Best Breakdown Cover UK 2024

Find the best UK breakdown cover providers in 2024.

There are a lot of different breakdown cover providers in the UK, meaning that motorists have a lot of choices when it comes to deciding which provider to go for. 

The vehicle you drive is likely to be one of your most important possessions, meaning getting the right cover for your car is crucial.

When choosing the best UK breakdown cover, information is power. Knowing the prices for the leading breakdown cover providers and the different services they provide, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision about which one to go for. 

Plus, comparing reviews and statistics, such as the time it takes for a company to deliver roadside assistance, can help you narrow down your choices. By knowing which providers have excellent service, you’ll be able to find one that offers the best value for money. 

Here’s a detailed look at some of the top-performing UK breakdown cover providers in 2024, analysing their strengths and weaknesses to help you decide which is best for your needs. 

The best breakdown providers in the UK 2024

  • RAC
  • QDOS Breakdown
  • The AA
  • GEM Motoring Assist
  • Allianz Assistance
  • Motoreasy
  • Green Flag
In this guide

Car Breakdown Cover Prices Compared

This price comparison table is for illustrative purposes and quotes prices for both basic level and top-level personal breakdown cover for the UK only. This should allow you to evaluate your options and better understand which breakdown providers suit your budget. The prices included in the table are plans with no excess. 

For most providers, their basic level of cover only includes roadside assistance. The top-level cover will usually include roadside assistance, home start, national recovery, and onward journey services, with some offering more features. 

Provider

Basic Cover Price

Top Level Cover Price

RAC

£126.50 per year

£176 per year

QDOS Breakdown

£59.99 per year

£85.99 per year

The AA

£79 per year

£199 per year

GEM Motoring Assist

£78.50 per year

£96.66 per year

Allianz Assistance

£119.88 per year

*Need a quote

MotorEasy 

£36.30 per year

£86.04 per year

Green Flag 

£54.88 per year 

£108.64 per year

What are the different types of breakdown cover?

Before looking at the providers more in-depth, it’s essential to understand the different types of cover these businesses provide. Across the breakdown cover industry, you’ll usually have the option to take out two different types of cover: personal or vehicle. 

Although similar in that either option will help protect your car if it was to break down, the characteristics of each type of cover are unique, with each best suiting distinct situations and scenarios. 

Personal Breakdown Cover 

Personal breakdown cover is where you get cover for an individual. This means that regardless of the car you drive if you break down, you’ll be able to get help through your policy. 

This type of cover is great if you drive multiple cars in your daily life, such as one vehicle for work and one family vehicle. 

With a personal breakdown cover, you’re protected if you’re a passenger in someone else’s car. This means that even if you’re not driving, you’ll be able to get the help you need when you need it. 

Vehicle Breakdown Cover

Vehicle breakdown cover is where instead of getting the protection that covers an individual, it instead covers a specific car. This means that no matter who’s driving the car when it breaks down, you’ll be able to get assistance. 

This type of cover is great if you’re in a family that all share one vehicle. Instead of having to get cover for each person, you can instead just cover the car. This means that you only have one policy to worry about, which can make admin easier and reduce how much you have to pay. 

Of course, if you get vehicle cover and breakdown in a different car to the one you’ve insured, you won’t be able to access roadside assistance. 

Usually, most providers will give you a choice on if you want either personal or vehicle cover. However, some providers specialise in one type of cover and do not give you that option. This is something you’ll have to consider when selecting your cover.

What are the different levels of breakdown cover?

In addition to there being different types of breakdown cover, the cover you can get can also be broken down into different levels, with the basic level of cover being cheaper. In contrast, the more comprehensive level of cover is more expensive. 

What each provider offers in their basic level of cover is down to them. Some may only offer you the bare bones and then let you add on other features to your plan, while others include additional features as standard.

A few providers don’t even have what you’d consider a ‘basic’ level of cover, offering a comprehensive service for all their customers. 

To better understand what to expect from breakdown cover providers, here are the different levels of cover that you can usually get with each provider. 

Roadside Assistance

For most providers, their starting level of cover is roadside assistance. This is where you’ll be able to call out a mechanic to come to fix your vehicle at the side of the road. 

