Horsebox breakdown cover / rescue services?

Angelbones

Angelbones

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Having broken down on the motorway (in a new lorry!) and having spent 7 hours (yes, that's 7 hours!) stuck on a roundabout with a new pony I didn't know yet, I was wondering about any good referrals from personal experience of rescue services. The AA wouldn't help as I had a pony on board and they wouldn't tow with 'livestock' on board. The police said it wasn't in their jurisdiction as I was on the roundabout, not the carriageway. I couldn't get the pony out as we were too close to the crash barrier to get the only side ramp down. Anyway, eventually a kind policeman called an enormous accident clearance lorry who hoisted us up on top and drove us home for an exorbitant sum! Of course if I'd had a laptop I could have googled somebody but I'd rather sign up for a service in case this happens again. Any suggestions please?
 
Normally the company you insure your lorry with suggest taking out breakdown cover as the AA etc don't cover you. I suggest you contact your insurance company & buy through their recomendation - I assume you have a fairly new policy if you've just bought the lorry? It should be possible to add the breakdown cover on.
 
Equestrian Support Services are well known to be the best and the service is not even at expensive
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Also if you have RAC membership it is only £45 for your trailer to be covered. RAC deal with the vehicle and ESS deal with the horse and trailer.

I now use it as I am going further afield to shows and don't feel I can ask friends to travel 90 miles to pick up the trailer and Chancer. Different when it was only 20 miles away.
 
I use British Equestrian Insurance services to provide me with a breakdown recovery service.

What was the make and fault on your lorry. Who supplied it? What age was the chassis cab?
 
Thanks guys - I found the ESS info on the web and emailed them to see if they could have helped me that night, and they never even replied! But perhaps now I'll give them another go...

The lorry is insured under a fleet policy with Norwich Union so I'll get onto them also. It was a Renault Horsemaster, new, and it turned out to be some undefined electrical fault (not covered on the warranty wouldn't you know..) rather than a mechanical fault. I love these lorries, this is our third one so I wouldn't ever say it was typical of them to have problems, never broken down before. As it also turns out, the AA (who I rang as we are members) should have directed me to the local Renault commercial mechanics but for some reason didn't. Well you can guess how happy I was when I eventually found the right guy to take it to (all my own legwork) and he told me that if the AA had put us in touch, he could have had me towed home within 2 hours!

Thanks for your recommendations, I'll get covered and the next time I'm crazy enough to travel half way up the country to pick up a pony I'll be able to have peace of mind!
 
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