Luckily, purchasing breakdown insurance is a lot easier than buying car insurance for example. It really doesn’t matter what car you drive, how many miles a year you do, if you have sports wheels, your age and other considerations that would be associated with buying motorcar insurance. But there are still some considerations you should consider before buying.

Before we look at these though lets look at what Breakdown Insurance is. Breakdown Insurance policies cover you for if you breakdown in your car within an agreed area in your policy. They will send a motor mechanic, either from a local garage or an employed patrolman to get you back on the road, any time 24hrs a day.

Sometimes they will come out for events that are not related to breakdowns, for example locking your keys in the car. The main breakdown Insurance organisations in the UK are the AA, RAC and Green Flag. There are more, but these are the biggest

However policies can and do differ!

For example -

Some policies do not cover you if you breakdown at home. If you get up on a cold morning and your car does not start, you may not be covered.

Some policies only agree to get you going, or if they can’t do that safely, tow you and your car to the nearest garage.

Some polices cover you for the car you own so if you are driving your wife’s car and it breaks down, you may not be covered.

So there is a message here that says you must do at least some homework to ensure you get the right breakdown insurance for you.

Here are some considerations

Do you own one or more cars?

Some Policies cover whatever car you drive!! Do you live with a partner who also drives? Would you want them covered too?

Some policies cover the car for no matter who drives it!! Are you handy enough to get your car going if it does not start in the morning?

You could save money by not having home call outs! Do you travel a lot away from your home, or is your driving all local? Some polices guarantee to get you and your car home not matter where you are!

It is important that when you are looking for a policy you use these considerations to make sure you can get home the night you breakdown and of course it is not totally comprehensive.

The good news is that that extra few pounds to get the right policy is still considerably cheaper than getting you car home or repaired if you breakdown. In fact one call out charge on a UK motorway could cost you 3 times an annual breakdown subscription, depending on where and how you breakdown.

The other bit of good news is there are no limits to how many times you do breakdown and your insurance will not go up if you do have to make several calls this year.

There are policies that will reward you though, if you don’t make a call out by giving a no call out discount when you renew your policy, again another consideration when choosing your breakdown insurance.

Here is a final consideration!

Breakdown insurance is one of those purchases where you are not sure whether to buy or not until you breakdown. Then you just wished you had.