You can only enable roadside assistance if you break down more than 1/4 of a mile from your home. Plus, if you need to get your car towed to a garage for them to fix it there, you can only be towed up to 10 miles. 

Home-Start

Also known as Home Assitance, a home start is a level of cover that you can add to your basic plan where you’ll be able to call for a mechanic if your car breakdowns while at your home. 

This is a good bit of cover to have, as it means that if your car has a drained battery or other issues preventing it from getting started, a mechanic can come directly to your home to fix the issue and get you back on the road. 

To give them a competitive edge, some providers offer home start for free in their basic plan, but you’ll have to add it to your policy for most. 

National recovery

This level of cover allows you to have your car towed to any garage or location in the UK. This means that if you break down while travelling away from where you live, you can have your car sent to a garage closer to home. 

When adding this level of cover to your policy, some providers will need you to first add home assistance as well, while others will let you add just this single service to your plan. 

Onward journey

Onward journey is a level of cover where the breakdown provider will make arrangements to ensure that you can continue your travels while your car is getting repaired. This is usually done by providing you with a hire car. Providers can also organise public transport to get you home and even pay for hotel accommodation if your vehicle is being repaired in a garage away from home. 

Adding this level of cover to your plan, alongside all the other services, means that you’ll be able to get one of the most comprehensive levels of protection available. 

Many providers also include other features, such as European breakdown cover and tyres or key replacements. These additional features are add-ons and can be purchased when you need them, allowing you to create a more bespoke plan. 

After fully detailing how the best UK breakdown cover providers work and operate, here’s a look at how each provider performs to help you better understand which is best for you. 

RAC

RAC is the oldest breakdown provider currently active in the UK market, having first formed in the late 1800s. Alongside the AA, RAC has built up a good reputation among British motorists and remains one of the most popular choices for breakdown cover. 

You can get roadside assistance, at-home cover, national recovery, and onward journey services with RAC. 

What makes RAC breakdown cover stand out? 

With RAC breakdown cover, you will always get at-home serving, no matter what level of clever you choose. This means that even at the base level of cover, you get a more comprehensive policy when compared to many other competitors. 

RAC also offers legal advice to help motorists who may have been involved in an accident, which can be very useful during a stressful time. 

Plus, a membership with RAC gives you additional perks and discounts that can be used at various merchants in the UK. For example, you’ll be able to claim free hot drinks, money off gym memberships, discounts on fuel, and even cheaper MOTs. These additional perks provide greater value when getting breakdown cover with RAC.

How much does RAC breakdown cover cost? 

RAC has one of the most expensive basic level cover across all of the providers reviewed in this article, costing around £126 for personal cover for a single individual. It is possible to justify this price because of the added at-home protection that’s included in the price point, although even when compared to other policies that include this service, it does rank high. 

Interestingly, when comparing the most expensive plans for each provider, RAC is pretty cheap, costing nearly £170 a year. This is less than the AA, meaning it’s a good option if you’re looking for cover from one of the more established brands in the UK.

How long does RAC roadside assistance take? 

RAC aims to have its mechanics arrive at each call-out within an hour. However, despite these intentions, only 57.5% of mechanics get to a roadside breakdown within this timeframe. This is much worse than the AA. In fact, RAC is one of the worst-performing providers when it comes to call-out time. 

What is RAC’s success rate on call-outs?

When a RAC patrol van gets a call out, you can expect it to have a good chance of fixing your car on the side of the road without having to tow it to a garage. 

80% of vehicles are fixed on the roadside, which is comparable with the majority of other breakdown cover providers. However, sometimes these fixes will not be permanent and will need additional work at a garage at a later date. 

57.5% of broken-down cars are permanently fixed by a roadside mechanic provided by RAC, essentially identical to the AA, meaning that you can rely on RAC to fix your car once they arrive. 

RAC breakdown cover reviews

RAC has a score of 4.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot, meaning that it can be considered a great service. Over 84,000 people have left reviews for the RAC, indicating that this score can be trusted and is a good indicator of the brand’s quality. 

