The ANWB received more than 900,000 reports of breakdowns at its emergency center this summer. The majority of the reports came from Italy, where the number of reports also increased by no less than 20 percent compared to last year.
The ANWB Emergency Center has had another busy summer. Many requests for help or breakdown reports came especially from Italy. The reports mainly concerned damage caused by the hail that fell during heavy showers at the end of July. The ANWB sent a team to Lake Garda to repair more than a hundred holidaymakers’ cars. The 24 roadside assistance stations stationed in popular holiday areas in France and Italy and the additional service point near Orange repaired more than 1,500 broken down cars during the summer holidays. A special team deployed to handle breakdowns remotely has solved around 2,000 problems, according to the ANWB.
Most reports of Dutch people with car or camper or caravan breakdowns came from France, Germany and Italy. Holidaymakers mainly called about starting problems, a flat tire and no spare wheel and burning indicator lights. In total, the ANWB repatriated almost 5,000 cars to the Netherlands because they could not be repaired on site.
According to the ANWB, the number of reports about heat has not increased compared to previous years. However, there were more requests for help due to forest fires in Greece, France and on the Canary Island of Tenerife. Reports of hail, thunder and flooding were mainly reported from Alpine countries such as Austria and Slovenia. Holidaymakers also contacted the emergency center for advice about evacuations, costs incurred and alternative accommodations or means of transport.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl