Green Flag Breakdown Cover

[brian_c]

Hello all. My breakdown cover is due for renewal and I was wondering if anyone could recommend me changing from the AA who I am with now,
to Green Flag.
I was a member of the RAC for Years but changed to the AA (In a bit of an Huff!!) when the agent I spoke to said that I had to Join the C&CC in order to be fully covered with the Caravan.
I hopefully will never need the services of any of the organisations but would like the comfort of knowing that if needed Green Flag would sort us and the caravan out.
With me being a member of the CC. I understand that Green flag offer CC members full vehicle and Caravan cover. I have a couple of weeks to sort out the renewal so would appreciate any comments od advice.

Regards Brian

 

[Damian]

Green Flag are brilliant, I have been with them for several years now and each time I have needed to call them they have responded very quickly and no problems whatsoever.

I know for a fact they are good as with my previous car I called them a total of 32 times to recover it and either the caravan or work trailer.

I have the full cover includng home start and onward journey so if the car breaks down they will take the van on to the site and if the car is not repaired bythe time we are due to come home, they will bring the van back as well as the car.

The AA who I was with as part of the car buying deal refused to recover me after the 3rd call out !!!!!

That car has now been crushed and dumped on the dealers forecourt!

 

[brian_c]

Wow!!! Damion that is the most positive endorsment I have ever seen. I dread to ask you what car you had those days.
You must have been afraid to start off on a weekend break or even a main holiday.
It sounds like you have changed thing for the better now though.
That said, Green Flag sound to be a really good bet for my needs. I know people will have negative experiences of all the recovery agencies along with positives like you have had.
The other thing is Green Flag (MAYDAY) from my first look at their web site seems to be about £80 cheaper than the AA.
I will give them a call because I want to complicate it a bit by adding our daughter to the cover. We have family cover at the moment, my wife, Daughter and myself so I presume that may up the costs a bit.
Thanks for the responce. Regards Brian.

 

[Robtel]

The other thing is Green Flag (MAYDAY) from my first look at their web site seems to be about £80 cheaper than the AA.
I will give them a call because I want to complicate it a bit by adding our daughter to the cover. We have family cover at the moment, my wife, Daughter and myself so I presume that may up the costs a bit.

Hi Brian,
I've been a member of the CC's Mayday scheme for a number of years. Thankfully I've only had to call on them only a couple of times and both times they responded promptly.
When you say you are going to give them a call can I suggest you do so through the Caravan Club ( my apologies if that was what you meant) as I think there are some subtle differences in the cover provided and /or prices. Can't recall exactly what they are, might not even be the case now.
Also when you say you want to add your daughter do you mean add your daughter's car or just cover when she is driving the family car? With Mayday it is the car that is covered immaterial of who is driving. You can add other cars, I think they may need to be registered at the same address as the main person, the cost for that is not very high, I have two cars covered though can't remember the extra needed for the second car. Cover for second is exactly the same level as the first.

 

[brian_c]

Thank you for the reply Rob.
yes I will take your advice I would have just given Green Flag a call. (It shows the worth of this type of Forum)
The second car option may suit our daughters situation she live with us and the car is registered here.
Thanks again for taking the trouble to reply.
Best Regards Brian

 

[Damian]

Hello Brian,
The car I had was a brand new Renault Grand Espace, the worst waste of £28,000 I have ever done.
In hindsight I should have rejected it on day 5 of ownership but I didnt and persevered with the thing for 6 years.

I now have a second hand Kia Sedona and it iis by far a much better car , at least so far I have covered in excess of 15,000 miles and it has never let me down, the best £5,000 I have spent!!!

I should have added I am with Mayday through the CC, not a direct Green Flag deal as I believe only Mayday offer the onward and get you home cover.

 

[Martin24]

Brian, Mayday have always been fantastic and the comparable cover for two cars is very very much cheaper than AA/RAC
Damian, We also spent the thick end of 28,000 on a new espace dci in 2001, only difference being I only stuck it out for 18 months. Never ever again would I touch a renault!!!!

 

[Damian]

Hi Martin,
Mine was a 2001 DCi model too, and Renault said I was "the only one" to have problems!!!!!

