Breakdown Cover

1. Warn others

As soon as you realise there is a problem, put your hazard lights on as a warning to others. If you have a warning triangle, and it’s safe to put one out, place it at least 50 yards behind your car to tell others there’s a breakdown ahead.

2. Move to safety

Depending on where you break down, and what the problem is, moving your car to the side of the road might not be easy. If you can, get your car out of the path of other vehicles to avoid causing any accidents.

3. Leave your vehicle

If you’ve broken down at the side of the road, you and any passengers should leave your vehicle and wait for help a good distance away from it. If you’re travelling with a pet, the Highway Code states that you must leave your animals in the vehicle or keep them under proper control on the verge with a short lead and harness.

4. Wear reflective clothing

Keep some items of reflective clothing in your car for emergencies. Wearing reflective clothing makes you more visible to drivers, especially at night, greatly reducing the risk of an accident while you’re out of your vehicle.

5. Contact us

To obtain emergency assistance, contact the 24 Hour Emergency Breakdown Helpline using the details below:

If your vehicle has broken down in the UK:

Call 0333 035 9367

If you are in the EU: 

Call +44 (0) 1737 815 032

To request assistance in the UK online visit: 

rescue.swinton.co.uk

1. Try to exit the motorway

If you are able to, try to drive to the next junction or the nearest service station.

If not, you need to get your car onto the hard shoulder: Park it as far to the left as you can, and turn your wheels towards the grass verge in case it rolls.

If you’re on a smart motorway, try to drive to the next emergency refuge area (ERA), which is basically a lay-by at the side of the road for you to safely pull into. ERAs are found no further than 1.6 miles apart, and they’re marked by a blue sign featuring an orange SOS phone symbol. 

If you find yourself unable to get to the hard shoulder, keep your seatbelt on and switch your hazard lights on immediately. Don’t leave your vehicle until you’re absolutely clear it is safe to do so. 

2. Put your hazard lights on (and sidelights if it’s dark)

Leave your hazard lights flashing as a warning to others. If you’ve broken down at night, put your sidelights (or ‘parking lights’) on as well — do as much as you can to make your vehicle as visible as possible to other drivers. Never attempt to put a warning triangle out on the hard shoulder.

3. Exit the vehicle safely

Make sure all passengers exit the car through a left-side door, moving far away from the vehicle and traffic, and put on any reflective clothing you have. Once you’ve left your vehicle, wait behind the barrier and move up the embankment if you can.

Never attempt to fix your car if you break down on a motorway.

4. Call for help

Call for help using the emergency phone on your side of the carriageway. You’ll notice arrows which will guide you to the nearest emergency phone, located at approximately one-mile intervals along the hard shoulder. 

If you can, try to pull over close to an emergency phone so that you don’t have to walk far along the hard shoulder to find one. If you do have to walk to a phone, keep as far away from the carriageway as possible.

To obtain emergency assistance, contact the 24 Hour Emergency Breakdown Helpline using the details below:

If your vehicle has broken down in the UK:

Call 0333 035 9367

If you are in the EU: 

Call +44 (0) 1737 815 032

To request assistance in the UK online visit: 

rescue.swinton.co.uk

When you choose Swinton Breakdown Cover, there’s no limit to the number of callouts you can make a year (please note that call-outs for a repeated fault will not be covered). We want you to feel safe in the knowledge that you’ll always be looked after, no matter how often you need it.

When you break down without cover, you’ll need to call a local garage and pay a callout charge out of your own pocket. Charges are often calculated with a standard fee with additional payments for each mile your vehicle needs to be towed. You may incur repair fees on top of that. All in all, it could cost you hundreds of pounds once everything is done. If you have Breakdown Cover, these costs will be covered for you.

Some Breakdown Cover policies won’t include an option for vehicles that break down at home, meaning you’ll need to pay for it to be towed to a garage. However, with Swinton Home & UK Breakdown Cover, you’re covered even if your car breaks down in your driveway.

Your Breakdown Cover policy with Swinton can only be cancelled alongside your core car insurance policy. The standard core cover cancellation fee will apply in this circumstance.

While our standard Breakdown Cover policy will only cover you for UK recovery, you can protect yourself for up to 30 days abroad with our European Cover option. With European Cover, we can even cover the costs of transporting you and your vehicle safely back home from abroad (subject to Terms & Conditions).

Only the Roadside Breakdown element of cover is available for the first 24 hours of your policy being active, regardless of cover level.

All breakdown payments will need to be paid alongside your core vehicle insurance. This means if you pay monthly for car insurance, you’ll also need to pay monthly for Breakdown Cover.

Yes — we will attempt to repair your car at the roadside. However, sometimes a vehicle can’t be repaired on the road. In these cases, we’ll cover the towing costs to get your car to a nearby garage to get the problem resolved there. 

Please note that roadside repairs are not guaranteed in Europe.