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"Basic 100 mile roadside assistance" really is not.

pgeorgiades

New member
A couple of days ago my R1200RT suddenly rather severely blued the header on the starboard cylinder. I discovered this when I got off the bike at home.

This could indicate a problem with fuel injector causing that cylinder to run way too lean, or maybe an exhaust baffle isn't operating correctly, or maybe something else. Rather than risk doing damage running the bike with too lean a fuel mixture or otherwise way too hot, I contacted the nearest dealership with the equipment to evaluate the problem.

That dealership is 109 miles from my home in the middle of Pittsburgh. (Imagine, a metro area of 1,700,000 people now has NO remaining active dealerships, and I have to go 109 miles for service.)

Rather than ride the bike when I don't know what's wrong with it, I decided to use my "100 mile basic roadside service" benefit which i have paid for for years. Guess what? Because the dealership is 9 miles over the 100 mile limit, there was essentially no coverage. Not that I am covered for up to 100 miles and then I pay for the remaining 9 miles: no coverage. That means I have to pay for the 109 miles going, AND the 109 mile return trip. I was told by the MOA roadside assistance dispatcher it would be over $180.

The dealership will come and get it for fifty cents a mile, or about $110.

Thank God I was not stranded out on the road someplace.

So, as the MOA ad says: "Never ride alone." Rather, take your lawyer with you, because if you ever get into a jam, you will need one to beat these people into giving you what you paid for.
 
My last breakdown was 99 miles from Grand Rapids, MI, although the dealer is a little bit closer. They picked me up and delivered me. If they didn't I would have called someone in the book for help. Now that I think about it one of the options for them would be just to get me closer to the dealer. Maybe a great brew pub with good food.

Thanks for the tip.

Wayne Koppa
Grayling, MI
#71,449
 
Ride ten miles toward the dealership to be picked up for the 99 mile tow. :dunno

I checked with AAA. I have the "RV" add-on to my basic AAA coverage. It turns out they will reimburse me up to $500 for this tow. I don't imagine I will be paying $40 a year to MOA going forward.

I do not know for a fact, but it appears MOA contracts the roadside assistance function out to a subcontractor. I guess the subcontractor just wants to save its money.
 
I checked with AAA. I have the "RV" add-on to my basic AAA coverage. It turns out they will reimburse me up to $500 for this tow. I don't imagine I will be paying $40 a year to MOA going forward.

I do not know for a fact, but it appears MOA contracts the roadside assistance function out to a subcontractor. I guess the subcontractor just wants to save its money.

AAA, Allstate RV, KOA, Good Sam., the BMW MOA, and everybody else in the roadside assistance field all "subcontract" the programs. Nobody has their own wreckers, or even their own call takers. Most even use the same call centers, but the list of tow companies may vary from program to program. A few years ago these services did pretty well. In the past couple of years (according to many, many reports) the service has deteriorated. The problem is the call centers, but the responsibility lies with those who take our money but fail to require the call centers to do their jobs. I used to preach the value of the Allstate program. No longer. Today, the Anonymous Book and U Haul are my friends.
 
Using the “Tag Cloud”, you can enter roadside assistance. Many threads on the subject.
OM
 
AAA isn't great either. my driveshaft broke 86 miles from home last year, called AAA they said no problem we will send someone. I waited 3 hours, nothing, called back. they said they were having a hard time finding someone who would come get me, they weren't sure when they could find a tow. I was able to get ahold of a friend with a trailer who came and got me. if I was far from home I think eventually someone would have come for me. they seemed happy when I called and told them never mind.
 
We were 1,300 miles from home. Four hours beside a rural highway in 40 mph winds, and repeated calls got us nowhere so I finally found a local business that could tow Voni's bike in to town to a motel. Allstate RV then violated the terms of our coverage in refusing to pay for a tow to the nearest qualified service facility (BMW dealership). However it was cheaper for me to rent a UHaul than to pay a lawyer to sue them.

