Why Roadside assistance? March 26, 2015, 07:50:18 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151825I realize most feel they must have roadside assistance insurance. I don't understand the need.If you need service, make the call and pay for it. Three years premium would cover a lot of service.In 30 years of RVing I have never needed service. I am prepared to change a flat and have done so three times which averages out to once every 10 years.Tire service is more difficult now at 70 years old but 10 years of premium should cover it if I have to hire it done.Obviously I am missing something. What is it? Harry 2006 RB.
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #1 – March 26, 2015, 09:52:42 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151830QuoteIn 30 years of RVing I have never needed service. I am prepared to change a flat and have done so three times which averages out to once every 10 years. You answered your own question. Anybody who can change a flat on a RV rarely would need the assistance and out of pocket will do in that rare event. My ex, on the other had would not change a tire and has a habit of locking her keys in the car. Roadside help was a necessity. :-)
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #2 – March 27, 2015, 12:29:45 am Yahoo Message Number: 151835I'm used to changing tires on my cars. And if you believe the only thing that can go wrong with an RV is a flat tire, and you're prepared to change an inside rear dually (the most likely tire to blow) all by yourself, then perhaps you don't need road service.But in my fifteen years in the road, I've experienced multiple belt failures (a notorious weak point with the old Chevy V8 engines), had my rig disabled by lightning, and been stuck in sand, among other things. All these incidents required towing. None were things I could fix myself. Coach-Net road service saved my butt each time. A friend of mine experienced a catastrophic transmission failure. Coach-Net towed her rig to a service facility. Others here can tell similar stories.I'm fairly competent mechanically, and I probably carry more tools than the average RVer. But I know my limits. RV road service is there to handle any situations that I can't. As far as I'm concerned, it's a bargain.One other thing: I often hear people who don't see the need for road service say, "If my rig breaks down, I'll just call a mechanic." OK, picture yourself sitting by the side of a deserted highway somewhere in Arizona. You have no internet connection, and your cell phone roof antenna and booster amp (you do have those, right?) can barely pull in a usable signal. How do you know whom to call? Do you know what the nearest town is? Do you even know what county you're in?With a road service such as Coach-Net, you call an 800 number and they do the research for you, finding the nearest good mechanic... and paying for your tow, which could otherwise cost hundreds of dollars. That's a service worth having, in my humble opinion.Andy Baird
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #3 – March 27, 2015, 02:30:56 am Yahoo Message Number: 151839I have to agree with Andy. Isn't the idea of insurance ... hoping you NEVER have to use it ... but a safety net in case of need.I have owned a AAA RV policy for several years. It costs about $180 per year and covers my cars, and my RV.I've had to use it three times, twice for tires, although one tire blowout did enough damage the AAA guy had to return for parts twice then six hours after the blow out, we were on the road again. The third rescue was a disabled engine with a tow of 70 miles. I believe I could be paying for insurance for several more years to get to a breakeven point. But ... of course ... I hope I never have to use the insurance ever again.Dale
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #4 – March 27, 2015, 03:16:12 am Yahoo Message Number: 151840"Why Road Assistance?" For piece of mind and to minimize complications in a bad situation. If you carry enough tools to handle any situation you must have a Semi Truck based RV. That is not what I want. Knowing you have help if a situation arises you can't resolve, it's hard to put a price on that. Before I was retired I used to sit on the hot asphalt changing my own tires, or begging for a jump to my battery from someone. No more. The less I have to worry about, the more fun my trip will be. Always follow the "K.I.S.S." principle. Andy summed it up better than I could.bobmoore14