Yeah, 17 primary fuel pumps in 10 months !
New dash at £1000 just out of warranty.
numerous auxilliary drive belts
split fuel filters
the list was endless
Final straw...all injectors and power steering pump ,,,,,,,,,,car into scrap yard and crushed.
Would I buy another Renault,,,,no way, nor any car which has anything Renault in it,,like the Pathfinder et al.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi all
yes Brian green flag mayday through the CC best cover available for caravanners at any price never mind the fact it is probably the cheapest you will get, Damians right brilliant,
our car was damaged in a carpark in Bude while away, called greenflag they were there in 20mins the car was too badly damaged to drive so he recovered it. took us to the site, to get a few things and arranged to leave the van on site untill we returned. he did offer to recover the van as well but we declined, then took us all the way to yorkshire, dropped the wife off at home, took the car to garage and then dropped me off back at home again, nice man would not even accept a cup of coffee before stetting off back to cornwall.
thats a proper service I reckon,

PS. regarding renault's it's funny how ones mans delight is another mans poison could be just the espace though! my Megane 1.9dti was billiant 3years 40,000 miles with no bother at all it was very reliable. I say WAS as the cambelt broke @ 124,000 and wrecked the engine, the price of a new engine was more than the car was worth so it too went to the scrap yard, must say I did look at a espace and scenic while looking for a replacement and was only put off by estimating the size and weight of the vehicle with what was virtually the same engine as the megane, figured it may be underpowered with a van on the back.
seems I had a lucky escape then chaps.
colin

 

[ChrisUK]

I have just renewed my Mayday / green flag. At £110 for recovery and home start for 2 cars it seems cheap. Not had to call them out fortunatly so can not comment on the performance.

 

[RayS]

If you are or have been a civil servant or have a relative who is, have a look at Britannia Rescue now run by LV Frizzell as was.
They used to come out tops in Which? surveys - haven't seen a recent survey to know how they do now.
You can also get discount through CSMA, as you can for LV= car insurance.

 

[brian_c]

Hello all. Thank's to everyone for your replies.
I am going to change over to the Mayday cover from the end of the month.
I am sure I will feel better in my mind when towing.
At the moment (although I speak with no evidence or justification) I just have a niggle at the back of my mind that AA could find some small-print - undotted I or uncrossed T. that I had overlooked when booking my cover. Even though I have the top Package.
I'm Probably just paranoid but don't want to find out some September night on the M6 with the rain coming in Horizontal.
With regards to vehicles I have for the last few years had Fords, at the moment I have a 2008 Focus 2litre diesel. It tows our 2 berth Ranger very very well. I can understand Damions thoughts re-His Renault what a bad luck deal he suffered. I think the expression FRIDAY AFTERNOON CAR must have applied to all the components not just the final assembly.
I have been very lucky over the years with cars and although I have had a fair range of problems I have never owned a car that gave me constant trouble.
In our early towing days we had a Talbot Solara 1300cc and lugged our Sprite 400 (Hand painted with Dulux Magnolia) all over the place Scotland -Wales - Lakes etc. With never any issues at all in over four years this was also when I just piled everything in the van and didn't have a clue what nose weight meant.
Thank you All again for your valued replies.
Regards Brian

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Brian,
you seem to be in the same position I was 3 years ago, I had been with the AA for over 30years paid the premium year after year even after it went up and up. I had the bees knees top rated cover that cost over £150 a year.
then a guy at work who was with the AA suffered a bearing collapse on his camping trailer while towing, the AA came out asked what the problem was when he said it was the trailer wheel, the AA refuse to help as the car was ok and left him at the side of the road,
this got me thinking and after advice on the forum asked some awkward questions come renewal time after the intial runaround I got some answers and was gob smacked??.
will they recover the van in the event of a breakdown, "YES"
will they drop the van off at home before taking the car to the garage, "NO"
will they recover the van if it is a trailer problem, "NO"
if I breakdown on the way to a site will they take me there, "yes"
if I can't get the car repaired will they bring us home with the van "NO" if it is for the same fault that caused the first breakdown.

"oh dear" 30years towing trailers without proper cover, so I rang green flag "mayday" through the CC all the same questions were asked all answered with a "YES" so that was it goodbye AA I now have better cover for £68 than I ever had before even with the CC subscription added on it's still £50 cheaper, I have only ever had to call them once ie, "in the post above" and they were absolutly brilliant you cannot get a better endorsement than that.
colin
.

 

[brian_c]

Thanks for the reply Colin. I am changing to Mayday at the end of the month.
Like I have said earlier I don't actually want to put any recovery company to the test but I do want to be confident that I have at least joined one that has a proven track record for the Type of breakdowns that Caravanning can create.
My cover will work out at about £160 Due mainly to me putting our daughters Car on the policy.
The simmilar cover with AA is £207.
Best regards Brian

 

[Sparks1]

I have Green Flag cover with the Continental addition (bought direct even though we're CC members) and called them out while in the south of France a couple of years back. The vehicle exhibited turbo problems and we limped to our destination campsite and called Green Flag from there. The phone call was no problem and they sent a truck from nearby Montpelier which arrived in about 40 minutes. Expecting a huge bill for a turbo (around £800) the mechanic found the induction pipe fallen off and fixed it within minutes. We had concerns that the diagnosis would be a turbo even if it wasn't but the mechanic was honest and the service from both Green Flag and the third party recovery company was excellent. Needless to say the mechanic received a hefty tip from us.
Had there been a problem with the caravan instead, I have no doubt the service would have been the same.