I read a lot on here about roadside assistance, mostly dissatisfaction with GS and what others are available. My question is how many of you are self insured so to speak. In other words if you need a tow or tire change etc you just pay out of pocket. I know peace of mind is worth a lot but I have only needed it twice in 16 years and never for never for the trailer. For the record I've had GS all that time and never been disappointed, just having a frugal thought. Lets say $100 per year for 16 years = $1600.00 and only used twice so paid out $1400.00 for no gain. Just wonder how many for go RS altogether.Thanks

My auto insurance coverage covers towed trailers. And when I was Class-A / Class-C, progressive included roadside assistance.Wherever you get it, roadside assistance will be limited to actual guys doing this work in the location that you break down. So it may not matter if you're AAA, GS, or Geico - if you're rural and no one can handle your class of tire, you're kinda out of luck.Our one break down, we called, got assistance. By the time they had arranged a dispatch (from a major city 1 hour away) - I had limped into Walmart, bought a jack, and changed it myself.

Roadside assistance is essentially a form of insurance. Just like extended warranties. And like all insurance it is only worthwhile if you get back more than you pay in. But not having a roadside assistance plan is a low risk option as a tow is not a particularly expensive event. One benefit of a plan is having someone to find an available tow service in that area and get them to you. But with Google, that is not too much of a challenge now a days.

I have road service with my auto insurance. I have my MH and 2 cars insured under one policy. A feature of that policy is road service $4 a year.I used it once for an RV in over 43 years. About 10 years ago I got my old 35' MH stuck in sugar sand along side a highway outside of Wilmington, NC. I called the NC state police and asked them who they use for large vehicle towing. I called that towing company and had a Peterbuilt wrecker in half an hour. He winched me out backward by hooking on to my MH trailer hitch. I paid the tow truck drive $100 cash and got a receipt. I called my insurance company and they told me to mail them the receipt. In less than a week I had a check for $100 from my insurance company.I have never had any other type of emergency road service.

If you go with ANY roadside assistance you have to be patient and amiable to waiting for them to come to you. If you cannot think of yourself broke down for an hour or more waiting for GS, Coachnet or AAA to come with service you are better off self insured. In the instances I have had to use my GSRA the wait ranged from 1/2 hour to over an hour. I got out a good book and a cold beverage and waited eventually the service provider showed up did what he had to do and I left.No effort on my part. I think of doing it myself and then pay the premium

Roadside Assistance is something I view the same as auto insurance. I pay for it but hope not to need to use it.

Roadside assistance | Good Sam Community

2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jul 09, 2016
Just contact your vehicle insurance company and have them tack it on. You can get it for $10-$20.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Jul 09, 2016
Self insured for most of my life. For the last few years I have had ERS thru the AMA for $35 per year. (American Motorcyclist Association)
tatest
Explorer II
Jul 09, 2016
Roadside assistance is a combination of insurance and help getting assistance. You can always self insure, but then you are on your own for finding a service provider. I learned about this about 50 years ago when I needed help during a winter storm and learned that most of the wrecker services were obligated to work through their queue of motor club calls before dealing with unaffiliated service requests. That was incentive to join AAA.

Insurance aspect, since getting the RV, I've put about $1200 into GS premiums (not to mention membership charges) with any service calls. But I'm in the same boat with Medicare Part D, most years my medical services were less than my premiums and I've put about $150,000 over the last 50 years into life insurance premiums without collecting benefits. Most of those policies expired because I lived too long. The ones left payable, I'll never see the money.
poppin_fresh
Explorer
Jul 09, 2016
I have insurance through progressive for my new trailer and it has roadside assistance included.

Honestly, if I need to change a tire I will probably do it myself to save the time...unless its raining out. In that case, someone else can come deal with it while I wait in the truck. :)
JimK-NY
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2016
I have AAA premium which includes roadside service for my RV. I have used the service several times for car issues. BTW, you do not need to be the driver or even owner in order to use the service. This past summer I had a piece of volcanic rock cut through a new, 15-ply RV tire. The AAA driver came from the nearest town which was over a 100 miles away. Over the years I have more than got my money worth for this service. In addition getting help is quick and simple.
wanderingbob
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2016
Cheap insurance . A 50 mile tow could run into hundreds of dollars . In twenty years I have had 3 roadside tire changes and one tow .I think that I have not paid $1,500 in twenty years , piece of mind . I have never had to wait more than 90 minutes . I like Good Sam !
mgirardo
Explorer
Jul 08, 2016
We've had AAA for 18 years. Before we had the RV option, the fuel pump in our tow vehicle failed. Our destination was about 80 miles away and there was a dealership we could take the van to there to fix the fuel pump (didn't need van while camping). AAA covered the tow for the van, but we had to pay for the tow of the camper. The driver "cut us a break" and only charged us $2/mile for the trailer.

With vehicles as large as Motorhomes, there is generally a hook-up charge as well as the mileage. If they have to drop the driveshaft, it could be a costly hook-up charge, more than the tow itself.

We recently had a blow out on our Motorhome, back in March. It took AAA some time to find a mobile tire repairman, but when he came out he did the job in 20 minutes (it was an inner rear tire). He charged AAA $250 to put our spare on. AAA Plus with RV and 2 drivers cost $185/year. It's more expensive than the others, but it covers any vehicle that my wife or I are in, not just vehicles we own. I've used it for friends and family in the past without an issue. Plus, lots of retail stores, restaurants, campgrounds, hotels, etc. offer AAA discounts that often adds up to enough to pay for the coverage.

-Michael
Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2016
Self insuring won't get you 24 hour access to techs that can help with your problem, including the appliances. It also won't find you available tow services that are equipped to haul your RV. Over the years, my tow bills alone would have been far more than my RA costs. Enough so that I believe I'm still about 9 years worth of premiums to the good. One 4.5 mile tow alone would have cost me about $600 according to the driver.
2chiefsRus
Explorer
Jul 07, 2016
Roadside Assistance is something I view the same as auto insurance. I pay for it but hope not to need to use it.
darsben1
Explorer
Jul 07, 2016
If you go with ANY roadside assistance you have to be patient and amiable to waiting for them to come to you. If you cannot think of yourself broke down for an hour or more waiting for GS, Coachnet or AAA to come with service you are better off self insured. In the instances I have had to use my GSRA the wait ranged from 1/2 hour to over an hour. I got out a good book and a cold beverage and waited eventually the service provider showed up did what he had to do and I left.
No effort on my part. I think of doing it myself and then pay the premium