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Roadside Assistance services - recommendations?


KGordon

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Took Mosey out for a maide spin from our home in NW New Jersey aiming for the  Cabellas near Kutztown, PA. (About 1 1/2 hr trip). Loaded black and grey tanks with cleaner, and planned on using C's pump station to clean them out and reload with Happy Camper so they'd be ready for a real trip.  Stopped to buy lunch, no problems.  But when I stopped for gas, she wouldn't start.  Turned key and' lick', even tho electrical all worked. Dead starter (and here we thought we'd taken care of all the weak points). Called AAA because I have Plus, which I believed covered any vehicle I was driving. They dispatched a man quickly. He told me that Plus didn't cover RV's, needed specific policy for that.  Nevertheless, he was very nice.  Even got a bar and tried the "whack the starter trick", and showed me where to feel cause he thought it might come back to life when things had cooled down.  Then called my insurance company, Liberty Mutual, gave them the RV policy number and specifically told them I was driving a small class C.  Two hours later, nothing. Called again, much embarrassment.  My call had been lost in the system, and my vehicle misclassified as a passenger car.  Tow promised. Waited an hour, called again, said I was getting worried because I needed to get disabled hubby home for meds. Apparently they were having trouble finding a company that had the proper towing capacity and could cross state lines. Waited, but was in communication with the friend who helped restore the truck part to see if it could be towed to his place.   Destination confirmed, and he said he'd come get us rather than meet us, since the tow truck prob wouldn't have room for hubby, me and dog in the cab. Then two calls from a supervisor, my problem had been upgraded.  Second one said a tow was coming from Allentown, and gave me the name of the company.   When my friend arrived, we chatted a bit, and then he called the tow company.  Was told they didn't have a driver and we were out of their area.  While I called Liberty to update them, he decided to see if he could start the rig with a jump from his big SUV (by this time earlier tries had tired out the battery). Success!  I told Liberty to cancel the call, and he followed us back to his shop and then took us home (that's what I call a FRIEND!).  Whole adventure lasted from 5:30 pm to 2:00 am, and Mosey now has a new battery and starter. 

So, is there a consensus on which assistance service is best for our rigs?  I'm sure there are horror stories about all of them (I've certainly had my share with AAA, especially back in the days when I had a 120 mile RT commute and was driving disposable Honda Civics and a 4WD Toyota Tercel wagon). But given the size of a Toy home, what do folks recommend?

Must say this was the most comfortable breakdown of my life.  Got takeout from the diner next door the the gas station where we were stuck, walked the dog, used our nice clean loo, and hung out in the breeze of out Maxxaire in the coach!

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The people I know that full time use Coach-net.com     https://coach-net.com/

If you go to RV forums and ask, the people that have been RV'ing long term give coach net high marks.

I use Coach net.

I recently renewed and did some due dilligence before doing so, still Coach net has the least issues and great reviews.

None of these company's own any equipment, all work is done by sub contractors and call centers. 

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 Derek is right, it was our maiden spin...first little trip.   And I wifll definitely check out coach-net.com.  Due diligence is clearly needed.  

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it must be a Toyota thing with older Toyotas . I had three Toyota trucks that did the same thing .even my 85 toy mini does it once in a while . throw jumper cables on or turn key a ton of times  and they start. may go months with it not doing it again .then it does it again . never did found the problem. one of my trucks only had 16000 miles on it. I just live with because it always starts sooner or later.as for AAA plus they loaded my toy on a flat bed and delivered  it 200 miles home for free and they were careful with it .they were really nice people to deal with. 

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I have AAA and while no breaking down yet on any of my vehicles, I always max out services for friends and relatives. Avg wait is about 1 hr. In SF Bay Areas. If I have to tow the motor home for a long distance by myself, I  would disconnect the drive shaft and use my tow dolly

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I recently had my motor replaced, and when I did the mech asked me about getting a new starter. I asked why and let him know I felt it was the battery after watching when it did the clicking the battery voltage would drop then slowly rise back up after a start attempt.

Turned out the ground wire was completely corroded going from battery to chassis and would heat up and flake out every now and then. They replaced it and it starts like a champ now; on that old battery.

I too use AAA for everything.

Edited by Totem
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I've always been happy with AAA. Have the RV plus, so I think I get up to 200 miles free. Costs about $100 a year. I've never had to wait more than maybe an hour. You are allowed a total of 4 tows a year under Carolinas AAA, and one year had to use all 4. Interestingly, with all the places I've been, all my break downs were on short trips, within 75 miles of home.

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I have AAA with the RV Plus, but when my Nissan Sunrader wouldn't start in Connecticut over Memorial Day weekend, the tow operator who showed up said it wasn't covered. (I'm with AAA in California, and I guess CT has different rules.) I paid for the tow out-of-pocket $200, submitted a form to my AAA club (CSAA) for reimbursement and am still waiting to hear back. I'll update here once I get their reply.

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5 hours ago, sweetleon said:

I have AAA with the RV Plus, but when my Nissan Sunrader wouldn't start in Connecticut over Memorial Day weekend, the tow operator who showed up said it wasn't covered. (I'm with AAA in California, and I guess CT has different rules.) I paid for the tow out-of-pocket $200, submitted a form to my AAA club (CSAA) for reimbursement and am still waiting to hear back. I'll update here once I get their reply.

And what was the reason it wouldnt be covered? Seems like if you have a package called RV Plus it would seem thats what the heck its for!:angry:

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AAA Plus/RV only tows 100 miles.

I've had very good luck with AAA. I also have a tow rider on my insurance which will reimburse up to $250.00 (Farm Bureau NC).

Any mileage over 100, AAA charges $4.00 per mile. So I'm good for up to 160 miles.

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I was asking for a tow of <100 miles. I think there was just some confusion over what the local AAA club offers vs. what my AAA club does. I'm pretty confident that they'll reimburse me. Either way, I'll update here within a month.

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  • 2 months later...

Well, I finally got reimbursed after Labor Day for a tow that took place just before Memorial Day. And it took quite a bit of hassle to get reimbursed, during which I was told that some regional AAA clubs won’t honor my California membership’s RV towing agreement.

So I can’t endorse AAA, and am considering other options when it comes time to renew my membership next month. 

The one thing AAA offers in CA that I can’t replace is DMV services. If I buy an in-state vehicle, they can handle the registration for me without going to a DMV office. I was also able to pickup personalized plates at a AAA instead of going to the DMV. 

Edited by sweetleon
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