Safeco Insurance=Epic Fail

[Winger2]

A stressful situation made worse by an insurance company.

[mr.tommy]

I don't understand how a 2020 Newmar Ventana 4002 DP ends up having a bad belt. Good thing you had a spare. Every motorhome owner should carry a spare belt. I do. If this rig were mine, I'd be keeping a close eye at the replacement belt every few months to see if there are any signs of pully misalignment issues etc. that would cause premature belt failure—again—in the future.

So sorry for all the hassle you had to go thru. Shouldn't of went down that way for sure. Customer Service in almost every sector in America has gone into the toilet.

[johnhicks]

Coachnet has done very well for me, arranging over the July 4 holiday to get my MH extracted from a small state park in the boonies and competently towed about 60 miles to a shop. Paying for that one tow would have been far more than I've paid for Coachnet over the years. They've also had the toad towed once.

After shredding the serpentine belt on I-75 I now carry a spare. Fortunately it could be replaced without a tow.

[rffowler55]

Your experience illustrates why I do not rely on my RV insurance carrier only, Progressive, for my roadside assistance but also have a stand-alone policy through FMCA. Not sure even a 2nd option is full proof but at least I have 2 changes of getting lucky.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by mr.tommy

I don't understand how a 2020 Newmar Ventana 4002 DP ends up having a bad belt. Good thing you had a spare. Every motorhome owner should carry a spare belt. I do. If this rig were mine, I'd be keeping a close eye at the replacement belt every few months to see if there are any signs of pully misalignment issues etc. that would cause premature belt failure—again—in the future.

So sorry for all the hassle you had to go thru. Shouldn't of went down that way for sure. Customer Service in almost every sector in America has gone into the toilet.

Very often the cause of a broken belt is an idler pulley or the belt tensioner. The

belt tensioner should be replaced every time a belt fails.

[eastern1]

Originally Posted by mr.tommy

I don't understand how a 2020 Newmar Ventana 4002 DP ends up having a bad belt. Good thing you had a spare. Every motorhome owner should carry a spare belt. I do. If this rig were mine, I'd be keeping a close eye at the replacement belt every few months to see if there are any signs of pully misalignment issues etc. that would cause premature belt failure—again—in the future.

So sorry for all the hassle you had to go thru. Shouldn't of went down that way for sure. Customer Service in almost every sector in America has gone into the toilet.

Agreed that CS has gone in the toilet. Two of the people were heavily accented and I had to stop them to repeat what they were saying. But...I bought the Spartan care kit when I first got the coach and that proved to be a great move. The Cummins dealer believe it or not did not have a belt in stock for the 400HP motor! That being said, the Cummins shop was great!! Way better than the one here in VA close to me. It was a blessing we broke down only 11 miles from them and they had 50 amp hookups and water.

[eastern1]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Very often the cause of a broken belt is an idler pulley or the belt tensioner. The

Great info there. Wish I would have seen that before Cummins replaced the belt. The tech said he was going to check for the cause but he was gone when the coach was given to me, Seemed like a really good and caring mechanic.

I also had a spare AC belt he put on as he said he had to take the AC belt off to get to the serpentine belt on so both are new. Honestly, I dont have the skill or wherewithal to replace belts on a rear radiator on a coach in ideal circumstances much less on the side of I95 in 95 degree heat with roaring traffic. Not sure I even had the necessary tools. My wife is fed up as this is not the first problem and I may be too. Having a home in VA and one in FL and using the coach to go back and forth is not working out.

My OP thread is to say that I bought the best insurance for roadside assistance I thought I could so when something breaks and I am stuck they send help. Not even close. Safeco roadside assistance actually made a bad situation even worse!!!!

[mr.tommy]

Originally Posted by eastern1

Great info there. Wish I would have seen that before Cummins replaced the belt. The tech said he was going to check for the cause but he was gone when the coach was given to me, Seemed like a really good and caring mechanic.

I also had a spare AC belt he put on as he said he had to take the AC belt off to get to the serpentine belt on so both are new. Honestly, I dont have the skill or wherewithal to replace belts on a rear radiator on a coach in ideal circumstances much less on the side of I95 in 95 degree heat with roaring traffic. Not sure I even had the necessary tools. My wife is fed up as this is not the first problem and I may be too. Having a home in VA and one in FL and using the coach to go back and forth is not working out.

My OP thread is to say that I bought the best insurance for roadside assistance I thought I could so when something breaks and I am stuck they send help. Not even close. Safeco roadside assistance actually made a bad situation even worse!!!!

