With more than thirty million vehicles on the road in the UK these days, car and Motorbike breakdown cover is a huge industry and arguably, having adequate cover is more important now than it has ever been.
As there are such as a high number of vehicles on the road, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to carry out a vehicle repair at the roadside, making a valid breakdown policy worth its weight in gold if you suffer a fault on a busy motorway or you lack the skills required to locate and fix the problem yourself.
As there are so many vehicles around, it makes sense that there is a large number of different policies available on the market.
It is easy to assume that all breakdown cover is the same but this is not the case.
The cover available ranges from the most basic, which only entitles you to roadside assistance, to the most comprehensive, which will cover you in Europe as well as the UK and pay for overnight accommodation and repatriation of your vehicle if it breaks down when you are abroad.
With breakdown insurance, like many other things in life, you get what you pay for.
The higher the premium you agree to pay, the more comprehensive the cover you receive will be.
If you are on a very tight budget, it may be best to stick to a basic roadside assistance package.
This level of cover entitles you to assistance getting your car started following a breakdown or if it is not fixable at the roadside, it also covers recovery of the vehicle to a local garage, usually within ten miles of the site of the breakdown.
The next level up is relay or recovery.
This entitles you to have your car repaired at the roadside or if it cannot be fixed, you can be transported to any address in the UK, whether it is your home or the address you were travelling to.
If you fall ill and nobody else in the vehicle can drive it, you are also entitled on policies of this nature to have you, your vehicle and your passengers recovered to an address of your choice.
If you get onward travel or relay plus cover, in the event of a fault that cannot be fixed at the roadside, you will be entitled to use of a hire car for a set number of days or reimbursed for the cost of having to use public transport to complete your journey.
If you are away from home, this level of cover will often cover you to stay in a hotel for a night while your vehicle is fixed.
At the top end of the market is European cover.
This entitles you to breakdown assistance if you are completing a long haul journey through a European country and accommodation and repatriation of the vehicle if it cannot be fixed in timely fashion.
Once you know what level of cover you can afford, it should be easier to work out which level of cover is appropriate for you.
Visit a price comparison site to see what is available within your budget.