Red Pennant Recovery Experiences

Hi mapman.

I have always signed up for Red Pennant on my overseas caravan travels. I had cause to use them for the first time last year. I won't bore you with the details but unfortunately the service was woeful. I was quite shocked now bad it was.

If I needed my car repatriated I was advised that my car would take up to six weeks to be returned to me in Kent. And I was only twenty miles from the French ferry port. 

For this year I am signing up with the C&CC' s RAC Arrival Overseas Cover. Significantly cheaper, and the benefits look identical. 

I appreciate my experience could have been the exception rather than the rule. But it certainly was no where near the gold plated service I had expected.

Good luck with your travels.

Stato, you post has left me concerned and confused. We’re currently looking at three months touring in Europe. I searched for RAC Arrival in the C&C club, but there was no link. An RAC search picked up their service which is discountable for C&C members, which we are. But at a higher price for cover which didn’t include health, pets etc and a lot more than Red Pennant charges, and the RAC were offering less. I’m not saying that Red Pennant is cheap, just competitive. My searches have revealed a lot of insurers who vastly inflate costs ie £60,000,000 for repatriation. I know someone who was helicoptered off a Himalayan mountainside with a broken back, and ultimately repatriated to the UK for around £85,000. Published cover values are often inflated unnecessarily. Red Pennant looks to me, to make a very good fit with European touring. But I haven’t booked them yet

Should I look further?

JennyC,  Are you looking for a motor breakdown/ recovery service, or personal medical/ health insurance ?  Red Pennant offers both , but if you want to look further you can find that each is available separately from other companies.

PS. For example if you are willing to split the two elements you can look at Eurobreakdown for car and caravan breakdown/recovery, and Staysure for personal medical health insurance. But there will be others for sure.

We want both breakdown and medical insurance, sourced either separately or as a package. The C&MC’s offering combines the two, apparently without cracks. Ideally we’d chose a ‘one stop shop’ so as to avoid arguments over who covers what. And we’re prepared to pay a little more for that reassurance, but not a huge amount. Like much in life ‘the devil is in the detail’ such as repatriating our dog, who can’t be flown back to the UK. Many years ago I knew a family who demolished their caravan on the French Spanish border having driven non stop from Calais. That’s a long haul for a solo driver. My enduring vision is of the entire payload littered along a main road mixed up with matchwood. (His description) Where would any of us start to resolve that problem? Another friend, a woman was taken into French intensive care in a coma after a car crash. She was repatriated three months later. We all, understandably, want to avoid wasting money, so I’m alert to people’s advice on this forum. As a footnote, I’m being quoted £210+ in vet bills prior to departure with more to pay before returning, along with premium costs for taking our dog across the channel. - and he needs insuring too.

Hi jenny - my comments refer to motor cover only. Like a lot of people we have personal insurance from our bank. Which I am more than happy with. 

The cost comparison for me are as follows:

- Mayday plus Red Pennant (Annual 31 day trips) approx £320

- C&CC/RAC Arrival (Ultimate plus Overseas Cover Annual 90 days) approx £260

The cost difference will be even greater when you increase Red Pennant to 60/90 days.

I could not see any obvious differences in the level of cover between Arrival and Red Pennant. But please do check yourself. 

As I said earlier, my experience of using Red Pennant may have been the exception rather than the rule. But after the service I received it made sense for me to look elsewhere. Especially as I expect to be away for than 31 days this year.

Have a safe trip wherever you go. 

Thank you Stato. We’re intending to stay for up to three months, being of retirement age. There are a couple of background health issues too. The motor, van, roadside, repatriation, health, cancellation etc quote from Red Pennant is £365. Although we’ve used Red Pennant in the past, there’s been quite a long gap, and we’ve never needed to claim, so I can’t identify problems from experience. I’ll check a few more quotes as you suggest, although I’m losing the will because it’s fiddly.

Hi again Jenny.

Yes, there does seem to be a lot more faffing around now booking these insurances. I was quite happy in the old days, pretty much choosing the Club for everything (travel, sites, insurances etc). However, post covid, we now seem to live in a different world. In my opinion, levels of service seem to have plummeted. On occasions anyway. The Club is no different in that respect. 

A couple of points.

Remember that the costs I included in my post above include UK breakdown cover for the year. And I have chosen the most expensive RAC UK voters available (Ultimate at approx £165 pa). Cheaper options are available. The Arrival overseas add on is approx £95. 

Also, bear in mind that Red Pennant now expect your caravan (and car for that matter) to be serviced to manufacturers specs for the cover to be valid. Or of course, they may not! It depends who you speak to lol! Seriously though, if that may be an issue for you it would be wise to get confirmation, in writing, of their policy. And good luck with that!!

Whoever you go with have a lovely trip. 

Stato.....Nail on the head there... I was quite happy in the old days, pretty much choosing the Club for everything (travel, sites, insurances etc). However, post covid, we now seem to live in a different world. In my opinion, levels of service seem to have plummeted.  but as eurotraveller above says there are cheaper options available with good quality cover...,.Staysure is a very respectable company and is half the price of Red Pennant (Personal)t with a 35 day cover vs 31 RP.. Eurobreakdown is part of OTIS...which I and led to believe uses the same breakdown garages as others...priced at £74.99 for Annual cover car and caravan (max 7m excluding A frame)

You are right GTP. There are other options available that are well worth checking out.

One thing to bear in mind though, especially for us tuggers, is you must make sure your breakdown cover is "caravan friendly". This is, obviously, very very important. You need to make sure your caravan will be recovered in the event of your car breaking down whilst you are away from your caravan. And, of course, you will need your caravan covered in case you gave any issues with that  (breaks, hitch etc). The C&CC/RAC policy covers all that. I assume Staysure does too. Many "bog standard" breakdown policies will not.

Please don't think I'm just knocking the Club and Red Pennant for the sake of it. I'm not. But I've got to be honest and say that the service I received was poor. The follow up to my initial complaint wasn't handled very well either. That was just adding insult to injury.