Oh well, my first experience of home start for my car in France is necessary! Can someone tell me how it works in France? I have home start cover with my assurance, but understand it isn't quite the same as the UK. Am I right in thinking that they are independant local breakdown specialists that come out, rather than one big organisation? I am with Allianz assurance. Also, being a Sunday does it prove harder getting someone to come out? I was thinking of waiting until tomorrow, then if it needed a garage they are open? Can they still do a lot of repairs at home like the AA, and also do they just tow it to your nearest garage if it is a gonna?

You are worrying unneccessarily.
Ring 'em up and they'll send somebody out.
I'm with MMA and they're very efficient - they text you a job number, they give you an ETA and keep you updated, and they ring back later to check that the garage arrived and everything is OK.
FWIW when you say 'the same as the UK' - I used to use Britannia Rescue in the UK and they sent local breakdown services out.

I am not sure it is the same as the UK. Perhaps it varies from insurer to insurer and garage to garage.
I too am with Allianz. I broke down about six months ago and they sent a vehicle very promptly. He refused to deliver the car to my garage, as it might be shut! He took it to his own garage instead, and I had to get Allianz to instruct him to deliver it to mine.
He also insisted the cover was only to transport the vehicle and not me, leaving me to make my own way. Allianz are not clear on that point.
I also had hire cover which I discovered entitled me to ONE single hire of no more than a week. If I returned the vehicle after a day, that was the end of the cover.

To be fair, bigglesworth - you could have rung your garage, or got Allianz to ring them, to confirm whether or not somebody would be there to take delivery. I wouldn't entirely blame a breakdown driver for not wanting to waste his time and his fuel taking a car to a place where he probably wouldn't be able to leave it.

I've had the same issue with not having cover to get myself home, maybe this is an add on that I didn't add on. In the event, the garagiste took me home because it was the middle of the night, the quickest taxi I could find estimated about 2 hours before he got there, I only lived 20km away, and the garagiste didn't feel he could chuck me out to stand outside his garage but he didn't want to wait 2 hours before he could lock up!

EDIT - I think I may have got that wrong, because on second thoughts I seem to recall that it was MMA who tried to find a taxi, so presumably they would have paid. So the issue must have been simply that there wasn't a taxi to be found.

Pardon my ignorance (and I'm not the only one, French OH doesn't know the answer), but what's the French term for "home start" insurance?

As with most depannage that I have witnessed here they do not seem to make much effort to repair the problem unlike the AA. He came out, turned the engine, not even looking under the bonnet and said he would take it too his garage until tomorrow. I know they cannot do much on cars these days (especially on a Sunday) but he didn't seem to have any tools with him! It almost seemed to be an instant, we will take it to a garage when they open tomorrow"!!! However, he got it started as it seemed to be an intermittant problem, and was purring beautifully and seems fine now so not wanting my pride and joy taken to a compound for the day I decided to keep it here and wing it to the garage in the morning. I feel very uncomfortable about someone just taking my car like that...I know stupid maybe! A breakdown lorry seems to be the only option here in France which doesn't give me much confidence if I broke down at all. Also, the fact my car would get towed away but I may be stranded on a peage on my own does not give me much faith. I am still under a 3 year warranty which I am sure the manufacturer will worm they way out of in some way I will check this with Allianz thank you.

"dépannage à domicile"?
We must check to see whether we're covered for that....

DMU sorry, Ours says Dépannage 0 kilometres. It also says catastrophes naturelles technologiques, bris des glaces, vol etc etc etc

thanks for that. We'll check, but I don't think dépannage 0 kilomètres is mentioned... Good to know for the next time the car doesn't start!

That must be the homestart. Although Allianz do an english contract, so is a little easier to understand! I think it is the only assurance over here that does that.

All our various Insurances for the last 20-odd years are with Gan, so I won't bother to look for the car insurance contract if Allianz is the only one to cover home start.
(When I told OH it was "dépannage 0 kilomètres", his reaction was a Gallic shrug and "Ah bon?")

I think jvc meant Allianz are the only French insurer to provide contracts in English - not the only one that offers home start. AFAIK they all do that.
From memory, MMA also calls it assistance 0kms.

+1
It says dépannage 0 kilomètres on mine plus there is a separate Paris number to contact in case of accident/breakdown.
I think this service is provided by Pacifica and their number is on the back of the carte verte windscreen vignette.

Yes, sorry....Allianz is the only provider I know of that provides the assurance in english. I hope they all do home start?? Certainly took me a long time to find the breakdown number on my policy. It turns out they only ever sent us one breakdown cover card for my husbands car and not the other 2! Looks like Mondial are the breakdown specialists. Iam interested to know how confident people are just handing over their cars to a pick up truck and see it disappearing into the distance. Maybe that it just me! He also asked for my CG assurance etc. I presume he wouldn't of asked me for the documents to take away (which I wouldn't of done) had I of decided to get the car towed?

ET I think jvc was asking whether it was different to the UK.
It would have been difficult to work round, as I did not have a phone and he refused to call the garage. It was 11 oclock on a Saturday morning, so my garage (a main dealer) was very unlikely to be closed.
His garage was 5 miles the other side of my garage and he literally had to drive past my garage to reach his. It was very clear that he just wanted the work. (In retrospect I wish I had gone with him, as the garage I had been using turned out to be less than honest)
My point is simply to emphasise that there ARE differences, but they presumably can be ironed out by negotiation with the insurer. But if we remain unaware of those differences, the first we will discover is when we are indeed stuck on a peage.