Good Sam roadside cancelled!

[Grapehound]

We have pretty good car insurance but we also carry a $1 million umbrella policy which kicks in for issues relating to either home or car/truck liability.

A former agent of mine used the example of pulling out in front of a fancy new tractor trailer with an expensive load and totalling it. If the amount is more than your maximum coverage, they will pay what they owe (say, $300k) and tell you to defend yourself. Then you have to pay an attorney for whatever their hourly bill is and then be on the hook for additional damages.

On the other hand, if they are on the hook for $1 million and not just $300k then they won't walk away from that. They will provide the attorney and they will fight it.

[MCTroy]

At least you got to use your GS coverage . We tried but they were so hopeless we gave up and used other resources . Count your blessings and move on.

[FORKLIFMAN]

Triple A all the way, When My kids were, young and driving on our policy, we had excessive use with our AAA tow card, but they never cancelled , they would send a friendly reminder. need to slow down on the break down. lol

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by Splitshaft

Liability insurance is one thing. I fail to see why folks need to pay premiums year after year when they can just put the money in the bank and manage their own breakdown risks. The whole reason these insurance companies sell insurance is to make money, losing some on some customer and making some on others. Basically, what it amounts to is if you cannot pay for the services you use, you get canceled. Can someone please explain the privilege to me for paying an insurance company for the sole purpose of making them rich? I don’t get it. I really don’t.

If you decide to self-insure (what is being advocated), you need to keep a couple of things in mind:

A real investment of would-be insurance premiums into a reasonably liquid account is needed. If you don't save/invest a reasonable amount, then you are at risk to have the speed bumps of life ruin your life. The advantage of self-insuring is that the insurance company has already priced the risk for you. Their would-be profits on you, if invested, become a nice long-term investment for you, and give you some protection against your incurred damages being higher than average.

For breakdown insurance and extended mechanical warranties, the ability to perform much of your own work further reduces the savings required for self-insurance.

OTOH, liability costs in the event of an accident are generally too high to self-insure. This is where paying for coverages (with reasonable deductibles) you can't save for, and self-insuring the things you can really pays off.

As an example, two of my cars have book values less than $2K because of more than 150K miles. Which means any accident where the repairs are more than $1,500 are just going to be written off by the insurance company as total losses. Paying even $500/year ($41/month) for comprehensive insurance on these vehicles is a waste of money. Yet these cars are worth far more than $2K to me because of replacement cost. They run very well and are in good condition. The best I can do is limit insurance to liability, and invest a good amount into a replacement fund.

just my thoughts
Fred W

[BandJCarm]

Two comments about these services:

One, AAA, CoachNet, etc etc etc, do NOT have a fleet of service vehicles. They contract with Joe's Wrecker of Bumfiddle. Joe may or may not contract with one or MORE of these services. If you can't get them to send anyone, it is their fault. If Joe never shows up or is awful, it's Joe's fault.

Two, AAA will not cover boat trailers. Some of them cover campers and utility trailers. Others cover this and not that. This won't matter if the camper is your only concern. But some of us have multiple trailers and uses. Good Sam came to Rural, LA for my boat trailer blowout. AAA won't. AAA gets you hotel discounts (why are you in a hotel? lol).

So if you were left high and dry because they never sent anyone, shame on them. But if you were left high and dry because Joe never showed up, Joe just might work for the one you're switching to, also.

[valleyduo]

Originally Posted by BriaBeck

How many times have you used it?

Never had to for the camper yet. Cars and trucks many times. Towing, dead batteries, even ran out of gas once. They've come to my aid for 20 years.

[Sbosserman]

I have had Good Sam roadside assistance now for several years for our travel trailer, tow vehicle & 1 car. I have used it 2 times in about 4 years and never had a problem with their service. I just checked prices on Coachnet.com & I believe that they were $189.95 for towed vehicles. I just renewed my Good Sam for 3 years at $89.95 per year. That is less than half of Coachnet or AA. No brainer here unless you just like throwing away money.

[popshumphrey]

Originally Posted by Sbosserman

I have had Good Sam roadside assistance now for several years for our travel trailer, tow vehicle & 1 car. I have used it 2 times in about 4 years and never had a problem with their service. I just checked prices on Coachnet.com & I believe that they were $189.95 for towed vehicles. I just renewed my Good Sam for 3 years at $89.95 per year. That is less than half of Coachnet or AA. No brainer here unless you just like throwing away money.

Might check good Sam on that. Is that the roadside assistance cost. Quote I got was way more. Just asking. I went with aaa plus

[florabama]

We have Coach-Net for about 12 years now. Used them once for a vehicle tow, once for some technical advice and once to change a tire. The coverage is for all vehicles in the household.

[chapelt]

I think AAA also has a limit on how many times you can use it in a year.?

[karenv]

I have AAA Plus RV. We blew a wheelbearing recently on our 5th wheel. Thank goodness we had stopped at a rest stop when we discovered it. They totally failed. Twice sent a regular tow truck. They had no answer for us at all. I finally started making calls on my own. Shout out to Nordstrom RV mobile services in Flint, Michigan. My agent us looking into this fail.

[rcrodriguez]

Same thing happened to us! Used GS three times on this last (2 month) trip and they cancelled us. This is after paying 2 years with only one use. I know my usage was a little much last couple of months, but averaged out I don't think it was excessive.

