What Happens If You Don’t Have Breakdown Cover?

Add breakdown cover to your car insurance and you can rest assured that, if anything ever goes wrong on the road, help will be at hand as soon as possible.

But what happens if you don’t have breakdown cover? What do you do if you breakdown without any cover in place?

What To Do If You Breakdown

First of all, you need to make sure you’re in a safe place. If it’s possible to move your car, get it off the road, looking out for any soft or uneven verges. If it’s safe to leave your car, do so through the left-hand door. Then stand clear of the vehicle and any oncoming traffic – behind the barrier if there is one. If you’re travelling with any animals, leave them in the car.

If you’ve got a reflective high-vis jacket, wear it, and if you’ve got a warning triangle, and it’s safe to use it, put it at least 45 metres behind your vehicle. In any case, stand upstream of any oncoming traffic – particularly if it’s dark, so that any approaching cars will see you with their headlights.

If you breakdown on the motorway, you’ll have to try and get onto the hard shoulder, or to an emergency refuge area. You can also use the nearest emergency telephone to let the control centre know you’ve broken down. Read our full guide to what you should do if you breakdown on the motorway. We also have a guide to what you should do if you get a flat tyre.

The Highway Code outlines some clear guidelines for what you should do if you breakdown.

Who Should I Call If I Don’t Have Breakdown Cover?

Once you’ve ensured that you, your vehicle, and your passengers are as safe as possible, it’s time to call for help. There are many breakdown companies to choose from including the RAC, AA and Green Flag.

Some breakdown assistance providers allow you to request help online, or via apps.

Once you’ve called for help, the breakdown specialists will ask you lots of questions about your location, and the state of your car. They will then let you know how long you should expect to wait before help arrives. Ideally, a technician will be able to fix the issue with your car on the roadside. But if not, they will tow you to the nearest garage.

If you have breakdown cover, you just need to call whichever breakdown assistance firm your insurer users.

Is Breakdown Cover Worth it?

There are two major reasons why it’s better to have breakdown cover:

Breakdown specialists tend to prioritise their members. If you don’t have cover, or if you’re not a member of a breakdown assistance provider, then you will probably have to wait significantly longer for recovery.
Breakdown without cover, and you’ll have to pay for a callout fee, along with any repair, maintenance, and transport costs. But with breakdown cover, you’ll just pay a small extra fee on-top of your monthly premium payments. In the long-term, this can prove a lot more cost-effective.

If you don’t currently have cover, consider how much time, effort, and money you could save by adding cover to your policy today when you buy your car insurance.

Also think about how much peace of mind breakdown cover can bring. Think about how you’ll wish you’d taken out cover if you ever find yourself broken down on the side of the road, miles away from anywhere, having to wait hours for recovery.

Can I Get Instant Breakdown Cover If I’m Currently Broken Down?

Some breakdown providers will allow you to arrange for emergency cover. But note that usually you cannot do this online. Most breakdown providers will only let you do this over the phone. Plus, this emergency cover won’t come cheap. As well as paying for the cover, you will have to pay for a call-out fee, along with the costs of any repairs that might be necessary.

Finally, some breakdown providers may charge you even more if your car won’t start at home, and you try getting emergency cover from there. In this case, it might be best to arrange to have your car repaired before looking for cover separately.

Overall, it’s more affordable, and more convenient, to ensure you have breakdown cover in advance. It’s the sort of thing you should get “just in case”, and not the sort of service you should only ever consider when you need it.

Learn more about the benefits of breakdown cover.

At Go Girl, we’ve teamed up with the RAC so you can get good breakdown cover as an added extra to your existing car insurance policy.

Get in touch to get a quote in a matter of minutes for adding breakdown cover to your car insurance.