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #5 – March 27, 2015, 10:18:04 am Yahoo Message Number: 151842"If you need service, make the call and pay for it. Three years premium would cover a lot of service."----- Like a lot of other things, carrying an emergency road service policy is a personal choice. I'm aware that, for whatever their reasons, many people don't see the need; for me, having emergency road service coverage is well worth the cost (which, IMO, is minimal, compared to what it would cost for an out-of-pocket tow!).I travel solo, very often in areas where there are very few or no nearby "services", and I don't tow; if something happens to the rig that renders it immovable, I'm stuck. I can't push the thing, and I doubt that I could change a tire on a motorhome; even with a breaker bar for leverage, I realize that I'm probably not strong enough any more to loosen the lugs! As Andy said, a blown tire is only one of a whole list of on-the-road mishaps that can (and do) go wrong!If and when something does happen, I want to be able to call *one* number that on the little card (from the service that I already paid for!), explain the problem, give the location, and wait for the truck; I do not want to be calling around, searching out "local" tow shops (if there are any!) to try to find one that's capable of delivering the necessary service, i.e., "motorhome ready" and agrees to show up!Contacting *any* service provider depends on having a cell signal, of course, and that's often the case where I and a lot of other people travel; in this case, all I can do is hope that if something does go south on the road, there's a tower within connection distance.I wouldn't travel without an emergency road service policy any more than I'd drive any vehicle anywhere without full insurance coverage; for me, a road service policy is just another level of insurance.As ever, YMMV.Joan
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #6 – March 27, 2015, 10:55:03 am Yahoo Message Number: 151845Put me in the camp of those who wouldn't think about traveling without roadside assistance. For one thing, if you're in a strange area, how will you know who to call? We've had to be towed twice...once for at least 25 miles (perhaps more) and once for 10-15 miles. If we'd had to pay for those tows, it would have cost way more than what we'd paid for roadside assistance! Once we were caught without a spare tire (long story) and had a flat. It was on a Sunday afternoon out in the middle of nowhere Texas. Without roadside assistance, we would have had no idea who to call...at the time, we did not have a smartphone, so wouldn't even have been able to look up someone. All of this was done with one phone call and no money out of our pocket. Why do you have auto and RV insurance? Why do you have health insurance? We all hope that we don't ever need to use the insurance, but it's great to have when you need it.Linda Hylton
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #7 – March 27, 2015, 11:59:01 am Yahoo Message Number: 151847"that's a service worth having"After have many years of travelling in a motor home under my belt, I would never go without a good towing service that is designed for motor homes. I've had electrical fires under the hood, had a fire start in my criuise control system on the steering column, as well as many other types of odd situations. Our Good Sam service has handled every one without a problem. Been towed a few time on trips for many, many miles, to the "nearest capable service business that can handle the job". All under the Good Sam Service. They've never dropped the ball. So a big "Amen" to Andy's response.Barry "O" - 06MB-Ruby Red
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #8 – March 27, 2015, 12:15:51 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151848Seems I'm in the minority regarding roadside assistance insurance.Insurance companies make money, and a lot of it too, by collecting more from their customers than they pay out for the services those customers actually need. Thus, on average, if you simply save premium dollars and pay for services yourself as you need them, you'll save in the long run.In Andy's example of a breakdown with almost nil for cell service, one would be in a bind in any case, and most likely need to flag down a passing motorist to relay the call for a tow truck etc. BTW, contacting almost any local law enforcement or highway patrol will get you a contact number for roadside help and most will be pleased to call for you, often with the advantage of knowing that the tow service is regarded well by them.I'm not saying don't get insurance. If you don't mind making payments for years, often with nothing in return for those dollars save being secure knowing someone's there to help should the need arise, that's fine. But realize there is help to be had without having insurance. Those same service companies are just as pleased to get your money direct - - in fact, most are even more pleased, as the insurance companies are notorious for squeezing the tow/repair companies to accept lower prices for their services (which means more profit for the insurance company). It can be a real eye opener to talk with a tow service owner and ask what they think of which insurance company - I have.Like many here, I've been driving for a good while, in my case over 50 years, I've had a few road side events. All but one I've handled myself by being prepared, only one required a tow truck. In one case I was grinning like a smug cheshire cat when on the road again in just minutes. A VW bug broke the contact point in the distributor, I always carried a spare.bumper
