We see this from time to time, where major insurance companies offer free breakdown cover in order to encourage you to take our their car insurance. In this instance it is Churchill the nodding dog that is saying yes to free breakdown cover. The offer is on to the 31st August 2009 according to the Churchill website and major television campaign. But before you start picking up the phone, you may want to do a little research first to ensure this car insurance freebie is actually right for you.
The first thing to know is that Churchill is owned by RBS bank and so is Green Flag breakdown cover, so you know your motoring service will be covered by them. So one of things you may consider to do, is to visit the Green Flag website and establish what you will be covered for should you breakdown. This is important, as even though you will only get the basic cover free of charge this may not suit your motoring or you families motoring needs, so free may really mean discount.
The next thing to consider is that Green Flag’s basic cover at the moment is only from £20 a year, so if you have been quoted an insurance quote £20 cheaper, you may find it is better to go elsewhere for your insurance and buy Green Flag breakdown cover as a separate policy.
The final thing is timing your car insurance and breakdown cover policies. A lot of people buy these separate, so often the renewal times are different. Why not check to see if the cover has to be immediate or can be postponed until your existing policy runs out, it may save you a bit more money for now.
There is much advice around for what to do when you breakdown. But the challenge is that many do not read or watch the advice until they do breakdown and then it is too late. Consumer choices have produced a small video with their own opinions of what to do to, in the vain that many searching the internet will find their video.
Basic stuff that we may not think off is mentioned here. For example get out of the passenger side when on a busy road such as a motorway. Wearing something reflective if possible, but of course get the car off the road if possible. It also cover the fact that motorway breakdown services will be expensive if you do not have breakdown cover and not to forget you can still ring the national breakdown cover organization and they will come out, but will charge you something like 60 to 90 pounds to take your car off the motorway. When you compare this price with an annual policy which can start less than 30 pounds from any of the 3 main UK organisations such as the RAC, AA or Green Flag, you can see what the risk is, especially driving an older car.
We know about these Green, Orange and Yellow breakdown cover vans that seem to be parked in lay-bys up and down the country. We know about the adverts on TV that seems to offer breakdown cover, cheaper than one new from tyre and we also know that some of these emergency providers were around when granddad was a lad. But often what we don’t know is what goes on behind the scenes or why they can off breakdown cover, cheaper than they did 25 years ago, certainly for roadside assistance policies.
This is what breakdown cover today is all about. Adding news of what goes on with these national companies that keep us going, even if we have locked ourselves out of the car. It won’t be a daily thing, there just isn’t enough to talk about, but when there is something to say, hopefully we find to time to tell you about it. Many breakdown cover providers are owned by international insurance companies, so economies of scale now come into play, but we will also explore the difference of low prices, against the old fashioned motoring club that fell out favour in the eighties.
So for now we look forward to seeing you now and again, reading about what is going on in the breakdown cover world.