I'm not disagreeing with you Derek but, when I used the service 9 years ago it wasn't as simple as calling out the RAC.
Ringing the number for International Recovery got you talking to an English speaking call centre in Holland. After taking interminable details, they would shop around recovery agents local to you who were prepared to take the job on. This done, they gave my French phone number to the local agent who eventually rang me. Needless to say, as we were out in the sticks the guy didn't have a word of English so my moderate French was well exercised!
The outcome of this conversation was that we made an appointment for M. Recovery man to come and inspect the car to establish that all was as I had said and it was incapable of being driven back to the UK. He arrived as agreed the next day, listened to the engine, and agreed that it "ne marche pas" However, on checking, his flatbed with winch and ramps couldn't accommodate the Ruby because it would fall between the ramps on their narrowest setting. After much head scratching, and beaucoupe de putain, *****, salope he had a little inspiration and said that the truck would be adjusted before he came to collect the car.
Several days later, at 1300 hrs as agreed on the day of our departure our little man arrived with the same truck but, he had welded on an extension to the ramp brackets to allow for the narrow track of the Ruby. Car loaded without incident. As we were sat in the cab of the truck for the 90 miles to the ferry port we chatted. He asked " Monsieur, comme bien kilometre?" Me: "Pardon?" He: "Comme bien Kilometre recuperation?" he was asking how many Kms did my insurance cover the recovery for. I said "sans limite" he said, incredulous, "sans limite" I said "oui" he said "monsieur, jamais on France. En France le limite le recuperation ce 100 Kilometre. He thought that I had a really superb deal. So did I.

Ian Mc.
sorry for the lack of brevity!!!

Location: Shropshire

Door to door 1847 miles in 16 days of great motoring all in stunning weather except for one wet morning in Germany. Jonny and Anneka climbing to 4000 ft near Kirchberghere

Location: Farnham

Home ok, hope that there were no further mishaps,brilliant.

1659miles door to door , 3 1/2 litres of oil distributed evenly over 6 European countries, stripped thread in both fuel pump and carb, cleaned and refitted dynamo and nearly lost a wheel, nuts came loose.
All in one piece and the boss enjoyed it. Can't be bad.
David, didn't realise that you went wrong so often.😂😂😂

Location: Oakley, hants

Well done all! Looking forward to photos and the write-ups.

Further to the discussion earlier ref breakdown cover abroad. This morning I received my invitation from RH to renew my policy, I spent some time reading the small print. It categorically states that the car will be repatriated and a hire car provided up to £70 per day to a total of £800. Still concerned about what was experienced on the Euro tour 2017 I gave RH a call, they were horrified to find out about the way clients were treated and would like them to contact them direct on 01277206911 to discuss it.
At least if you contact them perhaps procedures might be put on place to stop somebody else having to suffer the anxiety that you suffered.

Location: Oakley, hants

Having seen comments in this thread and spoken to one or two people, I would like to follow up with RH where the insurance scheme has not worked as well as it might. If you had to use the Breakdown service, could you drop me a line outlining your experiences please, so I can discuss them with the Insurers. Of course, I would be happy to hear of all experiences, not just those that may have been less than perfect.

Please take this request seriously and take the time to get in touch. We can't improve the service if I don't get the feedback..

many thanks

Hugh Barnes

Location: Cambridge

A brief update:

I have spoken to Emma Airey, my contact at RH, this morning as I became aware that she was already involved in dealing with issues that had been raised. It would appear that 2 crews suffered failures of their cars and the problems they suffered were to do with hire car arrangements. RH have a relationship with a 3rd party that deals with repatriation and hire cars and discussions are already going on between them. I have asked Emma to provide me with a 'report' when everything has been resolved that will highlight the problems encountered, the steps taken to deal with those particular issues, procedures that have been put in place internally to prevent a re-occurrence and recommendations for anything that should be part of the planning for such trips in future..

As I say, I am aware of two crews that suffered, if there are any other issues that occurred, I would still like to hear of your experience, good or bad..

thanks..

Hugh Barnes

Location: Cambridge

I was on this tour and was aware of the terrible time some had with the insurers. RH cannot hide behind their rep in Europe, any more than can a bad chef behind a waitress! A contract is a contract and too often these days one party to a contract seeks to place its problems onto the other party, and that is grossly unfair and unacceptable.
The number of Austin Sevens that undertake these kind of trips is, thankfully for the Insurers, very small, so they must take the small amount of rough with the majority smooth.
The responses given to those who broke down were , not mincing words, plain dishonest, and the insurers must take responsibility for that. They have used an agent who is either incompetent, or who has perhaps been instructed to behave in the manner as it did?! An immediate apology from RH would be nice, and some assurance that in future some sort of central phone number will be given, so that when a call is received, it is RH who sort out the problem rather than throwing it back at the insured and expecting the insured to deal with a congenital idiot based abroad.
As for cost to the insurers, when we broke our Volvo windscreen near our home in France last year, the Insurers insisted we use an "appointed agent" some 20 miles away, necessitating a three hour wait for the work to be done, rather than us using our local Volvo agent just up the road who could have collected the car and done the job for 200 euros less. On top of that, the "appointed agent" made a complete mess up of the job, and now the interior lining is coming away from the screen.
I am a retired lawyer, and I hate to see people put through the mill by people who do not respect contractual obligations.

Location: Hereford