Top breakdown cover compared

About Top breakdown cover compared

Breakdown cover is a small yearly cost bought for the worst hour of someone's year, and this ranking covers 46 brands that sell it, from a comparison site placing other underwriters' policies to insurers that sign the contract themselves. The first trade-off is the entry price against who ends up handling the claim. A shop can widen the market and cut the starting premium, while a direct insurer can keep the policy and the rescue team in the same building. Prices here run from €0.05 to €335.87, with the median at €23.33, and they are quoted in sterling, euros, zloty and rand, so the lowest headline figure does not always mean the lowest total cost. Terms are overwhelmingly monthly: 100% list a monthly model and 94.3% allow monthly payments. The figure that quietly decides a claim is the excess, and across these members it swings from £0 to £1,000 to ZAR 5,000.

How we picked

Every brand here was scored on three things with the weights set in advance. Trust carries the most at 40%, cost carries 35% and offer carries 25%. Trust looks at the legal entity behind the policy, how long it has traded, how wide the book is and how many ways you can reach it. Cost weighs the entry price against the spread of prices across this ranking. Offer weighs the terms attached to the policy, the payment model and what sits on top of a basic rescue. Figures come from each brand's own published pages, so nothing here is estimated on a brand's behalf, and licence details are held for 38 of the 46 brands listed. Partners that serve your country are listed first in this ranking, then the rest by score. Where a detail is thin, the brand is judged on what it does publish.

Our top picks

1. BA6. Breakdown Assist: best for Breakdown Assist

   Breakdown Assist offers UK vehicle breakdown cover and roadside assistance for up to four people or vehicles in one household policy.

   • Insurance types: Breakdown

2. ND7. Nova Direct: best for Nova Direct

   Nova Direct offers insurance products including breakdown cover, bicycle cover, gadget cover, home emergency cover and home appliance cover.

   • Insurance types: Breakdown, Home-emergency, Bicycle, and 1 more

3. 8. AA Breakdown

   AA Breakdown sits third in this ranking as an insurer rather than a shop, run by Automobile Association Insurance Services Limited and trading since 1905. Entry cover is £5.49 with an excess of £0, support on phone, chat and email, and claims that can start by phone, app or online. The gap to know about is the cap on parts and garage work, which is set per claim rather than left open. Against Autohome next in this ranking, AA carries the wider book, adding auto, home, travel, van and motorcycle, alongside a larger support menu.

   • Premium from: £5.49
   • Insurance types: Breakdown, Auto, Home, and 3 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • The excess starts at £0, so a covered claim does not open with a charge to meet.
   • Cover is written by an insurer, insurer, with the Financial Conduct Authority named as the regulator in Great Britain.
   • Monthly payments are available, so the cost can be spread rather than paid as a single sum.
   • The same firm sells breakdown, auto and home, so breakdown can sit beside car, home, travel, van and motorcycle cover.
   • Claims run on phone, app and online, giving a stranded driver more than a single route to help.

   Cons

   • For Parts and Garage Cover the limit stops at GBP 535 per claim for Parts and Garage Cover, so a large repair can exceed what the policy pays.
   • Personal cover starts at £5.49, and that figure is an entry point rather than a quote, so the premium a particular driver pays can sit above it.
   • breakdown, auto and home does not reach life, health or pet lines, so anyone wanting those alongside the car needs a second provider; Good Sam Insurance Agency covers them through auto, home and renters.
   • The firm is based in GB, so the wording and the price are set for that market alone.

4. 10. Aviva

   Aviva, trading as Aviva plc, carries a broader book than most in this ranking: breakdown sits alongside auto, home, renters, landlord, life, health, pet, van, travel and income protection. Entry cover is £5 on monthly payments, support runs on phone, chat and help centre, and claims can be started online, in the app or by phone. Cover is written for adults, and seniors make up a core part of the audience. Compared with Credit Agricole Polska next in this ranking, Aviva is the underwriter with digital and phone support, while that broker takes claims by phone alone and carries an excess starting at PLN 300.

   • Premium from: £5
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Renters, and 9 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • One insurer covers auto, home and renters
   • Life premiums start at £5, under the site median of €8.37
   • Aviva is an insurer, so it carries the risk itself
   • Claims run through online, app and phone
   • Life cover opens at 18-77 and targets seniors

   Cons

   • £5 is an entry figure on life cover
   • monthly lists monthly as the only model
   • Support runs on phone, chat and help centre only
   • Business cover is limited to employers liability, professional indemnity and public liability

What to look for

The entry price sets the tone

Across this ranking the median starting price is €23.33, the lower quartile is €5.81 and the upper quartile is €115.72, with the full spread running from €0.05 to €335.87. Prices sit in several currencies, so compare like with like.

Know who signs the policy

Insurers are the largest group in this ranking at 52.2%, with brokers at 23.9% and comparison sites at 21.7%. An insurer underwrites the risk and handles the claim in house, while a broker or comparison site picks the underwriter for you.

Monthly terms and commitment

Terms in this ranking are overwhelmingly monthly: 100% list a monthly model and 94.3% allow monthly payments. Spreading the cost helps cash flow, but a monthly price is still a yearly cost once the payments are added up.

How you reach a human when the car stops

Phone is the most common support channel here at 84.4%, with a help centre at 80%, chat at 51.1% and email at 66.7%. What matters is which channel is still open at the time the car stops.

What sits alongside breakdown

Breakdown is the shared line, but the rest of the book varies: 91.3% also sell car cover, 87% sell home cover and 69.6% sell travel cover. A single provider for the lot is simpler to manage, and a specialist is often sharper on the one cover you actually need.

The excess is the bill on a claim

The excess decides what a call-out costs you. It runs £0 to £1,000 at uSwitch, £0 at AA Breakdown, £40 at AXA Breakdown and ZAR 5,000 at King Price, so a low entry price and a low excess are two separate hunts.

Frequently asked questions

Top breakdown cover compared by country

• Australia
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• South Africa
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV