Roadside Assistance - AAA, GS, Your Insurance etc?

[Lorrie]

I’ve seen a few older threads here on Roadside Assistance (NOT insurance to be clear) and wanted to get some newer feedback. Which company has been best for you? We are AAA classic members and to move from Classic to Plus and add RV is the same cost as keeping AAA classic for the cars and adding Good Sam’s at least for year one. Our Allstate policy does not include roadside. I’m leaning Good Sam’s. My husband is very mechanical (rebuilds classic VWs) but I’ll be towing a lot on my own and well, not mechanical at all. Suggestions? Thanks!

[mary and bob]

We have both AAA Plus with RV and Good Sam Roadside. Have not had to use either one yet. Got the Good Sam because I heard that the AAA RV was not available or honored in all states. Good Sam is cheap for the first year then increases after that. I'm a retired truck mechanic, but when traveling a couple thousand miles from home, with a limited amount of tools, it's hard to do much for repairs along the road. If you need assistance or towing when far from home it's nice to have someplace to call that has the resources to find assistance in your area. How fast or how good the response is always variable depending on the vendor that AAA or GS has to use. Remember that all those vendors just contract to AAA or GS and that AAA and GS are little more than an answering service and have practically no control over response time.

[dmad1]

I have posted here before about my last bad experience with Good Sam in North Carolina. Short story is that I had locked the keys in the car at a roadside tourist site. Was on the phone for about 40 minutes trying to get help from GS. Gave them the two towns we were located between and the highway number and they still could not locate us on a map. The two towns were only 20 miles apart. Ended up hitching back to camp after dark for another set of keys and had to catch a ride back to the car. When we returned back home, I contacted GS and all I got was "We're sorry". Now have AAA. Can't be as bad as what we experienced that night with GS.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

Got the Good Sam because I heard that the AAA RV was not available or honored in all states.

I have BCAA RV Plus and it covers me for roadside assistance anywhere in US and Canada. I expect AAA is the same. All you have to do is look up what's covered on the AAA website.
I tried to look it up for you, but it keeps redirecting me to BCAA.

[ssatkinson]

We have AAA RV and used it recently for a blown tire on the Casita near Yankton, SD. Took 10 minutes to get through their series of questions (location, weight of trailer, height of trailer, etc.) and another hour for mechanic to arrive. Took about 5 minutes to put the spare on. (We had it out and ready.) My frustration was with the long series of redundant questions over info that should have been in the file already (other than location) but once help arrived things went smoothly. Been members for 10 years and usually no problems.

[mary and bob]

Thanks Glenn for the effort. I have heard people say their AAA location did not offer the RV option. Also without some thorough reading I believe the services between AAA and GS are not the same, such as towing distance and to where they will tow you to. Having had to deal with many road calls myself at work I know how screwed up things can get. I just got over cautious by having both services as we were on a 4 month trip. Of course I haven't used either one YET, and hope I never have to. On another note about using AAA RV. Our daughter lives 2 1/2 hours away and owns a pop-up camper. Every June we go to her house, get the camper, take it to a state park 20 minutes away and stay in it a few nights. Then she uses it for 2 or 3 more weeks at the same park, same site. Then she tows it home. Well this year she has a different car, Subaru Forester, and doesn't want to tow the camper with it. So she called AAA, said the car was broke down, and they said they would tow the camper home for her. She gets her moneys worth out of that AAA policy !!

[neparker]

I have both, but have only used AAA (on three occasions). I was pleased with the response time twice, but one time, I couldn't get AAA on the phone, so I called the closest AAA service directly, and they came quickly. I had to pay the service station, but filled out the requisite forms and was reimbursed by AAA, since they didn't respond.

[Raspy]

r

Originally Posted by ssatkinson

We have AAA RV and used it recently for a blown tire on the Casita near Yankton, SD. Took 10 minutes to get through their series of questions (location, weight of trailer, height of trailer, etc.) and another hour for mechanic to arrive. Took about 5 minutes to put the spare on. (We had it out and ready.) My frustration was with the long series of redundant questions over info that should have been in the file already (other than location) but once help arrived things went smoothly. Been members for 10 years and usually no problems.

This could have been much worse if there was no cell service, and/or no other cars going by.

Tire changing seems like a skill that every driver or RV owner should be familiar with. If you have no personal physical restrictions, it's much more practical and quicker to just change a tire yourself, especially on a small trailer. It might even make the difference between spending a very long time stranded and being on your way in 15 minutes. It's not always a good idea to call AAA just because you have a contract with them and can call, especially for something as simple as a flat.

