Auto policy roadside assistance. Should you use it?

[Patriot]

Here is a little interesting information on car insurance and what can happen if you use your roadside assistance. It might be worth asking your provider what happens if you decide to use your roadside assistance? Is it considered a claim under your current auto policy? The devil is certainly in the details.
 

https://clark.com/insurance/car-insurance/roadside-assistance/?fbclid=IwAR02oGvp3QfVch9vp8Ys8dvzKWH30fZ3Pr1XWSsBS9H-BwGeVFd-fSxeYas

[MAX Burner]

This is an interesting topic.  Good article, as well.  Many thanks for sharing with the group, @Patriot...

FYI, We've been with USAA for over 45 years - and started carrying Roadside Assistance Coverage soon after our son was born in '88 when a pop-up tent trailer was added to the stable.  

Never claimed a "RAC" incident until after many years and 4 RV's later when, in the middle of the Oklahoma Panhandle, we loose the alternator and the TV (a Suburban) is a roadside DOA.  We had Verizon cells phones at the time, with a marginal signal, called USAA and they had a tow truck to us in less than an hour from a local town.  Rigged up the "Sub" on the truck, and pulled it and the AS back to a Chevy dealer in nearby Guymon, OK.  

I'm certain there's similar experiences among OTT Owners out there - but, although a "claim", our premiums were not affected.  Whether covered as a rider with your primary insurance carrier or from a secondary standalone RAC provider, we think it's worth it.  We're glad we had it back then and we still have it today...

My $0.02

[Dave Mazone]

Thank you for this useful info, Patriot. I think I'll be seeking out a different provider for this coverage.

[Patriot]

1 hour ago, Dave Mazone said:

Thank you for this useful info, Patriot. I think I'll be seeking out a different provider for this coverage.

You bet Dave! Just passing it forward. 😊

[Patriot]

2 hours ago, MAX Burner said:

This is an interesting topic.  Good article, as well.  Many thanks for sharing with the group, @Patriot...

FYI, We've been with USAA for over 45 years - and started carrying Roadside Assistance Coverage soon after our son was born in '88 when a pop-up tent trailer was added to the stable.  

Never claimed a "RAC" incident until after many years and 4 RV's later when, in the middle of the Oklahoma Panhandle, we loose the alternator and the TV (a Suburban) is a roadside DOA.  We had Verizon cells phones at the time, with a marginal signal, called USAA and they had a tow truck to us in less than an hour from a local town.  Rigged up the "Sub" on the truck, and pulled it and the AS back to a Chevy dealer in nearby Guymon, OK.  

I'm certain there's similar experiences among OTT Owners out there - but, although a "claim", our premiums were not affected.  Whether covered as a rider with your primary insurance carrier or from a secondary standalone RAC provider, we think it's worth it.  We're glad we had it back then and we still have it today...

My $0.02

@MAX Burner Thanks for your reply! 👍🏻👍🏻
I just called USAA about RSA on our car and two trucks and also spoke to Progressive about our RSA coverage for our Oliver. I was informed by both providers that a claim for Roadside Assistance would not cause our premiums to increase for the type of policies we have. USAA also said we would not loose our long standing policy discounts. 

cheers! 
 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Perhaps consider a separate roadside assistance policy.   I believe the Family Motor Coach Association provides coverage to all types of RVs now.  Good Sam is another.

[Steph and Dud B]

We've used Coach-Net with good results as well.

[John Dorrer]

We carry AAA Hoosier Motor Club "Plus RV". We have been very lucky, knock on wood, and never had to use either USAA (when we had that coverage) or now. I'm sure it will catch up with me down the road.

[topgun2]

3 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

We carry AAA Hoosier Motor Club "Plus RV".

I did the AAA "Plus RV" thing for several years - UNTIL...

There I was happily driving east on I70 just about 2 miles east of beautiful Hays, KS when I almost lost the passenger side wheel on my RV.

No problem - I'll just call AAA he said to himself.  After about 5 minutes on the phone with AAA they informed me that they didn't have anyone in Hays that could help me, but, they would reimburse me (up to the limits of my coverage) once I got help.  WHAT?  Here I am stranded on the side of a major interstate highway basically on top of reasonable sized town and you can't help me?

