What is onward travel on breakdown cover?

Having cover for onward travel can be the difference between being stuck at the roadside or a garage after a breakdown or managing to complete your original journey.

When you have a breakdown in your vehicle, the main aim of the breakdown company will be to get you going again so you can complete your journey and go about your day as normal. But if the breakdown is more serious and can't be resolved at the roadside, your level of cover will determine what your options might be. Basic policies will tend to include recovery to local garage where more advanced repairs can be completed and you can either wait for the repair to be completed, or make your own way back home or to where you were trying to get to.

However, having onward travel as part of your policy will give you additional options, and there's a couple of different levels of onward travel cover to be aware of when choosing your cover. Expect onward travel to only be available on higher levels of cover, or as an optional extra.

Some will cover the cost of a taxi up to a set distance of around 20 miles for you and your passengers to get home or somewhere else. You may have to pay your own way to go and pick up the vehicle again once it's been repaired if the garage are unable to deliver it back to you.

Some breakdown providers may cover costs of standard class train travel for you and your passengers to complete your journey.

For more difficult or time-consuming repairs, a hire car could be provided for a period of up to 7 days until you get your own vehicle back.

If a short distance taxi or hire car just isn't suitable, you could opt for an overnight hotel while you're waiting for your vehicle to be fixed.