An example of this is that we have AAA and got a flat in Nevada 80 miles from the nearest services. No cell service and cars only came by about every 15 to 30 minutes. I had no intention of sitting around waiting with no clear solution in sight. We were out of there in 20 minutes.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Lorrie

I’ve seen a few older threads here on Roadside Assistance (NOT insurance to be clear) and wanted to get some newer feedback. Which company has been best for you? We are AAA classic members and to move from Classic to Plus and add RV is the same cost as keeping AAA classic for the cars and adding Good Sam’s at least for year one. Our Allstate policy does not include roadside. I’m leaning Good Sam’s. My husband is very mechanical (rebuilds classic VWs) but I’ll be towing a lot on my own and well, not mechanical at all. Suggestions? Thanks!

We have GS towing. It has always come through for us. They will tow your trailer separately from the tow vehicle if need be. Some tow policies will not tow the trailer. So check them out carefully. We've had them for at least 25 years and have had vehicles towed out of our garage when our vehicle wouldn't start, had help changing a tire on a motorhome while on the Interstate and had several other tows over the years. We have the premium tow service since we have the motorhome and the Casita. GS will only cover one RV on their cheapest plan but most don't have 2 like us. They will also cover any car you are in and help with expenses when you have a break down away from home if over a certain amount of miles. They also cover both of us for one price. Some tow policies charge extra for the spouse. We are happy with Good Sam so far.

[Carl Pa]

I have GS, had a blowout, tried to explain my location, they said, we got you from your cell phone. Wanted to know the size of my tire, said it was to close to the hwy. they said go to other side, look," duh " Were there in less then an hour. Knees and back not good to change tires, plus tire was on the edge of traffic on 81 S. Plus wife said " don't you dare get down there to change that tire, your to wobbly" Carl

[thrifty bill]

All of them rely on local service providers. Those local providers can be excellent, poor, and everything in between.

The youtube couple on loloho site had a breakdown in wine country of California. GS could not even make it that day! Not exactly the middle of nowhere.

[mary and bob]

The company I worked for had a policy that if a roadcall was in a unsafe location, for whatever reason, including like Carl's situation on the edge of a busy highway, we were to call a tow truck to move the unit to a safe location or let outside service handle the whole call. In other words, don't go out and take the chance of getting hurt, but it's OK for them to go and take the risk.

[monB]

There's always "RV Roadhelp", offered by Allstate. I had them for several years, never needed them. Used...excuse, me...TRIED to use Good Sam but they were less than available...large city, flat tire, no show. Now have AAA Plus, have used them for the car, speedy, and there when you need them.

Mon

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

The company I worked for had a policy that if a roadcall was in a unsafe location, for whatever reason, including like Carl's situation on the edge of a busy highway, we were to call a tow truck to move the unit to a safe location or let outside service handle the whole call. In other words, don't go out and take the chance of getting hurt, but it's OK for them to go and take the risk.

In this situation, the best thing to do is proceed slowly with your flashers on until you can get off the road far enough to be safe. Once a trailer tire has blown, it's toast anyway. The wheels are cheap. Drive on it to safety. Waiting for the tow truck to tow you to safety endangers everyone for a longer time.

I've seen cops escort vehicles off of San Mateo Bridge in CA this way. It's the quickest way to get everyone safe instead of waiting for a tow truck and endangering him too. It doesn't matter your personal physical ability. If you can drive, you can get the vehicle off the road and out of harm way.

There seems to be some thinking that since you paid for the service you are going to use it regardless of the dangers to yourself and others, or delays involved, with waiting for a tow truck. I don't want my rig and my family sitting where we could get rear ended at highawy speeds any second. That is a much bigger concern than whether I will do additional damage to an aleady blown tire.

On a dually, it's much harder to change the tire and I can see getting help, but the truck will drive just fine to safety with one of the duals blown.

I don't want to be towed unless I can't make it move on it's own.

[mary and bob]

Fortunately I never had to do tire road calls, we always used a tire service for those. But many times it was because the truck wouldn't run, and since our shop was within 20 miles of Interstate 90 we had a lot of road calls along it. No fun with traffic going by at 70 mph. Usually it was only the truckers that would pull over into the left lane as they went by.

[Wacenturion]

Had AAA Premium RV and switched to Good Sam, Covers more and less cost.