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #9 – March 27, 2015, 02:45:09 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151855"I have owned a AAA RV policy for several years. It costs about $180 per year and covers my cars, and my RV."For what it's worth, Coach-Net costs less than you're paying AAA, covers all your vehicles... and unlike AAA, is staffed by RV techs and (most important) will send out a wrecker and crew that are fully able to handle any size RV.If you read the fine print in your AAA contract, I believe you'll find that they don't promise RV service in all areas... so you'd better be sure you break down in one of the areas where they do provide service. ;-)That aside, I've lost track of the number of times over the years I've read stories of people who called AAA for RV service, only to have a small truck show up that was not equipped to deal with anything larger than a minivan (and a driver similarly handicapped).Andy Baird
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #10 – March 27, 2015, 11:41:54 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151868Linda, Joan and Larry,Mary and I have been R V ing since the early 70's and several of these were fixer uppers. Needless to say that we had our fair amount of troubles on the road, including a carburetor fire near Chicken, Alaska with a 1977 33 ft Apollo with a Dodge 440 in 1999.Many a time I have been underneath the rig to fix our problem and flying parts in from the USA. Fortunately, we were towing a Mazda pickup, so we were not stranded. However, we considered this part of life on the road and with that rig we have cruised many areas of the U S and Mexico. Our 2001 Lazy Daze was our first new rig that we ever bought and we have enjoyed this quite a bit. (odometer 84000 miles +) I have always carried a fair amount of tools with me and if possible I do most of my own repairs, even Inside dual tire changes. I basically use Larry's system But I us my leveling jack and the bottle jack. Yes, we do carry "Good Sam" towing insurance and through our R V times have used this quite a bit over the years. For those who think that you do not need this I assure you if you break down and need to be towed 130 miles for the closest repair place. Very few Ford dealers like to work on R V's. This happened to us with our Lazy Daze.Long live "Towing Insurance"AadPS: Sorry for shooting out the unfinished e-mailPut me in the camp of those who wouldn't think about traveling without roadside assistance. For one thing, if you're in a strange area, how will you know who to call? We've had to be towed twice...once for at least 25 miles (perhaps more) and once for 10-15 miles. If we'd had to pay for those tows, it would have cost way more than what we'd paid for roadside assistance! Once we were caught without a spare tire (long story) and had a flat. It was on a Sunday afternoon out in the middle of nowhere Texas. Without roadside assistance, we would have had no idea who to call...at the time, we did not have a smartphone, so wouldn't even have been able to look up someone. All of this was done with one phone call and no money out of our pocket. Why do you have auto and RV insurance? Why do you have health insurance? We all hope that we don't ever need to use the insurance, but it's great to have when you need it.Linda Hylton
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #11 – March 28, 2015, 01:21:18 am Yahoo Message Number: 151871Just another oar in the water. Emergency Roadside Insurance: A bet you won't need it. Type 1 and type 2 errors- you assume an event will occur and it doesn't vs you assume it won't and it does.Sort of like Pascal's wager.just saying
Re: Why Roadside assistance? Reply #12 – March 28, 2015, 03:45:19 pm Yahoo Message Number: 151881I don't carry extended warranties or any other maintenance insurance. I self insure and it has paid off. But I do carry roadside assistance. Not for the monetary value or lack of it. But for the one call to get assistance. When I'm in a remote town I have no idea who to call. I have no idea who's competent and who's not. At the very least Coach Net probably rules out quite a bit of incompetence and only contracts with first tier providers. FWIW I haven't needed it yet either. But previously I've changed tires along the road in 100 degree heat and and dealt with bad wheel bearings on boat trailers. Those experience may contribute to the richness of life, but they're not necessarily something I want to repeat.
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Topic: Why Roadside assistance? (Read 19 times)
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