I never drive that far from home, but I may soon. Overall, my car is in decent condition–fluids, tires, engine performance, transmission, etc. Locally there are many repair garages within a 10-mile radius of my home.
on your car? wow!
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Disappointed me too, $125 for the pert, $200 labor, The spare is behind the cabins 5oo miles away. Decided to skip the expenses
Seems to me this was discussed to oblivion a couple years ago. At any rate when I worked for AAA in Minnesota some years ago, it was a limit of 3 service calls and then you were dropped from membership. That raised havoc with some because you had to have a membership in order to have the car and/or medical insurance. The guy in charge of road service was a jerk but he figured three times was enough for you to get your car fixed.
I’ve had Amoco for years and never had a problem regardless of my bad luck. Never had to wait. 30 mile trip to unlock my car on Sunday, 50 mile tows, etc. I also have towing on my insurance for something like $2 every 6 months that I’ve turned in a few times. I’m not even sure anymore who runs the motor club now. If I figured out how to change I’d go with the State Farm club. (Some road services are given priority over others so State Farm is good.) At any rate the only problem I ever had was when the battery was dead for the wife at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International airport. When she called they had trouble finding Minneapolis on the map. I think the call service got shifted to India.
Indian support has trouble fining anything on a map, that’s not in India. Gee, the guy in charge, at the time, indeed, sounds like a jerk. You mentioned Amoco, I’ll look to find out if any of my local mechanics provide roadside assistance. One shop, offered to inspect my car before I bought it, he may offer that type of service.
Thank you for your time Bing, and enjoy your weekend,
I may have the answer to that question. They will have a wrecker pickup your vehicle and bring it to the shop and that charge will be added to their invoice. Most shops want the mechanics working in the shop where they have the tools and diagnostic equipment.
Thank you for the information. I checked my State Farm card and there is now a toll free number for emergency roadside assistance. My last tow was in January 2002 and it was the first time I filed online instead of visiting my agent’s office. I guess things have changed in 16 1/2 years LOL. It explains why my windshield replacement about a year ago was “easy peasey”. I went straight to a local body shop and the small "star’ fracture was determined non-repairable because it had penetrated the laminate. I gave them my card and they had the repair approved online in a few minutes. They called their glass supplier who had the windshield in stock. I dropped off the car the next morning at 10:00, walked a block to a restaurant for brunch and picked up the car at 11:30. No charge. I didn’t even have to sign anything.
It may depend on the situation but when the wipers on mom’s car stopped working many years ago and the nearby shops were all closed (xmas eve) the AAA guy happily towed the car to mom’s mechanic. The only time we used the towing coverage from our insurance company was to tow our minivan to the repair shop and it was a battle getting it covered since it was from our home address, they must have thought we were trying to get free tow for a junker instead of a tow to the mechanic. Went back to AAA and haven’t had any issues since.
At least they could call AAA in NH. I used to traverse parts of Eastern Oregon on state highway 20 which are the definition of desolate. There could easily be no tow truck within 100 miles. It actually would not matter with cell service non-existent. It is the only time I have felt the need to carry a loaded handgun within reach in my vehicle. It is legal in Oregon as long as it is in plain sight. When you could potentially be on your own survival becomes a priority. My State Farm roadside assistance rider is no more than $2 per month. Less than half of AAA.
Most insurance policies and I’m sure AAA policies are so confusing that reading them is an exercise in futility. Insurance is money wasted until you need it. Those of us who use it is for peace of mind against a financial catastrophe. If your house burned to the ground and you owed $100,000 but the property it sat on was worth $30,000 and could actually be sold you would still owe $70,000. That’s a bit more than I have in savings so I would eventually end up homeless!
The only thing my insurance policy offers me, that is a “Value Added Service” is none; sure,
AAA provides discounts in grocery stores, but I see the foods discounted–off my diet.
I’ll get more information from my insurance, and 2 local auto repair garages to find out if
they also provide roadside assistance, and make a decision. Dope-slap to me: I paid $100
for my first year of Better World Club, and they turned out to be, far from better.
I have options, so I’ll exercise one of them.
P.S. I had AAA, as a teen, it worked well for me; now?, not much different,
like the rest of 'em.
H! Found it. Here is an article that advises against roadside assistance for the auto insurance company: https://clark.com/insurance/when-not-to-contact-your-insuran/
"Some auto insurers that offer roadside assistance treat your use of it as an at-fault claim and put that through on your C.L.U.E. report.
What’s a C.L.U.E. report? C.L.U.E. stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It’s a shared database insurance companies report to when you make a claim. If you have too many claims on your C.L.U.E. report, that could make you radioactive to other insurers for three years.
Why would insurers want to do this? Because it limits your ability to jump ship when they want to raise your insurance rates!
“It’s the Wild West with no rules on what insurers can decide to report on your C.L.U.E. report,” money expert Clark Howard says. “And you have no right of appeal either.”
So here’s the # 1 rule about roadside assistance: Never get it from your own insurer. Get it from AAA or elsewhere."
There is no date on the article, but I’ll keep it in mind. In better news, there is a local towing company that offers roadside assistance 24/7, I’ll call them Monday, and ask if I they can help me when I travel away from this area. AAA, and the like do help you nationwide. I’d rather patronize a local company when I can.
Because they can
Because they’re in business to make a profit, not because they’re nice people
I am certain that if I wanted a Road Side service I could sign up for one in less time than it would take to read this thread .
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Yeah I really think you are over-analyzing this whole thing. Just pick one. They are not meant to be service contracts though and are only used in less than frequent “emergency” or unexpected situations. The big thing for me is just having one number to call regardless of where I am in the US.
I over analyze everything, it is my M.O. Quick decisions, usually leave me feeling that I missed something. Autos are not simple toys; they’re very expensive toys. Choosing a Saab was a quick decision, and it burned me severely. I bought it new, but I was sobbing every 6 months,
with the repair bill in my hands.
ALL DONE! 2 towing companies, local to me are very courteous. I had great conversations with them, but they can only help me if I do not drive out of the area where I live–not, so good. I’ll bite the bullet, and go with BWC, which has good, and bad reviews, just like AAA. Basically, this is like 6 of one; a half-dozen of the other. My professional background makes buying everything a 12-step process–never easy, but fun. I do thank all who offered input on this.
[quote=“seebear, post:57, topic:121760”]
but they can only help me if I do not drive out of the area where I live–not, so good.
I could have told you that before you even called them . Might be a good idea to reduce your process to 6 steps.