Bitter bit.Holiday Insurance

[THE SHEPHERD]

How many times over the last 73 years have I told my children, friends etc. READ THE SMALL PRINT. Well the now I have been been caught out. Keeping it brief.50 day holiday motoring  cover with RED PENNANT. On day two an electrical fault resulting in the vehicle, Peugeot Boxer refusing to start at an isolated location in France, alarm warning lights stayed on, French caretakers not amused.40 min later off we go. Over the next four weeks. Fault intensifies. Advised it was probably the cat one fitted alarm which is not allowing the engine to recognise the key. Ok, Lady from Red pennant does her best. The main Peugeot dealers will not touch us. White van man turns up on campsite, dismantles facia behind steering wheel, cut this solder that, cant reassemble facia, plastic strap to hold in place. Two days later vehicle refuses to start, garage owner not pleased 30min or so off we go. Days later travel 60 miles to an alarm specialist found by red pennant expensive cat 1 alarm removed. Vehicle wont start, now he is not pleased, lots of arm waving, yes nearly an hour later off we go. We are now week 5 into our holiday, sleeping little not daring to stop any where for tea or views. Head for Carcassonne arrive at gate book in vehicle wont go in for 40 min.HAD ENOUGH.

As a thirty years soldier I lay plans to go home, this will require  a drive of approximately 600 miles allow for one stop for petrol, and using toll roads. We did stop and the service station was very nice about us lifting the bonnet putting out triangle and being on the pump for nearly an hour.

Made it to Calais extra to change ferry, ferry company about to pull us off at Dover as we were  the first vehicle at the head of the boat. LOL. Off the boat M25 closed, you have to laugh. Got home Peugeot main dealer diagnose problem wont touch it, sent to diesel specialist two days problem fixed. Bog standard solenoid fitted to diesel pump. Outlay, White van man 50Euros.Alarm specialist 80Euros.Peugot dealer UK £49.Diesel specialist £545.Ferry £25. Red Pennant pay out £111 as we had taken it upon ourselves to get the right treatment and by returning to the UK we had invalidated our insurance which still had 14 days to run for which there is no remittance. So Friends .READ THE SMALL PRINT. or just tell the insurance company you are stranded and over to them. Do not try to be helpful.

[Patricia]

Years ago had similar problem with breakdown, both AA and RAC. One of them wrote to us and said, "we would have helped you if you had not been so self sufficient"! We had broken down on a Saturday morning and they proposed to arrive to "help" us on Monday morning and we had an elderly mother and two children with us! Didn't take out breakdown assistance again for years.

[Ninian]

Hi, So much for RED PENNENT being the greatest thing since sliced bread for European Travel. I would suggest you give them a wide berth in future. Even with the small print they're not the one broken down in a foreign country. They really should have been more sympathetic.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Have never heard of red penent...and just as well! what a disgrace!

 

stick with the big boys who have a reputation for good service...

[THE SHEPHERD]

I don't think Insurance company's do sympathetic.

[Derek Uzzell]

JudgeMental - 2013-10-25 10:21 PM

 

Have never heard of red penent...and just as well! what a disgrace!

 

stick with the big boys who have a reputation for good service...

 

Red Pennant is the Caravan Club's overseas holiday insurance product.

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/7242586/red%20pennent%2016%20pager%20for%20web.pdf

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/insurance/overseas-holiday-insurance

 

Given the size of the Caravan Club, Red Pennant must be considered one of the 'big boys' and (based on feedback from CC members) it's reputation generally seems to be pretty good.

 

I strongly suspect that THE SHEPHERD would have been treated similarly by other insurers and that only the repair costs incurred while abroad would have been refunded.

[Mike88]

I had unbelievably excellent treatment from Brittania Rescue. I had grounded on a road in France which ripped off my towball electrics and caused my auto gearbox electrics to malfunction. They were prepared to pay for my accommodation but at the last minute a local mechanic was found who repaired the electrics. While all this was going on they kept me informed of the action they were taking all of which was complicated by the fact that it was along Bank holiday.

