Red Pennant – Not as comprehensive as I Imagined

We have been going to Europe with our caravan for about 20 years out of the last 25 years. On every occasion I have taken out Red Pennant Breakdown and Personal Cover, sometimes as single trip and others as multi trip. Until this year I had made one claim for the labour costs for a small repair on my car. That claim was settled quickly and without question and further encouraged me to think that I had done the right thing in taking out Red Pennant.

Some of you know that I had my wallet stolen on our recent trip to Rome so when I got back I submitted a claim. The Red Pennant office had kindly arranged for a claim form to be waiting for me when I got home. Duly filled out and submitted 6 days after we got home. After two weeks I had a letter from the assessors asking questions which I thought I had perfectly adequately answered on the original form!

I have today received a letter telling me that they have accepted my claim for the cash I lost, less £40 excess. However they have rejected my claim for a new wallet because I could not confirm when I received it as a present. This was despite me submitting the receipt for the replacement I purchased, £18.75, which was nowhere near the quality of the original! They have also rejected the replacement cost of my new driving license and of course they would not entertain the cost of numerous phone calls I had to make in order to stop cards and get a new driving license.

OK I accept that all this is likely to be in the small print but I made the mistake of thinking that Red Pennant was more comprehensive than it actually is, as I am sure many other members do. I have not checked but it’s likely that some, if not all, of these things would have been covered by my household insurance but having paid so much for Red Pennant it seemed to be the natural place to make a claim. As it stands I am still out of pocket to the tune of over £100. This on top of the estimated £3000/4000 I have spent on Red Pennant over the years.  

David