‘Breakdown cover’ is a popular topic on the internet with plenty of websites offering a ‘comparison’ service. And while most of them a quite good, I think it’s fair to say that many can be very confusing.
These sites will, of course, list the majority of well known breakdown service providers, and will also provide you with the different levels of cover and cost for the type of car breakdown cover you’re looking for.
And as you might expect, the company and type of cover you choose will ultimately determine the quality of breakdown service you receive.
However, let’s consider the following:
Some of the sites provide customer testimonials for each company, and while they are probably genuine testimonials, do they give you any real idea as to which company provides the best service or does it just confuse matters?
Also, you’ll find some comparison sites operate on ‘star rating’ system for the different companies, but have you asked yourself this: how do they judge these star ratings?
Are they considered experts in the car breakdown cover field? Bear in mind that some comparison sites also cover things like broadband, loans, mortgages, etc. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll be experts in one particular field.
Did they conduct a customer survey? The reality is that a particular product or company could be ‘flavour of the month’ – maybe there’s more commission involved?
Here’s another point to consider; many comparison sites fail to give a clear indication as to which product or company they believe gives the ‘best’ service. Why not?
The answer is: they don’t need to! If they’re getting paid anyway, it really doesn’t matter to them which company you choose!
That begs the question, ‘do the owners of these sites have your best interests at heart?’ Are they helpful in finding you the ‘best possible service’ or are they helping you find the most profitable service for them? In my opinion, they do a good job at making you believe that they are helping you!
So, when you need to book ‘breakdown cover’, don’t assume that you’ll get the ‘best’ deal from comparison sites; they don’t really have your best interests at heart.
You would be better off talking to someone direct – an expert in the industry (regulated by the Financial Services Authority) who will ask you the right questions in order that you find the most appropriate breakdown cover… for you!
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