Travel / Motor Clubs

[Jaxon]

Starting to scratch my head with this one... in the past, we've been a "member" of Good Sam, AAA, and the ARP Motoring Plan. Fortunately, we've never had to use any of the services and usually, after a year or two, we've let the "memberships" lapse.

Well, just noticed that in the mail for the last few days, all of 'em (& even some we've never heard of), have been sending us their renewal notices. Got me to thinking that the Forums would be the best place to find out other's pro's & con's and experiences with any of the travel/motor plans.

So, who's the best? Easiest? Most reliable? Who really delivers on what their imaginative marketing departments promises? I'm not one to think our good luck will last and would like to have at least some resources available whilst out on the road. Thanks!

[azflycaster]

A while back there was a AAA vs Good Sam thread running and basicly Good Sam was the big winner in the RV department.

AAA could not commit to towing both the TT and the TV if you needed a tow. If the tow company had the equiptment they would maybe tow both, but in some cases they would leave the TT on the sideof the road.

GS would send two tow units if required, tow the TT to a RV park if you were in transit and the TV to a repair shop. The GS cost was much lower also.

I dropped my AAA and signed up for GS a year ago, but have not used the service yet.

[ArtStream]

Continental Car Club has bailed me out 3 times in 3 years.

Tow truck and flatbed.

TV towed to the repair shop of MY choice (Ford)
Trailer towed to the campground of MY choice.

Follow-up phone calls after each tow.
Best service I have ever had from any service company.
50 bucks a year.

Michael

[moosetags]

We have AAA Plus RV which we have not yet used. Even with all our recent blow-outs, we elected to channge them ourselves. The reason that we keep the AAA Plus RV is for when the TV breaks down, they will have to get the Airstream into safe port.

[safari57]

Several of us have AAA Plus RV (in BC it's counterpart is BCAA) and over the past five years I'm aware of the service being used by our group four times in BC and WA. We just talked about this recently at a camp out as I was promoting the addition of GS to "top up" the AAA plan.

The group agreed that AAA's service was prompt and friendly - the vehicle was put on a ramp truck, and in three of the four cases the trailer was then pulled by the same truck. In one case (WA) a separate 3/4 ton pick up accompanied the flat deck to pick up the trailer. I am not aware of anyone having had problems although I do know in the WA. case the AAA person indicated the trailer may need to be left on the road a bit longer than the car and the driver said "not a chance of that happening" and AAA made sure the tow firm was aware it had to be picked up at the same time or their tow truck was going to be sitting waiting for the other truck to show up.

We are all very happy with the service we've received from AAA. I am though going to add GS to my plan just in case now that my wife is the primary driver and roadside problems that I may have been able to deal with in the past will now need to be done by a shop in the next viable town.

Barry

[InsideOut]

Okay, so I can chime in here a bit....

At the International Rally in Perry, as we were hooking up to go home, I lost the set of keys that had my tongue lock key on it.

I thought:

Check Lost & Found. "What do your keys look like?" Uh, duh...they look like keys?

No biggie I'll call AAA. Which I did. Nope, they will only open a car door to let you in, no other locks.

Alrighty then, so my traveling buddy Jim, who owns the B-190 we used as a our tow vehicle has AAA Plus RV, let's try that one. Nope, same thing only the tow or MoHo...not a trailer.

So a very resourceful VAC'er who has quite the collection of keys got out his bag of tricks. He tried not less than 100 master keys to see if one would work. Nope.

Okay, so I guess it's time to get out the power tools! We ground that %#&*! lock off. It's in a million pieces in no time flat...and we can hitch up and hit the road...

Three things I learned:

1) AAA isn't worth a darn for things like this
2) AAA RV-Plus isn't worth the extra $$$
3) locks only keep honest people out, even my "heavy duty" one came off easy with a grinder in about a minute.

Oh and by the way, I found my keys in my laptop case when I got home....silly me!