Even though Ray, IN posted that video and reiterated that the belt tensioner should be replaced whenever a belt is replaced, I don't think that applies to a 2020 Newmar Ventana 4002 DP. Tensioner and belt replacement is based on recommended regular milage or age. Your tensioner is only 2yrs.old along with the belt and I'll bet you don't even have 10K on the clock yet. But....as I said earlier, I'd still be watching that new belt every 6 months or so and look for ANY SIGNS of chaffing on the sides of the belt or unusual wear in the grooves. Which I'll bet you won't find. Personally, I think it was just a bad belt from the beginning. It does happen, but not very often.

I replaced my Serpentine Belt when I bought my coach used @ 4yrs. old and with 18K miles on it and I was getting ready to go FT. Did NOT change out the tensioner. No need to. Kept old belt as a spare. That was 6yrs. ago and I'm over 50K miles now and no problems. Make sure any new belt is OEM and not a cheaper 3rd party belt. ALWAYS use OEM parts when replacing anything. Your situation is a very RARE occurrence with a new coach like yours.
Oh....and tell your wife it'll be OK and just enjoy the ride

[Steve Rankin]

Originally Posted by Gary2220

I have heard that a site called coach.net is the best I haven't taking them out as of yet but I will do my research

Ditto.


We acquired CoachNet very early in our RV life after witnessing friends have excellent experience with it in Alaska. Since then, we dropped AAA as they were not only more expensive, but offered significantly less coverage, and they had discontinued their free map program. We've only used CoachNet once, and that was for one of our regular vehicles, but the experience was flawless.

[robertlipp]

Originally Posted by theroc

A couple of things where I'm not sure I agree with. These are only my understanding of the situation and personal opinions so as I say more and more on these forums, take what I say with a grain of salt.

First, many, if not most, of the insurance companies --similar to some car manufacturers-- contract their emergency-road-service out to independent ERS service providers. They do not run their own call centers, etc. It is not really an integral part of their insurance package or related to their underwriters.

Safeco used to contract their ERS out to Cross Country Automotive Services. I'm not sure if that is who they still use or not. Subaru, for example, also uses Cross Country.

Second, ERS is only as good as the contractors they dispatch. The best ERS service may send a lousy towing company or one with a bad reputation but they, the towing service, is contracted also. You may get a good one or a bad one no matter the ERS you use. And even if the towing service does have a good reputation, you may get one of their inexperienced or marginal employees on that call. Even Coach-Net has been know for dispatching a bad contractor from their call center from time to time. And I'm not sure if Coach-Net even has call centers anymore ...don't they contract that out now too? Not sure.

So I'm not sure if you should put all the blame or be so harsh on Safeco themselves. ERS is optional or may be included as part of the package of insurance service you picked. No matter, you chose to have Safeco provide the ERS.

I used to pretty much go with Coach-Net at the time we were full-timing for ERS as they were/are experts with RV and motorhome issues. Safeco or most other insurance companies may not have that same emphasis especially if the "farm out" their ERS service.

I'd also suggest possibly looking into using a separate ERS rather than going with the one your insurance carrier provides.

Believe it or not --and I haven't really been a fan of Good Sam through the years-- but they typically are rated very high when it comes to general automotive ERS plans and, of course, we all know they also specialize in RVs so their ERS for RVs, like Coach-Net, can be more focused when the time comes to use the service.

A few examples of reviews for "general" ERS (not exclusively RVs) ...it can be and has been discussed on other threads but I'm always surprised that Good Sam is always rated well generally:

Who Provides the Best Roadside Assistance? (GS #1)

Best roadside assistance services 2022: Breakdown and towing plans (GS #2)

What is the Best RV Roadside Assistance Plan? (GS #1)

Good Sam let us down as badly as Safeco did for these guys. I would NEVER use Good Sam again!

[vlamgat]

Broke the axle of my Peterbilt Renegade last Sunday night. GS said they could not do anything before Monday after lunch, maybe if a two truck could be found. Coach.Net said much the same. Seems to me that absent litigation, none of these services are worth a dang except for maybe tires, running out of gas, or small RVs/Vans. Their problems are not going to be resolved without a major increase in premiums as in 2X or 3X to make this work attractive to vendors.

[Doc Burry]

Broke down near Payson Arizona with our 40 foot Newmar Class A Diesel Pusher, and had to be towed 73 miles to the Cummins facility, in Phoenix area and AAA did not charge dime extra. It was over 100° we were stuck with our little dog and a very difficult situation on the side of the freeway. A fan belt tensioner broke, destroying the fan belt, the fan, did radiator damage about $8300 worth to repair. Because we have the premium AAA policy, it covers RVs, and AAA also reimbursed us for our motel, cab fares etc. for when we were broken down. We actually have Safeco and I never even thought of calling them, because we’ve had such good results with AAA.

