Start Rescue breakdown cover review

Startrescue.co.uk offers quality and affordable car breakdown cover in the UK. For ease of use they rank their products using a star system where by 1 star is the most basic breakdown cover, and 5 stars is the most comprehensive.

What each package providers, this is a guide only, please check their terms and conditions for full details.

1 Star Package: will provide you with roadside assistance and recovery for up to 10 miles. They will attend to you at the roadside and attempt to repair your vehicle, and if they are unable to repair it they will tow you up to a maximum of 10 miles to a garage where you can have your car repaired.

2 Star Package: will provide you with the same as you will get from the 1 star package, plus you will get the nationwide recovery option. This will allow your vehicle to be recovered along with up to 6 passengers. The vehicle will be taken to a garage for repair, your home, or your original destination, which ever is the nearest.

3 Star Package: will provide you with the same cover that you get from package 2 plus you will also get home recovery. If you car breaks down at or within 1 mile of your home then it will be covered by the policy.

4 Star Package: will provide you with the same level of cover as the 2 star package plus you will have the European option. This provides assistance while you are travelling in Europe – ensure you read the terms and conditions.

5 Star Package: will provide you with the same cover as the 4 star package but you will also get the home recovery and theft, vandalism, and illness cover. This is the most comprehensive breakdown cover deal that Start Rescue have on offer.

In addition to the above, all of the Start Rescue plans come with the following options: Accident Recovery, Alternative Transport, Overnight Accommodation, Key Assist, and Message Assist. Once more we suggest checking the T&C’s.

As standard StartRescue advertise that they don’t charge any policy extras such as expensive policy excesses, and they also provide a user friendly policy which is easy to understand.

Start Rescue are backed up by Call Assist Ltd, who have been providing breakdown services on behalf of many other UK companies for more than 12 years. The service is provided through the use of a network of over 1,100 approved recovery agents in the UK plus additional providers in over 45 countries. The startrescue.co.uk insurance policy is underwritten by Groupama Insurances. Both Groupama and Call Assist are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom.

Before making any car breakdown cover purchase we strongly advise that you conduct a car breakdown cover comparison search at one of the comparison websites such as WhyBreakdown.co.uk. See what deals are available and at what price before you make your purchase to ensure that you get the best deal. Often you can achieve a discount of over 40% by purchasing online.

Comparing car breakdown cover deals

If you’ve had car breakdown cover for more than 12 months, then you are probably paying more than you could be. Either by signing up for a new deal with the same provider (with the exactly the same level of cover), or by changing your plan or cover provider you can save a significant amount of money. The amount you can save is even more significant if you didn’t make your original purchase online as you can often achieve savings of over 40% when you make the same cover purchase online.

You could try comparing products yourself, by obtaining price and cover information direct from each provider. This is very time consuming and can easily take a full day to do by the time you look at all the available products, even if you are only considering a handful of breakdown cover providers.

If you visit a comparison website you can compare products in a matter of minutes, and with their unique filtering and sorting features you can easily narrow your product search down from the hundreds available, to a handful that fit your specific search criteria. Not only will this save you hours but it will make your search much easier and will ensure you get the best value deal for your needs.

Buying breakdown cover online is often a lot cheaper than buying either over the telephone or from a concession stall. You may be surprised that by making this purchase online you can save over 40%. This is a massive saving and if this wouldn’t be useful to you then your either stupid, or a banker. Often online comparison websites are able to access products which are unique to them and are not available directly from the product provider.

When you are searching for car breakdown cover there are a number of points that you should consider. Firstly you should consider how your cover will be used. If you have a car which multiple people drive you should consider taking out a policy for the car, then it doesn’t matter who is driving the car (as long as they are insured), in the event of a breakdown then cover is in place. If you drive multiple cars then you should consider taking cover for yourself so that if any of the cars you are driving breaks down, you are covered.

Next you should consider what type of journeys that you will be making. If you only make short journeys near to your home you may want to consider homestart as this will provide cover near to your home address. If you make a lot of long distance business journeys then you may want to consider adding either the “tow home” or “onward journey” options.

It is important to ensure that you have the right level of cover for your needs as the wrong level cover could leave you in a similar situation as no cover. For example if you breakdown on a long journey many miles from your home and your final destination and you only have basic roadside assistance, the provider will tow you to a local garage but you will still be stranded until the garage is able to make a repair to you car. Make sure you compare breakdown cover first.

Is car breakdown cover really necessary?

You wont be surprised if I say that breakdown cover is a necessity. If you’ve ever broken down you’ll understand this, and if you’ve never broken down then you will no doubt understand this at some point in the future. I for one am very grateful that I’ve always had breakdown cover which has mad a big difference to me each time that I have broken down. This can be of particular importance if you travel long distances, travel at night, or fall into the potentially vulnerable category of either female or family. Being stuck at the side of a road without breakdown cover, and wondering what to do next isn’t fun.

 

I myself have basic car breakdown cover with one of the major providers. The most important use of this recently was on a trip to theme park Alton Towers when 10 minutes into the journey we broke down. We called the breakdown company and they arrived within 10 minutes. The car could not be repaired at the roadside (it was a major engine failure which took a garage 1 week to repair). We were towed back home and used our second car to continue the journey. Without this cover our weekend trip would have been ruined, well worth the £40 I paid for this service.

 

As this is being written, you can pick up basic annual car breakdown cover from as little as £19 per year, surprised? Not a high price when you consider the piece of mind that it offers you, especially when you consider that it can cost at least £40 to fill up with fuel on the smallest of cars and upward of £100 for a years worth of road tax. Definitely value for money I hope you would agree, and even if you go for a more expensive breakdown cover plan it can still offer significant value for money.

 

It may be that £19 car breakdown cover may not be sufficient for your needs, and if this is the case there is a big selection of policies and providers to choose from. Before buying breakdown cover there is a lot to consider including who will be covered, how often the vehicle is used, and on what type of journeys. If you look at plans from different providers you are very likely to find breakdown cover that fits your requirements, and also sits within your price range.

 

We recommend that you compare breakdown cover plans before you purchase. Always buy your policy online as there are often significant savings to be achieved by doing so (often over 30%) compared with buying over the telephone or from a salesperson. Comparison website often provide unique comparison tools which allow you to enter your specific requirements which then removes products that do not meet your needs. You can then sort the remaining products to find the product that is best for you.

 

Now, can you really say that car breakdown cover is not necessary? I’m sure you’d agree that car breakdown cover is necessary and with the low starting price this should not be a deciding factor. Take a look at what’s on offer and see what meets your needs.