National Breakdown Arvostelua 

A dangerously unreliable service – our situation could have been fatal

Review:
I want to warn future customers about my experience with National Breakdown, because it could easily have ended in tragedy. While travelling in France, my electric car ran out of charge in over 40°C heat. My phone battery was almost gone, and I explained clearly that my husband (who has a pacemaker), my dog, and I were in immediate danger.

Despite this, the call handler spent more than 20 minutes asking unnecessary questions, causing my phone battery to drain even further. He then refused to provide any assistance unless I sent a copy of my ferry booking, which has nothing to do with an emergency breakdown.

This refusal to help left us stranded in extreme heat with no power, no shade, and almost no way to call for help. My dog was already showing signs of heat distress, and my husband’s medical condition made the situation even more critical. National Breakdown offered no support at all.

In the end, it was a passing stranger who stopped and saved us. Without that person, the outcome could have been catastrophic. My dog could have died, and both my husband and I were at serious risk.

National Breakdown’s response to my complaint did not acknowledge any fault, despite the clear danger their inaction caused. I am sharing this to warn others: in a real emergency, you may find yourself completely abandoned. Please think very carefully before relying on this company for breakdown cover.

Our BMW X1 broke down in Spain on the highway from Vitoria Gasteiz to Bilbao. Called National Breakdown who sent a taxi and recovery vehicle quickly to bring us to the nearest BMW garage. They saved our family as the motorway traffic was incredibly dangerous and fast moving and the temperatures were above 30C. We missed our ferry back to the U.K. and had to stay another 5 days in Spain until the next ferry departure. National breakdown covered our hotel costs during this time. I cannot speak highly enough of the excellent service l received from National Breakdown while in Spain and also the speed with which they settled our accommodation claim when we got back to the UK. Without assistance from National Breakdown, we would have been stranded in a life threatening situation.

Leave well alone
Leave well alone . Worse company I have dealt with. Took european breakdown cover out as I was touring Spain and France. Fan belt snapped on motorway In Spain, foned for recovery. Would not even discuss the matter until I payed access. After paying I was told I would get a call back. After 6 hours in 42 degree heat and numerous calls to them. I was informed that my camper would not be recovered that day so I would have to stay in a hotel. The only hotel they said was available was over 70k away and I would have to find my own way there. The cost of the hotel was 270 euro per night. Then to be told that I would be better off finding my own. So my wife checked and found an hotel just 3 miles down the road for 69 euro. Next morning walked around the nearest town looking for a Garage the could help. Fortunately we found a great garage that agreed to help. This was 8.30 am. Breakdown cover called at 12.30 to say my van was going to be picked up the next day an taken nearly 80k as there was no garages any closer that could help. So I broke down on Fri, they foned me on Saturday, the camper was going to be picked up Sunday,taken 80 k to be fixed on monday. If I left it to them my van would have been left on the side of the road forover 2 days. Doing it myself I had it all done in 24 hours. Luckily it was only fan belt and I got it off motorway. Realising I was out there with no breakdown cover we cut our tour short and headed back to france to be closer to ferry.

broke down in madrid , after calling national breakdown found out as i had not purchased a return ticket in the uk i was not covered, so policy not worth the paper its written on . called to cancel policy 6mths old and told no refunds given , please be aware when taking out a breakdown policy with them

Excellent communication, supportive staff throughout. Following my breakdown in France they dealt with the recovery quickly and efficiently. Their European support team were excellent with regular updates throughout a complex repair. Claim was quickly and pleasantly dealt with once I returned to the UK.

My car broke down in central France in November 2025 and to date 21 January 2026 almost 8 weeks later the car is still not working. National Breakdown chose a garage for the repairs but to date the repairs have not been completed?? What a joke

Quick telephone response; the mechanic arrived within 45 minutes - a really helpful; polite and experienced guy. Josh diagnosed the problem immediately, got my car battery charged up and advised me what to do next. Great service.

Tony came out to look at my mum’s car and was absolutely amazing. He was incredibly kind and patient, and really helped ease her anxiety just by the way he spoke and explained things. He took the time to clearly explain to me what needed to be done with the car, without any pressure at all. He was fully present, caring, and professional throughout. Such a genuinely nice man — we couldn’t have asked for better service.

Do don't use this company! Used this company when holiday with my disabled wife and child. Car brokedown, and from then everything went down hill. When you speak to customer they honestly don't care. I wasted hours on the phone. We had to leave the car in France to be repaired. When I came to collect, the car wasn't fixed, so I called again to get car brought home (as per contract), they dragged their feet for another week and a half, then told me it would take 6-8 weeks to get the car back. Leaving me without a car for almost 2.5 months. Things only move slightly faster after I raised a complaint.

