- Repair on the roadside if you’re over ¾ mile from home.
- Transport to the nearest garage if your vehicle can’t be repaired within 30 minutes.
- Transport home (within 20 miles of breakdown) for you and your passengers if recovery to the nearest garage isn’t possible.
- Recovery of any trailer or caravan attached to your vehicle.
- Misfuelling payment of up to £250 to drain the incorrect fuel and replace with up to 10 litres of the correct fuel.
- Recovery to your home or the nearest garage if you lose or break your keys, or lock them in the vehicle.
Breakdown insurance For Private Vehicles
Get a quoteWhat is Breakdown insurance?
We hope it’ll never happen to us, but mechanical and electrical breakdowns, and even flat tyres, are a daily occurrence on the country’s busy road network. By choosing Breakdown insurance, you can rest assured that there’ll be a trained recovery operator on their way to you to get you back on the road ASAP and, if they’re unable to fix your vehicle at the roadside, they’ll transport you home (within 20 miles) or to the nearest garage.
With several levels of cover to choose from, you can tailor your policy to suit your needs – maybe a basic get-you-home policy, nationwide assistance, a home-assist option or cover for trips to Europe.
Get a quoteWhat you need to know Breakdown & Recovery Cover for Private Vehicles
There are multiple Breakdown insurance options to choose from.
Find out more details here.
- Includes all Standard Recovery benefits, plus nationwide recovery; we also recover your vehicle if you become medically unfit to drive.
- Overnight accommodation or alternative travel, instead of recovery.
- Everything National Recovery covers plus help to repair your vehicle at home or within ¾ mile of your home.
- Roadside assistance extended within the UK and European Union.
- Payment of up to £150 towards recovery to a safe place after a breakdown on a motorway or major public road in France and some other European countries.
- Transport to the nearest garage if your vehicle can’t be repaired within 60 minutes
- Payment of up to £500 towards alternative transport and/or emergency. accommodation up to £1,000 per breakdown if your vehicle can’t be repaired the same day.
- Cover (including emergency accommodation, alternative transport, re-booking fees or repatriation of your vehicle) if there isn’t enough time to repair your vehicle before the end of your trip.
- Everything European cover provides plus, repair or recovery of your vehicle at, or within, a ¾ mile radius of your home.
Our policy doesn't cover:
- Breakdowns within 48 hours of the start of your policy.
- Breakdowns as a result of your failure to maintain the vehicle in a roadworthy condition.
- Untaxed and uninsured vehicles.
- Costs incurred more than 10 miles from the breakdown location if your car is immobilised by snow, mud, sand, water or flooding.
- Costs incurred for recoveries of more than 20 miles (Standard Recovery).
- Any faults or symptoms arising from faults that you have failed to repair following a call-out from our recovery operator within the last 28 days.
- Breakdowns occurring as a result of rallying, racing, any competitive events, hire and reward or off-road use (including green laning).
Other exclusions apply, see terms and conditions for full details.
Get a quoteSuitable For
- Private cars or motorcycles aged 15 years or less.
- Light commercial vehicles aged 10 years or less.
- The UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and certain European countries under European and European Plus cover.
Not Suitable For
- Minibuses, motorhomes, horseboxes or limousines.
- Any vehicle exceeding 3,500kg in gross weight.
- Any European trip taken in your vehicle of more than 90 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Breakdown insurance ensures that, if your vehicle breaks down, a trained professional will be sent out to get you back on the road or, if this is not possible, to transport you to your home (within 20 miles) or the nearest garage.
The thing about Breakdown Insurance is you'll hopefully never need to use it. But that doesn’t mean your premium goes to waste if you don’t. Breakdown Insurance gives you peace of mind that you won’t have to pay vast sums out of your pocket if you do break down.
Your normal car insurance will not cover you for breakdown recovery. It generally only covers costs and compensation for damage or injury caused by an accident. You need to add breakdown insurance to your policy to ensure your car will be repaired or recovered in the event of a breakdown.
Yes, our breakdown insurance does include replacement of punctured tyres, provided you are carrying your legally required spare.
Yes, breakdown insurance does pay for the roadside repair of your vehicle or for recovery to a garage, provided it is 20 miles or less from the scene of the breakdown. However, it does not cover repair and labour costs beyond 60 minutes at the scene of the breakdown or for any additional parts or materials used for the repair.
Roadside assistance is a basic form of breakdown insurance that sends someone out to the scene of the breakdown to try to repair your vehicle.
If you have breakdown insurance and you break down, you must report any claim to the claims administrator. To make a successful claim, you’ll need to provide your phone number, policy number and vehicle registration, and the precise location of your vehicle. They’ll then arrange for a roadside agent to attend the scene of your breakdown and attempt to repair your vehicle.
No, our policy does not cover you for breakdowns that occur as a result of your vehicle being involved in an accident.
Yes, you can transfer your policy to a new vehicle as long as that vehicle falls into the same age bracket as, or is younger than, your current vehicle. There is an administration fee of £9.99 for transfers.
Yes, if you lose, break or lock your keys in your vehicle, you are covered for a callout and mileage charges back to the recovery operator’s base or your home address.
Yes, if you put the wrong fuel in your car, we will pay up to £250 to drain incorrect fuel and replace it with the correct fuel.
If you take out National Plus cover, you also receive Home Assist, which ensures help is sent to your home or within ¾ of your home address. Lower levels of cover will only assist you if you break down more than ¾ of a mile from your home.
Other types of cover you might be interested in
GAP insurance For cars & light vans
If your car is written off as a result of incidents such as accident, fire, theft or flood, GAP insurance covers the difference between your motor insurer's total loss valuation of your vehicle and either the original invoice price of your vehicle, or the settlement figure of your finance agreement.
Read more about GAP insurance for cars & light vans
Scratch and Dent For Private Vehicles
Scratches and dents don’t just make your car look unloved. They can increase the risk of rust and reduce your vehicle’s resale value. With Scratch and Dent insurance, minor damage to your car’s bodywork can be repaired quickly and conveniently.
Read more about Scratch & Dent insurance for Private Vehicles
Tyre and Alloy For Private Vehicles
Tyre punctures and alloy wheel scratches can be expensive to repair, increase the risk of wheel damage and rust – and could even reduce the value of your car. Alloy Wheel insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing your car, truck, van or motorcycle’s alloys and tyres if they get accidentally damaged.
Read more about Tyre & Alloy Wheel cover for Private VehiclesOther types of Breakdown insurance
Breakdown insurance For Driving Instructors
There’s never a good time for your car to break down, but if your vehicle is key to your livelihood, there’s additional stress that comes with it. Breakdown Insurance for Driving Instructors will ensure that if you break down there’s a trained professional on hand to get you back on the road as quickly as possible.
Read more about Breakdown cover for Driving Instructors
Breakdown insurance For Taxi Drivers
There’s never a convenient time to break down, but if you use your vehicle for work, there’s additional pressure to make sure you’re back up and running as quickly as possible. Breakdown insurance for Taxi Drivers ensures that if you break down there’s a trained professional on hand to get you back on the road as quickly as possible.
Read more about Breakdown cover for Taxi Drivers