Roadside Assistance memberships

[paulri]

Currently I pay $4/yr for roadside assistance from my insurance co (Mercury), which means I do the calling and paying, and get up to $75 reimbursed per incident. I have no complaints with their service, as they have always given me no hassle and very quick reimbursements. Still, two tows in the past month have given me sticker shock as to how expensive they are, so I'm looking at alternatives.

I qualify through my union, for roadside assistance membership through a company called United States Auto Club, Motoring Division, Inc. Additionally, I have found the Good Sam club, and even Chevron has a roadside assistance.

Does anyone here have any experience with these? They all appear to be a bit cheaper than AAA. AAA, based on averaging out my last towing incidents, would only benefit me financially on the third towing incident per year, and I don't know that I've ever needed three in a year. These others offer lower membership costs, as well as (usually) more free miles towed per incident, than AAA.

 

[Andrew1972]

$4/yr is good price. Self insure , you be way far ahead in life.

 

[JeffKeryk]

$4 ain't bad...
I get it "free" with Costco Ameriprise.
All about the bottom line.

 

[atikovi]

I have the AAA Premier. 5 service calls a year with tows up to 100 miles and one tow up to 200 miles. About $150 a year. One tow can easily pay for the annual cost. You call AAA and they send the tow truck. I have no idea how to find a good tow company from the side of the road.

 

[paulri]

Glad you mentioned that. Earlier, I was only comparing the AAA Classic (their lowest tier) with what I currently have, but I went back and looked at the numbers. If I tow only once, but pay for extra miles, the AAA Plus would pay for itself--over my current plan with insurance, or compared to AAA Classic. I think I'll go with that, as the 100 miles per tow would make it quite a moneysaver if I had to take it to my mechanic from a ways away. At some point, I'll compare your Premier with PLus and see what would make more sense.

Originally Posted by atikovi
I have the AAA Premier. 5 service calls a year with tows up to 100 miles and one tow up to 200 miles. About $150 a year. One tow can easily pay for the annual cost. You call AAA and they send the tow truck. I have no idea how to find a good tow company from the side of the road.

 

[maverickfhs]

No offense, but AAA classic is not worth much, because of very low mileage for tow.

AAA Plus is usually the way to go. I currently have AMA $50/year and cover up to 35 miles for tow, including cars and motorcycles.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by maverickfhs
No offense, but AAA classic is not worth much, because of very low mileage for tow.

AAA Plus is usually the way to go. I currently have AMA $50/year and cover up to 35 miles for tow, including cars and motorcycles.


I think it depends on the club but for AAA classic for me, it only includes 3 miles of free towing or the nearest repair shop. I just get AAA plus, never really had to have it towed more than 100 miles although once years ago I had to do a 104 mile tow and had to pay for those extra 4 miles.

Also the club won't let you sign up for AAA plus right away, you need to be a member for a year before they let you do that.

 

[hank2]

I dropped the AAA plus some years ago. It was a good service, used it a couple of times over a lot of years. I got tired of paying extra for my wife and one of the kids when he was still at home. I felt that was a hose down of sorts. I've also been an AMA member for some years. You get the towing on all bikes/cars/trucks and drivers in one household. The catch is that you have to do automatic membership renewal on a card. Last year I had a card compromised and got a new one. The AMA pinged my old card on record, about 3 months before my renewal deadline. The old card didn't work, so they silently cancelled my road coverage immediately, without informing me. I didn't get any love on a phone call, but got it reinstated with a new card. I had only found out by sifting through my membership account online. Another option is to renew for 3 years at a time, with full payment in advance.

I never have had cause to use the AMA service but have read both positive and negative reports in bike forums about it. I suppose it depends on who their towing contractor is where you happen to need it. One sort of hidden exception is that they won't tow/haul your vehicle from an crash. That's got to be a major cause of towing need. Only mechanical malfunctions or provide gas, change flats (on cars). 35 miles max, but you can pay the tow co. past that. Better than nothing.

 

[spk2000]

Be careful with insurance towing. I used mine once when I lived at an apt and did not have any tools with me. Rear brake caliper seized and had it towed for repair. Insurance company said I made a claim and rates raised over $400 per year. I disputed it and they gave me details stating I made a claim and it was the tow. I told them to cancel this service as I could not believe what they just did to me. I have talked to agents since and they claim many of the online bargain insurance companies like Progressive do this. I you us a local agent they can choose and normally do to ignore it as a claim.

 

[paulri]

Sounds bad. I have submitted several claims for roadside assistance over the years I have had Mercury, and never had a problem with it being considered a "claim." I only have had to email a department, with the receipt attached, and a few days later I get a check in the mail for 75 bucks.

Originally Posted by spk2000
Be careful with insurance towing. I used mine once when I lived at an apt and did not have any tools with me. Rear brake caliper seized and had it towed for repair. Insurance company said I made a claim and rates raised over $400 per year. I disputed it and they gave me details stating I made a claim and it was the tow. I told them to cancel this service as I could not believe what they just did to me. I have talked to agents since and they claim many of the online bargain insurance companies like Progressive do this. I you us a local agent they can choose and normally do to ignore it as a claim.