Hi, as a Mustachian, what car / roadside assistance do you subscribe to within Switzerland? TCS or your car insurance or your car manufacturer’s roadside assistant service?
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Hi !
I have TCS family for me and my wife.
PM me if you want a code for a discount !
Car insurance: what ever is the cheapest for that specific car.
Road side assistance: usually comes automatically from the manufacturer for a few years when buying new
Makes sense! Thank you. I am also scouting around for a new car insurance. So I will check out Smile Direct. Have you used it to claim something before? How was the process?
It might also be worth to haggle a bit with your current insurance company, e.g. where you already have your private liability insurance. I got a discount of a few hundred francs.
In case of Mercedes-Benz it’s up to 30 years. Provided one takes the car to an official dealership for servicing.
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I would say that it really depends from case to case. For example, I have an old (2006) diesel clunker with more than 300k km on it it has a super low running cost, etc. I have only basic mandatory insurance + TCS because when something broke when I am travelling back home in easter europe towing service etc. would be expensive.
That’s interesting… What’s the cost? Is it 1.5 CHF per month for electronic invoice? Does it have to be used each month to get the cover or just using it once will be enough?
Any opinions as regards Avia in general, compared to the others? (e.g. fuel quality, prices etc.)
Wow! that is absolutely brilliant! Have you used it before? How was the response time?
Yes and no… It could break somewhere in Germany or Austria… not talking about Switzerland where it would be crazy expensive. But that thing from @MeowMeowFuzzyface looks great as well … did not know about that before. Do you have experience with it?
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More infos about the service:
https://avia.ch/avia-karte/avia-karte-fuer-private/pannendienst/
I never had to use it…so I can’t give you any feedback about the service quality.
I have electronic invoice, so no cost for the paper invoice…
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I fill up there 80% of the time.
Compared to Coop, Migros, Shell, BP it’s pretty much always the cheapest, and quality wise I cannot judge but never had ‘issues’.
Additionally I can use my Reka card there.
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Amazing, thank you for the information!
Avia is more expensive for me, I usually fill up at a small independent station. But going to an Avia station instead a few times per year will still not cost much. Worthwhile for having a bit more piece of mind.
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With Zurich insurance, I pay CHF 18 for assistance in Switzerland and 49 for assistance in Europe (with replacement car).
Quitted the TCS thing as I felt like being trapped in paying more that elswere (you pay membership once a year and so forth). Even for the ETI option, other companies have the equivalent for less.
Maybe I could save the CHF 18 per year… but thats not much for having the peace of mind of crusing in “remote”/moutain areas for example. And so you don’t have to carry a spare wheel all the time, they’ll bring it to you (or fix the hole)
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Axa has a discount of 200 chf for the first year if you subscribe online before the 31.10.2021. It was also one of the cheapest I found via comparis.
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Make also sure to check the fine print: I’ve needed roadside assistance only once and that’s when I locked myself out.* I don’t know if all services would cover such a case, as it’s not a conventional car breakdown.
Also, think if you might need it abroad. The “standard” TCS coverage is for Switzerland only. You’d need a TCS ETI travel insurance for roadside assistance abroad, if you wanted a TCS product. And here again: The fine print. My girlfriend was in a car crash in Germany** and got stranded on the motorway. Called TCS ETI and found out that issues that happen while driving a rental car are out of scope!
Coop and BP also take Reka.
I also used to go to Avia all the time, but around Basel they’re being more and more replaced by Rudi Rüssel. So I mostly go to Coop now. I get Superpoints and can still pay with Reka.
*: For those interested: I unlocked the trunk, not the entire car, put my jacket in the trunk, closed the trunk, had my keys in a jacket pocket, found myself locked out of the car. The vehicle was underground in a parking garage and had no internet connection, so I couldn’t unlock it from my cell phone.
**: For those interested: She was traveling on the German motorway in the rain and suddenly the sun came out, blinding everybody. She saw the cars ahead hitting the brakes and managed to stop. But the guy behind didn’t, and hit her. Another 10 cars were involved in the crash. She was then driven to the hospital by an ambulance together with other people, as a precautionary measure.
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I wouldn’t count on it but something I’ve heard from two seperate cases is that in case of assistance TCS asks you if you want to become a member/insured on the spot for a year. (Both cases within Switzerland.)
It makes sense from their point of view because they trade 300-500 CHF against a one year membership + a significant probability many people won’t cancel the membership for many years.
If that is actually true, it would make no sense to get any roadside assistance insurance before the first incident. At least if you’re within reach of TCS and in Switzerland.
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Car insurance: what ever is the cheapest for that specific car.
I’ll share my experience and let you and the others decide if I’m right.
I don’t have the cheapest car insurance, I have La Mobilière. My neighbour is the broker and obtained a satisfactory rate for me that is not so much more than the cheaper options. Full casco but 1’000 CHF franchise.
I had a parking accident during summer holidays in Italy. Not my fault.
La Mobilière covered all the repairs and even the franchise, without question.
I have a feeling that it would have been more complicated with a cheaper insurance company.
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Parking damage is separately covered and not subject to the 1000 CHF franchise. So this was completely normal and has nothing to do with goodwill or being less complicated than cheaper insurance companies.
Good point but I’m now confused. I checked my policy and saw no mention of protection against parking damage. I just see full casco including partial casco. If it’s clearer: someone backed his truck into my car.
Do you have their “Comfort” package? Then parking damage is automatically included. With Classic it’s optional but also the franchise is 0 CHF.
If I have their ‘comfort’ package, it’s not written anywhere on the policy… Interesting.
BTW it’s a 10 year old car and wasn’t even eligible for parking damage insurance when I bought it used.
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