As fuel prices and insurance premiums continue to rise, making car ownership increasingly expensive, drivers could be forgiven for considering breakdown recovery cover as just another unwelcome cost. But with the shorter days the end of British Summer Time heralds and as winter takes grip, are drivers that opt out of breakdown insurance overlooking the ramifications, in terms of cost, stress and inconvenience, that a breakdown could cause them?
In this financially testing time, it is services that do not offer an obvious and immediate return that people cut first. While cutting back on your heating or food bill is instantly noticeable, when it comes to a service that more often than not serves to reassure and provide piece of mind, the effect is not as obvious until the worst happens, as anyone who has been forced to pay through the nose for recovery and repair will gladly share.
The AA estimates that there are eight million drivers in the UK that do not hold any form of breakdown cover and their statistics suggest that in any year, up to two million of these drivers will experience a breakdown, with the cost of recovery or repair likely to be over three times that of basic cover. Collectively, drivers without breakdown cover spend close to £120 million a year to rectify breakdowns and call out recovery companies that would have carried out the same service for free to those who have coverage. It is therefore arguable that driving without breakdown cover is a false economy, as the cost, as well as the inconvenience and stress, when something does go wrong is far greater than for those who drive prepared.
With that in mind, it is important to be aware of the extra stresses that your car will be put under during winter. With less daylight, headlamps get more use, as do heaters, both of which put batteries under more pressure, making them twice as likely to lose charge and run down than during warmer months. Recovery companies also see an increase in call outs for flat tyres during winter, so it is also important to check tyre pressures before embarking on any journey, as well as checking oil and water levels.
Of course, not every driver can afford a comprehensive service but it is advisable to take out a policy that offers basic breakdown coverage. Should the worst happen, the piece of mind that breakdown cover provides could make the wait at the side of the road more palatable, if not the damage it does to your wallet.
If you intend to drive abroad, it is also important to ensure that your level of breakdown cover will extend to your vehicle whilst you are overseas. For example, you can look specifically for European breakdown.
It is also important to make sure that your cover will be in place for the full amount of your visit abroad. some breakdown cover will only cover you for a set amount of time.
As you can see, there is rather a lot to consider when looking for breakdown cover!
Author Resource:-
If you are weighing up the pros and cons of car or motorbike breakdown cover, there are various useful tools online to assist in this process. Your can use an industry approved comparison site that also offers information that can help with your decision making.
Alternatively, you can try one of the two major suppliers, the RAC or the AA.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.fyifiles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
