Is C&CC holiday insurance good?

[otherclive]

Off to france for 4 weeks and so I have been looking at the cost of combined medical and breakdown insurance. For the 'plus' cover which gives higher levels of benefit the Caravan Club is nearly £90 more expensive than the C&CC. I don't know whether the C&CC consider the car to be lower risk as it is only 1 year old and covered by the manufactureers warranty when overseas. Given that both policies seem to give similar levels of cover I am minded to go with C&CC. Has anyone had experience of either CC, or C&CC performance when things went wrong whilst abroad?

 

[Jaydug]

Has anyone had experience of either CC, or C&CC performance when things went wrong whilst abroad?

Can't say about C&CC - but I have for years taken out CC Red Pennant. As in previous years, my wife and I spent much of last winter in southern Spain. After several weeks she became unwell and had to be admitted to hospital. On the advice of an English doctor, the ambulance took her to a private clinic where she received first class treatment in a private room. Unfortunately after 12 days she died. The Club's insurers faced an enormous hospital bill. Not only did they pay that, but also the repatriation of my wife's body, my flight home, recovery from Spain of my vehicle, together with the charges for my telephone calls and taxi fares. Red Pennant not only picked up my financial burden but their agents in Spain also dealt with all the bureaucracy surrounding the death of a foreign visitor to that Country. I can't speak too highly of them.

 

[BigTim]

Hi Other Clive
I have experience of Continental breakdowns towing a caravan with CCC, Red Pennant and Britannia Rescue.
The CCC one was about 10 years ago so things may have changed. We broke down in Northern Spain at the beginning of our holiday. The car broke down on the Spanish motorway at night. After a long wait the breakdown truck that arrived was too small to take both the car and 'van and all 5 of us so he took the car and 3 of my family to his garage leaving myself and my son sitting on the verge above the unlit 'van on the hardshoulder.
We shone a torch on the rear reflectors of the unlit 'van every time a truck roared past. It was at the brow of a hill where the crawler lane changed back to being the hardshoulder and we expected the 'van to be hit by a juggernaut at any moment. Fortunately Jose returned with his truck and towed us away before that accident happened.
Grumpy, non-English speaking, Jose was supposed to be taking us to a campsite but could not find it and ending up leaving us, injcluding a young baby, and the 'van for the night in the yard of the local bullring - no facilities and a strong smell. In the morning we had to find our way on foot to his garage. With a neighbour translating he explained that the car's head gasket had gone. Taciturn Jose refused to let me use his phone to phone CCC and directed me to a nearby phone box. CCC then phoned me back at the garage and the neighbour then, again, translated what I was saying to CCC. Jose and CCC obviously got the message of how angry I was by then. I think Jose got a strong warning from CCC as his manner changed to being much more pleasant. He towed the caravan to a local campsite with his diminutive breakdown truck and then took the rest of the family in his car.
The campsite was pretty poor and CCC left us stranded without a car for several days. This was despite the fact that the site was in middle of nowhere and its shop only sold sardines and bread - honest. After more complaining after about a week the CCC sent another breakdown truck to tow the caravan and a taxi for the family to transport us to Camping Playa Joyel at Noja. I had asked for a hire car with a towball but one could not be found? The breakdown truck towball was too high for the 'van and so the driver lowered the ramp to enable this to hook up. This meant the ramp was very close to the front of the 'van and actually scratched it. The driver did then try to avoid further "clearance" problems by cheerfully driving around smaller roundabouts the WRONG way!!! When we arrived at the campsite the CCC finally provided us with a hire car - NOT however one with a towball. This meant that our holiday was severely curtailed - we had been planning to tour along Spain's northern coast but it took all of the holiday to repair our towcar.
By contrast in 2007 we broke down near Rome when insured with Red Pennant. They sent a hire VW Passat with a towbar from STUTTGART. That car was a little underpowered for our 'van but the biggest that they could send into Italy. We had that car for 2+ weeks which allowed us to continue our touring holiday. As soon as we crossed into Germany on the way home RP arranged for the hire company to bring us a VW Touareg to our overnight campsite and swap it for the Passat. When we reached Chateau Gandspette RP sent over a Right Hand drive Landrover Disco to Calais so that we could have a RH drive towcar for our journey home in England.
RP was not without problems but the provision of the hired TOWcars meant all the difference in the world. We were able to continue our hols in the caravan and tow it home ourselves. Our car was repatriated a few weeks later.
With Britannia Rescue in 2006 we broke down in Belgium on the way home. We were left for hours on the motorway hard shoulder before the breakdown truck arrived. BR couldn't/wouldn't provide a hired towcars. The whole affair was badly handled and included them putting us back on the road after a week's wait for the car to be supposedly repaired - it lasted 12 miles before failing again. BR then finally provided us with hire cars to get us home and repatriated our car and 'van several weeks later. The repatriation was VERY chaotic with constant changes to the delivery date. When the 'van finally arrived home it had had £1200 worth of damage done enroute. BR did finally pay for the caravan repairs but that took 6 months of "battling".
So in my opinion one gets what one pays for. Yes RP is VERY expensive but they DO cater for caravanners on holiday. RP told us that our hire car costs were approaching the £3000 limit on the policy at that time.
We intend to stick with RP. Any breakdown abroad is stressful but in our experience RP are the BEST for caravanners
I hope this helps. (We do now have a very reliable Kia Sorrento so RP are slowly recouping their losses - LOL.)
Tim

 

[otherclive]

John, I am sorry to hear of the sad loss of your wife and so especially thank you for giving me the reply on your experience with the CC Red Pennant.
Tim your experience with Britannia and C&CC mirrors that of a friend of mine who used M&S/RAC for overseas breakdown cover...it was awful. I have recently changed from an 04 Sorento that was absolutely faultless over 7 years of hard use. Hence my apprehension with the new car that has to build my confidence in it.
I have always used CCRP before and as we will be away for a month the additional cost seems a small price to pay for the benefits if the unexpected happens.
Thank you both.

 

[SteveW77]

Big Tims experience with the RAC, was the complete opposite to mine.
I broke down on a Sunday afternoon in the south of France. I phoned the RAC Arrival and they took care of everything, The turbo on my 2 year old Sorento collapsed and that as they say, was that. The breakdown truck loaded my car on the back and hooked up the van and away we went to the campsite that I was heading for. After unhooking the van, they took my car to Frejus. In the morning I was picked up by taxi and taken to a car hire company and a brand new diesel Fiat Brava Was mine for the next ten days.( No turbo in the whole of France ). After ten days, I took the hire car back, a taxi took me the 50 miles to Frejus and I picked up my car.
The RAC phoned me every day from the Sunday I broke down to the day I sailed back to Dover.
The cost to me, nothing other than the annual subscription.

I could not possibly have had a better result no matter how much I had paid.

Steve W

 

[BigTim]

Just to correct a misunderstanding that seems to have arisen. The breakdown service I bought through the Camping and Caravanning Club and found "wanting" was not managed by the RAC but Europ Assist. That was 10 years ago so I things may have changed.
My final conclusion that RP, though very expensive, is the best service has NOT changed. Most years I look at other possibillities but always now go with RED PENNANT.
Tim

 

[SteveW77]

Hi .Big Tim.

Sorry for misunderstanding your post.
Each to their own as they say, you cannot beat personal experience,so as long as the one you chose does not let you down, then there is no need to change. Why risk disappointment.

Steve W