[DFord]

Here's the best advice I can offer the OP.

Buy your motorhome insurance from a company that specializes in RV insurance. The link below is to a company based out of Forest City, Iowa (the home of Winnebago). They are an insurance broker for several insurers and will find the best one for your needs. (BTW: I'm not in the insurance business - just a customer.) I've been with them for years. FMCA offers them through a membership benefit)
https://rvadvantage.com/

Roadside assistance for your RV is best purchased from specialists also.

FMCA uses a company called SafeRoad Motor Club
https://saferiderv.vehicleadminservices.com/

Try Coach-Net whose been around a long time.
https://coach-net.com/

I would stay away from anything that Marcus Lemonis has to offer through Good Sam because IMHO he's a crook out to fleece you.

I belong to and believe in FMCA (the only large member owned RV club I know of). I've been a member for well over 20 years. Membership includes an insurance policy that will repatriate you and your RV should something serious happen to you over 100 miles from home. You couldn't buy that policy for what the dues cost. Attend one of their big rallies held each year on alternating sides of the country in March (next year in Perry, GA) or the one in the middle of the country in August - this year in Lincoln, NE.

[danrn]

Originally Posted by theroc

A couple of things where I'm not sure I agree with. These are only my understanding of the situation and personal opinions so as I say more and more on these forums, take what I say with a grain of salt.

First, many, if not most, of the insurance companies --similar to some car manufacturers-- contract their emergency-road-service out to independent ERS service providers. They do not run their own call centers, etc. It is not really an integral part of their insurance package or related to their underwriters.

Safeco used to contract their ERS out to Cross Country Automotive Services. I'm not sure if that is who they still use or not. Subaru, for example, also uses Cross Country.

Second, ERS is only as good as the contractors they dispatch. The best ERS service may send a lousy towing company or one with a bad reputation but they, the towing service, is contracted also. You may get a good one or a bad one no matter the ERS you use. And even if the towing service does have a good reputation, you may get one of their inexperienced or marginal employees on that call. Even Coach-Net has been know for dispatching a bad contractor from their call center from time to time. And I'm not sure if Coach-Net even has call centers anymore ...don't they contract that out now too? Not sure.

So I'm not sure if you should put all the blame or be so harsh on Safeco themselves. ERS is optional or may be included as part of the package of insurance service you picked. No matter, you chose to have Safeco provide the ERS.

I used to pretty much go with Coach-Net at the time we were full-timing for ERS as they were/are experts with RV and motorhome issues. Safeco or most other insurance companies may not have that same emphasis especially if the "farm out" their ERS service.

I'd also suggest possibly looking into using a separate ERS rather than going with the one your insurance carrier provides.

"Believe it or not --and I haven't really been a fan of Good Sam through the years-- but they typically are rated very high when it comes to general automotive ERS plans and, of course, we all know they also specialize in RVs so their ERS for RVs, like Coach-Net, can be more focused when the time comes to use the service."

A few examples of reviews for "general" ERS (not exclusively RVs) ...it can be and has been discussed on other threads but I'm always surprised that Good Sam is always rated well generally:

Who Provides the Best Roadside Assistance? (GS #1)

Best roadside assistance services 2022: Breakdown and towing plans (GS #2)

What is the Best RV Roadside Assistance Plan? (GS #1)

I too am no longer a fan of Good Sam ERS. I signed up with them a few years ago and have always ensure I have the RV included in the plan. I used them year before last when my diesel truck broke down towing my 5th wheel. They were helpful then and I was very thankful. 2 months ago I lost a tire on my 5th wheel while going through Wy. and called them. I was advised my coverage had changed and my RV is no longer covered. I was never notified of this and I asked the GS rep about this and she said it changed a few months back. I asked her why I wasn't notified and she couldn't answer. She offered to help to find me a tow at my expense of course. My wife and I are stuck on the side of the interstate, so of course I said yes I need help. She comes back and tells me the tow will be around $1300. I needed a tow so I said fine. Then she said she couldn't find a repair shop to tow it to(it is Saturday), so she said they could tow it to a Walmart. Then tow it the to a repair shop on Monday which would be two tows I would have to pay for. While on the side of the interstate a state patrol stopped to check on us. He gave us a tow company's number to call. We called them. They towed us for $500 and they had a repair shop that worked on RV's. What a blessing to have gotten that number to call this other tow company. Were did GS get that $1300??? Not only did they change my ERS coverage without notifying me, they wanted to charge me over twice the amount for the tow. I did email them but never got a reply back. I will be changing my ERS before taking my RV out again and it will not be GS.