Motor FBD Breakdown assist feature on Policy and AA membership for car breakdown

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Passport1

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I moved to FBD for car insurance earlier this year. One of the benefits on the policy is Breakdown assist with gives you roadside assistance and assistance if your car break down at home

I also member of AA and any paying them for Roadside Rescure and HomeStart

My AA membership is up for renewal soon and i was thinking of cancelling it as i think im getting same thing with my car insurance with FBD

Anyone else have their car insurance with FBD and cancelled their AA membership roadside assist and homestart - Is FBD offering same as what AA is offering

Thanks
 
I'm sure you could compare & contrast covers by visting both websites and checking out the cover of both. I recall a radio piece on this recently, covers seem to be very similar, if anything the insurers policy was better as it covered the full vehicle rather than just one driver but I'm not 100% on this.


www.powerinsurances.ie
 
You need to be very careful with insurance companies offering breakdown assist. Some may offer better coverage than the AA and some offer vastly inferior coverage. So it is best to research things thoroughly.
 
I believe the main difference is that AA will help you out if you do something stupid like run out of petrol on the road, or similar. On the other hand the insurance co's cover usually only extends to break-downs - mechanical defects.

I dropped AA, but if necessary I can call them out for a relatively small fee - I think €80, so for my savings of not paying AA sub on 2 people of approx 240 per annum, I get 3 go's before I am out of pocket.
 
marksa said:
I dropped AA, but if necessary I can call them out for a relatively small fee - I think €80
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Carefull with this one... they used to do this, but not anymore AFAIK. I needed assistance few weeks ago, call AA (i was not AA member)...and had to wait 24h before they dispatch somebody to car, unless I paid an extra charge. I had to pay €240 to get immediate assistance, break down was something like €100 for membership and €140 to void the 24h waiting period.
 
Ideally if someone with FBD insurance who availed of the service might give their experience of the assistance given.
 
Hi dewdrop

Earlier this year I broke down on my way from Dublin to Athy - alternator had gone so had complete electrical failure about 10km from Athy.

Rang FBD breakdown assist. They asked me what was wrong and where I was etc. I was on hold for about 5 minutes or so while they tried to contact a local rescue service.

They arranged for the tow truck to be with me within an hour - which it was. The guy couldn't fix at the roadside so he put the car on the back of the truck and gave me a lift to Kildare town (where I arranged to get a lift back home). It was late evening so he couldn't bring the car to the nearest Ford garage - so they kept it in their yard until the next day.

The next day he brought it to the Ford dealership in Naas where I picked it up from when it was fixed.

The experience, while very annoying that I broke down, ran very smoothly.

Overall, very glad I had that cover!
 
boaber said:
Hi dewdrop

Earlier this year I broke down on my way from Dublin to Athy - alternator had gone so had complete electrical failure about 10km from Athy.

Rang FBD breakdown assist. They asked me what was wrong and where I was etc. I was on hold for about 5 minutes or so while they tried to contact a local rescue service.

They arranged for the tow truck to be with me within an hour - which it was. The guy couldn't fix at the roadside so he put the car on the back of the truck and gave me a lift to Kildare town (where I arranged to get a lift back home). It was late evening so he couldn't bring the car to the nearest Ford garage - so they kept it in their yard until the next day.

The next day he brought it to the Ford dealership in Naas where I picked it up from when it was fixed.

The experience, while very annoying that I broke down, ran very smoothly.

Overall, very glad I had that cover!
Click to expand...

Completely off topic, but do you mind if I ask how much it cost to get your car fixed? Similar thing has just happened to my car.

Thanks
 
boaber said:
Hi dewdrop

Earlier this year I broke down on my way from Dublin to Athy - alternator had gone so had complete electrical failure about 10km from Athy.

Rang FBD breakdown assist. They asked me what was wrong and where I was etc. I was on hold for about 5 minutes or so while they tried to contact a local rescue service.

They arranged for the tow truck to be with me within an hour - which it was. The guy couldn't fix at the roadside so he put the car on the back of the truck and gave me a lift to Kildare town (where I arranged to get a lift back home). It was late evening so he couldn't bring the car to the nearest Ford garage - so they kept it in their yard until the next day.

The next day he brought it to the Ford dealership in Naas where I picked it up from when it was fixed.

The experience, while very annoying that I broke down, ran very smoothly.

Overall, very glad I had that cover!
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You say he gave you a lift to Kildare town. Was that your home place or just where he was bringing the car. I think the AA will get you home to your home.
 
RIAD_BSC said:
Completely off topic, but do you mind if I ask how much it cost to get your car fixed? Similar thing has just happened to my car.

Thanks
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Was pricey - can't remember the exact figure, but it was close to €500
 
Megan said:
You say he gave you a lift to Kildare town. Was that your home place or just where he was bringing the car. I think the AA will get you home to your home.
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No I live in Dublin. He brought me to Kidare town because that's where his garage was. Had to get my sister-in-law to drive from Dublin to pick me up.
 
Hi RIAD BSC. Wondering why a previous post was regarded as being off topic. If a person is thinking of relying on FBD breakdown service and cancelling AA then surely a person would need some information so as to make an informed decision.
 
Hi dewdrop, I think RIAD_BSC was referring to his own post, not my one?

Have digged out the invoice - total came to €468.55 (€173.09 for alternator, €89.73 for new battery, €150 for labour and €55.73 VAT).

Knowing that I wasn't going to be stranded all night - priceless!.

Though, if the AA do provide a 'bring you home' policy I'd look into that. I was lucky enough that I broke down close(ish) to home. If I was further away I probably would have had to book into a B&B!!
 
Sorry RIAD and thanks Boader for that clarification. Am not as sharp as in years gone by!
 
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