Roadside Assistance

[accordionman]

Anyone have any experience with this company. We're taking delivery of our Travel Trailer in about a week or two and picking a roadside service seems to be an exercise in pain. Every service that we have researched has people who love it and people who hate it; bar none. I've narrowed my search down to two: Safe Ride and Good Sam. There is some interesting differences in the way they use the English language, which gives room to how they (legally) respond to a similar situation.

Take "flat tire servicing". Good Sam says " they may, on occasion, and whenever possible make arrangements for a member to purchase a tire(s) for delivery to the disablement scene.

Safe Ride - same scenario: delivery of a comparable tire to the disablement site or for towing of your vehicle to a repair facility.

With the Safe Ride agreement, there is no "May", "on occasion" or "whenever possible". Now I'm not so naive to think that this difference in language is any kind of a guarantee, but it sure leaves GS a lot of room for saying "it's not possible" or whatever. It also leaves room with Safe Ride for a legal action if they don't perform vs GS has a legal out built in. Maybe I'm picking on the wording a bit much, but don't insurance companies do the same things.

Any thoughts on this insanity would be appreciated.

Ed

 

[Punomatic]

We've had Good Sam for 11 years. We have had three occasions to use it: two with RVs and one with our family sedan. In every case we had service that was courteous and helpful. Here's how they went down. [list type=decimal]
[*]Brakes went out on our MH on a Sunday. We called GSRA. They said they couldn't find a shop open that day, and couldn't guarantee that whatever shop they towed us to would be able to help. I told them we were safe for the night, so could they tow us in the morning. They agreed, and a tow truck showed up right on time the next day and towed us to a great shop who started immediately and fixed our coach promptly.
[*]Battery went dead on our family sedan. I called GSRA. Within a half hour, a tech showed up and jump started our car.
[*]Blew out a spark plug on our F350 V10, while hauling our TC on New Years weekend. GSRA was not able to find an available tow on a lonely stretch of US101 on the Oregon coast. A supervisor called the State Police for us to find out who might be available to tow us that wasn't on GSRA's list of providers. We were instructed to call a specific tow company directly and then submit a claim for reimbursement. We called and got a prompt tow by a truck and RV repair shop. They towed us in, repaired our pickup, and we were on our way within about a three hour time frame. GSRA reimbursed us for the tow.
[/list]

In my mind, these were all reasonable services, and I felt that GSRA was diligent in helping us to solve our problem. Every story I have read about GSRA not being helpful has seemed to have a component of the customer having, what I would consider, unreasonable expectations. The whole idea of roadside assistance insurance is to have a resource to help you remain safe and get your vehicle to someone who can repair it. If you are reasonable in working with them, they will be diligent in helping you. You may have to alter your planned time of arrival at your intended destination, but at least you have someone to help you get on your way again.

Good luck with your quest.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

GS is well-known for taking advantage of loophole clauses, but there are numerous reports where the roadside service contractor brought out a tire when needed.  As you noted, however, there is no way that GS (or anyone else) can guarantee that a suitable tire will be available in a timely fashion, or that every contractor will have the capability to change every size & type of tire at the roadside site.  Asking for a tire to be delivered and mounted may well delay service for hours or even days if the tire size is an oddball or a particular brand is demanded.

No roadside assist policy is better than the local contractors it has to employ to get the work done at the scene. The services available from the local contractor will depend heavily on where the breakdown occurs and the day & time.  There is always a risk that you might get the 3rd string guy cause the better services or techs are already busy helping somebody else. Or you are in a rural area where Bubba's Tire & Auto is the only game in town.  It's a bit of a crap shoot.

I agree with Punomatic about "unreasonable expectations" in many negative reports.  People tend not to read the terms and conditions when they sign up and then get incensed when they find the policy doesn't do what they wished it did or live up to the sales rep glowing words about getting "help when you need it". Caveat Emptor.

 

[Alfa38User]

Have you tried CoachNet? Most people here that have used them have reported very favourably on their treatment.