Bought a personal cover as I have two cars and didnt want two separate policies. However when I make my first claim as I broke down in one of my vehicles they say I cannot claim as the vehicle is over 16 years old! Never told me this when I took out the policy! Happy to take my money but then make it impossible to use the service due to small print! Lesson Learned!

Avoid!! I paid £175 for roadside assistance and they outsourced to a local service. When I was dropped off they refused to pay the local service till I paid them a further £46. The local service got £100 so I basically paid £121 (£221 total) for them to outsource the job. Scam!

I have never heard of this company before, I got an email to say " thank you for your review" someone had used my email to leave a review for this company which said:
"Repair attended quickly, he was very helpful and friendly"!!!!! Clearly someone is trying various email addresses to leave good reviews but it wasn't me for sure!

I’m surprised to see their low rating.
I have a mobility scooter which is insured through Mark Bates insurance.
Today I was out with my dog when my steering column broke. I rang Mark Bates and they too were brilliant, and said that they’d send someone out to collect me. It was absolutely freezing today, about 1 degree. ( Thank God I was dressed appropriately and so was my dog!) anyway, I thought it would be some time, at least an hour before abuse they were coming from Oldbury and I was in Bournville. I seem to ‘collect people,’ other dog walkers walking past stopped to chat, (8 dogs and owners at one point! Cups of tea were offered by people I don’t know, and suddenly, after twenty minutes, Luke and his break down truck appeared! He was so good, got the scooter on it in no time, and delivered it home. So, Luke and his truck deserve 5*’s, they were great!

Waste of money I broke down after 35 min wait on the phone got to talk in India the line was impossible to understand. All they would say is we can recover you to local garage of your choice ?? .I was 200 miles away from home not idea about any local garages in the highlands. Open your door and give the money to a poor person be lot better use than National Breakdown

this company should be ashamed of its self my driver broke down in dumfries the kid macanic and i mean kid told me the radiator had blown even though it was still full of coolent i was forced to pay £1700 to have it recovered back to warrington only to find out that the kid had given me totally the wrong info and all it was,,was a temp control sensor that could of been fixed in 10 mins by a proper machanic once my policy ends we will be leaving national breakdown and they are a disgrace to the system
and listening to there info about we care for our customers you left my driver by the side of a carrageway for 16 hours and didnt care there is a lot better out there and i will be looking for a new one

Everything wrong,told 3 days for cover,unfortunetly had to call on day 4 only to be told not covered as bank holiday policy cancelled by them as told broke t and cs even their fault,when I made complaint the women on the phone shouted at me and called me stupid,I asked her not to shout at me as they didn't tell us all the info at the time,she said Im not shouting your stupid,i have told them im going to head office,they then called back after I hung up.I did not answer as very upset.

Breakdown in a3 near Portsmouth, I called them and the lady was so rude after all the questions she said they couldn't help me Because my car slowly moving I explained to her my coolant was leaking water it was empty, and giving smoke. She said they were unable to help I told them I was with my 3-year disabled kid and 1 and half years, it's a proper scam

Truly awful rip off company. Our car broke down on the outskirts of Paris at around 11:30pm. It was very hot, on a busy road in a very dodgy area where people were openly dealing drugs on the street. We had our two young children in the car and were about half an hour from our accommodation. We didn’t panic as of course we’d bought National breakdown cover.
Despite telling the operator that I had poor phone battery and signal I was still told to download a third party app and had to faff about sending travel documents. After two hours of this I was finally told that we couldn’t have any help as we hadn’t confirmed which channel tunnel crossing we were going back on!! The man we spoke to was completely unreasonable and the company will literally do anything to wiggle out of sending a tow truck to help you. This was very costly to us and an awful situation to be in. Beware!

Despite bad review here, reviews on google are very good. Moreover, they actually saved me when my previous company left me stranded and refused to do anything.

However, I must say their policy can be a rip off: I recently purchased a new one but within a month got into accident and my car was written off. I bought another car and called NB to cancel previous policy and get the new one for a new car. And you know what? No cancellation! The car is gone but they refused to cancel existing policy and refund! The best they could offer is to remove the old car from it and add the new one (hopefully for free!). But the old insurance was at least £20 more expensive then I would have paid for the new one - and still refuse to refund the difference! This is truly appalling!

I wouldn’t touch this company with a barge pole. Broke down in France, car picked up then I was abandoned in the middle of nowhere so had to get a taxi to find car hire company. Option given by NB for 2 days car hire OR overnight stay. Opted for car hire to get to my destination and its a good job because car was not taken to garage for repair until late on day three and repaired on day four. Had I taken the overnight option I would then not have been able to hire a car as its one or the other so would have been stranded over 100 miles from my destination with no way of getting there. I eventually got my car back on day five. In total the car hire cost £165 which is within the limit of £350 but because the entitlement is two days they are refusing to pay me the full cost. They have offered me £65 which is a joke. I have been fighting this for six weeks and am no further on.