Is a motorhome breakdown always this stressful?

Similarly to Claire and Chris Eve who have recently had a breakdown nightmare, I found myself in a situation a few years ago whilst on a road trip through Europe in a convoy of four.

Victoria Ilott, Van Life Matters contributor.

We broke down in Freiburg, Germany.

Confident we’d be on our way without too much delay, we assured our party that we’d catch them up.

Three days later, we were still in Freiburg and they were in St Tropez.

Despite having roadside assistance, recovery, hire car cover and all the bells and whistles, it took a painful amount of phone calls – and a two-night hotel stay for the privilege of making those calls – to get things something like sorted.

The vehicle was assessed and it wasn’t going anywhere under its own steam.

A recovery vehicle was arranged and was eventually ready.

We had to drop it at another branch “close by to Le Shuttle” – turns out it was 50 miles “close”.

Luckily, a friend picked us up from the kerb outside the remote and very shut branch and took us the rest of the way.

Like Claire and Chris, we were overwhelmed with apologies upon our return home but they weren’t sorry enough to compensate the money we had to spend on a hotel or the money we lost on the ones we were meant to go to.

Now we are in a much bigger vehicle and would need a HGV recovery truck, plus onward journey that can take a pet too.

We now have breakdown cover with the same company that provides our insurance, previously it was just tacked onto my husbands work policy.

Given the amount of questions asked and answered about the motorhome when taking out the insurance, we were assured all the information is automatically captured by the breakdown division of the company.

They’ve also told us that they are used to dealing with motorhomes too, so the service should be seamless.

It is more expensive to do this but I have confidence that this is the the best course of action and that it will be worth the cost, for the peace of mind at least.

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Victoria Ilott