Shari

[azflycaster]

Here is the thread I eas thinking of earlier:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f351...ice-18661.html

[Jaxon]

Wow! Good info, folks, thanks. One of the most obvious things (& something I didn't consider at all), was the Auto club coming out and towing my TV but leaving the Airstream on the side of the road... yeah... that's gonna work.

Hummm, never heard of Continental Car Club, Michael. Will check them out. Sounds like you've been done good by 'em.

Shari, you're a hoot! Thanks! I'm with you on that experience. Safari 57, wonder if Canada's got a better deal with AAA (CAA)...?

Richard - seems to me I've heard that about GS before. However, Kim's only comment was "will they cover me if I'm on the road in my VW and have a problem, (towing nothing but the wind behind her)? Thanks for you 'historical post'... that pretty much answers it for us! Sounds as if GS does cover all...

[jcanavera]

We have regular AAA to take care of the home car stuff like starting problems and other issues for the home vehicles. We also like the trip guides and some of the special discounts for attractions.

For the trailer we took out the $40 annual coverage offered by Progressive on the Classic. This covers breakdown of the tow vehicle and the trailer. If the tow vehicle needs to be towed, they also supply an extra truck to take the trailer to a place of safety. They provide a national 800 call center and folks to do the towing that can handle RV's. Not a bad deal for $40.

Jack

[safari57]

Just a note, I think we got as good a service in WA State as we have in BC.


Personally, I'll take both AAA and GS's programs. What one might not cover the other will. A lot depends on the actual towing company as well and in most cases they end up using the same firm in the small towns along the highways/byways, it's just who covers what and for what distance.

I can tell you though it does help to be insistent with the dispatcher when telling them that you will not leave your trailer unattended on the highway. Things take on a new tone, particularly if you mention the high probability of theft and or damage is significantly higher and they will be held accountable for that given it's their decision to desert it out there.....

I can't remember in at least the past ten years or so having seen just a trailer (RV that is) on the side of the road. I think it has to be pretty much standard procedure to get them in out of harms way at the same time. If just a tow truck ever showed up for my car, quite frankly, I'd have my trailer towed first to a safe location while I sat with my car and waited for them to come back for me.

Barry

[Coloradobus]

2 years ago on our way back from International Springfield, Missouri our towcar, 1969 Cadillac dropped is timing chain 400 miles from. AAA RV Plus came to the rescue and towed us 100 miles free per our program with two towtrucks. One for the caddy and one for the Globe Trotter. Once at our overnight stop, we then hired a flatbed tow truck for hauling the cadillac back to Denver from Wa Keanney Kansas. We rode in the tow torucj hauling the caddy with the GT attached to the back of the tow truck. 5 1/2 hours later. we were home. AAA RV Plus definitey lived up to what we expected.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

2) AAA RV-Plus isn't worth the extra $$$

Originally Posted by Coloradobus

AAA RV Plus definitey lived up to what we expected.

Well, I guess it did that time...just not with my stupid lock this time...right?!

Shari
* Note to self...never have only a single key to anything when 1500+ miles from home...stupid, stupid, stupid!

[Streamer1]

I am a member of AAA+ but I think I should sign up for GS club also.

[safari57]

The folks at AAA Plus did such a fine job of rescuing us that Donna is now questioning if we actually need to continue with GS's program. Darn, I like to have both so I double the distance covered if it's required, and there are advantages to both. Guess I have some work to do here to convince her. Our friends broke quite some distance from home and he intended to do his own repairs. By having two packages he doubled his mileage from just AAA and got dropped off at his house with a small cost for the mileage over the two combined. That's what I want.

Barry

[Jaxon]

We went ahead and signed up for both - AAA & for $12 more, Good Sam... Seems the extra $12 wasn't much to at least be reasonably assured that if one couldn't make it or cover both the TW & trailer (as mentioned above in various places), we'd have an alternate resource available. Small price to pay.