Nationwide flex plus breakdown cover

[Mobilvetta]

I currently rely on my Nationwide flex plus account to provide vehicle breakdown insurance when traveling Europe in the motorhome.

I was reading the small print and in some instances it says maximum claim value is £1500. I'm now concerned about this because if the vehicle had to be repatriated back to the UK, then this wouldn't cover the costs. I've looked on the Nationwide website to see if there is an email address to query this, but don't seem to be able to find one. As anyone got first hand knowledge of this or had it confirmed from Nationwide what the upper limit is please.

My insurance on the motorhome is coming up for renewal soon with Comfort and I know as an extra I can take breakdown insurance with them, but I don't want to pay for something if I already have adequate cover in place. Thanks.

 

[gasgas]

I don't know about European repatriation with Nationwide but I can vouch for the UK breakdown cover. For the first time in my driving career (since 1966) I had a breakdown and had to call the Nationwide service. The car had progressively coughed and spluttered for about a mile, gradually going slower and slower. The AA duly arrived about an hour later, and of course the engine started and ran perfectly. I was about 10 miles from home and the AA man insisted that he followed me to make sure I got home OK. This he did, and to make sure the fault wasn't fuel starvation from a faulty fuel gauge (the car is 42 years old) we called in at a petrol station and filled up. Mr AA man came home with me and we puzzled over the problem and decided it might be the ignition coil so we agreed that I would change it. I changed it and then a week later it spluttered to a halt again. The fault turned out to be a crushed plastic fuel pipe hidden inside a rubber pipe with a jubilee clip around it. The clip had been done up so tight it had crushed the plastic pipe.
I will be relying on the Nationwide European cover for my motorhome, so I'm interested in anyone's responses. Although one has to agree that even £1500 would cover quite a few repairs in Europe so a repatriation would be pretty dramatic.

 

[Mobilvetta]

I don't know about European repatriation with Nationwide but I can vouch for the UK breakdown cover. For the first time in my driving career (since 1966) I had a breakdown and had to call the Nationwide service. The car had progressively coughed and spluttered for about a mile, gradually going slower and slower. The AA duly arrived about an hour later, and of course the engine started and ran perfectly. I was about 10 miles from home and the AA man insisted that he followed me to make sure I got home OK. This he did, and to make sure the fault wasn't fuel starvation from a faulty fuel gauge (the car is 42 years old) we called in at a petrol station and filled up. Mr AA man came home with me and we puzzled over the problem and decided it might be the ignition coil so we agreed that I would change it. I changed it and then a week later it spluttered to a halt again. The fault turned out to be a crushed plastic fuel pipe hidden inside a rubber pipe with a jubilee clip around it. The clip had been done up so tight it had crushed the plastic pipe.
I will be relying on the Nationwide European cover for my motorhome, so I'm interested in anyone's responses. Although one has to agree that even £1500 would cover quite a few repairs in Europe so a repatriation would be pretty dramatic.

The £1500 limit is not for the repair costs of the vehicle, it's for car hire, accommodation costs and other extras, but I'm wondering if recovery is also part of this maximum claim limit too.

 

[Kim n Wayne]

We have flex plus
Just had a look it does say ‘recovery to UK’ 3rd from bottom.
Looks like the £1500 is for ‘alternative travel’
Hope it helps

 

[gasgas]

This raises an interesting point and that is ordinary annual insurance. You may have noticed that if there is only one driver, the premium is higher than if there are two drivers on the policy, eg husband and wife. The logic is that if while you are abroad, husband breaks his leg and cannot drive, if you have main driver plus additional driver on the policy, wife will -that is to say WILL drive home. Whereas if the insurance is for only one driver and they break a leg then the insurance will cover the repatriation cost of the vehicle.

 

[wildebus]

This raises an interesting point and that is ordinary annual insurance. You may have noticed that if there is only one driver, the premium is higher than if there are two drivers on the policy, eg husband and wife. The logic is that if while you are abroad, husband breaks his leg and cannot drive, if you have main driver plus additional driver on the policy, wife will -that is to say WILL drive home. Whereas if the insurance is for only one driver and they break a leg then the insurance will cover the repatriation cost of the vehicle.

My policy cost didn't change when I removed a named driver so I was the only one insured.

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

My insurance agency SAID (so no record of this) that they wouldn't insist on my wife (other combinations are possible for other people) driving because they might well be traumatised and therefore mentally incapable of driving safely.

Gordon

 

[Tidewatcher]

As my wife is not keen on driving the van I always insure for myself only. One reason being the repatriation if for any reason I could not drive. OK if they say she may be traumatised if you could not drive due to an accident but if you just stepped off a kerb and snapped an Achilles tendon then I reckon they would insist on her driving.

 

[MadRssss]

We broke down in France last year. The van had to be repatriated, after efforts to find someone to repair it. We called our FlexPlus breakdown people. They organised our hotel and flight home. The only problem they couldn’t get the van back for three months, because of the backlog. We complained about the time it took, they apologised and gave us some compensation. All in all they were very good and we continue to use them.