Got my renewal cover come for breakdown in europe and afer reading the documents have realised that it does not cover me if i have a accident ,so if i crash up in the mountains and bike canot be ridden then they will not come get me and the bike will not be brought home , does anyone have cover that will do this , im more worried that this would happen than it breaking down ,
My understanding has always been that breakdown cover for Europe is just that, and an accident needs to be dealt with by the insurer. The situation in the UK is the same, although some years ago breakdown cover would often allow for the accident damaged vehicle to be moved to a garage, awaiting the insurer to take over.
Travel insurance normally provides for repatriation of the vehicle and any passengers if the driver becomes ill or incapacitated, I believe. However, as this often involves a driver being hired to move the vehicle and its load, an accident damaged vehicle would not, I suppose be covered.
I should point out that I've no specific knowledge of how the industry works, this is just the way that I understand things work from reading every policy that I've ever bought with great care!
Trouble is if you just have a small off that say makes so canot carry on then claiming on your insurance with a excess of £600-800 is not going to be any good ,looks like the insurance has all the angles covered ,
My car had breakdown cover as part of the insurance. . When it broke down and couldn't be driven I phoned and they sent a recovery lorry. The driver told me he could only take it to the closest garage on their list. I pointed out that garage told me they couldn't fix the car because it needed an Audi tool which they don't have. I asked him to take it instead to Belfast Audi which was the same distance away. He said he couldn't do that.
Result :- I had to pay for a second lorry to take it from the first garage to Belfast Audi.
Since then I haven't bothered with that.
AA 5 star recovery used to bring you and your bike home if you had ANY sort of accident that prevented you continuing your biking holiday Eg. if you broke you leg falling into the swimming pool and couldn't ride the bike. Not sure if it still is the same as I haven't been abroad on the bike for a while. Not cheap but you get what you pay for......
I think that is correct, however as the insurer would expect to be informed of any incident whether or not a claim is made, it probably means that they will become involved in some capacity anyway.
The issue is, I suppose, that when we purchase insurance, we hand over all responsibility to the insurer. Certainly with commercial insurances, expressing a preference in respect of how you would like a problem to be managed cuts no ice at all. Once insurers are involved, they are usually free under the terms of the policy to proceed with matters as they see fit.
If you suffer a minor "off" whether here or overseas, I suppose that either the insurers are called in and take over, or you make your own arrangements with no redress to them in the future?
I've just left the AA website chat. I asked the exact question above re breaking leg and was told it was covered. When I asked where I could read this type of thing I was told its not in the terms and conditions but goodwill. I pushed him saying I wanted his permission to post a screenshot of the conversation to a motorcycle owners forum but he refused and said they have done this sort of thing in the past but it was goodwill only.
So not as good as I thought.
The reason that sort of scenario was important to me was because I made several solo trips abroad on the bike and wanted to be sure I would not be left having to pay for the bike to be brought home if I took ill etc. Nowadays, I'd just buy a cheap flight for a mate to come out and ride my bike back.