Breakdown Cover For The Family Car
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If there is ever a time to be certain someone will come out to you, it is when the family is in the car. A vehicle stopped at the side of a busy dual carriageway is dangerous enough in daylight, and worse at night, without children being there too.
Buying breakdown cover so that the people in the car wait half an hour rather than several is a priority for a lot of parents — and family cover is as much about the passengers as the vehicle.
Standing At The Side Of A Road
What makes a family breakdown harder is the advice itself: get everyone out through the doors away from traffic, and stand well back, behind a barrier where there is one. That is unambiguously the right thing to do. It is also cold, wet and frightening with a toddler and a pushchair.
On a motorway with no hard shoulder — the all-lane-running stretches that remain after the smart motorway programme was cancelled — the advice differs. Reach an emergency area if you can. If you are stuck in a live lane and cannot get out safely, stay in the car with seatbelts on and hazards lit, and call 999. Getting children out into a live lane is more dangerous than staying put.
Is Roadside Assistance Enough?
Usually not, for a family. Roadside-only cover gets the car to a nearby garage, and everyone in it — but then you are standing in a car park in an unfamiliar town arranging your own way onward. On the way to a holiday, that is the whole holiday.
What a family policy wants is national recovery, which takes the car, you and the passengers to a destination you choose, and ideally onward travel, which covers a hire car or accommodation. It costs more. It is the difference between a bad afternoon and a ruined week.
And check the passenger limit. Most policies cover the driver plus a stated number of passengers — the AA quotes up to seven on recovery — but a full car of adults and children plus a dog is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Cover The Car Or The Person?
This trips families up more than anything else. If you buy personal cover and another member of the family borrows your car and breaks down, the provider is under no obligation to attend. If several people drive the same car, cover the vehicle. If you also drive a second family car, look at a joint or family policy rather than assuming one covers everything.
At Home Cover Earns Its Money Here
Roadside cover generally excludes a breakdown at home or within a quarter of a mile of it. For a family that is precisely where it matters — the car that will not start on the school run morning is on the drive, not on a dual carriageway. At home cover is an add-on with almost every provider and is worth having.
Child Seats: The Current Rules
Worth a check while you are thinking about the family car:
- Children must use a child car seat until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall, whichever comes first.
- Seats approved to the newer i-Size (R129) standard and older R44/04 seats are both still legal to use, though R44 seats are no longer sold new.
- i-Size seats must be rear-facing until at least 15 months.
- A rear-facing seat must never go in a front seat with an active passenger airbag.
- Using an unsuitable or incorrectly fitted seat carries a fine of up to £500.
More on driving with children.
Family cars run from hatchbacks to MPVs to small vans, and the age of the vehicle affects the premium — some providers cap cover at 16 years old. But making sure the car is fit for the journey before you set off remains the cheapest breakdown cover there is.