Just back from a European trip with my mate. He had a rear tyre puncture in Belgium and contacted his breakdown cover insurer (Nationwide). After a discussion with them they informed him that as he did not have a return booked, his cover was invalid and he was effectively abandoned at the side of the road. Luckily he managed to get recovery to the nearest dealer to get a new tyre/tube fitted. Is this normal? I checked my cover (RAC) when I got home and there is no mention of a requirement for a return being booked.
Travel Insurance Europe
- Thread starter bdastu
- Start date
Some (many) breakdown and / or nearly all travel (accident) policies, limit the duration of any one trip. Without a pre-purchased return ticket, the trip is (by its very nature) open ended.
That's a fair point but if the breakdown is within the duration the insurance covers then surely it should be valid. If you extend the trip beyond the duration limit then fair enough you won't be covered. He had taken out single trip cover for a duration of 2 weeks and we were still within that period. I've taken out an annual multi-trip policy as I intend to go across with the campervan later in the year. Just waiting to hear back from RAC on their view. Could this restriction also apply to travel insurance?
The RAC have a nasty gotcha, at least on the personal policy with European cover.
Only 1 breakdown event is covered per 90 day period - not even per trip.
So if you have a puncture and call the RAC to get it fixed while on hols in Europe that’s your lot! Don’t get another one!
Only 1 breakdown event is covered per 90 day period - not even per trip.
So if you have a puncture and call the RAC to get it fixed while on hols in Europe that’s your lot! Don’t get another one!
Interesting, my policy, which is an add-on to my UK personal cover, says up to 3 claims per year. The standalone policy is limited to 1 claim per journey but still 3 claims per year.
The one call out applies only to European trips - at least it was the case on my cover, I confirmed it on the phone and cancelled as 1 call out per trip is no use at all
Ok, the information I have is from the separate European policy booklet. Thanks for the advice, guess I'll need to phone them to double check.
Yeah, do you mind to post back when you’ve checked? I cancelled RAC due to this, but otherwise the cover suited me well, personal cover for me and Mrs Berin in any vehicle.
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OK, that’s a fresh bit of news. I have had a very brief skim through the Nationwide policy, searching it for the word ‘return’. The policy blurb seems to vary between ‘booked’ return and ‘planned’ return. Leaving aside that variations are possibly not a good thing, it is easy to assume that:
A. Booked, means a date / time of crossing has been arranged, paid for and a ticket issued.
B. Planned can mean a bunch of things. For example, “I plan on returning before the two week duration of the policy period is up” or, “I plan to come home, on the date and time of my booked crossing”. Both are plans, of a sort.
In part at least, the policy blurb needs a return date, as some covers cease as soon as the date is passed.
Note:
A. We have no way of knowing what policy your friend bought from Nationwide, nor its wording.
B. Nationwide seem to rely on the AA (or their overseas partners) for vehicle assistance. I guess it was the AA (not Nationwide) who told your friend that no return booking equals no cover?
C. I only gave the policy a very brief look.
I would tell your friend to complain, now that he’s back. If nothing else, Nationwide or the AA will have to address the complaint in writing. If he’s still not happy, he can then complain further and further up the tree.
Note:
I see that the Nationwide policy excludes looking after any pets in the vehicle, which remain the responsibility of the owner to cart about. Those who travel with two or more large dogs, might well be scuppered when the hire car turns out to be a VW Up or smaller.
Those who don’t plan anything, winging their return crossing, might like to read their policies for breakdown and travel insurance.
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Finally got to speak to someone to check and you are correct, only one claim per journey. Reinforces the view always to read the terms and conditions. They did at least confirm no requirement to have a return ticket booked which was my main concern.
Thanks for the input Wapping. Apologies for missing out the information that he only had single trip cover for limited duration. I think he is going to submit a complaint so we'll see how that goes.
Oh, that's news indeed, looking like my packaged bank account with Coop (Smile) which includes RAC will be coming to an end soon then. Might have to check up on buying one off euro cover for my trip next week.
Edit - I've messaged Coop/Smile who package the RAC European/UK cover to confirm
Edit - I've messaged Coop/Smile who package the RAC European/UK cover to confirm
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I had a positive reply from Coop/Smile re RAC, but that as pointed out earlier in the thread found this… so their plus version only.
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First Direct have a similar scheme to Nationwide's Flex plus thing. £15 a month gives a load of benefits including RAC European Breakdown cover - which covers cars, vans, MoHo's, (and related caravans and trailers) but specifically excludes motorbikes. My bike is still in warranty so will have the BMW breakdown as a fallback
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Just a heads-up for First Direct customers: FD discontinued that scheme on 13th March 2020
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