69% of reviewers gave RAC 5 stars, meaning that the majority of people have had a good experience with this brand. However, 16% of reviewers have issued a 1-star review, suggesting that they can be pretty bad when things go wrong. 

From these 1-star reviews, the common complaint is the lack of communication when waiting for roadside rescue. This may not be a problem if you are seen quickly; however, if you have to endure a long wait before a mechanic arrives, not having regular updates can be very frustrating.

rac-breakdown-cover.svg
Customer score
4.1/5

Based on over 84,000 reviews.

QDOS Breakdown

qdos breakdown cover page

When compared to some of the more established breakdown providers, QDOS Breakdown is definitely one of the new brands on the block, first offering its breakdown service in 2011. 

Despite just being more than a decade old, QDOS has grown rapidly and is a good option if you’re considering cover that’s not provided by the dominant brands such as the AA and RAC. 

QDOS Breakdown providers cover for a wide array of vehicles, such as cars, motorbikes, motorhomes and vans. You can get all the expected levels of cover with QDOS, allowing you to build a policy that suits your needs.

What makes QDOS Breakdown stand out? 

In addition to allowing you to cover any type of road vehicle, QDOS also gives you the option to cover an entire fleet. This means that QDOS Breakdown is a great option for business owners with a high volume of cars and other vehicles. Having all your vehicles under one policy can make things easier to manage.  

With QDOS, there are also no excess fees or call-out charges, meaning that you won’t have to pay extra for anything, even if you need multiple call-outs for a recurring problem. This isn’t the case for all breakdown cover providers, meaning that this key feature is a massive advantage for the emerging brand. 

How much does QDOS Breakdown cover cost? 

QDOS Breakdown can be considered a budget option, with the annual cost for their basic plan being around £59.99. This is cheaper than most providers discussed in this article. 

In addition, their most expensive level of cover only comes in at around £85.99. This is cheaper than some providers’ base-level services, demonstrating how cheap it is compared to other brands.

How long does QDOS Breakdown roadside assistance take? 

QDOS states that their roadside assistance can take roughly an hour to arrive, comparable to some of the other leading services. 

However, the reality is that many customers usually have to wait longer than this. When looking at customer reviews, many say that they’ve had to wait multiple hours to get assistance, suggesting that the service may not be as reliable as QDOS states on its website.

What is QDOS Breakdown’s success rate on call-outs?

QDOS states that 4 out of 5 vehicles are fixed on the roadside. This is in line with the statistics from other providers, meaning that you’re just as likely to have your car fixed with QDOS as you are with other providers. 

QDOS Breakdown Cover reviews

QDOS Breakdown has a score of 4.4 out of 5 on Reviews.io. On the surface, this score makes QDOS one of the best breakdown providers, according to UK customers. However, it’s worth taking this score with a pinch of salt. This is because there are only 2556 reviews for QDOS on Reviews.io. With a much smaller sample size when compared to other brands, these reviews are not as reliable.

The majority of positive reviews praise the company’s value for money. However, the low-scoring reviews mention a lot of clauses that make users ineligible for cover, like the age of their car and the vehicle’s weight. 

qdos-breakdown-cover
Customer score
4.3/5

Based on over 2,556 reviews.

The AA

the aa breakdown cover page

The AA is one of the longest-running motoring companies in the UK, first beginning operations in 1905. Over its more than a century’s worth of history, the AA has become a big part of British culture, especially on the road. 

Today, the AA is one of the most used breakdown cover providers, trusted by millions of motorists a year. 

Like many of their competitors, the AA offers multiple levels of cover, providing roadside assistance, at-home services, national recovery, and onward journey. You can get European breakdown cover from the AA too.

What makes the AA Breakdown Cover stand out? 

The AA has a lot of key features and perks that make it an attractive option when it comes to breakdown cover. 

With a membership with the AA, you’ll have access to 24/7 coverage. This means that no matter what time your car breaks down, you’ll be able to call for assistance. Plus, you’ll be able to call for help an unlimited amount of time. So, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that no matter what state your car is in, you’ll always be eligible for assistance, even if it’s a repeat issue. 

