Roadside Assitance recommendation France

[Mar123]

Heading to France this year. Taking the car which is over 10 years old, and our own insurer Allianz does not provide roadside assistance cover in France as the car is over 10 years old. Just wondering if anyone has taken out, and can recommend a company for roadside assistance.

 

[Slim]

Heading to France this year. Taking the car which is over 10 years old, and our own insurer Allianz does not provide roadside assistance cover in France as the car is over 10 years old. Just wondering if anyone has taken out, and can recommend a company for roadside assistance.

For what it's worth, we took out AA cover for our driving and motorhome trips to France. I would not be relying on motor insurer roadside assistance for a European trip. Fortunately, we didn't need it. When we did need roadside assistance, from our insurer, in Ireland, they wouldn't cover us!

 

[Leo]

For what it's worth, we took out AA cover for our driving and motorhome trips to France. I would not be relying on motor insurer roadside assistance for a European trip. Fortunately, we didn't need it. When we did need roadside assistance, from our insurer, in Ireland, they wouldn't cover us!

Did your policy have a roadside assistance element? If so, under what grounds did they refuse to cover you?

Most of the insurers who do offer roadside assistance across Europe use the same services you would pay for yourself anyway. The likes of the AA just outsource this to local providers anyway.

 

[Steven Barrett]

We've used breakdowncover.ie for European cover. Never had to use them.


7 years ago we'd rented a campervan and were driving around Germany. We were in a campsite in a small village when we noticed we'd a slow puncture. The van didn't come with a spare so we raced down to the garage in the village but he was shutting up shop for the weekend. This was Saturday lunchtime and he wasn't opening up again until Monday morning. We had no German and he didn't speak English so we couldn't plead with him that we were booked into other sites for these other days.

Making a hail mary pass, I phoned my insurance company and got a help desk in the UK. She explained that I wasn't covered for roadside assistance under my cover but she was fluent in German so she'd phone the German AA and see if they could help. With a 3 way call, they sent a van out, he drove over 100km to where we were. He took our flat tyre, drove another 100km to see if it could be fixed. The help desk girl phoned back to say we needed a new tyre, we said that's fine. He came back fitted the thing for us. I had about €200 in cash on me, wondering if that was enough. The charge: €40!