Thankfully just about the time I had to disconnect from the very helpful AAA personnel, a Kansas State Trooper arrived.  He had the number of a towing service with him and 15 minutes later they towed me all of 5 miles to their service garage.

I still get emails and snail mail from AAA asking me to renew my roadside assistance with them.  Can't say that I ever have given THAT another thought.

Bill

p.s.  this was prior to my Oliver days

Edited February 9 by topgun2
added detail

[rich.dev]

3 minutes ago, topgun2 said:

I did the AAA "Plus RV" thing for several years - UNTIL...

Who are you with now?

[Wandering Sagebrush]

2 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

We've used Coach-Net with good results as well.

Is this the rebranded FMCA?

[Steph and Dud B]

1 hour ago, Wandering Sagebrush said:

3 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

We've used Coach-Net with good results as well.

Is this the rebranded FMCA?

No, different company. Now owned by Blue Compass. We've had to use them several times and they were good.

[topgun2]

2 hours ago, rich.dev said:

Who are you with now?

Good Sam.

However, in the very year after the AAA problem mentioned above - 

I was just north of the Colorado State line in Wyoming and I had another wheel issue where I could have used some help.  Unfortunately, there was not cell signal such that I could test my "new" Good Sam coverage.  Again this was prior to my purchase of my Oliver.

The following year I got my Ollie and have not had a situation where I needed roadside assistance since.

Bill

[Patriot]

17 hours ago, topgun2 said:

Good Sam.

However, in the very year after the AAA problem mentioned above - 

I was just north of the Colorado State line in Wyoming and I had another wheel issue where I could have used some help.  Unfortunately, there was not cell signal such that I could test my "new" Good Sam coverage.  Again this was prior to my purchase of my Oliver.

The following year I got my Ollie and have not had a situation where I needed roadside assistance since.

Bill

Bill,

Here are a few very concerning open source reviews of Good Sam RSA coverage. As one Good Sam’s coverage owner said. “It sounds great when you sign up, but in the real world not so much”.

Hopefully you will never have this type of experience for the cash laid out for RSA from Good Sam’s. I considered GS RSA until I read several reviews. I realize that GS is relying and at the mercy of contract towing and mobile Rv techs. Sadly it appears GS is falling short of customer expectations in many ways. I hope you never need to use GS RSA and if you do your experience is better than the below reviews.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/good-sam-roadside-assistance.html

https://www.bbb.org/us/co/englewood/profile/roadside-assistance/good-sam-enterprises-llc-1296-75000910/complaints

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f59/good-sam-roadside-assistance-597037.html

 

 

 

[John Dorrer]

56 minutes ago, Patriot said:

Bill,

Here are a few very concerning open source reviews of Good Sam RSA coverage. As one Good Sam’s coverage owner said. “It sounds great when you sign up, but I the real world not so much”.

Hopefully you will never have this type of experience for the cash laid out for RSA from Good Sam’s. I considered GS RSA until I read several reviews. I realize that GS is relying and at the mercy of contract towing and mobile Rv techs. Sadly it appears GS is falling short of customer expectations in many ways. I hope you never need to use GS RSA and if you do your experience is better than the below reviews.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/good-sam-roadside-assistance.html

https://www.bbb.org/us/co/englewood/profile/roadside-assistance/good-sam-enterprises-llc-1296-75000910/complaints

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f59/good-sam-roadside-assistance-597037.html

 

 

 

I was a member of Good Sam, but didn't have the travel coverage. I dropped my membership, because I got tired of having their travel coverage slammed down my throat to the tune of emails to join every 2-3 days. The shopping discounts stopped being worth it. The reviews turned me off. I have been a long time AAA member so we shall see.

[topgun2]

1 hour ago, Patriot said:

Here are a few very concerning open source reviews of Good Sam RSA coverage. As one Good Sam’s coverage owner said. “It sounds great when you sign up, but I the real world not so much”.

Hopefully you will never have this type of experience for the cash laid out for RSA from Good Sam’s. I considered GS RSA until I read several reviews. I realize that GS is relying and at the mercy of contract towing and mobile Rv techs. Sadly it appears GS is falling short of customer expectations in many ways. I hope you never need to use GS RSA and if you do your experience is better than the below reviews.

