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BMW Motorrad USA Roadside Assistance Plan

indygt

67-year-old Teenager
I got a letter today from the Cross Country Motor Club advising me that the BMW Motorrad USA Roadside Assistance Plan is being terminated.
K.E. Bassick, director of member services, says all features and benefits of my coverage will expire Feb. 22.
Anyone have an alternative roadside assistance program?
 
If your original BMW warranty extends beyond Feb 22, roadside assistance should get picked up/ continued by "Signature Motor Club," who took over warranty roadside assistance from Cross Country for BMW in 2009.
If you're uncertain, call the BMW roadside assistance # 877-680-2176

If Feb 22 is the end of your original BMW warranty period anyway, there are lots of alternatives:

AAA RV (some, but not all AAA regional clubs)
Allstate Motor Club
BMW MOA's own 'Platinum' membership, http://www.bmwmoa.org/club/membership/discounts_upgrades
AMA has one, I think
Your bike insurance company may include or offer roadside assistance
 
The bike in question is an '03 K1200GT and I've been renewing annually with Cross Country since it was out of warranty.
Can you suggest some alternatives?
 
I insure my bike with Progressive and they provide roadside assistance for $10 a year.
 
I use AAA RV Plus, covers all my 5 motorcycles, 2 trucks and any friends who might be traveling with me for 100 free miles. My experience has been good.

Cal Garcia
 
The AMA plan is complimentary when you sign up for automatic renewal, and covers any member of your immediate family in any vehicle:

http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/

We tried to using BMW roadside assistance when my wife's F800ST died a week after she bought it. After nearly an hour of waiting for a response, she called back and they had no record of her calling. Then they started over again with trying to find a tow service to come from Missoula (over 100 miles away) to Wolf Creek to collect her bike and drop it off unattended outside the dealer there (it was a Sunday), and offer no help in getting her home to Great Falls, (180 miles away from Missoula).

I was able to make a 120 mile round trip, get a battery, install it in her bike, and have her call them back for an update of "we're working on it" before we told them thanks for all the help and rode home.
 
Last edited:
The bike in question is an '03 K1200GT and I've been renewing annually with Cross Country since it was out of warranty.
Can you suggest some alternatives?

Sorry it wasn't clear; the alternatives listed above are available to anyone:

AAA RV (some, but not all AAA regional clubs)
Allstate Motor Club
BMW MOA's own 'Platinum' membership, http://www.bmwmoa.org/club/membershi...ounts_upgrades
AMA has one, I think
Your bike insurance company may include or offer roadside assistance.

Anybody's experience/ satisfaction with any of these services can vary considerably, depending on the location & other circumstances of a breakdown; all roadside services depend on local contractors.
Allstate, http://www.allstatemotorclub.com/amc/member_services/membershipplans.faces,
RV ROADHELP PLAN,
is sometimes preferred by riders because it includes "unlimited" towing mileage, helpful if the breakdown occurs in the middle of nowhere; most plans have a 100 mile towing limit.
I've had good experience with AAA, Allstate, BMW's Roadside, insurance company. YMMV
 
I've had several roadside assistance plans over the years. Initially I had MTS. I never had to use the service. As I recall, MTS didn't cover my older bikes.
http://www.mtstowing.com/

I discovered that it was a bit less expensive to use the AMA's roadside assistance and for a while it was provided by MTS. Then AMA changed the plan to the MOTOW service. I did have to use MOTOW on three separate occasions, all within 20 miles of home. In each instance the towing service arrived within an hour of my call and had the proper gear to secure my bike. The bike and I were transported back to my house where I could make the repairs. As a life AMA member I don't get the "free" roadside assistance available to the automatically renewing members. I'd have to pay the $35 per year (which is what it costs originally) - I believe that the current annual membership is only $40, so no real incentive for someone to buy a lifetime membership any longer. The AMA MOTOW service covered all of my bikes regardless of their age. The AMA roadside assistance is only available to AMA members.
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/roadride/motow.asp
http://www.ama-cycle.org/roadride/assist.asp

I have my non-antique bike insurance with Progressive. Their roadside assistance is included in my policy - the additional cost is pretty small (around $10 or less), but I wouldn't get a smaller premium if I asked to not have this coverage, so I keep it. It seems that my premiums are at the minimum that they will charge. I have never used the Progressive roadside assistance.
http://motorcycle.progressive.com/motorcycle-insurance-coverages-roadside.aspx
http://www.progressive.com/understanding-insurance/entries/2009/8/27/why_choose_roadside.aspx

At present I have my bikes' main roadside assistance provided through the AAA RV plan. I already had my wife's and my cars with AAA so the incremental amount to go to the RV plan was less than the $35 per year I was paying the AMA. And the AAA RV plan covers towing up to 100 miles. On the way to the MOA Rally in Wyoming in 2008 the fellow I was with had a problem enroute. He needed a part for his non-running bike that was available about 85 miles away. He had the AAA RV coverage and called for a tow. His bike was well secured on the flatbed truck. It was a mite cramped in the tow-truck cab with the driver, my buddy, and his hard bags (had to be removed for the RT to be secured to the flatbed). See picture below. I think that the AAA RV coverage depends on one's regional office. The discounts at hotels readily available to AAA members helps reduce the effective cost of this program.
http://www.aaa.com/aaa/sem/sem.htm?...EM&gcid=S15141x070&keyword=broad_road service

bike_tow.jpg
 
I've used BMW Motorrad's roadside assistance and it saved my butt last spring being stranded 20 miles from anywhere. Still, the terms are that the truck takes you to the nearest dealer or BMW authorized repair shop. That being the case, I ended up at the local BMW bike dealer who, true to form, charged me more than if I'd footed the entire bill for the tow truck and had it take me to my usual preferred repair shop ten miles further away.

