Comparing Coach Net, Good Sam & FMCA Roadside Assistance Coverage

[kaypsmith]

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 11:28 AM, bestdl1 said:

I called a local shop who told me to go to a Loves Truck shop, that they would help me. I did! And I am happy to report, that even though they do not work with RV's, they had to removed the hup caps and then they were able to inflate my tires

You were lucky that Loves did anything for you in an RV, the one that I went to would not even sell me a fuel filter because they don't work on RV's or Busses, my filter was a stock item on the shelf in plain site. I will never buy fuel at a Loves as a result.

[sgiltner60]

We had two breakdowns on last trip. First one waited 8 hours for mobile repair. Second time GS never called us back, we had to find our own mobile repair. Cancelled GS and all coverages we had and signed up with FMCA.

[wildebill308]

Welcome to the forum.

Bill

[manholt]

Welcome!  That was a good move! 

[dondeb]

Does anyone have up to date comparisions between FMCA & CoachNet for coverage? Is there a spreadsheet somewhere that makes comparisions?

 

[wolfe10]

40 minutes ago, DonDeb said:

Does anyone have up to date comparisions between FMCA & CoachNet for coverage? Is there a spreadsheet somewhere that makes comparisions?

 

 DonDeb,

Sure. Scroll down this page:

 

https://www.fmca.com/fmca-rv-roadside-assistance

[rayin]

Yesterday I received a letter from Good Sam ERS; I supposed because I did not renew and I went with FMCA/Saferide ERS. Anyway it said they have a new ERS @ $69/yr. Closer reading found it stated it was for towable RV's only. That's the best I remember, I shredded it already. so if anyone has different information, correct me.

[jaws2]

I have had GS and CN  with good and not so good experiences .   I have FMCA now.   Will see.

 

[docj]

Unless things have changed with CN, when I needed mobile mechanics services CN paid for the service call and mileage charges.  I paid for labor and materials.  The FMCA plan states that it will cover no charges for any aspect of mobile mechanic services.

I also noticed that winch-out services are limited to $500.  Last summer I needed to be pulled out of the mud at an RV park in Canada.  Of course, the problem occured on a major national holiday--Canada Day.  CN covered everything; I didn't pay a dime.  I have no idea what it cost.

[txtiger]

The FMCA plan states that it will cover no charges for any aspect of mobilemechanic services.

Thats because it is a Roadside Assistance Plan not a Extended Service Plan. It will cover towing for a breakdown to a shop that will do the repairs. If you want the repairs covered you need to purchase a Service Plan (extended warranty) in addition to the RA. 

[docj]

4 hours ago, txtiger said:

The FMCA plan states that it will cover no charges for any aspect of mobilemechanic services.

Thats because it is a Roadside Assistance Plan not a Extended Service Plan. It will cover towing for a breakdown to a shop that will do the repairs. If you want the repairs covered you need to purchase a Service Plan (extended warranty) in addition to the RA. 

With all due respect, over 10 years we have traveled over 65,000 miles as full-timers.  In all that time there have been a couple of instances where we needed the services of a mechanic on the side of a road because of mechanical breakdown.  IMHO towing the vehicle would have been a rather uneconomical approach to problems that were resolved with an hour or two of work at the vehicle.  As I said in my post, CN has found us an available mechanic and,  in the past, has paid for the mechanic's service call and mileage fees.  I paid for the mechanic's time and any parts or supplies that were needed.

FMCA is entitled to adopt any terms and conditions it wishes for its roadside assistance plan.  All I was doing was pointing out the differences between the FMCA plan and my personal experience with the CN plan.

[huffypuff]

I'm staying with GS roadside with tire and wheel protection this year.  I'll check CN maybe next year.  

[tireman9]

Does anyone have experience needing RA with a Class-C?  Since I am not much smaller than a large Dually pick-up I would think I should be towed if the repair on the road was not possible.

As my chassis is a Chevy 4500 all the running gear should be serviceable at any GM dealership. I am pretty mechanically inclined but don't travel with my big main tool-chest so I may need a mechanic at some point in the future.

[jleamont]

1 hour ago, tireman9 said:

Does anyone have experience needing RA with a Class-C? 

I am not sure the size of the coach would determine that as much as ones ability to make repairs on the roadside. Being the chassis you have is a very dependable platform my only concern would be tire failure,.