Tip: If this ever happens to us again I will call 911 and ask for law enforcement to get us a tow service because being stranded beside the road is dangerous. I will pay for the tow and then seek reimbursement but probably won't hold my breath about getting it.
 
Tip: If this ever happens to us again I will call 911 and ask for law enforcement to get us a tow service because being stranded beside the road is dangerous. I will pay for the tow and then seek reimbursement but probably won't hold my breath about getting it.

On another forum I am on we had a big discussion on road side assistance, towing, AAA what ever you want to call it. It was weird. Most said it wasn't worth the money, but they paid for it any way! Some guys had carried AAA for 30-40 years and maybe used it a couple times, but still figured it was a good deal to have it. Guys also said it was for the "sense of security" knowing they can get a tow. I tried to understand why they needed the "warm fuzzy feeling" when a call to 911 will get you a tow probably faster an perhaps better equipt, plus saving your money and just paying for the occasional tow, but there was no convincing anyone. One guy admitted to having paid out around $5,000 total for many years for AAA and having used it a couple times and the tows were relatively short. He even admitted the tows might have cost him $500, but he still was going to carry AAA.

It makes my head hurt!

I told them to stick $1,000 in a savings account, add anually what ever the AAA policy would cost every year into the account, pay any roadside assistance you might have out of it and see where you end up after several years. I said they could probably take mama on a vacation and still have money for towing left over.
 
On another forum I am on we had a big discussion on road side assistance, towing, AAA what ever you want to call it. It was weird. Most said it wasn't worth the money, but they paid for it any way! Some guys had carried AAA for 30-40 years and maybe used it a couple times, but still figured it was a good deal to have it. Guys also said it was for the "sense of security" knowing they can get a tow. I tried to understand why they needed the "warm fuzzy feeling" when a call to 911 will get you a tow probably faster an perhaps better equipt, plus saving your money and just paying for the occasional tow, but there was no convincing anyone. One guy admitted to having paid out around $5,000 total for many years for AAA and having used it a couple times and the tows were relatively short. He even admitted the tows might have cost him $500, but he still was going to carry AAA.

It makes my head hurt!

I told them to stick $1,000 in a savings account, add anually what ever the AAA policy would cost every year into the account, pay any roadside assistance you might have out of it and see where you end up after several years. I said they could probably take mama on a vacation and still have money for towing left over.

It's about $160 a year for Premium (two steps up from basic - whatever they call it) and I use my AAA membership for the discounts, my insurance (which is lower cost and more responsive than any insurance company I've ever worked with before), 90% of transactions with the DMV (saving untold hours), and the piece of mind. I've not had horrible experiences with getting help. The savings from other benefits of membership have outweighed the cost of the membership itself in many ways. YMMV, but the cost of the membership is cheap (a net positive, really) if you take advantage of the membership and not just the roadside assistance...

Also why I'm an MOA member - the cost of the membership is cheap when you look at all of the available benefits and take advantage of those.
 
On another forum I am on we had a big discussion on road side assistance, towing, AAA what ever you want to call it. It was weird. Most said it wasn't worth the money, but they paid for it any way! Some guys had carried AAA for 30-40 years and maybe used it a couple times, but still figured it was a good deal to have it. Guys also said it was for the "sense of security" knowing they can get a tow. I tried to understand why they needed the "warm fuzzy feeling" when a call to 911 will get you a tow probably faster an perhaps better equipt, plus saving your money and just paying for the occasional tow, but there was no convincing anyone. One guy admitted to having paid out around $5,000 total for many years for AAA and having used it a couple times and the tows were relatively short. He even admitted the tows might have cost him $500, but he still was going to carry AAA.

It makes my head hurt!

I told them to stick $1,000 in a savings account, add annually what ever the AAA policy would cost every year into the account, pay any roadside assistance you might have out of it and see where you end up after several years. I said they could probably take mama on a vacation and still have money for towing left over.