The AA also has an Accident Assist service that you get when you take out a policy. This gives you access to additional support to help guide you through the process of dealing with a road accident. 

The AA is also a very flexible breakdown cover provider, allowing you to build a policy that suits your needs. You can mix and match the extra levels of cover, allowing you to add national recovery to your plan while omitting at-home recovery. 

How much does the AA cost? 

The total price of cover from the AA will depend on a few factors, including the type of cover you get, your details, and any add-ons. However, when comparing the AA’s basic plan with other options, it ranks as one of the more expensive options, costing around £79 per year for a basic plan. 

When getting a comprehensive cover that includes all the levels of cover, the AA is one of the most expensive providers reviewed in this article, costing just under £200 a year for a single individual. 

How long does the AA roadside assistance take? 

The AA prides itself on being one of the fastest at providing roadside assistance, and call-outs usually take between 40 minutes to an hour. The AA can provide this speed because they have a large fleet of patrol cars able to respond to emergencies. 

Approximately 82% of call-outs arrived within the hour, making it a very reliable and responsive service.

What is the AA’s success rate on call-outs?

When needing roadside assistance, you want help to get there fast, but you also want it to be able to fix your problem. The AA claim that 4 out of 5 call-outs result in the problem being fixed. However, these may just be temporary fixes and could require additional servicing at a garage. 

Around 58% of call-outs resulted in a permanent fix, meaning that just under 2/3rds of people can expect their car to be fully fixed on the roadside without needing follow-up work. This is a pretty good success rate. 

the AA breakdown cover reviews

The AA scored 4.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot, the leading aggregator website for reviews. The AA has been reviewed over 28,000 times, meaning that a high volume of data suggests that these reviews are reliable and that this score is a good indicator of the brand’s quality. 

The AA is regularly praised for its helpful patrol men and women from these reviews. When looking at the few bad reviews, one common issue is that some people have had to endure long wait times for roadside recovery. This indicates that although most customers are seen quickly, there is a chance that if there is a problem regarding response time, it could result in a long wait. 

the-aa-logo
Customer score
4.1/5

Based on over 28,000 reviews.

GEM Motoring Assist

gem motoring assist breakdown cover page

GEM Motoring Assist has been active since 1932 and began life as a road safety organisation. They’ve been providing breakdown cover since 1978. 

GEM aims to simplify the process of getting breakdown cover and do this by streamlining the process. Instead of offering multiple different levels and add-ons that can be confusing, GEM has only a few plans for customers to pick from.

What makes GEM Motoring Assist stand out? 

With GEM Motoring Assist, no matter what plan you choose, you will get all levels of cover, including roadside assistance, home start, national recovery, and onward journey. This mean’s that if you’re looking for comprehensive cover, GEM is a good option. 

However, with only two plans, their Recovery Extra plan and their Recovery Reclaim plan, there’s not much choice for motorists. 

Plus, GEM Motoring Assist specialise in personal cover only. This means that you’re unable to get vehicle cover with GEM. This is great for people who drive various cars and vehicles regularly, but if you share a car with your family, you cannot cover that car and will instead have to cover each person. This can make breakdown cover more expensive.

How much does GEM Motoring Assist breakdown cover cost? 

GEM Motoring Assist costs £78.50 when getting their cheapest Recovery Reclaim plan. Although this is expensive when compared to many basic-level plans, as you’re getting all the types of cover in this policy, it makes sense instead to compare it with the top-level plans of other providers. When you do this, GEM Motoring Assist is one of the cheapest ways to get comprehensive cover. 

Their recovery Plus plan, which has additional features like unlimited call-outs, is also pretty cheap, costing £96.66 a year. This is cheaper than some basic-level plans.

How long does GEM Motoring Assist roadside assistance take? 

GEM Motoring Assist ranks well in call-out speed, as many motorists are seen within an hour. This makes GEM a very reliable service and is similar to the other leading breakdown cover providers.

Be aware that some customers have had bad experiences, with it taking more than two and a half hours for assistance to arrive.

What is GEM Motoring Assist’s success rate on call-outs?