 

Red Pennant is incredibly expensive and you clearly don't get what you pay for. My insurance came as an integral part of my vehicle rescue package.

[THE SHEPHERD]

Cheers Mike

I will research them, as we intend to set off to Portugal in Jan. I'm not blaming Red Pennant as the small print gave them an out and they took it, my problem is me, I don't like being at the mercy of others when I think I can do some thing about it.

[ALAN G]

I'm insured with Carefree Camping and Caravanning Club Last year, in Spain, my Peugeot Boxer developed a similar fault.: The Key Code security system failed to clear on many occasions for about 5 minutes. Not a great problem as I could organise where I would be when it happened. Back in the UK my local garage couldn't fix the problem, neither could the Peugeot Main dealer (total waste of space) who said the fault could not be replicated. Certainly it wasn't happening when we got to France. Then it started failing again: 5 minutes, then 15, then 45 minutes. This time after a coffee stop in a lay-by.

Not daring to stop the engine, I phoned the Carefree Help Line and asked for the address of the nearest Peugeot garage. This was 15 miles away and we arrived at lunchtime but they had been informed we were coming and saw to us immediately the staff arrived, pushing the van into the workshop. No one spoke English and we speak very little Garage French, so we were very pleased with the translation capabilities of Carefree.

An estimate for the work required, 470 Euros, soon appeared. With a hookup for the night to keep the fridge cold we headed for a nearby hotel which the contact at Carefree had given us a budget for.

The work was completed by the following afternoon and our Carefree contact phoned us at intervals to tell us of progress.

Carefree paid for the hotel B & B but not our meal in the town that evening. I didn't expect them to pay for the work on the vehicle, which should have been rectified in the UK. for which I would have payed.

I was more than pleased to have a friendly soul on the phone who could organise the repair.

However, that is not the end of the saga. Exactly a year to the day, the solenoid that was fitted by the French garage, to the fuel pump, failed. Leaving us to once again phone Carefree.

We spent a rather anxious weekend, as the fault hadn't been diagnosed on the Friday, in a very pleasant hotel (paid for by Carefree), with many phone calls to tell us of progress. The replacement of the solenoid cost us 170 Euros.

 

 

[THE SHEPHERD]

Thanks Alan

It would seem that the solenoid is a common problem on the Boxer, there is a web site we found with many having the same problem. Peugeot both here and in France did not want to know. I intend to carry a spare when we go to Portugal in Jan. You never know. TS

[Brian Kirby]

THE SHEPHERD - 2013-11-01 11:11 AM

Cheers Mike

I will research them, as we intend to set off to Portugal in Jan. I'm not blaming Red Pennant as the small print gave them an out and they took it, my problem is me, I don't like being at the mercy of others when I think I can do some thing about it.

I think, I'm afraid, that you are right. I agree with Derek that you'd have been likely to get a similar response from any insurer.Problem is, you lost faith/confidence/patience, and intervened to make your own arrangements. At that point you would have breached any insurance terms, because you assumed responsibility for the decision making. You pay them for the insurance, they take the risk, on the terms they state. Besides, they didn't really wriggle out of their obligation relying on the small print, they seem to have paid out £111.They would argue that your solution to your problem was heedlessly uneconomical, that their's would have been more economical, and that their obligation to you was to fix the problem at reasonable cost, not at any cost, and certainly not to refund you whatever costs you incurred when you rejected their services and went DIY.I think under the circumstances, any insurer, however much premium you had paid, would have taken a similar line. The lesson, I think, is not just to read the insurance conditions but also, once a process has been started, not to intervene in their arrangements without first consulting them, and then to reason with them if still unhappy, rather than acting on impulse. Someone has to manage those claims costs, and he can't do that if you're doing the spending and not keeping him in the picture. That is why they booted out part of your claim. Had they taken a really hard nosed breach of contract line, they might have booted out the lot.