We had AAA for years, then dropped it when we realized towing was covered under our insurance. Things went fine until my wife had to use it. It was such a complete fiasco compered to our AAA experiences of years past, that we went back to AAA for the convenience factor in case we need to use.

That being said, I decided to pay for the MOA towing because I thought it would provide better service for motorcycles. After reading this and other comments, I'm not sure that's the case., but it's probably better than nothing at the moment.
 
On a positive note, I have the equivalent AAA membership, with the RV rider, in Canada - CAA. I needed them 18 months ago to provide a jump when my bike battery died. They were there in about 20 minutes. Granted, it was a metropolitan area. Three years ago I was in a beater car owned by a friend of mine when it blew a rad hose. Called CAA and they arrived in about 30 minutes to tow the car to his place. Because I was in the car, my membership covered the tow. :clap

Last November I was in Camarillo and needed a jump when "someone" left the lights on overnight in my car :blush. AAA arrived in about 30 minutes. Absolutely no complaints on my part.
 
On a positive note, I have the equivalent AAA membership, with the RV rider, in Canada - CAA. I needed them 18 months ago to provide a jump when my bike battery died. They were there in about 20 minutes. Granted, it was a metropolitan area. Three years ago I was in a beater car owned by a friend of mine when it blew a rad hose. Called CAA and they arrived in about 30 minutes to tow the car to his place. Because I was in the car, my membership covered the tow. :clap

Last November I was in Camarillo and needed a jump when "someone" left the lights on overnight in my car :blush. AAA arrived in about 30 minutes. Absolutely no complaints on my part.

I am envious of your help from CAA. We’ve had both great, prompt service but there have been instances where the trucks had been dispatched to wrong locations resulting in waiting hours. Both good and bad service have been in city and rural areas. We continue with CAA membership but accept that the quality of the service will be a roll of the dice. :banghead

I’ve only used the MOA premium towing package once and I am hoping if another need should arise that service will be less frustrating.
 
I have my normal insurance carriers towing, bmwmoa towing and https://www.bestroadsideservice.com/vehicle-plan-comparison/ towing pkg. Bestroadside motorcycle towing pkg, to be more precise. They'll send someone who knows how to tow a bike correctly without damaging it further hooking it up. 75 miles.

Bmw 100 miles
best roadside 75 miles
insurance carrier 25 miles

200 miles of tow, and if it comes down to it, I'll use Bestroadside first, have then unload the bike at 70 miles, call bmwmoa and get another 90 miles down the road, have them unload the bike and call my insurances tow service number for the next 50 miles. If I'm further from service than the 200 miles and 3 policies will get me, last drop off I'll dial 911 and get them to dispatch a tow truck to my location and pay them in cash.

3 policies-- is it worth it? Many would say no. If I'm going to pay bmw for their supplemental pkg, the second supplemental isn't too much IMO. On another note, if bestroadside has me waiting more than a reasonable time, I can call bmwmoa for the tow, and they drop the ball, call the emergency number on the card from my insurance carrier.

I did the above when I was hoofing it to the arctic circle in 2018 on the GS where I could be 200 miles from service or more.
 
Several years ago while in my SUV I got a flat on I80 at 11:30pm on New Years Eve. I wasn't about to make the attempt of changing it on the berm as trucks flew by so I used my emergency road service. Around 1:30 in the morning the tow truck showed up driven by the owner of the tow company and he gave me an education how emergency road service works. The gentleman stated 99% of emergency road service is contracted to 2 companies who have call centers, so when you call in they pinpoint your location then do a call around to find the cheapest tow company. In my case he said he took the call from his house, gave the guy the price, and was told he might get a call back. After he hung up he said to his wife, some poor *** is sitting on a berm along 80 this late of night and the call center is calling around the the best price. About 45 minutes later he got the call to come to my aide. He also told me for what its worth AAA is probably the best to use compared to all others. Thank God I haven't needed it since.
 
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