Considering change of Road side assistance provider

[rrtribble]

Have been Good Sam for many years and its RSA has assisted me 5 times but last year I joined FMCA. Its RSA seems to offer the same service GS does at half the price.

Was wondering if any fellow members had any experiences with either RSA provider they would be willing to share that may help me decide which one to choose.

Thanks in advance for your assistance - Richard

[nvs4602]

Originally Posted by rrtribble

Have been Good Sam for many years and its RSA has assisted me 5 times but last year I joined FMCA. Its RSA seems to offer the same service GS does at half the price.

Was wondering if any fellow members had any experiences with either RSA provider they would be willing to share that may help me decide which one to choose.

Thanks in advance for your assistance - Richard

I just added roadside assistance to my insurance policy, I think it was about $20 more a year. I got stuck in the wet grass about 4 moths later they sent a tow truck out never seen a bill. Unless I'm missing some other benefits that's what I would do.

[NRR]

Never had a problem with Good Sam. Even in Canada.

But moved to FMCA this year due to annual cost.

[theroc]

Richard, I'll give you my opinion but many I know will disagree. That is the nature of forums such as these.

As you know, FMCA doesn't administer their ERS themselves but rather contracts their "Roadside Rescue" service out to an outfit called SafeRide. SafeRide has a relatively good reputation. I believe that the Escapees also use SafeRide for their ERS. This is similar to Good Sam where they contract their ERS also ...I believe (and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong) that Good Sam uses Allstate and the Allstate ERS call centers.

For us (and we are now retired from RVing), we couldn't take the continued escalating prices for Coach-Net that we used for quite a few years. And once Coach-net raised their prices and packages to levels that I just couldn't justify, we went with SafeRide for our last few years. We never used the service so I can't comment on that but the price was right.

My theory (and this is where many will not agree with me) ERS is like any other "insurance" service. I usually go with high deductibles with our insurance policies and insure for the catastrophic events. I'll also self-insure for mechanical breakdowns so never buy extended warranties or service contracts.

Therefore, because we've hardly used ERS through the years, I'd rather go with the least expensive. But again, that's just me. There are plenty of people here that will argue with my logic and prove me wrong with their own experiences.

I read in one thread here on ERS (and as you know, there are dozens and dozens of threads here and on other RV forums about ERS) that one guy pays for Coach-Net, Good Sam, FMCA/SafeRide, and AAA ERS policies as he claims he wants to be covered no matter where he is or what the problem he may be having and have plenty of back-up should one not respond fast enough or in the manner he expects. To me, that's just overkill and a waste of money to be paying for four ERS policies but I'm sure many don't agree with how I feel.

So my opinion is to go with FMCA's SafeRide. Most of the ERS call centers basically will use the same providers anyway in any given area under the same circumstance.

And I read on one forum --and I have no idea if this is true or not-- that SafeRide has the reputation of paying their service providers quickly so in turn, providers are quick to respond to calls from their call center and that could be a benefit of having FMCA over GoodSam/Allstate. Again, who knows.

FMCA Roadside Rescue comparison chart

SafeRide Motor Club general website

[wildtoad]

Check with your insurance carrier. They may offer coverage for next to nothing.

[TXTiger]

FMCA and Escapees use SafeRide. FMCA is $69 a year. Escapees is $99 a year. FMCA, Escapees, GoodSam, SafeRide all have local sub contractors that they call to do the roadside assistance. They all use the same contractors. I have Geico insurance that includes roadside assistance and my extended warranty also has this coverage so I have not purchased FMCA, Escapees or Good Sam. If you are a member of FMCA I would look into their coverage as the least expensive.

[Bigd9]

I have State Farm Insurance and added Roadside Assistance for about $12 per year for the motorhome. A few months ago we broke down and State Farm could'n have been more helpful. From their calls back us to confirm our safety to keeping us informed every step of the way. Long story short, a 52 mile tow after hours at "dark thirty" cost us nothing. Once we arrived at the shop we got another call asking if we wanted them to call the local police to check up on us until the shop opened in the morning!

Like has already been said about other roadside providers State Farm contracts with a call center who specializes in arraigning towing services.

[CWSWine]

When I called my auto insurance when towing a 5er I told the Customer Service rep that I had a truck with a fifth wheel. She asked why my truck had 5 wheels and she never saw one of those and what was the fifth wheel for. My point is I will pay FMCA 69 bucks to have someone that knows what I need and don't send a car style wrecker to tow my motorhome.