Breakdown cover is almost like an extension on your standard car
insurance. If you crashed your car, you would claim on your insurance to
get the necessary repairs or alternatively to buy a new car of the same
value. Similarly, breakdown cover provides you with the necessary
repairs and support that would normally cost you a lot of money.
The breakdown cover provides you with multiple options and support in addition to providing the repairs where they can and getting you back on the road, such as providing hire cars when your vehicle needs to be in the garage for a while, tow facility where they would tow your car to the nearest garage or even to your home.
The key to deciding whether or not you need breakdown cover is measuring the risk factor against the cost of their selected policy. For example, if you have recently purchased a cheap car that runs but has done 100,000 miles, you may decide that the likelihood of problems during your time driving it is high so a £30 a month breakdown cover would be well worth it. Similarly, extenuating circumstances may you decide that breakdown cover would be very useful for you such as individuals who spend a lot of time driving or work in the automotive industry and as such may have to drive multiple cars of differing quality and age.
Another consideration when deciding if you need breakdown cover is your current level of automobile knowledge. For example, given that the vast majority of breakdown cover callouts are minor issues such as flat tyres, flat batteries etc, if you have a reasonable to good knowledge of vehicles you may decide that the likelihood of having a problem that you could not fix yourself is not proportionate to the cost of having the breakdown cover.