Your Breakdown policy covers either assistance or recovery.
Policies with assistance cover provide either Roadside Assistance or Home Assistance. This is where a man in a van with tools attends your location and attempts to fix your vehicle. This is only possible on basic faults such as a locked steering wheel, flat batteries and other minor issues. Major faults such as snapped clutch cables cannot be repaired roadside and will need recovery to a garage.
In terms of recovery, in office hours (typically between 8am and 4pm), recovery to a local garage will be the primary method of recovery. Outside of hours, national recovery to a home address maybe permitted. In hours customers must be recovered to a local garage, outside of hours customers can opt for national recovery to your home address.
Your policy only affords you one call out per unique Breakdown. Customers will be given the choice between assistance or recovery. If assistance is unsuccessful the service van will be unable to tow your vehicle. A second claim will then be required to deploy a towing vehicle. As this will incur a second claims cost, and your policy only allows for one call out per each unique fault, your insurance policy would not cover this second claim and you would be required to fund this callout yourself.
Our basic advice is, if in doubt opt for recovery to a garage.