In the summer our Hyundai i10 broke down in France while we were on holiday. We had a policy with CompareBreakdownCover (CBC) but feel they let us down.
To get off the autoroute we had to call the police, and it was their contacts that helped us get to a garage and find a hire car.
When our car was not fixed in time for the journey home, CBC said it would reimburse our travel costs and our vehicle would be repatriated.
However, two weeks after we got back, it told us that the car should be scrapped after all. We reluctantly agreed as the cost was out of control.
However, we complained as we would not have left the car in France had we known it would not be returned.
It had been left to me by my father who died last year and, putting the sentimental value aside, we do not agree that it was uneconomic to have it repaired.
EM, Shipley
I was stranded for 13 hours waiting for the RAC to rescue meRead more
Your complaint to CBC, part of Eversure Insurance, was partially upheld. It says the correct process was followed in terms of getting your family home, but its team could have done a better job of explaining the repatriation process.
For this it offered £30 “by way of an apology” which you consider a derisory amount.
You estimate your eight-year-old car was worth about £4,500 (minus a repair bill of at least £2,000) so you cannot understand why repatriation was “uneconomical”.
CBC says it was recovered to a garage, diagnostics were undertaken and a repair plan was agreed.
However, after further mechanical investigation, it says “further issues with the vehicle were highlighted by the garage and the repair costs increased”.
It adds: “At this point the client decided they did not want to incur these further costs, and requested repatriation of the vehicle.
“Unfortunately, due to the vehicle’s value and the repairs required, repatriation was deemed uneconomical as per the policy wording.”
That policy wording says: “If the total cost of repatriation of your vehicle is greater than the current market value of the vehicle, we will deem the vehicle to be an economic write-off and will only offer repatriation of passengers.”
CBC shared its maths with me. It put a value of £3,800 on the car, the repair bill at £2,600 and cheapest repatriation option at £1,300.
It adds: “We do understand the client’s disappointment regarding this.
“If they remain dissatisfied they are able to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for review.”
The costings used by CBC do seem high, so I think it’s worth complaining to the ombudsman.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1
