Breakdown on the motorway: why you do not choose your recovery company, and what to do

Many drivers find out on the day: broken down on a French motorway, you cannot call the recovery company of your choice, nor even your breakdown cover to send one. It is not a scam, it is the rule, and it exists for a good reason.

On the motorway, recovery is reserved for approved companies

The motorway is a world of its own: only recovery companies approved for that stretch are allowed to attend. They are selected by the motorway operator, and their prices are set by ministerial order, the same for everyone, displayed in their vehicles and revised every year. The aim: a fast intervention by teams trained to work next to a lane where vehicles pass at 130 km/h, with no competition for customers and no free pricing.

So your breakdown cover cannot send its own recovery truck there, and neither can we. However, most breakdown policies reimburse all or part of the motorway recovery afterwards: keep the invoice.

How to call

1. Switch on the hazard lights and pull onto the hard shoulder, as far right as possible.
2. Put on the high-visibility vest, get out on the right, and get behind the safety barrier with your passengers. Do not place the warning triangle on a motorway.
3. Walk to the nearest orange emergency phone: there is one every two kilometres, and on every service area. It pinpoints your position and connects you to the control centre, which sends the approved recovery company.
4. If no phone is within reach, dial 112. Some motorway operators also offer an emergency-call app.

What the approved recovery company does

It usually arrives in under half an hour, attempts a quick repair on the spot when possible and, otherwise, takes your vehicle off the motorway: to its workshop, to a service area or to the nearest exit. Its job ends there, and so does its regulated price.

Then you are free

Once the vehicle is off the motorway, the choice is yours: the garage you prefer, your usual mechanic, or home. That is where we take over. From the A40 exits at Bellegarde or Saint-Julien, we bring your car, motorbike or van back to the Pays de Gex, to the garage you tell us. If you are stranded further away, our long-distance towing brings the vehicle back from anywhere in France, on quote.

And in Switzerland?

On Swiss motorways, Swiss rules apply: use the emergency phones or alert the police, and call your policy’s assistance. To bring the vehicle back to the French side afterwards, call us: we tell you straight away what we can do.