It's too bad, because the support we had was excellent. They really helped us out. Now I'm going to have to find another provider - will check AAA and CoachNet.

[J Autry]

Originally Posted by coachjeff1

So i get a letter today from Good Sam Roadside Assistance that based upon my usage is above what the average person uses roadside they have determined that they are cancelling my service as of 10 days from the letter. So I called them and they told me that my account has already been cancelled as of 3 days ago. How do you pay for emergency roadside assistance and then use it and get cancelled??? The only reason i use GS is that my daughter is covered for free where AAA charges for each person.

4 Years ago I had roadside with State Farm for under $20 a year. Ford F350 HD and 35 ft Cedar Creek towed 15 miles to a service center. $240 paid by State Farm - just mailed in the towing bill.

[rlschurman]

Originally Posted by Sbosserman

I have had Good Sam roadside assistance now for several years for our travel trailer, tow vehicle & 1 car. I have used it 2 times in about 4 years and never had a problem with their service. I just checked prices on Coachnet.com & I believe that they were $189.95 for towed vehicles. I just renewed my Good Sam for 3 years at $89.95 per year. That is less than half of Coachnet or AA. No brainer here unless you just like throwing away money.

I just went through three different people at GS two told me the Trailer was not covered for the 89.95 and one said it was. So if they don’t their story straight I’m not going to risk it. Also twice in the last 5 years when I had GS it took over three hours to get someone to come. The last time we were on I 70 25 miles west of Grand Junction Colorado on a very hot summer day they asked me 4 times my location. I don’t know how you can not find someone exactly 25 miles west of a gas station. The last straw was when they called us back and wanted the zip code of where we were !!!! I’m now with AAA.

[gsv55]

We use Allstate, they have been great and they will tow both the truck and the trailer. We had to use them on a holiday weekend and they were prompt and could flat bed the truck and tow the trailer.

[MOODMAN]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

Plus, after the settlement was paid out...they dropped us.

And that was the only claim we ever made in the 15 years we were with that insurance company.

The thing is, insurance USED TO BE about spreading risk across all policy holders. In other words, the concept WAS that you win a few, you lose a few, but on average you win most. But now, the insurance companies have better metrics, where they can pinpoint with laser accuracy who causes the most losses. That is because computers and data parsing is so much better.
Since it is now possible to determine who exactly causes the most losses in a company, the insurance companies found out they can boost profits by eliminating the "deadwood". This runs counter to the original concept of what insurance is all about - namely spreading risk.
Instead, the companies are on a quest to ELIMINATE their risks. It isn't that the original concept of insurance is defective. Any company can make a tidy but modest profit by spreading their risks. But, like all companies nowadays, the companies are more about boosting their stock price and excessively pleasing the shareholders rather than the customer.
This is a philosophical issue within today's businesses. It isn't just insurance companies, it is basically ALL companies. The board has the power to maximize profits, at the expense of customers, or, to make a modest and fair profit so that everyone can be happy.

Honestly, it is all about maximum profits within business. In prior years, the tools to do this (computers that can microscopically hone in on data) didn't exist. Now that they do, the temptation to use them is just too much for most businesses. Plus, legislation that favors big business at the expense of the little guy is rampant. In other words, big business is king and it plows over anyone getting in their way.

Europe for a long time has been wary of the power of big business. In fact, polls taken recently between America and Europe are quite interesting. Europeans consider business a bigger threat to freedom than government. America is just the opposite. Americans see government as a bigger threat to freedom.
So, what you have experienced with them dropping you is just a symptom of a bigger problem with insurance and business models in general. It can only be changed when enough people get fed up and when our representatives begin passing legislation that curbs the extreme power of business over our everyday lives.

[Sbosserman]

I did check with Good Sam on phone and that IS for roadside assistance. Renewal was $119.95 for 1 year and $89.95 per year if I renewed for 3 years. No brainer.

[zippersbs]

Originally Posted by gsv55

We use Allstate, they have been great and they will tow both the truck and the trailer. We had to use them on a holiday weekend and they were prompt and could flat bed the truck and tow the trailer.

How did you get this coverage through Allstate, may I ask? Not trying to be rude or imply anything. But I live in the mitten state & asked my agent (don't trust him) & called Allstate Ins. specifically about my 5th wheel & was told Allstate does not cover RV's under their roadside assistance programs. I have roadside assistance on my pickup they said but not on my 5th wheel. I wonder if maybe this service is offered in other parts of the country? Thanks for any response, cause I just transferred all my insurance policies over to Allstate, if they're gonna be lying to me right off the bat, BYE BYE Allstate.

[J Autry]

My roadside policy covered the truck (and trailer if attached to the truck )

[ENE]

I use GoodSam because it's the cheapest ($69) per year. I have AAA but it doesn't cover the RV unless I upgrade to an extra $150 per year.
All the road side services use the same service stations. SO the service you get is based on that particular service station that you will probably never use again. Some are goos and some are bad. How long it takes for them to get to you depends on how busy they are.
So it boils down to what they actually cover, some cover your truck but not your trailer or vise versa, some cover 5 miles towing and then you pay after the 5 miles. Some will tow to the nearest RV repair center even if it's hundreds of miles away.
it's best to check what coverage you have and how far their coverage goes.