laziness with breakdown renewal - a warning

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flat6buster

Active Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2009
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600
Location
Spain
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W222 S350, 911sc
Well every year we have just rolled over the RAC renewal without thinking and after 15 years the premium was £220 or so. So this year we mithered to them and said we were off elsewhere, and HEY PRESTO, they knock off £100.

Don't fall into the trap I have, could've saved myself nearly a grand over the past few years I expect ;-(
 
I get mine via my bank which works out ever cheaper! This is through Lloyds TSB:

£25 a month gets me:

FULL AA cover for me and my wife which can be used on any car.

Home Emergency cover including boiler cover

2 Mobile Phone insurance (Iphone 5)

Full European Travel insurance

Plus other crap which i dont use!
 
I get mine via my bank which works out ever cheaper! This is through Lloyds TSB:

Depends on personal circumstances and how you value the insurance products bundled.

There are issues with bundled travel insurance. Bundled travel insurance tends not cover any pre-existing medical conditions - and often can't be upgraded so some customers (statistically older ones?) will end up requiring a completely separate policy.

Breakdown cover for a household tends to be a lot cheaper if you shop around. A proportion of people here will be covered by Mobilo on at least one of their cars - and others with cars under 3 years may be covered.

Mobile phone insurance even at £5/month is expensive IMO if you look after your phone. If you do then you're basically coughing for the amount of fraud and recklessness associated with people who claim against them.

And last but not least: Home Emergency Cover. Watch the small print. It may not be all you think it is. And getting it bundled with your normal house insurance may be a better bet as that way anything that involves an insurance claim and particular any issues with temporary repairs is likely to be handled via a single contact point.

I would suggest anybody looking at coughing £300 a year to their bank check what they need and what things would cost via their existing house and motor insurance. Eg. we had 2 people covered by Green Flag for under £100/year driving any car - then via Privilege when we needed cover for one car they dropped it to £64 still allowing us both cover for any car (apart from SWMBO's which was covered by the manufacturer at the time).

Some customers will benefit from the bundle of cover with the account such that it has value. But I suspect that many won't.
 
Also there are a number of cash back sites offers a very nice cashback rewards.
 
If you're lucky/unlucky enough to be eligible for Civil Service Motoring Association membership, that brings with it motoring legal cover (pursuing an accident claim for me at the moment) and Britannia breakdown and recovery cover for two named individuals in any car (or on any motorcycle - I have four), and other household members in two further specified cars, all for under £100 per annum. Does anyone know of a better deal?
 
AA and RAC both used to be relatively inexpensive when they were motoring organisations but now they are commercially owned it's way, way more expensive.

I always phone up and hassle, usually without much luck. Last year, RAC dropped my price and gave me 15 months for the money. A couple of months ago, I got through a free legal insurance letter from them. It strikes me that they are losing customers so are having to use a much sharper pencil. But as others have suggested, I'll be doing it through my bank when this subscription runs out.

Co-Op do a £13.99/month current account with travel insurance, RAC, gadget insurance and other stuff. The travel insurance alone is worth the money - cheaper annually than the very best quote I could get anywhere on the internet for a 5 week holiday in Australia (with my current declarable illnesses).
 
I get mine via my bank which works out ever cheaper! This is through Lloyds TSB:

£25 a month gets me:

FULL AA cover for me and my wife which can be used on any car.

Home Emergency cover including boiler cover

2 Mobile Phone insurance (Iphone 5)

Full European Travel insurance



Plus other crap which I don't use!

I get the same minus European travel cover from Lloyds TSB for under a tenner a month :confused:

p.s. the boiler / home emergency cover is only in force during summer months when statistically thing are less likely to break or burst !!
 
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I get the same minus European travel cover from Lloyds TSB for under a tenner a month :confused:

p.s. the boiler / home emergency cover is only in force during summer months when statistically thing are less likely to break or burst !!

Lloyds TSB - UK Bank Accounts - Added Value Current Accounts

Sorry but you incorrect, I use the premier account which includes the home emergency cover.

The boiler cover only covers WINTER months (which I can live with). The actual home cover is valid for the whole year. I have used it for the following:

Lost patio door keys - Est cost £100?

Toilet stopped flushing - est costs £60?

Boiler pressure hit went right up in winter - Est cost £100?

As you can see from the link, the AA cover for the premier account is FULL AA cover which includes stay mobile. I have used this twice this year which includes a free loan car for up to 2 weeks.

The Travel insurance is also world cover not just European (my mistake above). Again I have been away 3 times this year, never claimed but i haven't had to buy any cover either.

My point is, Ive made my money back 3 times over for the £300 annual costs.

If I had purchased each item individually it would cost me far more! :thumb:
 
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I've been with the AA for 4 years, i've recently changed from a single vehicle recovery to home policy at around £8 a month to any vehicle recovery to home for £6.45 a month, how does that work?? I have it on a monthly basis as i change the policy a couple of times a year depending on wether friends from abroad are visiting and using the car.
 
Am I the only person who self insures most of the things mentioned above?
 
If I had purchased each item individually it would cost me far more! :thumb:

I think my point was that at £300 a year it probably wouldn't.

Circumstances obviously vary.

But the home cover and travel insurance can be available as a low cost add-on to house insurance. Cover for vehicle breakdown isn't that expensive for a couple if you shop around.

And where you find you need some sort of additional or specialist cover - eg. travel for medical conditions or activities then a separately purchased policy might be a better option.

Justifying its value based on your claims isn't directly valid - that's a justification for having cover - not the value of one means of obtaining that cover over another.
 
Am I the only person who self insures most of the things mentioned above?

No.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense for other people to buy cover for these things.
 
I think my point was that at £300 a year it probably wouldn't.

Circumstances obviously vary.

But the home cover and travel insurance can be available as a low cost add-on to house insurance. Cover for vehicle breakdown isn't that expensive for a couple if you shop around.

And where you find you need some sort of additional or specialist cover - eg. travel for medical conditions or activities then a separately purchased policy might be a better option.

Justifying its value based on your claims isn't directly valid - that's a justification for having cover - not the value of one means of obtaining that cover over another.



I agree to some of your points especially about valuing the product against the claims this may not always be the case. Even at best by shopping around and getting individual cover for all of the above it would only ever be basic cover to make a decent saving.

For example the stay mobile option by AA (this is only available on the top end policy. This directly with AA on there website is £10 a month, so lets say at best with some shopping around maybe £8?

Now looking at home cover via home insurance who generally use people like Home serve ( Home emergency insurance and home repairs | HomeServe) there combined policy is from £9.50 a month.

Phone insurance (two I Phone 5 handsets) - £8 each was the best I can find?

Travel insurance - 3 holidays this year at an average cost of £20 for 2 people. That's £60, so £5 a month.

So already we are at: £38.50 ? So with super shopping around maybe £30? even £25 ? But I can pay £25, have it all with one company and get top package cover.
 
I notoiced my RAC renewal had gone up significantly one year, rang them up and the company discount I get through my employer had been 'accidentally' removed ... allegedly due to a systems upgrade :rolleyes:
 
Every year my renewal comes though, every year I phone up and quote the RAC new members price and every year The AA match it.
 
Read the small print carefully with the breakdown cover you get with your bank account. I often have to tell people at the side of the road that it only covers them for 10 miles. Not ideal 300 miles from home on a Sunday.
 
I think it depends on the person and the circumstance as to whether the bank account perks are worth it or not. I pay £12 a month with natwest and get good quality insurance deals.

The travel insurance covers the whole family. It does cover pre-existing medical conditions, but you have to ring up and go through an evaluation. You can also add winter sports to it for a reasonable price.
 

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