Does Your Insurance Cover Breakdown Recovery?

Motor insurance in the UK exists because the law requires you to be insured against the harm you might cause other people. Third party is the legal minimum. Third party, fire and theft adds two named risks to your own vehicle. Comprehensive adds damage to your own car, including in an accident you caused. Every one of those levels is about damage and liability. None is about a vehicle that has stopped through mechanical failure.

This is why the general position is that breakdown recovery is not included as standard. It is a distinct product, sold as an annual membership by motoring organisations, bundled into some packaged bank accounts, and sold by insurers as an optional extra on the same policy document. Because it is so often sold alongside the insurance, it is easy to assume it is part of it.

Cover genuinely does vary, and some policies do include a level of roadside assistance. Nothing here can tell you what your particular policy says, and this page is general information rather than advice on your own contract. The reliable answer sits in your policy schedule, which is why the next section is about finding it.

Mechanical breakdown with no breakdown cover. You pay. No insurer is in the picture, because nothing has been damaged by anyone: the car has simply failed. This is where a per use recovery service fits. Our published prices start at £100 for a battery jump start, £95 plus the cost of the fuel for a fuel delivery, £150 for vehicle towing and £190 for a mobile tyre change.

Mechanical breakdown with breakdown cover in place. Your policy or membership pays, within the limits of the tier you bought. Call the number on your breakdown documents rather than your insurance certificate, and be ready for the tier to shape the outcome: a roadside only level may fix you at the scene but leave you to arrange a longer tow yourself.

Non-fault accident. The at-fault driver's insurer is responsible for the losses their driver caused, and recovery from the scene is one of them, along with storage and a replacement vehicle while yours is off the road. This is the one scenario where the cost can genuinely fall to somebody else, and it depends on liability being clear rather than disputed.

Accident where you were at fault, or a single vehicle accident. This sits with your own comprehensive policy, subject to your excess and to whatever recovery arrangements it includes, and claiming will usually affect your no claims discount. Whether recovery from the scene is part of that is set out in your own documents rather than anywhere on this page, so read them rather than assume. For a low value incident, paying for independent recovery directly is a legitimate alternative.

Five minutes at the kitchen table is worth far more than finding out on a hard shoulder. Start with the policy schedule, the document listing what you actually bought rather than the marketing page you saw at renewal. Look under optional extras, additional cover or benefits included for the words breakdown, roadside assistance or motor rescue.

If you find it, read the level. Worth knowing: whether you are covered at home as well as at the roadside, whether national recovery is included or only a tow to the nearest garage, whether the cover follows you or the vehicle, and whether call-outs are capped each year. Weight, length, vehicle age and a fault you have already reported are all common exclusions.

Then check the places breakdown cover hides. Packaged bank accounts, some credit cards, new car warranties and some employer schemes all include it, and drivers routinely pay twice without realising. If you cannot find a clear answer, ring your insurer and ask directly: if my car breaks down tomorrow and is not driveable, does this policy pay to recover it, and to where?

First, safety. On a motorway, pull as far to the left as you can, use the hard shoulder or an emergency area, put the hazard lights on and leave through the nearside doors. Get everyone behind the barrier, up the embankment if there is one, and leave pets in the car. If anyone is hurt, or the vehicle is in a live lane, call 999 before anything else.

Second, make the calls in the right order. Check your breakdown documents first, because using cover you already hold is cheaper than not using it. If there is none, or the wait quoted is unworkable, call us on 07960 200 253. The controller confirms your location, what has happened and the price before a truck is dispatched.

Third, if this was a collision rather than a mechanical fault, say so on the phone. The cost route is completely different, and a clear non-fault claim can mean recovery, storage and a replacement vehicle at no cost to you, claimed from the insurer of the driver who caused it. Typical response across our network is 30 to 60 minutes.