If you are looking at insuring against the perils of vehicle breaking down midway, then there are many who offer those services. MyTVS provides 24 by 7, assistance in most of the states of India, except J&K and north eastern states. The current membership can be availed from silver to platinum which offer breakdown assistance 3 times a year to unlimited times a year respectively. The fees range for a yearly Rs 750 (currently available at Rs555) to Rs 2500. the range of services include Jump Start and battery check, lockout keys, wheel change, car towing facility, taxi arrangement, wrecker facility and fuel arrangement. There are minor repair works that are also included. The response time within the city is around 60 minutes and in villages around 120 minutes.

Website: http://www.mytvs.in/, toll free numbers 1800 425 2002

If you have arrived in Delhi and looking to ensure that you are not stuck anywhere due to breakdown of your vehicle, then RACE is the answer. Rapid Action in Car Emergency (RACE) provides joy to many in the northern part of India. This month the company which has good presence in north and NCR region has shifted focus to South as well. Currently the company provides service to around 25000 customers in the Delhi NCR region. RACE provides its customer annual membership of around Rs 750 for different services which include towing, fuel filling, flat tire help, and jump start etc. RACE this year started operations in major cities of AP, Karnataka and Kerala.

For more information log on to www.prjgroups.com/race/faq.html

If you are planning your trip to India or have reached here, and are moving around on your own vehicle, then knowing about the breakdown services really help. A look on the web about breakdown cover services would throw up many options. One of the nationwide options is MYTVS 24X 7 Emergency Services. You are offered help throughout India except locations like Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the 7 northeast states. There is a silver, gold and platinum membership. The services provided range from break down assistance to fuel arrangement. This provider ensures 24 by 7 call centre access, which allows you to conference call with ASPs (authorized service providers). The help should reach you within 60 to 120 minutes, depending upon your location.

For more details log on to www.mytvs.in/

You could breakdown anywhere but in a heavy traffic hot weather situation there is a s good as chance as anywhere. An American new information piece on the risks of breakdown down within a heavy traffic situation explains what the insurance companies tell you what to do in these situations. There is some conflict to information we are often given, that you should get out of the car and stay well away from the vehicle here in the UK. We can only assume that the difference is if there is somewhere safe to stand and that you do not have to cross traffic to get there especially if the traffic is at high speed. Having a breakdown cover company to ring at this point could make this situation a little more bearable.

We may speak the same language but the breakdown insurance market seems to have developed in a different way to here in the UK. For a start few Americans know the term breakdown cover and roadside assistance seems to describe it better for them, but if you were look at what is markets the most, the car warranty seems to be a forefront.

I suppose the difference between warranties and say breakdown cover, is the first covers the parts, often covers any work done within a garage, where the UK’s breakdown cover, is purely a service to get you going from the road, or transport your car to a place of your choice depending on the level of protection you have.

Of course even in the UK, new cars are covered by warranties, but it is rarely combined with a recovery service and the work normally has to be done by the correct dealer who has the contract with the manufacturer. Things seem to be more flexible in the States. You can buy warranties, even if your car is over a certain age, and they are prepared to use third party garages to repair the problems.

Warranties can be for a selection of areas on your vehicle of for everything. The example we have below is from a company called Automotive Protection, which focuses on the mechanical side only. So for instance suppose your stitching on your seat were to come away, this would not be covered, where on a new car warranty it would be.

USA does have breakdown cover services as well, or should we say roadside assistance, with triple A being the best known. But the warranty side is much bigger than here in the UK and it is surprising that the big 3 breakdown cover providers, namely the AA, RAC and green Flag have not entered that market in a large way.

We can’t tell if it is a fake but it is funny, as we see the attempts to recover a small van from a harbour in Ireland.

Someone has put a few photos together and made in into a sort of slide show. It does not represent what the UK breakdown cover organisation do, as they would get in these heavy cranes from a third party, if at all. Anyway watch and enjoy. Or by the way w love the Irish and have no control of the writing or music added.

