Does anyone know if there is an alternative to Red Pennant overseas insurance that will repatriate your dog if anything goes wrong? We have spoken to some insurance companies and they say it would be up to the driver of the breakdown vehicle on whether he would take the dog which would leave us all stranded if he decided not to take him.
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The local breakdown company that took us off the motorway refused to take our dog in his cab, so the dog had to stay in the back of the motor all the way to the garage.
Not a pleasant trip for the dog being so high up.
------------- XVI yes?
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Leave your broken down car with a recovery company while you come home by train across France with your dog .Make your way to Dieppe for the Newhaven ferry as that company will accept you as a foot passenger with a dog but others won’t. Reclaim train fares later from travel insurance company.
There are certainly alternative European breakdown insurances covering both car and caravan. Eurotunnel can sell you one if you are travelling with them. Eurobreakdown is another. If a local repair is not possible they will all get a brokendown car and caravan home on a truck. - some quicker than others. But you don’t have to ride all the way back home in that truck. Even with a dog you can travel home separately - on a train or in a hire car.
Quote: Originally posted by Netherton on 30/9/2024
There are certainly alternative European breakdown insurances covering both car and caravan. Eurotunnel can sell you one if you are travelling with them. Eurobreakdown is another. If a local repair is not possible they will all get a brokendown car and caravan home on a truck. - some quicker than others. But you don’t have to ride all the way back home in that truck. Even with a dog you can travel home separately - on a train or in a hire car.
On a train, Yes, but not on Eurostar, and you can't take pets on the channel crossings as a foot passenger. Some say you can take them via Newhaven, but never seen it happen and I'm dubious. Hiring a car isn't easy, either, to take across the channel. There are pet transport companies which will take a pet across, but for travellers with pets it is a conundrum if they don't have relatives who will help out, drive across, and pick them up!
We had to organise getting ourselves and our dog back from near Limoges last year as RAC were next to useless! We had to source a hire car that we knew would accept a dog, and that had an office in the nearby town as well as making sure we could drop the car off in Dieppe. We then had to book our own ferry crossing and had to travel from Newhaven to the Midlands by train, with multiple changes, including crossing London, with our dog.
I hadn't realised that Newhaven to Dieppe was the only way to cross the channel as a foot passenger with a pet. They only have 3 kennels per crossing so you can't book on line, you have to call. It wasn't a pleasant experience for our dog (or us).
Needless to say we didn't take him this year. He had a lovely holiday of his own, staying with my friend.
We did find companies, mainly based in the south east, that offer pet taxis across the channel. They usually use the tunnel and are very expensive.
Not just Europe. Our car had to be put on a flat bed to get back from a site in rural W Scotland after another vehicle ran into a front wheel. (Local garage, we were then passed on to AA once we reached civilisation.) Dog had stay in our car in her usual place, because we were in the cab of the recovery truck with the driver and there was no way to secure her safely. That was for our sakes as much as hers: a dog ricocheting round the cab if we had an accident is not a good idea. As far as we could tell, she slept as usual, was not stressed in any way.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.