Following from ID3’s hissy fit we needed to get it to a garage and thought we had no breakdown insurance. Having had no luck from local garage we phoned Volkswagen Assistance, who despatched a trailer which arrived 30 minutes later. No questions asked, no huge payment demanded. Very curious.
However it turns out that since we bought the car second hand from a VW concession we got 3 years’ assistance included. And since we have the service done in aVW garage this is automatically extended every time.
It includes outside France, and refunds for motorway trailer costs!
So a positive from what we thought was a big mistake!
Thank you ..It could be a great comfort . I was looking over the Irish website and it seems to be called Mobility Guarantee .. . Within the first three years it seems that the warranty is complete ..eg they cover parts and service . Beyond that they will tow /carry the VW to the nearest VW accredited Garage …and it seems covers a nights local hotel accomodation as well. I think it also covers VW supplying a replacement car for a day or so. Since my Aviva assurance will basically do the same thing ..it’s maybe redundant.
The VW insurance covers from 0km, ie from home. We have a new insurance starting on 1/9 that includes breakdown from 30km as standard, but cancelling the add on option of 0km cover has just reduced policy by €140.
When I bought my Volkswagen second hand ID3 Pro Tech earlier this year, I had to sign up in the app for quite a few different bits of assistance, at zero cost. The app is good and much better than the hopeless Peugeot one I had before.
I really like the car, but I think the Infotech system is over complicated and a bit willful.
Except the VW assistance picked up Jane’s car in 30minutes and off to a real VW garage. Aviva own the RAC so expect a pickup in more like 30 hours as they have to send a van to look first before instructing a lorry to remove it and tow it to the cheapest local garage on their list.
Thanks - but, honestly, who would not have “tous risques” ?
In fact, at least in the UK, the old standby of “3rd party, fire and theft” is frequently more expensive as the insurers recognise that higher risk drivers tend to go for that level of cover believing it to be cheaper.
With our current insurance, which is tous risques, there is no included breakdown insurance. I don’t know whether that is an exception or not and haven’t looked at whether the majority of companies include or exclude it.
In these times of rising costs I could see it as something companies might want to ditch and offer separate cover.
But, then, I expected free roaming to wither after Brexit, what actually happened is that everyone kept doing it for fear of being the company that stopped, only to lose revenue to the ones that didn’t.
Well, you got caught with a flat, well, how about that?
Well, babies, don’t you panic
By the light of the night, it’ll all seem alright
I’ll get you a satanic mechanic.
They should be delighted they got away so lightly, My little outage meant BMW picked up Taxi, Hotel, Flight and car hire charges, oh and a 900km trailer trip for the car back to my concessionaire. I think the BMW roadside assist was free for the first four years. I will be renewing
As an aside, and as I will be pointing out to BMW, while I’ve had the odd classic breakdown, no new car I’ve bought since 1980 (there was one in 1979 that I fixed myself, loose coil wire) has ever let me down. None of my VWs, none of my Mercs, none even of Italian marques. The BMW (my first of the marque) has had to be trailered twice in three years. However I still really like the car, and all my Googling reveals excellent reliability reports. So maybe Monday cars still exist.
Granted we live in a village near a town , but on the few occasions we needed assistance it was about 40 minutes … .And in 2 of those occasions the distance was utterly Zero … Automatic parking brake locked on in a Peugeot and in another my daughter learning to drive had wedged my car ..then a Peugeot hard up against a corner and wall . No paint damage done as yet but no prospect of removal without scraping … . The solution shows the advantage of using a professional .. he just attached his winch to the exposed axle and dragged the car sideways the 2 metres … RAC is not really a thing in Ireland and the insurance companies use a network of breakdown services..and Aviva promise to bring the car to a dealership garage
In the UK the service van has (had) to come out to see first so thats your first wait then the truck. RAC left me stranded mid chemotherapy in -8c at the Godstone interchange with the A22 and M25, hardly the backwoods. Poor chap had to drive from Wembley, diametrically opposed to where we were and even the police calling the RAC control room didnt get them out any faster. The same police finished their shift and saw me still waiting. Although I get RAC thrown in with my insurance it will be -8c in hell before I would recommend them.
I would only take the breakdown insurance optiom that includes towage to my chosen garage near my home. Too much room for restrictive practices and even fraudulent bills from an unknown garage otherwise.
@janejones I am so very pleased for you that you turned out to have this cover. It will be interesting to know what the problem turns out to be.
Turns out it the servomotor on one wheel had failed (which I think may just be modern electrical equivalent of a brake cable, and which is now an expensive black box). Why it should fail when sat quietly in a garage I don’t know, but better that than driving downhill.
