Safeco Insurance=Epic Fail

[NXR]

Originally Posted by eastern1

Sent in the receipt for the $1300 tow bill which I had to arrange on my own along with the text messages from Safeco saying they would not arrange a tow until I paid THEM-Safeco $1800 first and essentially closing the ticket.

This is the part I do not understand. Why did Safeco want you to pay them $1,800? Were you lapsed on coverage and that is the reinstatement fee?

Did you not really have the type of roadside assistance you thought you had? My insurance company covers our house, cars, and motorhome but they specifically exclude the motorhome from their roadside assistance coverage.

Or what?

Ray

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by JFXG

Eastern…. Important to recognize the difference between a casualty loss and a roadside breakdown. There may be some overlap in coverage, but usually not much.
Insurance companies are in the casualty loss business. Roadside Assistance is just an afterthought to them. An RA policy that is “included free”, or “member discounted” at just $30 or $50 per year is likely going to be worth pretty much what you paid for it.
Call CoachNet.

And if you read these "policies" they guarantee nothing at all. They are in essence an option on the part of the vendor to participate in a customer misfortune if certain vague conditions are met which they neither have to validate or investigate. Insurance policies are generally backed by capital, regulations and regulators as well as intense competition for premium income. These arrangements are rather like purchasing more band width from an ISP. It comes with all sorts of caveats most of which are beyond the customers' control thus making the delivery of such bandwidth more or less entirely at the supplier's option.

No DA would take a case against these vendors - it would be hard enough to prove jurisdiction. In short just another Gotcha!

[Pez Vela]

Originally Posted by eastern1

So I have the best policy they offer for roadside assistance and needed it badly yesterday. We had an overheat and coolant blowout-turned out to be serpentine belt on I95 at Savannah. Had to drive a mile to pull over due to no shoulder because of construction with warnings and overheat alarms going off.



Got over on shoulder and once I diagnosed there was nothing I could do called Spartan Roadside Assistance first- out of warranty on a 2020 coach so they blew me off. Called Safeco next and after going through all the explanations of what was wrong and where I was they said a wrecker would be there in 45-60 minutes. OK.



1 1/12 hours later I call and go through the whole deal again with someone hard to understand that said the wrecker had cancelled, Nice. I am stuck on 95 in a dangerous situation and they didn’t feel it important enough to let me know.



So I start calling local wreckers and no one can get there till the next day!!!! WTH is my insurance company? They text me that I need to immediately pay them $1855. For what? I called the underwriter and they confirmed my account was paid in full!!!!!



I recall the the wrecker company Cummins recommended to see if anything has changed and they said yes they could have a guy there in an hour for $1300. I said yes-please, at this point I didn’t care.



So a great guy, Chase from Sapp’s Towing showed up and did a great job disconnecting everything on the side of I95 in 95 degrees and got us to the Savannah area Cummins. Just so happens they have RV hookups and he backed us in. The Cummins guys were great. Found out it was the serpentine belt that they didn’t have in stock but I had one as a spare thankfully. Got us on the road this afternoon. All told I spent $2100 for towing, labor, coolant including a $200 tip for the wrecker guy who almost left us. No one wants to tow Class A’s!



Long winded but my experience with Safeco was terrible. The underwriter, Overland Insurance is pissed at them as well but the bottom line is when you need the help the most and feel like you have done all you can policy wise they let me down in a HUGE way! Will definitely be looking to change…any recommendations for a legit insurance company would be appreciated.

Note to self. If my RV wants to break down in construction zone, stop it right in traffic. Police and/or construction company will make arrangements to have it towed quickly. Let your insurance deal with payment. Police will be hard-pressed to force you to drive it, if there is a possibility it will cause more damage to your RV. Just my humble opinion.

[Bobby F]

Originally Posted by Pez Vela

Police will be hard-pressed to force you to drive it, if there is a possibility it will cause more damage to your RV.

Careful with this one. They shove stuck cars out of traffic with snowplows where I'm from. Doesn't help the cars at all. Depends on the route, traffic, etc., but they won't let you create danger or a huge back-up.

[eastern1]

Originally Posted by NXR

This is the part I do not understand. Why did Safeco want you to pay them $1,800? Were you lapsed on coverage and that is the reinstatement fee?

Did you not really have the type of roadside assistance you thought you had? My insurance company covers our house, cars, and motorhome but they specifically exclude the motorhome from their roadside assistance coverage.

Or what?

