unix wrote:

Somebody please explain to me what's the big deal about having roadside assistance? Maybe because I'm still young and able to change my own tires and I also haven't found roadside assistance to be that horribly expensive out-of-pocket the times I have had to call.

Examples: last month, had to get on-site service to replace a 8.25x20 tube. $101, and the service guy had to drive 25 miles. About five years ago, a 22.5 steer tire, had to buy a new tire (would have anyway even with AAA/GS), it was only $325 installed on the side of the road.

Last flat I had on my TV (F250), I had it changed and back under way in about 15 minutes.

Last (and only) time I've needed a tow was a recovery after running off the road, they sent a rollback, and then their heavy duty (as in 18-wheeler rig) tow truck. $40 bucks is all they wanted - it didn't take much time, but the small truck couldn't pull it.

I'm not sure I want to pay $100 a year just to be towed to the "nearest service provider" either.

I figure $100 bucks saved every year will go a long ways towards paying for when I ever do need a tow, and I get to pick where (and priority over all y'all, where the tow operator only gets $35 from AAA for the trip).

I have recently (a couple of months ago) looked into AAA and GS, and have read the 'fine print'. IMHO, not worth it. Things like if you call for a jump, and the service guy tests your battery as bad, your only choice is to buy a battery on the spot from him...they say only jump if dead, not bad (just to get you to NAPA or whereever so you can replace with a brand of your choice).

unix wrote:

Somebody please explain to me what's the big deal about having roadside assistance? Maybe because I'm still young and able to change my own tires and I also haven't found roadside assistance to be that horribly expensive out-of-pocket the times I have had to call.

weathershak wrote:

Unfortunately, it is probably going to get worse. . Some areas have great coverage with AAA and not GS ERS and visa versa. With fuel costs rising and a flat rate fee from insurance providers, alot of towing companies do not want to participate. I will continue to subscribe at least knowing someone will eventually show up (I hope). If we had a breakdown and required a tow vehicle for both TT and TV, I could not imagine the out of pocket expense that would be.

unix wrote:

Somebody please explain to me what's the big deal about having roadside assistance? Maybe because I'm still young and able to change my own tires and I also haven't found roadside assistance to be that horribly expensive out-of-pocket the times I have had to call.

Examples: last month, had to get on-site service to replace a 8.25x20 tube. $101, and the service guy had to drive 25 miles. About five years ago, a 22.5 steer tire, had to buy a new tire (would have anyway even with AAA/GS), it was only $325 installed on the side of the road.

Last flat I had on my TV (F250), I had it changed and back under way in about 15 minutes.

Last (and only) time I've needed a tow was a recovery after running off the road, they sent a rollback, and then their heavy duty (as in 18-wheeler rig) tow truck. $40 bucks is all they wanted - it didn't take much time, but the small truck couldn't pull it.

I'm not sure I want to pay $100 a year just to be towed to the "nearest service provider" either.

I figure $100 bucks saved every year will go a long ways towards paying for when I ever do need a tow, and I get to pick where (and priority over all y'all, where the tow operator only gets $35 from AAA for the trip).

I have recently (a couple of months ago) looked into AAA and GS, and have read the 'fine print'. IMHO, not worth it. Things like if you call for a jump, and the service guy tests your battery as bad, your only choice is to buy a battery on the spot from him...they say only jump if dead, not bad (just to get you to NAPA or whereever so you can replace with a brand of your choice).

Pickle2 wrote:

Spent a lovely afternoon in a parking lot just off I-70 in Springfield, OH. Why did we spend four hours staring at cars pulling in and out? Well, first of all, never buy a tire from some Asian country which rhymes with Bina, which we'd gotten from our dealer as a replacement when one of our original tires showed wear.

With less than 5K miles on it, our one non-North American tire blew out. Fortunately, we thought, we saw it early, right by an exit. We pulled off I-70 and when we'd driven the 1/2 mile, the rim was just beginning to touch the ground. We had a good spare but thought to ourselves "We have Good Sam ERS, so why try to change it ourselves. We've never done that and since we're covered, let's just call them." Mistake number two.

Thirty minutes after we first called, they called back and said someone would be there in 1 1/2 hrs. Thirty minutes after that, the towing company called ME for advice about how to change the spare on a 5th wheel. Hmmm. Didn't I call Good Sam because I didn't know how to do this? They also told me they were in Columbus and it was a 45 minute drive from their location. That would still get them to us by the original estimated time, so we were patiently waiting. After two hours, Good Sam called back to see if our service was complete. When I told them no, all the operator could do was explain that she was sorry and would call the towing company. Then she called back to say they were "in route". After this went on for about three total hours, we finally decided to change the tire ourselves. Fortunately, we'd gotten good advice from this forum about how to change a tire without using a jack and had plenty of tools on-board. It took us thirty minutes, but then we were ready to roll. At this time, the wife was talking to Good Sam, the towing company, etc., about every ten minutes, to continually get the "in-route" line. Good Sam's line was that they have to use one of their contracted companies for service. The towing company's line was that this was "out of our area" and they'd been trying to turn the call down and Good Sam kept begging them to help us.

Four hours after the first call to Good Sam, we hit the highway again, having done all the work ourselves and without ever seeing a tow truck. We don't blame the towing company, they were honest all along that this wasn't their area and not their area of expertise. We blame Good Sam ERS. We, their customer, shouldn't have to hear excuse after excuse about why they couldn't get someone to us earlier. They clearly don't have a very robust group of companies that they contract with. They couldn't get a company to respond quickly to a call on a Sunday afternoon. They didn't care that things were going wrong and have a back-up plan. When my wife spoke to a supervisor, all she would say is she could cancel that call and try to get another of their contractors to come instead. The final straw was that we were 10 miles east of Dayton and they were sending us a tow truck from Columbus, 40 miles away. We were actually in a city, not the countryside and the AAA truck drove past us twice. No matter how many times we talked to Good Sam, all we got was a "We're very sorry" with no action but a bunch of useless apologies. Perhaps the key with them is to make sure it's an emergency by staying out on the highway shoulder. When my wife asked if they'd have left us sitting there for four hours, she was assured that they wouldn't have.

We certainly do not plan to renew with Good Sam.