What exactly does Road Assistance Pay for

Besides towing, it does pay for a service call. We had a blow-out and mechanics were sent out to change the tire. It only cost me for the new tire.

Revconguy, darsben…Thank you for your posts.

The purpose of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance program is to provide roadside assistance…which is required to enable the vehicle to either proceed safely under its own power, or to be towed to the nearest professional service center for repair.

We strive to achieve this objective when responding to a great variety of possible roadside assistance situations. For example, consider a situation where you, our member, call Good Sam Roadside Assistance Dispatch to request RV roadside assistance, and Dispatch, after gathering information regarding the nature of your disablement, decides to send a Mobile Mechanic. If the Mobile Mechanic is unable to resolve the disablement, following your callback to Dispatch, we will dispatch a service provider to tow your RV to the nearest professional service center capable and willing to repair your RV.

Again, our objective is to assist you to proceed safely under your own power, or tow you to the nearest professional service center for repair.

If you have additional questions, please send me a private message and I will contact you.

Thank you for your membership.
Frank
Good Sam Roadside Assistance

darsben wrote:
There was a poster last week that was having trouble with getting GS assistance to send out a mobile mechanic. In the end it got straightened out and GS dispatched the mechanic and the poster paid for the time on the scene only. The problems with your specific problem and a mobile mechanic are 2 fold.
1) if the guy does not have the particular part you need you pay for him to chase parts.
2) As I understand it you get one service per disablement. So if the mechanic comes and decides you need a tow you are SOL for the tow charges. I MAY BE WRONG BUT THAT IS MY UNDERSTANDING.

My understanding agrees with #2 above. If you completely blow an engine and need a tow, at their discretion, GSRA may choose to send a mobile mechanic which will in turn do nothing. Then you will be on the hook for the entire tow. Always have a second roadside assistance plan to backup GSRA.

There was a poster last week that was having trouble with getting GS assistance to send out a mobile mechanic. In the end it got straightened out and GS dispatched the mechanic and the poster paid for the time on the scene only. The problems with your specific problem and a mobile mechanic are 2 fold.
1) if the guy does not have the particular part you need you pay for him to chase parts.
2) As I understand it you get one service per disablement. So if the mechanic comes and decides you need a tow you are SOL for the tow charges. I MAY BE WRONG BUT THAT IS MY UNDERSTANDING.

neal10a, thank you for your post.

As indicated in the Good Sam Roadside Assistance Member Benefit Brochure (available at http://www.goodsamroadside.com/images/pdf/GRA31138.pdf):

“The purpose of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance program is to provide roadside assistance, in the event of a disablement of any vehicle in the possession of either you or any allowable family member under this program, which is required to enable that vehicle to either proceed safely under its own power, or to be towed to the nearest professional service center for repair. This benefit is not intended to be used in lieu of routine maintenance or needed repairs on your vehicle.”

Expressed another way, we will tow you to a repair facility, or we will “bring the repair facility to you” in the form of a mobile mechanic. Your Good Sam Roadside Assistance membership covers the mobile mechanic service call, you cover parts and labor. This is similar to you being towed to a repair facility where you would pay a mechanic to repair your RV.

If you have additional questions, please send me a private message and I will contact you.

Thank you for your membership.
Frank
Good Sam Roadside Assistance

Thank you for your post, Crawfordville. We appreciate you passing along the comments of your camping acquaintances. I would like the opportunity to speak with them concerning their experience with our United States-based Dispatch Center. I would be more than happy to contact them…please send me a private message with your Good Sam Roadside Assistance membership number and contact information: telephone and e-mail. I am looking forward to speaking with you, and your camping acquaintances.
Thank you,
Frank
Good Sam Roadside Assistance

They don't do any repairs, mobile or otherwise as far as I know, except for out of gas, dead battery, keys locked in etc. If you tow a trailer, they arrange to have the trucked towed to the nearest repair facility and the trailer towed to the nearest CG. Biggest problem is finding someone to tow the trailer if you break down while towing.

Friends had their transmission blow on the NJ turnpike, it cost over $500 to tow both truck and trailer, and they spent the weekend dry camped in the trans shop's parking lot. Made up my mind to get GS road service right after that. I have only used them once but they did what they promised.

FYI, plan on waiting a few hours for a tow, there aren't that many tow companies that handle trailers.

As an FYI - we met a couple last weekend while we were camping and they were telling us that they had GS roadside assistance and when they called the person that they spoke to was totally incompetent. Had no idea where Florida was geographically. English was not their first or second language. Terrible experience. They said that they said forget it because it was such a hassle to get the person to even understand where they were located in the united states. So they called a friend and the friend drove two hours to help them. That told me everything that I needed to know.

Do they pay for the travel time for a mobile mechanic?

They will not pay for repairs. They will pay to have you towed to the nearest repair facility, or send a mobile mechanic to your location. The repairs are on you. An extended service agreement MIGHT pay for some or all of the repairs.