GEM’s success rate for call-outs is consistent with all the other competitors, with 4 out of 5 people having their car fixed at the side of the road without needing to be towed to a garage for further work. 

GEM Motoring Assist reviews

GEM has one of the best scores on Trustpilot out of all the breakdown cover providers, boasting an impressive 4.7 out of 5. This is based on over 3,700 or so reviews, which is a lot less than some of the other providers but should still be enough to make this score an accurate reflection of what you can expect. 

The good reviews detail the friendliness and expertise of their mechanics and praise their mobile app’s quality. 

Negative reviews focus on long wait times, which is a risk for all breakdown cover providers, but many also detail a lack of communication when looking for updates. 

gem-motoring-assist-breakdown-cover
Customer score
4.7/5

Based on over 3,700 reviews.

Allianz Assistance

Allianz assistance breakdown cover page

Allianz is primarily an insurance company that provides breakdown cover alongside many other products, such as travel insurance. As a result, Allianz focuses on breakdown cover that includes European breakdown, with this policy being one of their flagship features.

What makes Allianz Assistance stand out? 

Allianz offers 24/7 breakdown cover, meaning you can get assistance anytime. 

Allianz Assistance offers three different plans, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, giving you the option to get the level of cover that you need. These levels stack on top of each other, meaning that a Gold plan will include all the features of their silver and bronze plans. 

How much does Allianz Assistance cost? 

You can get Allianz Assistance from £9.99 a month, which equates to just under £120 a year. With this being their starting price, Allianz can be a pretty experience service. 

In terms of their maximum price, it’s impossible to find out without applying for a quote. This means that the price for their gold plan will alter depending on your details, although it’s likely that their premium plan will cost more than £200 a year for most people. 

How long does Allianz Assistance roadside assistance take? 

It’s difficult to find statistics for Allianz Assistance, as their own website doesn’t provide any information about this. 

When looking at reviews on the service, there are a lot of negative complaints regarding wait time, implying that they’re not a very reliable service when you need roadside assistance. 

Furthermore, it’s worth mentioning that communication when waiting for assistance is poor, and many people say that it’s tough to contact Allianz Assistance even to schedule help.

What is Allianz Assistance’s success rate on call-outs?

Much like their call-out speeds, the recovery rate is also hard to find information for. 

What can be found is that you’re only eligible for an hour of repair work with Allianz Assistance. This may mean that if your car isn’t fixed within this time, it could be left unrepaired. 

Allianz Assistance reviews

Allianz Assistinace has an abysmal score on Trustpilot. It is so bad that it’s simply best to avoid this breakdown cover provider, especially with all the other options boasting good ratings. 

Out of 85 reviews, Allianz Assistance scored 1.3 stars out of 5. Many of the reviewers claim that the company has scammed them, as many people are stating that they are hard to contact, with calls being unanswered and emails not being replied to. 

The company’s other services don’t fare too well either, with their travel insurance also being criticised. Allianz currently has a really poor reputation and may not be the best option regarding breakdown cover. 

allianz-assistance-breakdown-cover
Customer score
1.3/5

Based on over 85 reviews.

MotorEasy

motoreasy breakdown cover page

Although MotorEasy may be a small name among other breakdown providers, they’re a good option as their business is committed to offering more to customers. 

MotorEasy was founded in 2016, and as well as offering breakdown cover, it also provides other products to help motorists, such as an MOT booking service and replacement parts. 

In terms of their breakdown cover, MotorEasy offers the standard levels of cover you would expect, allowing you to choose which ones you want to add to your policy. 

What makes MotorEasy stand out? 

MotorEasy is unique among other breakdown cover providers because the business offers a full suite of services to help you take better care of your car. This makes MotorEasy the one-stop shop for all your car needs, making managing your car far more convenient. 

The business also launched a service called Health Checks, which looks over the wear and tear of members’ vehicles to see what kind of shape it’s in. This can help drivers take better care of their cars.

How much does MotorEasy cost? 

MotorEasy is one of the cheapest breakdown cover options; you can get basic level roadside assistance for £36.30 for the entire year. 

