It may be tempting to think of breakdown cover as just another insurance policy and another expense to add into the overall running cost of a business. And, if you’re fortunate, you’ll rarely have reason to call out breakdown rescue patrols such as the RAC.

However the reality is that whether you run a fleet of five or 5,000 vehicles, keeping them on the road and minimising downtime is essential to your operation in the construction sector.

It is also the case that breakdown cover has transformed over the years to offer many more services beyond the core roadside recovery, for instance RAC Business now offers telematics, accident management services and fuel cards, to name just a few key services.

We recognise there are any number of things that can affect the day-to-day running of a construction fleet, and importantly, we appreciate the cost impact of those vehicle failures.

Working alongside partners in the sector ensures we remain highly attuned to the specific needs of construction firms, which has led to the development of innovative services such as ‘van-for-van’ onward travel.

Of course regular servicing should take care of a lot of potential causes for vehicle breakdown, but where breakdown cover is really essential for any fleet is in dealing with the everyday issues that in the main can’t be helped such as punctures, battery failures and accidents, which are the top three reasons for RAC Patrol callouts.

Each year the RAC, which provides cover for six million business vehicles, attends more than 110,000 wheel changes, around 50,000 flat batteries and 24,000 road accidents, all of which were fleet or business vehicles.

Each one of those callouts represents significant disruption to somebody’s day, perhaps a job missed, a late delivery, or a new business opportunity lost.

That is why RAC Business is constantly looking at ways in which we can help to prevent some of these common breakdowns in the first place, or at least reduce the disruption for our members.