AAA or Good Sam? Which Roadside Assistance do you prefer and why?

[Jabba]

Hi,

We are trying to decide whether to go with AAA or Good Sam for roadside assistance. Would like to know peoples thoughts, experiences, and preference.

Thanks!

[Jammer]

I would never pay for either one, especially with a trailer. (With a large motorhome there might be a case to be made for having a plan like that to deal with tire failures).

The most common calls those places get are for slides and tongue jacks that won't retract.

[Jim Foster]

Had an axle break on our Caravel a number of years ago. We were on HWY 101 about fifteen miles north of Santa Barbara. When the wheel left the trailer, it damaged the side of the trailer, then damaged two cars.

Called AAA. They came right out, towed the trailer to Santa Barbara to a friend's home where I was able to remove the old axle and install a new one. AAA took care of repairs to the two cars, paid for my new axle and paid to have the side of the Caravel repaired. Had we had the trailer towed to a repair facility in Santa Barbara, they would also have paid the labor on the axle, but four bolts and a couple of electrical connections was no big deal.

I paid the deductible, then after a couple of weeks I got a check from AAA for $150.00. Don't have any idea what that was all about.

Happy camper.

[Ahab]

Neither, I chose Allstate after hearing about their great service from people who who had both of the others before switching.

[captmatt]

I like AAA, have not yet needed them for trailer service but it was just $40 more to add the old AS on. They have been great with our other vehicles, so I'm staying with them. Good Sam has it's followers too but I would have to fork out much more $ over adding to a AAA account I already had. BTW I keep AAA even though I pay for towing with my regular insurance.

[Woosch]

I will say this about Good Sam. You get a discount at many campgrounds AND more junk mail than I care for.

[CanoeStream]

I like the Trailer Life campground mega-book. Yes, GoodSam campsites are pretty reliable and I use them when moving fast over long distances. There is little need to join GoodSam just to use the endorsed campgrounds at a small member discount -- the campgrounds are open to all.

My wife is insecure unless we join one of these -- she likes AAA. Nobody needs Trip Tix any more in this mapquest/googlemaps and 511 age. There's probably not a lot of difference between AAA, Goodsam, Allstate or whoever any more. Though without any of them you could probably get road rescue just fine with a decent G3 smartphone. Good call Jammer...

[Toldfield]

We have had AAA with the RV add-on for several years and had very good service. When the transmission blew up coming over the Grapevine they towed the Expedition and trailer home with no problems with the Expedition on the flatbed and trailer on their hitch. The big expense seems to be the mileage charge if you go beyond the policy limits. It gets pretty expensive pretty quickly.

[WineStream]

After being with AAA since 1993 (with RV+ for three of those years), I switched to Good Sam. AAA was always able to get someone out to take care of me, but it often took many calls, transfers, repeating the situation, and hours of time. And it was in the neighborhood of $140/yr for family coverage and RV. GoodSam roadside assistance is another $80 or so in addition to the GS membership itself of something like $20/yr. So far, I've used GS roadside service twice and I've been much happier with the response on the phone as well as their ability to contact a local service that got there very punctually. GS also covers all of your vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, etc. for the one price.

Although I cannot substantiate it myself, I have heard of others that had have found that AAA's RV coverage varies by which state your need assistance in. I've talked personally with others that have switched from AAA to GS and were very happy.

I am surprised to hear that Allstate will cover / tow an RV. I was, until recently, with Nationwide and my agent flat out told me that they would not tow or cover anything with the roadside assistance rider that wasn't a standard car or pickup truck.

[Jabba]

The coverage for all vehicles is what was drawing us to the GS service. We have multiple vehicles, drivers, and trailers. If we could cover all for one price I was leaning that way. I've heard about GS actually bringing tires out etc. Was curious to hear how fast they responded and service. If we are on vacation, don't want to be sitting on the side of the road any longer than necessary. GS seems to have a good mileage policy too.

I agree with the internet/phone comments, we can find almost all the info we want in regards to travel and campgrounds.