If you’re looking for comprehensive cover, a policy that includes roadside assistance, as well as home start, national recovery, and onward journey, will cost £86.04. This price point makes it one of the cheapest options on the market.

How long does MotorEasy roadside assistance take? 

MotorEasy has a quick response time to call-outs, meaning you won’t have to wait long for assistance. The majority of breakdowns are seen to within an hour, making them equally as quick as the leading brands.

What is MotorEasy’s success rate on call-outs?

Just over 80% of MotorEasy call-outs were fixed on the roadside, making it a service that’s just as reliable as all the other leading roadside recovery providers. This means that there is a good chance that your car will be fixed on the roadside and will not require additional work at a garage. 

MotorEasy Breakdown Cover reviews

MotorEasy is the best-reviewed breakdown cover provider in the UK on Trustpilot, obtaining a score of 4.7 stars out of 5. This score is the average from just under 8000 reviews, so although the sample size isn’t as large as the AA or RAC, it’s large enough to suggest that this score is reliable. 

The good reviews state that communication was excellent when waiting for roadside assistance, and many also praise the value for money of the service. Only 4% of reviewers rated MotorEasy as bad. 

motoreasy
Customer score
4.7/5

Based on over 8,000 reviews.

Green Flag

Green Flag is one of the most used breakdown cover providers and sits alongside the AA and RAC as the leading brands in the industry. 

Green Flag was formed in 1971 and is a unique alternative to not just the leading breakdown cover providers but also the emerging companies. 

What makes Green Flag stand out? 

What makes Green Flag unique is that instead of having their own employed patrol vans and mechanics, they partner with independent garages and service people to be a part of their network. 

To become a part of their network, these mechanics need to undergo an intense screening process, meaning that only the best can partner with Green Flag.

How much is Green Flag breakdown cover?

The basic level of breakdown cover provided by Green Flag costs around £54.88 a year. This makes it a mid-range price compared to the others but does provide significant savings when Green Flag is compared to the AA and RAC. 

Its premium policy, which includes all the levels of breakdown cover you can expect, costs around £108.64 for personal cover. Again, this price point makes it a mid-range product cheaper than some leading providers but a bit more expensive than alternative options. 

How long does Green Flag roadside assistance take? 

For most people, the time it takes to get assistance is around 30 minutes, making it one of the fastest breakdown clever providers in the UK. 

What is Green Flags’s success rate on call-outs?

Green Flag has an excellent success rate for fixing cars on the roadside. Currently, 86% of cars are either temporarily or permanently repaired with roadside assistance. This percentage is slightly higher than many other options, meaning that Green Flag is one of the most reliable brands available in the UK. 

Green Flag Breakdown Cover reviews

Green Flag has a lot of satisfied customers, as the users on Trustpilot have given it an average score of 4.2 out of 5. This score means that Green Flag can be considered an excellent business. 

With over 21,000 reviews, this score is also very reliable and indicates what to expect from the business. 

The good reviews mention the speed of getting a broken-down car back on the road, highlighting how this is a key benefit of the breakdown cover provider. 

The few bad reviews mention how renewing customers can be quoted a higher price than what they paid in the previous year, meaning that it’s worth looking for the best deal when your cover is set to expire.

green flag logo
Customer score
4.2/5

Based on over 21,000 reviews.

Breakdown cover takeaway

If you own a car or are regularly driving, it’s crucial to get a breakdown cover to protect you for when things go wrong. With many options and providers offering slightly different services at various prices, it can be tough to figure out which one is right for you. 

Hopefully, this article has illuminated the positives and negatives of some of the leading breakdown cover providers in the UK and has provided insight into what will be the best option for you. 

When comparing, looking at the cost isn’t enough, and you need to be aware of the features each company has to choose the best provider for your situation. The best breakdown cover for you will not be the same for someone else because of how personal and bespoke this type of protection is. 

To get the best out of a breakdown cover, carefully consider what you need and will benefit from. If you never take your car outside the country or are unlikely to hire a car when aboard, then European breakdown cover will be unnecessary. Or, if you drive multiple cars regularly, it will be best to get personal cover instead of vehicle cover. 

Understanding your own needs can help you choose the best breakdown cover provider. 

