my route to home right the next week). Cooland poured away, engine is not usable.

* 1 case of radiator blowing up in the middle of London, engine is not usable. (And just imagine a picture of camping in the middle of busy urban street... )

* 1 case of broken A/C pipe right near my home (yes, EU level of insurance doesn't wave from at-home help). Of course, by steam clouds we thought it was coolant, so didn't operate the engine. And didn't have to.

* 1 case of motorway's hard shoulder. Oh well, we did camp that time: on a sleeping bag under nice blackberry bushes, still w/o tent and operable engine.

* 1 case of French autoroute's technical slipway. Needless to say, w/o any engine coolant again (fully vapourized during previous 24h of driving from South).

Yes, I know that coolant system is realy THE major PITA of this car. Of course, insurers didn't buy me new radiators, etc but they did make sure (all included) that my car appeared in garage, my family was safe sideroads, servicemen agreed to perform all the right repairs (they wasn't sure they could do it w/o genuine parts, while neither of my family spoke any damn single word in French and neither servicemen spoke any damn single word in English). Then reimbursed me all costs following changing in my itinerary (ferries and hotels). I would never ask for reasonably better level of support in difficult situations.

Just a "bring up to date" last year after a lot of checking I found the cheapest breakdown cover for my 20 year old bongo was with Nationwide flex account - 10 quid a month and that covers holiday insurance and breakdown cover for Europe and the UK.plus other odds and ends insurance

Small print says "Not for motor-homes" - as mine is unconverted thought "no problem"

In November a Mazda 6 was driven out of a garage onto a 60 mph dual carriage way some 2 seconds in front of me and there was a coming together. My vehicle was allegedly a write off. To check the position I phoned Nationwide up to ensure that if I put right the damage whether they would still recover the bongo from France if I needed to claim. They said yes - if it was roadworthy and had been repaired properly. While on the phone I thought I would mention that though the vehicle was unconverted it was used as a camper van. NO PROBLEM said he we now cover motorhomes up to 6 metres - the paperwork/ advertising bumph has yet to catch up.
So for £120 a year Holiday insurance for wifey and me and breakdown cover for Bongy. Not bad as we have diabetes arthritis and asthma which did increase the standard premiums for lufe cover to £75 +
Yours Ian G

Don't forget that if you breakdown on a French motorway (don't know about other countries) then your breakdown cover won't help.
You have to phone 112 (or use one of the emergency phones every 2km) and contact the gendamerie who send out a contacted breakdown person. Once off the motorway if its still not fixed then you can use your breakdown cover.

http://www.connexionfrance.com/breaking ... ticle.html

briwy wrote:Don't forget that if you breakdown on a French motorway (don't know about other countries) then your breakdown cover won't help.
You have to phone 112 (or use one of the emergency phones every 2km) and contact the gendamerie who send out a contacted breakdown person. Once off the motorway if its still not fixed then you can use your breakdown cover.

http://www.connexionfrance.com/breaking ... ticle.html

Correct. And you have to pay the police for rescuing you, however the insurance still covers this expense and it'll be re-imbursed. That was explicitly told to me when I broke down on a French autobahn, however I appeared to be more lucky of avoiding to call French-speaking officials because some british van driver (to whom now I owe a beer or two!) stopped nearby (I parked in a safe road pocket) and kindly offered towing me to exit.