Aviva’s £50,000 equity release fee if my parents sell their home

I first contacted aviva, it said a final decision had not yet been made as it needed medical assessments for both parents.

later, with the forms completed, aviva said your mother was eligible for long-term care but your father did not meet all criteria. But it did concede he required assistance with his mobility.

happily aviva looked at this last aspect and waived the fee.

a spokesman says: ‘In exceptional cases we look at other evidence, in addition to the medical assessment, to form an overall view of customers’ circumstances.

‘having reviewed all the evidence, we have decided the early repayment charge should not apply.’

You were delighted. The next step is to arrange a more modern — and hopefully cheaper — lifetime mortgage on their new property. You are optimistic the move should be possible now they have the extra £50,000 to spend. ON A camping holiday in France, I was driving my family along a mountain road near Grenoble after a thunderstorm.

We went around a corner — at fairly low speed due to heavy rain — and went over a rock sitting in the middle of the carriageway. It hit hard under the front right wheel, putting the car out of action.

I thought RAC breakdown would rescue us but I was wrong: please help as I am worried I won’t be able to get us home.

R. L., Bristol. In Your panic you tweeted me for help. You explained you bought £150 raC european breakdown cover (Comprehensive Plus) with your raC motor insurance to ensure all risks were covered.

But when you hit that stone, you found to your dismay your claim fell between a rock and a hard place, if you’ll excuse the pun. In your eyes, the car had broken down. But as far as the breakdown side of raC was concerned, you had had an accident.

This meant your raC motor insurance rather than the breakdown policy revved into

action. But this revealed a gap in your cover.

although the insurer agreed to have your damaged car towed away and repatriated to Britain, as well as pay for a rental car, the latter only covered you for your travel in France.

This left you worrying about how to get your family and camping kit onto the Calais to Dover ferry and back home to Bristol.

had your car broken down, this would have been covered by the breakdown policy. But not so under your motor insurance.

I contacted raC and suspect because it could see you were a loyal customer, and even though your chosen level of cover excluded repatriation of passengers, it had a change of heart. It helped get you and your family home as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. This included a £570 taxi fare from Dover to Bristol.

Your experience is a lesson to all holidaymakers to check that every eventuality is covered before setting out on a road trip abroad.

■ WRITE to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.