 

2 minutes ago, John Dorrer said:

I dropped my membership, because I got tired of having their travel coverage slammed down my throat to the tune of emails to join every 2-3 days. The shopping discounts stopped being worth it. The reviews turned me off. I have been a long time AAA member so we shall see.

Yep - 

Notice I never said that they (Good Sam) are any good - I've not had to use them (yet).  All I did was change my policy to them when AAA didn't treat me so well.  

I'm guessing that "horror" stories can be related to just about any of these services.  These stories can be magnified due to the stress associated with the events that lead up to having the need for the service in the first place too.

My personal bottom line is that I believe that in today's world I'm better off with some kind of coverage versus not having any at all.  Basically all of these services (as far as I can tell) are pretty much organized upon the same basic business model.  If that is actually the case then the only thing(s) to differentiate them from one another is price and the quality of the folks that answer the phone when there is a problem.  Hopefully none of us ever need this insurance.

Bill

[Steve Morris]

For what it's worth, the RV Miles camping news YouTube channel is reporting that Camping World, the owner of Good Sam, might be in the process of selling off the Good Sam brand. That may or may not be a good thing if true.

I'm a 54 year member of AAA, getting my original coverage from my grandparents for my 16th birthday. Over time, I added Deb to the account when we got married, bumped up to the second tier when we got the MG (and used it twice...), added, then removed, driving age kids, and a few year ago added the RV/Motorcycle coverage. The latter for my herd of motor scooters more than for my tiny 5X8 Hiker trailer.  Somewhere I have a photo of a 90cc Vespa (not mine) on a big rollback tow truck. 😂

Over the years, I've read/heard good and bad reports about AAA's RV coverage. Most frequently, they involved leaving a trailer behind when getting a truck towed, or vise versa. In December I called AAA Central (which includes Ohio) to find the answer, and was told that different regions have different rules and coverage. Some will send two trucks and tow both vehicles, some only the disabled vehicle.

At that point, I called CoachNet, which now covers towed RVs as well as motor coaches, and posed the same question. They told me that they would send two trucks if the tow vehicle was disabled, never leaving a trailer behind. Several questions later, and I signed up for CoachNet before leaving for Florida in January.

I'll remove RV/motorcycle coverage from AAA at the next renewal, and seriously consider cancelling completely, since CoachNet covers all vehicles driven or owned by the policy holder and/or spouse. They just won't cover my MG or scooters. But it's hard to break a 54 year habit.

[John Dorrer]

36 minutes ago, Steve Morris said:

For what it's worth, the RV Miles camping news YouTube channel is reporting that Camping World, the owner of Good Sam, might be in the process of selling off the Good Sam brand. That may or may not be a good thing if true.

I'm a 54 year member of AAA, getting my original coverage for my 16th birthday from my grandparents. Over time, I added Deb to the account when we got married, bumped up to the second tier when we got the MG (and used it twice...), added, then removed, driving age kids, and a few year ago added the RV/Motorcycle coverage. The latter for my herd of motor scooters more than for my tiny 5X8 Hiker trailer.  Somewhere I gave a photo of a 90cc Vespa (not mine) on a big rollback tow truck. 😂

Over the years, I've read/heard good and bad reports about AAA's RV coverage. Most frequently, they involved leaving a trailer behind when getting a truck towed, or vise versa. In December I called AAA Central (which includes Ohio) to find the answer, and was told that different regions have different rules and coverage. Some will send two trucks and tow both vehicles, some only the disabled vehicle.

At that point, I called CoachNet, which now covers towed RVs as well as motor coaches, and posed the same question. They told me that they would send two trucks if the tow vehicle was disabled, never leaving a trailer behind. Several questions later, and I signed up for CoachNet before leaving for Florida in January.

I'll remove RV/motorcycle coverage from AAA at the next renewal, and seriously consider cancelling completely, since CoachNet covers all vehicles driven or owned by the policy holder and/or spouse. They just won't cover my MG or scooters. But it's hard to break a 54 year habit.

Wow! Very interesting since we have had AAA for 50+ years. When I switched to Plus RV I was assured AAA would have 2 tow trucks dispatched. Need to reavaluate.

[John Dorrer]

2 hours ago, topgun2 said:

 

Yep - 

Notice I never said that they (Good Sam) are any good - I've not had to use them (yet).  All I did was change my policy to them when AAA didn't treat me so well.  