I am confident aside from a road hazard you got that covered already 

[fagnaml]

For the last eleven years I've had Good Sam Roadside Assistance coverage.  The cost for that coverage generally increased at about the rate of inflation from $60'ish to $80'ish per year.   I was stunned with the annual renewal notice I received this past weekend that showed the annual cost has jumped to $160 per year!!!   The cost for the FMCA Roadside Rescue plan is only $74 per year.

For an insurance that I've yet to use, paying $160 for one year of Good Sam RA is unthinkable !!    What is the forum's experience with the FMCA Roadside Rescue plan which is much more cost effective?    Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

[huffypuff]

1 hour ago, fagnaml said:

For the last eleven years I've had Good Sam Roadside Assistance coverage.  The cost for that coverage generally increased at about the rate of inflation from $60'ish to $80'ish per year.   I was stunned with the annual renewal notice I received this past weekend that showed the annual cost has jumped to $160 per year!!!   The cost for the FMCA Roadside Rescue plan is only $74 per year.

For an insurance that I've yet to use, paying $160 for one year of Good Sam RA is unthinkable !!    What is the forum's experience with the FMCA Roadside Rescue plan which is much more cost effective?    Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

The big increase is to cover wheel and tire replacement.  

[manholt]

Ray, I must have missed something!  Mobil service for tire replacement & we pay for tire, was what originally put GS RA on the map!  I can't see where Mobil Serv. has gone up enough to justify the added amount per year!  

[huffypuff]

Here is the link for the Good Sam Platinum Complete Roadside Assistance.  Yes it does cover the cost of tire and wheel up to $750.  

https://www.goodsamroadside.com/findaplan/platinumcomplete.cfm

[manholt]

It also covers Travel Assist (we get that included in our annual membership).  

[lrallen1]

I've been a AAA member since the early'70s when I drove a tow truck for a AAA contractor in Florida. 

When we bought our (used)Sundancer from CW, we were "given" a 5 year membership to GS. 

So far, we have not needed either service for our RV.

GS expired this last summer, and I Signed up for FMCA for three years.  I haven't used that service yet either. 

I have read quite a few horror stories about dealing with AAA when trouble happens. 

On paper, FMCA looks nearly as good as CoachNet. 

 

 

 

[huffypuff]

On 1/10/2020 at 4:01 AM, manholt said:

It also covers Travel Assist (we get that included in our annual membership).  

Yes, Good Sam Platinum Complete Roadside Assistance does that  also

[docj]

4 hours ago, LRAllen1 said:

On paper, FMCA looks nearly as good as CoachNet. 

One small difference I noticed was that FMCA limits winch out to $500 whereas Coachnet provides for 2 hours of work.  Last summer we needed winch-out service on Canada Day in a rather rural area of Prince Edward Island.  I have no idea what the cost was but the wife of the truck owner told me that she had been given a credit card to charge everything to even before the truck reached me.  I paid nothing.

One other thing I want to clarify with Coachnet is that a couple of years ago they had to dispatch a mechanic to me.  At the time it was explained to me that they would cover the "dispatch fee" and mileage charges while I was to pay for labor hours and parts.  I can't find reference to this on the CoachNet website but I'm going to call.

[cwswine]

We had a free coach net from the manufacture and picked up a nail in our truck not towing and coach net said they would NOT cover if since we are NOT attached to the RV.  

We also had FMCA and they said no problem and dispatched a tow truck to change the tire.  We were in truck stop when we call and FMCA said it would be 40 minutes to hour before they could get some there.  We order lunch and just sat down to eat when the tow truck pulled in.  So my only complaint is they got there to fast. GRIN

[manholt]

docj.  There's a rural area on PEI?  We fell in love with PEI last summer & my Jeep was all over that Island. 

[docj]

On 1/13/2020 at 1:26 PM, manholt said:

docj.  There's a rural area on PEI?  We fell in love with PEI last summer & my Jeep was all over that Island. 

This was the third summer we've been on PEI.  We happen to enjoy the area east of Charlottetown where there are far fewer tourists.  We hang out at an RV park called Seal Cove which is on the River near Murray Harbour North.  Most of the people at the park are locals who leave their RVs there as weekend "cabins."  The town of Montague is ~12 miles north and has grocery stores, etc.  It's about an hour's drive from Charlottetown so it's not such a bad drive if we need to do more "serious" shopping.

 IMO with the exception of Charlottetown, it's difficult to think of PEI as being much other than agrarian and pretty rural.  By rural I mean "not urban."  To me, miles of rolling farmland is rural.