Ray

No the account was paid in full and they never really explained what the $1800 was for. At one point the Safeco person was saying that the tow was way beyond a 15 mile limit when in fact a Cummins facility was only 11 miles away! when I got the text that they wanted $1800 and were closing the case is when I gave up and started looking for a tow on my own once more. They also kept sending me texts wanting to know my exact "address". It was tough trying to explain to heavily accented people on the other end I was broken down on the side of an interstate and didn't have an address. This is the card that came with the useless Roadside Assistance. It is not uploading so I will try it in a seperate post but it clearly states "24-Hour Roadside Assistance". "Towing to the nearest qualified facility"

[eastern1]

Originally Posted by eastern1

No the account was paid in full and they never really explained what the $1800 was for. At one point the Safeco person was saying that the tow was way beyond a 15 mile limit when in fact a Cummins facility was only 11 miles away! when I got the text that they wanted $1800 and were closing the case is when I gave up and started looking for a tow on my own once more. They also kept sending me texts wanting to know my exact "address". It was tough trying to explain to heavily accented people on the other end I was broken down on the side of an interstate and didn't have an address. This is the card that came with the useless Roadside Assistance. It is not uploading so I will try it in a seperate post but it clearly states "24-Hour Roadside Assistance". "Towing to the nearest qualified facility"

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by Bobby F

Careful with this one. They shove stuck cars out of traffic with snowplows where I'm from. Doesn't help the cars at all. Depends on the route, traffic, etc., but they won't let you create danger or a huge back-up.

You are spot on: In Texas one's inability to move a vehicle off an Interstate or SH is called "Obstructing the Highway". They will pull the vehicle to a layby or the shoulder using one or more vehicles and will not accept protestations. One driver locked himself in his truck and they pulled him sideways onto the shoulder.

I have followed this issue from time to time because I had a rear blow out while towing a TT. Could not release the TT because of the twist at the hitch and my 2 ton jack was not strong enough to lift both the rear of the TV and the TT attached. Cops were making arrangements to cut my hitch with a plasma cutter when the City Emergency Response team arrived with a 4 ton jack and we got it done. By this time the back up was a couple of miles and I had been hit at least once by a truck trying to squeeze by. I now carry a 5 ton jack, jack leveling boards, 2 spares for the TT and one for the TV, jack axle attachments, compressor

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by eastern1

No the account was paid in full and they never really explained what the $1800 was for. At one point the Safeco person was saying that the tow was way beyond a 15 mile limit when in fact a Cummins facility was only 11 miles away! when I got the text that they wanted $1800 and were closing the case is when I gave up and started looking for a tow on my own once more. They also kept sending me texts wanting to know my exact "address". It was tough trying to explain to heavily accented people on the other end I was broken down on the side of an interstate and didn't have an address. This is the card that came with the useless Roadside Assistance. It is not uploading so I will try it in a seperate post but it clearly states "24-Hour Roadside Assistance". "Towing to the nearest qualified facility"

When I broke down I called 911. I asked if they needed the address ( I wasnt sure exactly where I was). They replied "No." Their software can pinpoint my cell phone to within 50 feet...

[chuckbear]

Several weeks ago we had a road gator tear off our tailpipe and wrap it around the drive shaft doing serious damage. We were on I95 near Savannah. We have both CoachNet and Progressive road side assistance. BOTH left us hanging on a busy interstate for 9 hours, We finally called around and found a tow on our own and also found a repair shop that could replace the drive shaft. We made arrangements for the tow to pick us up on our own and made arrangements for the repair shop. We contacted Progressive claim service, let them know their roadside service sucks, which they already knew, and filed a claim since the damage was due to road debris. They immediately contacted the tow service and repair shop to make arrangements to cover all costs except the deductible. They were great to work with but assured us they were not connected to the roadside service, even though we paid Progressive for the insurance. The moral is, don't assume that just because you pay your insurance company for road service, that they are providing the service. And just because you pay anyone for roadside service, don't expect it to be there when you need it. Chuck

[eastern1]

Originally Posted by chuckbear

Several weeks ago we had a road gator tear off our tailpipe and wrap it around the drive shaft doing serious damage. We were on I95 near Savannah. We have both CoachNet and Progressive road side assistance. BOTH left us hanging on a busy interstate for 9 hours, We finally called around and found a tow on our own and also found a repair shop that could replace the drive shaft. We made arrangements for the tow to pick us up on our own and made arrangements for the repair shop. We contacted Progressive claim service, let them know their roadside service sucks, which they already knew, and filed a claim since the damage was due to road debris. They immediately contacted the tow service and repair shop to make arrangements to cover all costs except the deductible. They were great to work with but assured us they were not connected to the roadside service, even though we paid Progressive for the insurance. The moral is, don't assume that just because you pay your insurance company for road service, that they are providing the service. And just because you pay anyone for roadside service, don't expect it to be there when you need it. Chuck

I am going to renew with Progressive and Coach Net because of the horrible time I am having with Safeco. At least progressive is offering to pay the tow. Safeco gave me $100 towards a $1300 tow!!!

It is things like this that have made me wet to sell. If I hadn't had a serpentine belt we may still be stuck in Savannah as my local Cummins shop says they are on national back order. Lots of drama traveling in a Big Rig.