I'm guessing that "horror" stories can be related to just about any of these services.  These stories can be magnified due to the stress associated with the events that lead up to having the need for the service in the first place too.

My personal bottom line is that I believe that in today's world I'm better off with some kind of coverage versus not having any at all.  Basically all of these services (as far as I can tell) are pretty much organized upon the same basic business model.  If that is actually the case then the only thing(s) to differentiate them from one another is price and the quality of the folks that answer the phone when there is a problem.  Hopefully none of us ever need this insurance.

Bill

👍

[Steve Morris]

1 hour ago, John Dorrer said:

Need to reavaluate.

Please check with your region's representative and let us know what you find. What is disturbing if true, is that I could be travelling through a region where two tow trucks would not be sent, and I'd be up a creek!

[Rivernerd]

6 hours ago, Patriot said:

Sadly it appears GS is falling short of customer expectations in many ways.

Unfortunately, "par for the course" for most insurance companies.

I am a retired litigation attorney.  35 years representing insurance companies taught me to buy insurance for major risks (like home and auto), because such a loss could be devastating.  But I avoid insuring minor risks, the consequences of which won't kill the budget (like roadside assistance, car repairs, extended warranties, etc.) 

Insurance claims managers are repeatedly schooled to "Just Say No" to claims if at all possible.  When it comes to small claims (like a roadside assistance tow, for example), their mantra is "JUST SAY NO."  They get downgraded or fired for allowing claims.  They get promoted for saving $$$ at the expense of wasting your time (like calling a cheaper tow company far away from where you broke down, and letting you wait for hours).

If I ever need help while on the road, I find the closest shop or tow service and pay "the freight."   In the long run, it is cheaper, and less exasperating, than roadside assistance insurance.

Even major loss insurance is highly profitable for the carriers.  How do you think insurance companies can afford those expensive TV ads (think Allstate and State Farm)?

[Steph and Dud B]

7 hours ago, Steve Morris said:

CoachNet... told me that they would send two trucks if the tow vehicle was disabled

That was our experience with them. They sent a huge flatbed for our 4x4 dually and a heavy duty wrecker for the fifth wheel and towed them both to the nearest Ford dealer - after arranging for the dealer to leave the gate unlocked because they were closing before we got there. Excellent service.

[SeaDawg]

We haven't used good sams for vehicle and trailer, thankfully, but good sams for vehicle has been very good for us. (Coverage without the trailer in tow, several times.)

My wish? Not so many renewal and advert notices.

I'm looking at coachnet.

[topgun2]

22 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

But I avoid insuring minor risks, the consequences of which won't kill the budget (like roadside assistance, car repairs, extended warranties, etc.) 

Insurance - of most any kind - can serve purposes other than the most obvious budget buster protection.

Making sure that you have enough financial resources on hand in order to cover the expense of whatever it is you're trying to insure.  In the specific instance of a roadside assistance issue, there just may be a situation in which cash works a bunch better than credit cards, checks or even that "dreaded" insurance company.  Or, you simply do not wish to carry as much "cash" as you might need to cover whatever expense that comes your way.  So, you chose to "off-load" that cash carrying risk onto an insurance company.

Peace of mind is another area that can be helped by having insurance.  Simply having someone to talk to can help calm many people during what they might deem an emergency.  And/or it is possible that the insurance company on the other end of the line could also assist in getting law enforcement/medical to the location if needed.  Indeed, in the example I mentioned in my post above - even though AAA could/would not help with towing, they did ask if I needed police and/or medical assistance.

Not knowing who to call or who might be the best for your particular situation is yet another area that can be helped via the insurance route. This is certainly true when you are out in an area of the country that is totally unfamiliar to you.  It can also be true for those of us that feel they do not have enough knowledge about the Ollie or their tow vehicle such that they can tell a tow company and/or other service tech what they might need to get out of the situation they find themselves in.

Different strokes for different folks.

Bill

 

[SeaDawg]

Roadside insurance is actually pretty inexpensive,  and adds peace of mind, for me.

Warranties are another story. If you keep vehicles "forever," as we do, a lifetime warranty can be a bargain. I doubt theyre sold anymore. (My Silverado,  if human, would be old enough to vote, and buy alcohol,  next year. 😀)  The warranty on our 2008 Ram has paid for itself several times over. If we had kept it only a few years, not so.