Breakdown cover in France

Evening all

We're heading off to France in the car soon so I rang to check about breakdown cover. They said that as French motorways are privately run, the cover doesn't apply, so in order to get recovered you first have to phone the police to get you off the motorway.

This sounds very odd to me. I've travelled through France many times and I can't remember this being an issue previously. Or maybe I just forgot.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

According to RAC,

What to do if you break down on the motorway in France

If you break down on the motorway (‘Autoroute’) in France, call for help using the nearest orange emergency phone – even if you have European breakdown cover in place. This is because French motorways are privately managed.

Here’s what to do if you break down on the motorway in France:

Don’t call the RAC – instead, use one of the orange emergency telephones positioned every 2 km along the motorway
If you can’t get to one of these orange phones, call the emergency services on 112
The emergency services will send help and you’ll be towed to safety
Once you’ve been towed to a designated safe area, call the RAC on 0033 472 4352 44
We’ll send assistance and talk you through next steps 🤔

Brill thanks for the confirmation.

Life expectancy on a French autoroute hard shoulder is not very good.
So get over the barrier and don't feck about with the car.

I had to change a wheel on a Coupe back in 2019 on the hard shoulder on our way back from the 25th anniversary, fucking scary that was!

Having broken down on an Autoroute (not in my Coupe) and used recovery that is about right, even if you stop at a service/rest area as I managed to crawl to. I called the RAC and they said I had to use the emergency phone in the car park. The recovery take you off the Autoroute and then the RAC take over, and the RAC covered the fee to be removed from the Autoroute. The rest of the journey is another story altogether...