From my vantage point, their roadside assistance plan seems to be more a ploy to drive business to their dealers' shops than to provide assistance to their customers.

I'm seriously considering the $26 investment in BMW MOA's roadside assistance coverage. Has anyone had experiences with that ÔÇö good, bad, same, rumors, opinions?
 
My experience with BMW's roadside assistance was when i had laid my bike over on the highway one morning. My wife called, and they said they wouldn't tow the 3.5 miles to the BMW shop because it was a wreck... (So if i would have lied and said it was broke down then that would be fine...) My wife told them to call the tow truck any way... When she told me the story i said piss on that I'm riding it home... when she called BMW back they hadn't even called a tow truck yet.

Pete in OKC
 
I've used BMW Motorrad's roadside assistance and it saved my butt last spring being stranded 20 miles from anywhere. Still, the terms are that the truck takes you to the nearest dealer or BMW authorized repair shop. That being the case, I ended up at the local BMW bike dealer who, true to form, charged me more than if I'd footed the entire bill for the tow truck and had it take me to my usual preferred repair shop ten miles further away.

From my vantage point, their roadside assistance plan seems to be more a ploy to drive business to their dealers' shops than to provide assistance to their customers.

The BMW Motorrad Roadside Assistance [Signature Motor Club, Inc.] description dated 04/2009 sent to members reads:
"If your motorcycle should break down while covered under warranty or require towing after an accident or collision, it will be transported to the nearest authorized BMW Motorrad USA dealership. You may also elect to have your motorcycle towed to the BMW Motorrad USA dealership of your choice, provided that the dealership is within a 50-mile radius of the closest dealership."

I guess if [your] "usual preferred repair shop" is NOT an authorized BMW dealer, you're out of luck under the BMW (warranty) plan.
 
This is a little puzzling. Herb Anderson at Grass Roots BMW hadn't heard anything about Cross Country no longer offering roadside assistance through BMW, even though he's a dealer. He did some checking, talking to several people at BMW, and finally came up with the number of the new provider - 877-680-2176.

I did a Google search on the number and ended up at the website of BMW of Cleveland, where I found this:

Effective January 15, 2009
BMW ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
will changeover from Cross Country to Signature Motor Club.
The Roadside Assistance Number will remain the same:
877-680-2176​

Seems like BMW Motorrad should have made sure all of their dealers know what's going on.
 
My Card Says Signature

I purchased my bike in September of 09 and all the paperwork regarding the BMW Motorrad USA Roadside Assistance included in the purchase packet represents everything as Signature Motor Club, Inc. and Signature Motor Club of California, Inc. Don't remember if the person handling the sales transaction paperwork mentioned the name or just said it existed and processed the paperwork I signed.
 
MOA Roadside assistance program

I am still trying to find out how this program works. I do not have anything that explains how it works, who to call or anything else.

Maybe they have a crystal ball and there will be a flatbed that just shows up about 2 minutes after the breakdown.:stick

I have even sent 3 messages to different individuals on the contact list with no return response.:deal

I know you do not call the MOA office number 24-7! Maybe we call the board members at home or on their cell phone 24-7?

Maybe someone on here has more information than I do????
 
There's an MOA roadside assistance program?

Oh, I see... it's part of the Platinum Cycle Upgrade that costs another $26/year. I assume you signed up and have called the Platinum Cycle toll-free number. No answer? Or just a machine?

Sorry I've no answers. I'm just curious.
 
Horror Story

I just got the details on a recent horror story involving a friend of mine who had a terrible experience with BMW's roadside assistance program in April 2010. He re-upped his membership in the roadside assistance program after his warranty ran out recently, and his experience was similar to Bob's above, starting with total ineptitude at the receoptionist level when the receptionist kept insisting my friend was not a member, even though he was reading from his current card into the telephone receiver. Of course they would not send a tow. This was followed by worse problems when BMW later claimed they had no record of the initial call. My friend had patiently asked the receptionist to make a record of the call before ringing off.

It will take months of paperwork for my friend to get reimbursed and made whole.

Based on that story from a guy I trust, I'd never get BMW's service. I have BMW MOA's and have not yet had to use it.

Is a tow dispatched by BMW MOA more likely to be a moto specialist? I have had sketchy tie-downs by movers before with less valuable bikes and I am really wary of bad rigging. In fact, the rigging in the photo on this thread looks a bit dodgy to me. If anybody has an opinion about the service that provides THE BEST specialty roadside assistance, I'd be grateful for your thoughts.
 
Maybe they have a crystal ball and there will be a flatbed that just shows up about 2 minutes after the breakdown.:stick

That sounds like a good idea. I've used BMW Motorrad USA Roadside Assistance twice. Once it took them six hours to get me towed; the other it took them two hours to get me jump started.
 
Road Side Assistance

Just signed up the Road side assistance thru MOA, attachment is the initial info. Call MOA @636-394-7277 to sign up. The number to call for assistance is 866-454-4260
:wave
 

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