Road to Recovery

Cars may be more reliable in 2011, but breakdown services remain a valuable source of help - and peace of mind - for motorists. Which? asked 7,366 drivers to rate the service they received when they called for roadside rescue.

They found Honda's Hondacare Assistance is the best carmaker-branded cover. Its excellent 77% overall score puts it well ahead of Club Toyota (67%) and Mazda European Assistance (64%). 'Premium' makes fare less well. BMW (47%), Land Rover (46%) and Mercedes (44%) occupy the bottom three places in our table.

Which? also asked drivers about how happy they were with different elements of their breakdown service, including the politeness of telephone staff and the time it took for help to arrive.

Honda and Toyota generated the highest 'feel good factor' from drivers, with an equal customer score of 84%.

Hondacare Assistance came out best for roadside repairs. Its mechanics fixed an impressive 85% of cars on arrival, and only 5% had to be towed or trailered to the nearest garage. In contrast, only 36% of Land Rovers were fixed at the roadside. Other car makers fell somewhere between these two extremes.