chris Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 As we have just purchased our new van in June, the insurance is due next month. Do I need to take out breakdown cover for it? I believe new fiats are covered for 3 years but will that be sufficient if we had an accident rather than breakdown abroad? Thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Fiat Camping Car Care normally covers you for 2 years don't know if it's extended to 3 on UK sourced vehicles. No it won't cover you for an accident but I hope you are insured as your insurance should cover after all that's what it's for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I for one have both the Fiat breakdown cover and Britannia Rescue. My reasoning being that Britannia will take us back to our home address if the Fiat platform has a problem and is not repairable immediately whereas Fiat do not. There is a letter in the autumn edition of the AutoTrail Owners Club magazine (see on-line) where a couple broke down some 200 miles away from their home in their new (2013) AT and were taken to a Fiat garage near to where they had broken down but Fiat (RAC) would not repatriate them nearer to home. The problem was terminal and although a hire car was provided they had to empty their motorhome out including the fridge / freezer contents and make their own way home - it seemed quite a saga even having to go back to eventually pick up their repaired motorhome. In the end you pay your money and take your choice. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Yes, you need breakdown cover. Unless your Fiat cover will include bringing your MH back to UK after an accident, which is unlikely, you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 AlanS - 2014-10-21 5:47 PM I for one have both the Fiat breakdown cover and Britannia Rescue. My reasoning being that Britannia will take us back to our home address if the Fiat platform has a problem and is not repairable immediately whereas Fiat do not. There is a letter in the autumn edition of the AutoTrail Owners Club magazine (see on-line) where a couple broke down some 200 miles away from their home in their new (2013) AT and were taken to a Fiat garage near to where they had broken down but Fiat (RAC) would not repatriate them nearer to home. The problem was terminal and although a hire car was provided they had to empty their motorhome out including the fridge / freezer contents and make their own way home - it seemed quite a saga even having to go back to eventually pick up their repaired motorhome. In the end you pay your money and take your choice. Alan I will have to read my Fiat book may be worth stumping up the 50 odd quid for annual breakdown cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Have a look at the letter in the ATOC Newsletter as http://www.atocuk.com/document-downloads/ Look for PDF file of Autumn 2014 Magazine Page 42 " An extended tale of woe.." This happened in the UK and not abroad. In Europe we always have CC Red Pennant yearly cover as well. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 chris - 2014-10-21 5:09 PM As we have just purchased our new van in June, the insurance is due next month. Do I need to take out breakdown cover for it? I believe new fiats are covered for 3 years but will that be sufficient if we had an accident rather than breakdown abroad? Thanks Chris Lot's of insurers include breakdown cover.as standard. We have always had it , even from new. IMO new vans are just as likely to break dow, as they are "untried". What about a puncture? Is that covered by the Fiat cover? PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Quote from Fiat Camping Car Roadside Assistance:- Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle ??Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle * In the event of vehicle standstill abroad for more than 5 days, transport from the authorised service centre to the customer's place of residence (or to the service centre if it is in the same town as the customer's place of residence). Looks like you are all worrying about nothing. As for the AT letter, they obviously didn't know what they were covered for and didn't query it. They spent most of the letter moaning about having to make a 200 mile trip back to the van to pick up clothes they left in the wardrobe & food in the fridge, some peoples priorities are strange. In the light of the van needing a new engine, it's strange to worry about a few quids worth of food in the fridge & surely they had some clothes at home, hardly any clothes in our van are ones we use at home. Yes Pauline they do cover punctures, my mate had one in Belgium and they came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 That is interesting Lenny. I have always had breakdown cover with my insurance but one company asked would I need breakdown cover as I had a new Fiat that included breakdown? I for one would prefer to have breakdown cover via insurance for abroad as a back up anyway. It's always a bit of a minefield these policies and yes, a new van does breakdown as ours did 10 minutes after leaving the dealer with a faulty turbo valve so it can happen. Breakdown is one thing covered but if in the South of Spain and van was in an accident etc what would fiat do then? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 lennyhb - 2014-10-22 9:54 AM Quote from Fiat Camping Car Roadside Assistance:- Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle ??Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle * In the event of vehicle standstill abroad for more than 5 days, transport from the authorised service centre to the customer's place of residence (or to the service centre if it is in the same town as the customer's place of residence). Looks like you are all worrying about nothing. As for the AT letter, they obviously didn't know what they were covered for and didn't query it. They spent most of the letter moaning about having to make a 200 mile trip back to the van to pick up clothes they left in the wardrobe & food in the fridge, some peoples priorities are strange. In the light of the van needing a new engine, it's strange to worry about a few quids worth of food in the fridge & surely they had some clothes at home, hardly any clothes in our van are ones we use at home. Yes Pauline they do cover punctures, my mate had one in Belgium and they came out. The repatriation of a vehicle to a service centre near to your home only applies when abroad. What I was pointing out was that in the event of a breakdown within your home country different rules seem to apply. When and if you break down with a motorhome it is a time of worry and each person handles it differently. If you were 200 miles away from home with a fully loaded motorhome on your holiday and had a breakdown terminal or otherwise you are sure to be concerned. I am so pleased you have and show concern for others. