What is vehicle recovery?

Vehicle recovery is a part of breakdown cover. It ensures that your vehicle is taken to a specified location if you break down by the side of the road.

If your vehicle breaks down whilst you’re driving, and you have breakdown cover a recovery engineer will be dispatched to your location. But if your vehicle can’t be fixed by the roadside, vehicle recovery ensures your breakdown cover provider will move you and your vehicle to a specified place. This could be a garage for repairs, your home, or another preferred destination.

Breakdown cover with vehicle recovery takes the stress out of breaking down, meaning you won’t be left stranded by the roadside or facing expensive bills.

How does vehicle recovery work?

Most of the time when a vehicle breaks down by the side of the road, a recovery engineer will be able to get it running again. But if that’s not possible, vehicle recovery means your vehicle will be moved to a secure location.

Vehicle recovery can cover a range of different vehicles, including cars, classic cars, vans, and bikes. You can choose whether your vehicle is taken to a garage for repairs, your home, or another destination of choice, depending upon your policy.

Whilst the details of different vehicle recovery policies will vary, most also provide recovery for you and your passengers.

What types of vehicle recovery are available?

A range of different types of vehicle recovery cover are available, including:

• Local recovery: The basic level of roadside recovery offered by most policies. Local recovery covers you wherever you might breakdown in the country apart from within a quarter mile of home. The lowest level of breakdown cover with Asda's partner Britannia Rescue provides local recovery up to 10 miles from your breakdown location.

• National recovery: If your vehicle breaks down and can’t be fixed by the roadside, a sensible option if you regularly drive long distances. The higher levels of breakdown cover available with Asda Money's partner Britannia Rescue offers recovery to anywhere within the UK.

• Home start recovery: Provides cover if your vehicle breaks down at home and needs to be moved for repairs. This is usually offered as a policy add-on.

• European recovery: Expands breakdown cover to European countries (although some policies may exclude some EU countries, check carefully before you buy). European recovery can cover the logistics and cost of having your vehicle brought back to the UK if necessary or being taken to your destination. It can even cover accommodation expenses, a courtesy car or alternative transportation.

How much does vehicle recovery cost?

Vehicle recovery is included as standard with Asda's partner Britannia Rescue's Breakdown Cover, Roadside Cover gives you recovery within a 10 mile radius and starts at £27, whereas UK Breakdown will recover you to anywhere within the UK and starts at £78.

If your vehicle breaks down and you don’t have vehicle recovery cover, it can get expensive. Costs will vary by recovery company, but you’ll usually be charged a flat call-out fee and a charge for each mile. Plus additional fees for having a large vehicle or if any additional specialist equipment needs to be used.

Get a breakdown cover quote.

How long does vehicle recovery take?

Most vehicle recovery providers aim to get a breakdown engineer to your roadside location within 30 minutes to an hour after taking your call.

This will vary by provider and policy, and will also depend on factors outside of the provider’s control, such as where you are and how many recovery calls they’ve taken. If you’re in a far-flung location and there have been lots of breakdowns that day, you may have to wait longer than an hour.

If the roadside engineer can’t get your vehicle running and it needs to be moved, another recovery vehicle will usually be dispatched to your location – like a flat-bed truck with a winch or other towing equipment. This can involve another wait as an available vehicle is driven to your location. It can then take another 30 minutes to an hour to load your vehicle and get it ready for moving.

Whilst the whole process of recovering your vehicle can take several hours, it will still be significantly faster – and much less stressful – than trying to get your vehicle repaired and/or moved without vehicle recovery breakdown cover.

Vehicle recovery restrictions

With Breakdown Cover you can choose from three levels of cover: roadside cover, UK breakdown cover, and European breakdown cover.

There are some circumstances in which Breakdown Cover won’t apply, including if:

• Your vehicle has been involved in an accident rather than breaking down
• You break down on private land
• You were transporting more than seven passengers
• Your vehicle doesn’t have insurance or a valid MOT
• Your vehicle exceeds the size and weight dimensions defined in your policy
• Your vehicle isn’t well-maintained
• You have more than six repeat callouts a year for the same vehicle
• You’ve broken down within a quarter of a mile of your home, unless you have home assist cover

This list is not exhaustive and we always recommend checking your policy documents for the full list of restrictions and exclusions.