Summer 2018 Review at Redion

Redion reviews summer 2018 holiday assistance: a hot and very busy summer with more medical and technical cases than last year.

A few figures and trends

• Between 29/06 and 29/08/2018, Redion recorded 97,500 assistance requests (phone calls and assistance requests via email and app), an increase of 8% compared to the same period in 2017.
• Abroad, medical issues are up (+3%), as are car breakdowns (+2.5%).
• France and Spain remain the most popular holiday destinations and account for the highest number of medical and technical interventions, followed by the United States.
• Increase in car problems in Belgium (+7%), due to the persistent hot weather and later holiday departures this year.

Rise in medical cases abroad

During the summer holidays (29/06 to 29/08/2018 inclusive), Redion opened 2,164 medical files abroad, an increase of 3% compared to the summer holidays of 2017. Last year, southern Europe was hit by very high temperatures from the very start of the holidays, which had an impact on the number of medical files opened from the first few days. This year, during the same period, it was hot, but the most extreme temperatures mainly appeared at the end of July.
In addition, Redion's Holiday Barometer showed that more Belgians said they wanted to go on holiday this summer compared to last year. This year, however, many Belgians seem to have waited until after the football World Cup before leaving.

The largest number of medical files was opened in France (17%) and Spain (Spain + islands: 11%), followed by the United States (7%), Italy (6%), Greece (5%) and Turkey (5%).

Medical files were opened for various conditions, the most common being bruises, fractures or injuries (39%), infections (10%), digestive disorders (9%) and cardiovascular illnesses (4%).
Nearly a third of medical cases led to hospitalisation (at least 1 night).

Technical assistance cases in Belgium and abroad

Breakdown cases up both in Belgium and abroad: During summer 2018, 15,776 technical files were opened in Belgium (+7% vs 2017). These figures take into account technical problems that occurred during daily "home-to-work" commutes as well as trips made for leisure within Belgium.
This increase can be explained, on the one hand, by the large number of Belgians who stayed at home longer (the first big wave of departures took place on 16 July, right after the end of the football World Cup), and, on the other hand, by the hot weather, which put a heavy strain on batteries and engines.

Between 29/06 and 29/08/2018, Redion opened 4,166 technical files for abroad (+2.5% vs 2017), of which 44% in France, 9% in Spain, 8% in Germany, and 7% in both Italy and the Netherlands.

The breakdowns involved engine, battery and starting problems (72%), technical issues linked to distraction (keys left in the vehicle, wrong fuel, flat tyre) (15%), and accidents (9%).