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry1956 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I think you need to read your breakdown cover in detail.things to look out for are the following.how long will the breakdown company cover you for in case of a breakdown.many companies just cover the car, van whatever to be towed to the nearest dealer for repair.however the companies support for you may only be for two or three days and with a limit of so much per day. A few years back our new mercedes based camper brokedown big time in Switzerland. I rang mercedes who arrange for it to be picked up and dropped off at their nearest dealership.we then got taken to a dump of an hotel.the following day I had to rang MB to find out what was going on.the upshot was that the a new engine was needed.it would take a week.MB breakdown cover for us was only for 3 days, no returns to the UK.anyone who as been to switzerland will know they dont like bank cards, so with little real cash money our time there was a real nightmare. That MB was returned to the dealers as unfit for purpose on our return. We alway have full RAC cover these days withreturn to UK Iincluded.michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 AlanS - 2014-10-22 11:56 AM lennyhb - 2014-10-22 9:54 AM Quote from Fiat Camping Car Roadside Assistance:- Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle ??Repatriation of the unrepaired vehicle * In the event of vehicle standstill abroad for more than 5 days, transport from the authorised service centre to the customer's place of residence (or to the service centre if it is in the same town as the customer's place of residence). Looks like you are all worrying about nothing. As for the AT letter, they obviously didn't know what they were covered for and didn't query it. They spent most of the letter moaning about having to make a 200 mile trip back to the van to pick up clothes they left in the wardrobe & food in the fridge, some peoples priorities are strange. In the light of the van needing a new engine, it's strange to worry about a few quids worth of food in the fridge & surely they had some clothes at home, hardly any clothes in our van are ones we use at home. Yes Pauline they do cover punctures, my mate had one in Belgium and they came out. The repatriation of a vehicle to a service centre near to your home only applies when abroad. What I was pointing out was that in the event of a breakdown within your home country different rules seem to apply. When and if you break down with a motorhome it is a time of worry and each person handles it differently. If you were 200 miles away from home with a fully loaded motorhome on your holiday and had a breakdown terminal or otherwise you are sure to be concerned. I am so pleased you have and show concern for others. Alan Just had another look, yes it does only cover you for repatriation from abroad, in the UK it will cover 5 days in a 4 star hotel and will pay travel costs to pick the vehicle up, may not OK for everyone but will suffice for most. We did breakdown in France with a car & caravan some years ago and they could take car & van back for a couple of weeks as it was in the middle of August. Try getting this lot in a C3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianBW Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 2 years ago we had blown a head gasket near Abbeville France. We were with SAGA breakdown. We had TWO options. 1. The 'Pick up' garage would repair. 2. They would get the van back to my home location and give us a hire car to travel back home. I decided on the local repair. Saga got a taxi from Abbeville to Calais ferry terminal, passenger crossing, and at dover a hire car to get us back to Swansea. When a week later the repair had been confirmed by SAGA in France. We were given a hire car to Dover, passenger crossing on the ferry, and a taxi back to Abbeville where our van was waitng repaired. Pity, this year we have had to look for another breakdown service as Saga don't do vans over 17years old for continental cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 Wow Brian they excelled there. Our insurance is due next month so taking all this information in. I only use 3 companies at the moment and tend to rotate annually when renewal is due to get the best offer. A good company to me is one that comes up trumps when you really need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter21 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 chris - 2014-10-21 5:09 PM As we have just purchased our new van in June, the insurance is due next month. Do I need to take out breakdown cover for it? I believe new fiats are covered for 3 years but will that be sufficient if we had an accident rather than breakdown abroad? Thanks Chris We have a new motorhome on a Fiat Chassis and were told that the Fiat cover was for 2 years on vehicles bought in the UK but that they cover all vehicles that are sold on the continent for three years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 thanks Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 peter21 - 2014-10-23 8:34 PM chris - 2014-10-21 5:09 PM As we have just purchased our new van in June, the insurance is due next month. Do I need to take out breakdown cover for it? I believe new fiats are covered for 3 years but will that be sufficient if we had an accident rather than breakdown abroad? Thanks Chris We have a new motorhome on a Fiat Chassis and were told that the Fiat cover was for 2 years on vehicles bought in the UK but that they cover all vehicles that are sold on the continent for three years. All European Fiats only have a 24 month warranty, yes even in Italy. With motorhomes though some manufacturers such as AutoTrail give a 24 month Fiat warranty with a further 12 month insurance backed warranty making 3 years in total on the base unit, i.e. Fiat base unit cab and chassis. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadows Engine Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Re Fiat Camping Car Care I believe it depends upon who built your Fiat camper van, not all Fiat Motorhomes/camper vans are included. I was very surprised to find when I bought a new Murvi Morello that it wasn't included in their Fiat Camping Car Care Fiat have to have an arrangement/understanding with the builder of your van for it to be included, so its worth checking first. I had to take out separate cover, Fiat just didn't want to know despite the fact that the Murvi is a top conversion. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamw Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Recently picked up a leaflet at the NEC regarding the "Maximum Care Camper" scheme that Fiat are in the process of introducing. For a fee Fiat will provide mechanical coverage all over Europe for up to five years or 60,000 miles. The scheme coincides with the introduction of the X290. It appears they are still finalising the details of the scheme so don't know costs or which "campers" will qualify. It appears you can extend coverage beyond factory warranty to 3, 4 or 5 years for various fees. Apparently the cover can be transferred to any subsequent owner and gives full roadside assistance all over Europe. Noting the comment made earlier regarding Murvi one wonders whether this scheme will also discriminate between motorhomes that have full type approval and those that simply have IVA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 I have never had any Breakdown cover because I can afford the cost of a breakdown and statistically I believe its worth taking the risk of it happening to save the cost of the premium - it must be because insurance companies make a profit out of it, and after paying taxes, administration, inflated claims, etc, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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