Breakdown Cover

[btbloke]

Used The Rac Family Policy At The Weekend,the Rac Have A Funny Habit Of Wacking Up The Premiums Every Time We Use Them So Thought I'd Get My Own Just For The Bike,can Anyone Recomend A Good Policy?

[Tarka]

I`ve got mine included in my insurance policy via Carole Nash.

I used it once...after a crash...and the service is very good.

[Sohoeasy]

BT. MAG rescue has just gone up from 40 to 50 pounds per year but it does include european cover as standard.Bust a water hose on my @ about 4yrs back & they took about 45mins to get me, then trailered the bike from up the M6 back to London without hassles. I have just taken out a fresh policy with the RAC which covers all 4 vehicles now though for £106 !.( MAG is single, bike only cover)

[Cabby]

QUESTION:

Does my normal AA cover for cars cover the bike as well?

[Robster]

QUESTION:

Does my normal AA cover for cars cover the bike as well?

I think most policies cover the person these days and not the vehicle. So it doesn't matter what you're driving/riding.

[croydon@twin]

Does my normal AA cover for cars cover the bike as well?

Yep, I've had AA cover for while and have had previous bikes recovered on a couple of occasions.

Tony

[Dilbert]

I think most policies cover the person these days and not the vehicle. So it doesn't matter what you're driving/riding.

This may be true for some cover, but it depends on the policy, my car cover is supplied with the car for three years from new and is specific to that car, so check your policy before making any assumptions.

My bike cover is through Ebike, it came free the first year, but now they charge about £38 for it to keep the insurance prememium down (allegedly), they are pretty good, used them twice last year, fuel pump failure on the M6, freelancer came out in a specially adapted van - nice!, puncture on the A50, different freelancer came out in a car type transporter and ratcheted it down so tight the forks went solid - not so nice

[Dee Duble Yuh]

Some options lists in the Wiki: "Possible sources of insurance and breakdown cover". If you know of others let me know (or edit the page yourself).

[icenian]

The service you get probably depends mostly on the local contractor that gets the call out. I dare say some Breakdown Cover providers pay better than others in an attempt to get better contractors, but I've found you get big variations in service with one provider, which in my experience are greater than variations between different providers.

The big exception to this is the AA and RAC who have their own people to come out to you. Which makes both of them rubbish!

Typically with AA/RAC you'll wait for ages because they want their own patrol to attend rather than a contractor. Then after 2 hours a guy in a van turns up, gets out, and says "sorry mate we can't really fix bikes at the roadside, I'll get you recovered." And only then do they call out the contractor. So you wait another hour for a guy to turn up who says "oh they didn't say it was a bike - I'll just nip back to the garage and get the bike trailer..."

I use Britannia because they're very friendly and helpful on the 'phone (I once messed up my membership which meant I paid, by direct debit, more than I needed to - entirely my fault, but they changed the cover I had, backdated it and gave me a refund too).

I wouldn't touch AA/RAC unless they particular one-driver-any-vehicle or one-vehicle-any-driver or whatever policy works out cheapest for you. But I'd be surprised if they were cheapest. And actually I probably still wouldn't use them if they were.

[Dilbert]

DW

As above Ebike no longer include UK breakdown as a freebie, although it is still quite cheap.