3 min read
With the barrage of insurance terms and jargon seemingly never ending, we’ve stopped and taken stock of the most important parts of your breakdown policy to try and shed some light on the ins and outs of breakdown cover.
This one’s all about misfuelling cover, one of the most cost-saving parts of a breakdown policy and one you’ll certainly want to make sure you’re covered for.
Misfuelling cover is an optional policy benefit that affords you protection should you accidentally fill your car with the wrong type of fuel (diesel in petrol or petrol in diesel, for example); this is a surprisingly common mistake to make, especially for new car owners or new drivers.
We’ve all pulled into the petrol station in a bit of a rush, not really thinking or concentrating and just shoved the first pump we’ve seen into the car. That can sometimes be a very expensive mistake.
Having misfuelling cover in place means you’ll be covered for the costs incurred for draining and removing the incorrect fuel, flushing the system and replenishing with a small amount of correct fuel so the engine can be started.
Some policies also cover the cost of fitting any engine parts affected, but you’ll have to pay for the cost of the parts.
If you do fill up with the incorrect fuel, then the first thing you’ll need to do is phone your assistance provider (the number will be at the top of your policy wording) and let them know what has happened and your exact location. If your car is not in a safe location to drain the wrong fuel, (e.g. side of the road, etc) this will firstly be recovered including all occupants to a safe location or local garage before any draining takes place.
If you know you’ve filled up incorrectly, do not start or try to move your car, no matter how inconvenient for other people it may be. It can severely damage your engine and assistance may not be provided. The damage caused and costs incurred are not worth it!
If you have misfuelling cover in your policy then a specialist contractor will be dispatched to drain the fuel but they’ll examine the situation and offer their professional opinion on what to do next including any parts than may need replacing. The whole process usually takes around an hour.
As a heads up, this service often comes with a minimal excess for you to pay, usually only around £30.
According to fuel tank experts Fuel Fixer, the average cost of having your fuel tank drained can be between £400 and £800! So don’t get caught out, make sure you choose a policy with us that includes misfuelling cover and you could save yourself hundreds in unnecessary fees in the future.
Misfuelling cover is offered across most of our breakdown policies at a very reasonable additional cost, so you might want to consider this extra cover to save yourself a whole load of stress and added cost!
Want to learn more about breakdown cover and the different types of policy benefits you could be entitled to? We’ve put together a load of pages to help educate our customers and people looking for great breakdown cover, but who may not understand the ins and outs of insurance, take a look at some of our other “Breakdown Cover Explained” pages:
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