Breakdown Cover FAQs

These are the best UK breakdown cover providers in 2024:

  • RAC
  • QDOS Breakdown
  • The AA
  • GEM Motoring Assist
  • Allianz Assistance
  • Motoreasy
  • Green Flag

Breakdown cover is not a legal requirement, so you can choose to go without it if you want. That said, getting breakdown cover can be one of the cheapest ways to protect your car if things do break. 

With it, you can call a roadside mechanic to help fix your car for no additional cost and get it towed to a nearby garage if needed. If you don't have breakdown cover, this service can cost you a lot of money, making it a good, economical option. 

If you drive regularly or own an older car that is more prone to breakdowns, getting breakdown cover is a sensible choice. 

Breakdown cover and car insurance are separate services that protect you from different scenarios. Car insurance is there to help cover you if your vehicle is ever in an accident, stolen, or maliciously damaged. Breakdown cover only helps if the vehicle stops working due to wear and tear. 

Unlike breakdown cover, you legally need basic car insurance to be allowed to drive in the UK. You'll find that quite a lot of insurance providers offer breakdown cover as an add-on, and although this can be convenient, you might get a better deal opting for breakdown cover provided by someone else. 

Breakdown cover is an annual service, meaning that from the date you purchase the cover, you'll have protection for the next year. 

If you want the cover to last longer than this, you'll have to renew once it's close to expiring. Most providers will auto-renew to ensure no gap in your cover, but be aware of this if you want to change your provider. 

As breakdown cover usually lasts a year at a time, you'll be charged for the service annually. That said, many providers allow you to pay monthly, although this payment method could be more expensive. 

From the day you buy breakdown cover, you'll be protected and can access all the services in your policy. This means that if you breakdown the day after you buy your policy, you'll be able to get roadside assistance and more. 

The only catch is that you can only get this cover if your vehicle hasn't broken down before getting the policy. If your car is already not starting or has any other issues, your policy will not be valid.

When getting breakdown cover, some providers offer personal or vehicle cover, while others specialise in one type. Person cover is where you're protected as an individual, no matter what car you're driving or if you're a passenger in someone's car. Vehicle cover is only for a single automobile but covers anyone who is driving it. 

What's best from these two depends on your situation and circumstances. If you drive multiple different cars, such as a car for work, one for family life, and another one shared with a partner, then getting personal cover can be better for you. 

On the other hand, if you only have one car and multiple people in your family are driving it, it may make more sense to get cover for the car instead. 

The costs of breakdown cover vary a lot depending on where you get it from, and the price offered depends on various factors. Not only does the car's age and driving history affect your final quote, but the tier of cover you get can also impact the final price. 

Basic cover, which includes roadside assistance, is usually the cheapest to get, but it does mean that you'll have to pay more if you need your car towed. Plus, many providers offer more comprehensive services as standard, making it hard to compare prices. 

Out of the providers listed, cover can start from as little as £36 a year but be up to just under £199. It's a considerable expense but can help you save money down the line.

Normally, breakdown cover only protects you when driving in the UK. If you want protection abroad, you'll need to get European breakdown cover which is an added extra in most cases. 

This additional service ensures that you can get the same level of protection in multiple European countries. However, the number of countries you're covered in differs significantly between the providers. 

If you're driving elsewhere outside of Europe, you may struggle to find cover, as not many UK-based breakdown cover providers offer worldwide coverage. 

The call out time is a metric that can help you determine how reliable and fast a specific breakdown cover provider is. The times are different based on each particular provider, but when looking at the top-rated providers in the UK, you should be able to get a response within an hour. 

That said, some leading breakdown cover providers are much faster than this, with them reaching you within 30 minutes in most cases. 

When comparing and assessing which provider and policy is best for you, there are multiple things you need to consider to ensure you're getting the best service. 

To ensure that you're opting for coverage that is reliable, be sure to look at the response times. Good providers will have an average response time of 30 minutes, meaning you won't have to wait by the roadside all day to get support. 

In action to this, good breakdown cover will also have a high success rate of fixing issues at the roadside. Going for a provider that fixes most issues at the site of the breakdown means you can get on with your day quicker and won't need to be towed to a garage. 