If you want to promote your business then the secret seems to be to give fantastic customer service and hope they share their experience via the social media sites such as You Tube. Well that is exactly what happened when a lady in New Zealand broke down in her car. She was attended by NZI roadside assistance, she then spends a few minutes explaining why this breakdown cover service made her day and converted a bad experience into a good one.

She then thought we all should share our goo customer experiences on video, so we can share who is good and I suppose not so good. A memorable experience, was the parting words or be forgotten. So intrigued by the 2 minute video, that we were motivated to research this breakdown cover organisation down under. Unfortunately all we could find was NZI insurance, who offer car insurance but we cannot find any indication that they do in fact offer breakdown cover.

There was a very strong suspicious that maybe this was set up and an employee or maybe even a part time actor was recruited to speak about their wonderful breakdown cover service. But on trying to find who she is talking about, it does become clear that this video, the best kind of marketing is in fact genunine and the presenter really did want to share her experience.

Yes there is good argument to tell the world both good and bad, but you can’t help thinking, it will be dominated by false information, orchestrated by the company or in fact the opposite orchestrated by the competition.

We are in the States this week in what is supposed to be sunny Florida. But although warmer than the UK, it is as hot as it should be. Anyway this is not a holiday, but research for another vehicle based sites and business, we are helping with. Of course this is excellent territory to research the USA breakdown cover business and how they market their services.

We have said this before, that the Americans do not use the term breakdown cover and tend to describe it in a different way. It looks like the term Roadside Assistance is the most popular, but I suppose what is surprising is the lack of internet rankings for national companies looking for this service.

He most popular or top of Google is the GM Motor Club which at first glance gives the impression it is a roadside assistance club for the owners of General Motors cars. A bit more reading and you realise that the service is open to anyone and in fact competes directly with the other national roadside assistance companies.

Another interesting point is that you are covered for driving in to Canada, which in the UK you would have to increase to European breakdown cover to move from country to country.

We are so used to our brand names here in the UK, that we are probably unaware that there is a Royal Automobile Club down under in Australia also. It is also called the RAC and offers pretty much what we do over here, but with some strange additions.

For example have you ever heard of a breakdown cover organisation offering flights ? It seemed strange at first until you remember that even the UK, has a recommended hotel section, which came from the motorists wanting to go on driving holidays. So the holiday theme works, but the point of flying rather than driving doesn’t so much.

They call their emergency services in Australia as roadside assistance, which is what we do for the cheapest service out, and every thing else seems pretty much the same, except there are some pretty remote areas in the outback, so we would have to assume the RAC Australia would have to use a lot of garage agents on in the wilds, to ensure a fast call out time.

According to the site they have been around as long as the UK RAC, so there certainly is some history and we have mentioned their Free To Go service for young drivers in an earlier blog, without realising it was the RAC that delivered it.

The cover is presented as Ultimate, Classic and Standard, 3 different levels of breakdown cover just like here in the UK.

You would think for such a small place there would be little need for that metal box called a car. The first thing you notice is that all the registrations begin with the letter G and even though they are a UK colony with British army, British police forces, you still drive on the right, rather than the left back in the UK.

For such a small place, it is hard to drive around. Get one street wrong, and you are on a detour with no where to turn around. It is here you realise how many cars there are on this small rock of an island.

As far as breakdown cover is concerned, you have got to think that any car failure would just bring this place to standstill and you could probably push the car home if it weren’t for the steep banks.

So no small national breakdown cover organisation here then, but don’t underestimate just how many cars seem to navigate this small area not including the scooters and mopeds. I just can’t understand the BMW’s and the four by fours who with a G number plate clearly live there, but would never get out 3rd gear.

Even the breakdown cover van would probably only do 2000 miles a year, even working overtime. In short, if you are panning to go. Leave your car on The Spanish side and get the bus in. I wish I had!