[Ahab]

Yup, Allstate covers all vehicles and TT's and household drivers too. For one price. They offer a discount for KOA's and have an App for the IPhone which utilizes it's GPS to automatically locate you when you call for help.

[FreshAir]

We need to encourage checking for similar subject threads before starting a new one. This is a very recent one on the same subject that I responded to.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f368...ice-77778.html

Neil

[bspelce]

I hope I can never answer this question based upon my personal use of any necessary roadside assistance. However I just signed up for Good Sam's program for a few reasons. They offered a "first year" discounted price for new members. I have been paying for towing insurance for our two vehicles on my vehicle insurance policies which I have now dropped, which covered about 40% of the discounted Good Sam cost. I now know who I will call if I ever need to call for assistance, although as I stated at the outset I hope I never have to place that call. When I asked a similar question on this forum a couple of weeks ago a few forum members responded with "good" reports regarding Good Sam's response to their needs.

We are now ready for our first extended "happy camping" experience -- Texas to Illinois/Indiana and back. We will probably say "howdy" to some of you along the way.

Bennett and Dianne

[JamieEllis]

Originally Posted by WineStream

After being with AAA since 1993 (with RV+ for three of those years), I switched to Good Sam. AAA was always able to get someone out to take care of me, but it often took many calls, transfers, repeating the situation, and hours of time. And it was in the neighborhood of $140/yr for family coverage and RV. GoodSam roadside assistance is another $80 or so in addition to the GS membership itself of something like $20/yr. So far, I've used GS roadside service twice and I've been much happier with the response on the phone as well as their ability to contact a local service that got there very punctually. GS also covers all of your vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, etc. for the one price.

Although I cannot substantiate it myself, I have heard of others that had have found that AAA's RV coverage varies by which state your need assistance in. I've talked personally with others that have switched from AAA to GS and were very happy.

I am surprised to hear that Allstate will cover / tow an RV. I was, until recently, with Nationwide and my agent flat out told me that they would not tow or cover anything with the roadside assistance rider that wasn't a standard car or pickup truck.

I have had similar experiences with AAA and Good Sam; I am currently with Good Sam. The AAA coverage varies at the club level, not necessarily the state level. The club you're receiving service from may not provide the level of service that you're paying for to the home club. And it's up to the home club whether they will reimburse you for what you paid "extra" for on the road.

[Jabba]

FreshAir,

I normally do research before posting, was in a hurry when I did this. Thank You for posting the link to the previous thread.

[Soyboy]

I use Coach.Net they have a very good rep on the various forums (such as RV.net). They also have a technical assistance line if you are having problems with your RV's systems.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by Jabba

FreshAir,

I normally do research before posting, was in a hurry when I did this. Thank You for posting the link to the previous thread.

Using the 'Search' function can be frustrating. I sometimes skip it and just ask the question. I sometimes have better success by 'Google' the query. Most of the time it finds the answers on the Forums.
Neil

[wheel interested]

Originally Posted by Ahab

Yup, Allstate covers all vehicles and TT's and household drivers too. For one price. They offer a discount for KOA's and have an App for the IPhone which utilizes it's GPS to automatically locate you when you call for help.

We have Allstate too. We have used the lock-out service for the Airstream in Florida and the battery start on the Suburban at a lighthouse in Wisconsin. They sent someone right away. Both Airstreams and both vehicles and both of us are covered for one low price.

[richinny]

Originally Posted by FreshAir

Using the 'Search' function can be frustrating. I sometimes skip it and just ask the question. I sometimes have better success by 'Google' the query. Most of the time it finds the answers on the Forums.
Neil

i agree but many of the prior replies to questions have a more complete answer to a problem and some folks might not want to repeat their answers 300 times a year. multiple posts on the same topic make it cumbersome when the search returns pagers of matches.

the google search is the only function i find productive.

just sayin'

[jcanavera]

My trailer insurance is through Progressive. I carry their road service. It covers both the trailer and the tow vehicle which insures a tow for the trailer if the tow vehicle is disabled. A big issue to consider with any road service plan. I carry AAA for my vehicles but didn't consider the RV side due to higher costs and at the time it did not cover all states.

Jack