Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Traveling with European breakdown coverage

By Edward Fresco

Taking a trip abroad can be a lot of fun. Maybe you are a wine buff and you want to travel to France or Italy and see the vineyards of all of your favorite wines or maybe it is just business. In actuality, it doesn't really matter why you are going, but when you are traveling in your automobile on a journey like this, you are always at risk of the unexpected happing to your vehicle. If you don't already have it, you should consider European breakdown coverage.

If you have ever had the misfortune of breaking down abroad, you know how horrible of an experience it can be. Arranging to get your vehicle fixed and getting back home can add costs to your trip that you had never anticipated. Now you are stuck for thousands of dollars that you can never recover.

Breaking down on the road can lead to many problems. First of course, you have to get someone out to help you. Then you have to make arrangements to get your car fixed or find parts for it. If it is going to take a while, you may have to find a hotel or other accommodations. Worst case scenario, your car is going to take a while and you need to find a way to either get to your destination or back home. Does this sound like something you want to do on your own or would you rather to be able to accomplish all of this with one simple phone call? European breakdown coverage will allow you to do just that.

Regardless of your situation, there is a policy that will cover it. You can get coverage for a large group making one trip or a single individual. There are also policies for multiple trips that are planned over a course of the year or extended trips. Any scenario you can imagine can be covered.

Getting coverage is never a problem as there are many companies in business that specialize in European breakdown coverage. While you may have a lot to choose from, this all but guarantees you the ability to comparison shop and make sure you get the best deal for the desired coverage.

When looking over the plans, make sure you read the fine print to find any possible exemptions that the company will not cover. A lot of these plans look great on the front page, but a little investigation will prove that they may just be a little too good to be true. Make sure you actually talk to an agent describing specifically everything about your car and where you are going to make sure that the plan you want to purchase is what you are actually going to need.

As you are placing your phone calls, just tell them you are shopping around right now and try not to give out your information to them. Just keep it to fact finding and don't fall victim to their ploys to get you into their database. There is of course another reason that you don't want to give out your name to them if you can avoid it.

Now that you are ready to go, you just may be able to qualify for an online discount. Lots of companies will only charge you 60-70% of the rate if you pass by their agents and take care of the sign up yourself on the internet. That is a few more dollars to spend on your holiday and peace of mind added to it. Nothing like a win win situation! - 15275

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