When looking for the best breakdown cover, also see what extras are included in your cover as standard. Some of the best ones will have European cover or home start in their base level, and many others may also include free services to entice you. 

Even if you have breakdown cover, you may still have to contribute some money to the repair costs to fix your vehicle, although this will depend on the level of cover you get. Usually, if your car is fixed on the roadside, you won't have to pay any extra. 

However, if you're taken to a garage and need to have parts fixed or replaced there, you may have to pay for these new parts. 

Some policies will cover the costs of parts up to a certain price, which can help reduce your spending. In this case, you'll have to pay the excess if the new parts are more expensive than the amount covered. 

If you breakdown on the side of the road and don't yet have breakdown cover, it's still possible for you to get support. By phoning any breakdown provider, you should be able to get immediate support and access a call out to come and fix your car at the roadside. 

The only issue with this approach is that you will be charged for this service and may have to pay extra, depending on if you need to get your car towed to a nearby garage. This is why getting breakdown cover is recommended, as it protects you from paying these larger expenses. 



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Privacy Policy

What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you register on our site or place an order. When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address or mailing address.

What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways: To personalize your experience (your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs) To improve our website (we continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you) To improve customer service (your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs) To process transactions Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested. To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature To send periodic emails The email address you provide for order processing, will only be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your order.

How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to?keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be kept on file for more than 60 days.

Do we use cookies?

Yes (Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computers hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information We use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart, understand and save your preferences for future visits, keep track of advertisements and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business. If you prefer, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies via your browser settings. Like most websites, if you turn your cookies off, some of our services may not function properly. However, you can still place orders by contacting customer service. Visit Google's Privacy & Terms site to learn more: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites Google Analytics We use Google Analytics on our sites for anonymous reporting of site usage and for advertising on the site. If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics monitoring your behaviour on our sites please use this link (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/)

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Registration

The minimum information we need to register you is your name, email address and a password. We will ask you more questions for different services, including sales promotions. Unless we say otherwise, you have to answer all the registration questions. We may also ask some other, voluntary questions during registration for certain services (for example, professional networks) so we can gain a clearer understanding of who you are. This also allows us to personalise services for you. To assist us in our marketing, in addition to the data that you provide to us if you register, we may also obtain data from trusted third parties to help us understand what you might be interested in. This ‘profiling’ information is produced from a variety of sources, including publicly available data (such as the electoral roll) or from sources such as surveys and polls where you have given your permission for your data to be shared. You can choose not to have such data shared with the Guardian from these sources by logging into your account and changing the settings in the privacy section. After you have registered, and with your permission, we may send you emails we think may interest you. Newsletters may be personalised based on what you have been reading on theguardian.com. At any time you can decide not to receive these emails and will be able to ‘unsubscribe’. Logging in using social networking credentials If you log-in to our sites using a Facebook log-in, you are granting permission to Facebook to share your user details with us. This will include your name, email address, date of birth and location which will then be used to form a Guardian identity. You can also use your picture from Facebook as part of your profile. This will also allow us and Facebook to share your, networks, user ID and any other information you choose to share according to your Facebook account settings. If you remove the Guardian app from your Facebook settings, we will no longer have access to this information. If you log-in to our sites using a Google log-in, you grant permission to Google to share your user details with us. This will include your name, email address, date of birth, sex and location which we will then use to form a Guardian identity. You may use your picture from Google as part of your profile. This also allows us to share your networks, user ID and any other information you choose to share according to your Google account settings. If you remove the Guardian from your Google settings, we will no longer have access to this information. If you log-in to our sites using a twitter log-in, we receive your avatar (the small picture that appears next to your tweets) and twitter username.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

Updating your personal information

We offer a ‘My details’ page (also known as Dashboard), where you can update your personal information at any time, and change your marketing preferences. You can get to this page from most pages on the site – simply click on the ‘My details’ link at the top of the screen when you are signed in.

Online Privacy Policy Only

This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.

Your Consent

By using our site, you consent to our privacy policy.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.
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