What To Do If You Break Down Abroad
By Anna Jones at Eversure,
25th March 2025, 15 min read
Breaking down is never ideal, breaking down abroad makes an already stressful situation even more challenging particularly if you’re unfamiliar with local traffic rules and face language barriers. However, with up-to-date and comprehensive European breakdown cover, you can manage the situation with confidence.
Handling a Breakdown in Europe
If you do experience a breakdown whilst driving abroad, be sure to follow these steps to stay safe and get back on the road as quickly as possible.
1. Safe Location
To ensure your own safety and the safety of your passengers you should pull over into a safe area on the side of the road. On a motorway, this will be the hard shoulder. Exit the vehicle on the side furthest away from moving traffic and if on the motorway stand behind the barrier.
2. Alert Others
Turn on your hazard lights to alert drivers and place a warning triangle behind your vehicle to signal you have broken down – this is a requirement in lots of European countries so make sure to check the regulations of your destination country before you leave.
3. Wear a High-Visibility Vest
Countries like France and Spain also require you to wear hi-vis vests when exiting your vehicle on the roadside.
4. Call for Assistance
Contact your breakdown provider to request help. This number will be written on your policy document. They will then arrange for roadside assistance or towing services as necessary.
If you are in a situation where you need to contact the emergency services, call them first. Across Europe, the emergency number is 112 but check if the country you’re in has a specific number. After calling the emergency services, contact your breakdown provider to arrange further assistance.
If you break down on a European toll road you will need to use an emergency roadside phone to contact the road’s breakdown assistance service.
5. Wait for Help
Avoid standing too close to the road and wait for assistance in a secure location.
Breaking Down on a European Toll Road
As mentioned earlier, breaking down on a European toll road works a little differently. This is because many of these motorways are privately managed and operate their own exclusive breakdown services. This means that your breakdown provider might not be allowed to access the road in order to assist you as it’s not allowed.
If you do break down on a toll road, you will need to use the emergency roadside phones or dial 112 for help. These phones are easily identifiable as they are typically orange or bright yellow and are spaced every 1.6km along the motorway, clearly marked with signs. The SOS emergency phone will connect you directly to the official assistance service of the toll road. If you can’t reach an SOS phone, call 112.
Ask the assistance team to tow your vehicle to a designated safe area off the toll road. You will have to pay for this service upfront but if you have an Eversure breakdown policy, we will reimburse the cost of the initial assistance up to the limit stated in your insurance certificate. Once you’re in a safe location, call the breakdown provider as listed on your policy document for support.
European Breakdown Cover
At Eversure, we offer European breakdown cover for annual and single trips. With an average response time of 46 minutes, our European breakdown cover protects you from the moment you leave home, throughout your journey across Europe, and back again. Our policies include full roadside assistance and recovery, onward travel support including a replacement vehicle and accommodation where necessary, motorway breakdown reimbursement which means we cover the fees if you break down on a European tolled motorway as well as vehicle repatriation so if your car can’t be repaired, we’ll return it to the UK, up to its market value.
Single Trip European Breakdown Cover
If you are taking a one-off trip to Europe and don’t plan on returning to the continent soon then our single trip European breakdown cover is the short-term solution for you. Cover is available for trips lasting from 1 day upwards.
Annual Trip European Breakdown Cover
If you frequently drive to Europe multiple times a year, our annual European breakdown cover will provide you with ongoing peace of mind. This policy renews annually with a single payment and covers multiple trips of up to 90 days each.
Final Thoughts
Experiencing a breakdown whilst travelling abroad can be stressful but with the right breakdown cover, it doesn’t have to ruin your trip. Choosing the right amount of coverage and understanding the terms of your policy means you can travel with confidence knowing that help is only a phone call away.