Multi just coming to its 2nd birthday so warranty and breakdown cover needs to be thought through. I have decided not to continue the warranty but, with an a planned Europen trip in May, breakdown cover is reassuring. Has anyone any comments advice based on a recovery situation rather than premium.
You been out touring europe before or are you fresh too it with excitement on two-wheels or worrisome woes! The more touring I've done the less I've taken over with me. Less stuff means less too worry about; the basic's are whatever you take you have to acknowledge you may lose. So taking full panniers & stuffing say all that expensive camping gear & back-up tires (you get the idea). Can make a trip cumbersome & heavy on fuel & require lists with itinerary checks. Whereas hotels & secure parking on the other hand gives peace of mind but more finances spent daily. Whats the tour going to involve country wise.. Now without been a know-it-all, here's my two best pieces of advice for touring. Take two pairs of sunglasses, digitally back up documents/passports/licenses et cetra & then email them to yourself. You then have a backup pair of sunglasses & in the worse case scenario a back copy of documents for police or embassy swift help'
I'm a Motorcycle Action Group member and took out their European breakdown policy for my World Ducati Week trip last year. I think it cost £50 for a year's cover. I used them when my Monster's alternator died in Mulhouse (on 14 July - French bank holiday). I was lucky that the bike died only 200m from my hotel in the evening, and in a town with a Ducati dealer. I phoned the breakdown service from my hotel, and we agreed that they'd send a recovery truck to pick up my bike the following morning and take it to the garage. They were quite good at phoning/texting me with updates (sometimes from a UK call centre, sometimes I was speaking to a more local office). The Depannage Josseron truck arrived rather (maybe an hour) later than they'd told me. The driver wanted to see if we could get to the battery to check if it was truly dead before taking me anywhere (and I hadn't got the workshop manual on my kindle so couldn't remember the exact order of events to get to the battery - it's a total p.i.t.a. on a 696 as there are umpteen allen bolts to remove and it's buried under the fuel tank). I didn't get the impression he was a bike expert, let alone a Ducati expert. The recovery vehicle was a flatbed lorry rather than the sort of van my bike has been recovered in in the UK, but was equipped with sufficient straps etc to secure the bike, and I scooped up all the bits that we'd taken off in an attempt to get to the battery. He took me, the bike and bits to the Ducati dealer about 6 miles away on the edge of town and dropped us there - I got the impression by then he was in a bit of a hurry. My overall impression was that they'd have been less well placed to attempt any kind of roadside repair than e.g. the Green Flag guy who turned up when my regulator rectifier decided it too had had enough on the way to work here in England a couple of weeks ago.
It your going away for a short trip you can buy European breakdown cover just for your trip duration, it it's a one off thing, usually works out cheaper than a full European cover on a normal breakdown policy.
I changed to Carole Nash a few years ago which includes breakdown cover for Europe. This proved handy when my GS1150 shaft drive (50,000 miles) snapped in France. One phone call to the UK number they provide and I was recovered to Calais, pushed the bike on and off the ferry and was picked up by the AA on the other side. Bike delivered to Devon 2 days later. Worked well
The cost of my 3rd year warranty, was offset by not replacing the cylinder heads myself. Not a problem that will (probably) happen again, but there could still be some pricey surprises in store? As for breakdown insurance, I include mine in with insurance, never used it yet, but my pal did use his in St. Malo last year, worked a treat, think it was linked to his Lloyds bank account?
I think most aftermarket breakdown services have a Multistrada specific service, it's run alongside the Land Rover and Leyland Maestro section.
I have a policy with Qdos for Europe and uk not had to use them yet but they had best feedback of all of them a friend had big probs with carol Nash getting his r1 back from southern France they tried to write it off rather than pay to get it back real stressful time with them but I used them years back when smashed my vfr up on way to tt and they got me recovered ok
