Does anyone here have direct experience with the response times from Coach Net?

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

I currently have AAA Premier RV... however, I'm thinking seriously about switching to Coach Net....

AAA has been great on "emergency roadside service" as I've been a member for over 35 years...... don't have any benchmark for what Coach Net will do....

I'm really careful about keeping up with my vehicle..but, things can and do happen...

Plus, AAA is only a 100 miles tow and recently found out that it's a port to port mileage...in other words...they will start counting the miles from the moment they leave their station until they get back to their original location....

That could significantly lower the miles they tow you .....and make you pay for the excess mileage....

Any input is welcome...

[avanti]

This is like asking whether your car insurance company does a good job fixing your car... They don't fix your car, they just arrange and pay to get it fixed.

Towing response time is a function of where you are stuck and time of day/year, not which insurer you use. They all draw from the same pool of towing companies. They will all place a request to the nearest available tow service immediately. It is just an email--they aren't going to sit on your problem. After that, it is the luck of the draw. CoachNet always checks back to make sure they showed up (I am not saying that other's don't do so as well). That is the best any of them can do.

Talk to any tow driver. He or she will confirm that they get calls from all the insurers.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by avanti

This is like asking whether your car insurance company does a good job fixing your car... They don't fix your car, they just arrange and pay to get it fixed.

Towing response time is a function of where you are stuck and time of day/year, not which insurer you use. They all draw from the same pool of towing companies. They will all place a request to the nearest available tow service immediately. It is just an email--they aren't going to sit on your problem. After that, it is the luck of the draw. CoachNet always checks back to make sure they showed up (I am not saying that other's don't do so as well). That is the best any of them can do.

Talk to any tow driver. He or she will confirm that they get calls from all the insurers.

avanti, OK I'm maybe in another 'Altered State of Mind', but I suspicion that you have responded to 'Troll Like Behavior'.

Bud

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by avanti

This is like asking whether your car insurance company does a good job fixing your car... They don't fix your car, they just arrange and pay to get it fixed.

Towing response time is a function of where you are stuck and time of day/year, not which insurer you use. They all draw from the same pool of towing companies. They will all place a request to the nearest available tow service immediately. It is just an email--they aren't going to sit on your problem. After that, it is the luck of the draw. CoachNet always checks back to make sure they showed up (I am not saying that other's don't do so as well). That is the best any of them can do.

Talk to any tow driver. He or she will confirm that they get calls from all the insurers.

I understand, BUT, the AAA has a contract with just about everyone wherever you are... and I've never waited more than 1 hour.... it's usually between 20 and 45 minutes... they even send me a text message alerting me of their progress on the way and when they are about to arrive...

I know it's a contract service for roadside assistance...I just wanted to know that it's not several hours....

Again, the AAA has never failed to get me to a safe location quickly... and let me know the status...

Do you think I could rely on Coach Net to do this without making me wait for several hours.....??

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

I understand, BUT, the AAA has a contract with just about everyone wherever you are... and I've never waited more than 1 hour.... it's usually between 20 and 45 minutes... they even send me a text message alerting me of their progress on the way and when they are about to arrive...

I know it's a contract service for roadside assistance...I just wanted to know that it's not several hours....

Again, the AAA has never failed to get me to a safe location quickly... and let me know the status...

Do you think I could rely on Coach Net to do this without making me wait for several hours.....??

See message #2.

I will summarize:
THEY ARE ALL LARGELY THE SAME.
(And, yes, I do know what typing in all caps signifies).

P.S. -- AAA certainly does NOT have "a contract with just about everyone wherever you are". AAA is a federation of 42 independent motor clubs. Whatever "contracts" exist are with individual clubs, and are certainly not all the same. Some clubs DO have their own tow services in major metropolitan areas, so there is that.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Thank you for clarifying this.
So.. I could rely on Coach Net as much as the Auto Club..

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

Thank you for clarifying this.
So.. I could rely on Coach Net as much as the Auto Club..

"see message #2".

Bud

[pasusan]

We had AAA for many years and never had a problem - the regular coverage - not RV.

Then we got Coach Net and dropped AAA. The one time we broke down near home (not with the RV) they could not find anyone to tow us for hours. The guy on the phone was real nice, but I sat along side the road for over 3 hours in the middle of the night. He said no one recognized Coach Net.

Finally they were able to find a tow company from pretty far away. They came and did the job.

We now carry AAA as well so we won't be stranded near home.

[goreds2]

I have Coach Net and love it. They have a sense of urgency when calling them. I requested a tow about 40 miles further to a mechanic I preferred. My auto insurance covered that extra cost. I took a picture of the bill and emailed it to my insurance agent. They then mailed me a check.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by pasusan

We had AAA for many years and never had a problem - the regular coverage - not RV.

Then we got Coach Net and dropped AAA. The one time we broke down near home (not with the RV) they could not find anyone to tow us for hours. The guy on the phone was real nice, but I sat along side the road for over 3 hours in the middle of the night. He said no one recognized Coach Net.

Finally they were able to find a tow company from pretty far away. They came and did the job.

We now carry AAA as well so we won't be stranded near home.

Aside from the RV issue of only 100 miles towing..I love AAA....

They have never let me down.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by pasusan

We had AAA for many years and never had a problem - the regular coverage - not RV.

Then we got Coach Net and dropped AAA. The one time we broke down near home (not with the RV) they could not find anyone to tow us for hours. The guy on the phone was real nice, but I sat along side the road for over 3 hours in the middle of the night. He said no one recognized Coach Net.

Finally they were able to find a tow company from pretty far away. They came and did the job.

We now carry AAA as well so we won't be stranded near home.

Aside from the RV issue of only 100 miles towing..I love AAA.... been a member for 37 years.

They have never let me down and their response time is fantastic, the AAA is recognized everywhere.

I just read the other response here and see that they waited for 3 hours.... terrible.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by pasusan

We had AAA for many years and never had a problem - the regular coverage - not RV.

Then we got Coach Net and dropped AAA. The one time we broke down near home (not with the RV) they could not find anyone to tow us for hours. The guy on the phone was real nice, but I sat along side the road for over 3 hours in the middle of the night. He said no one recognized Coach Net.

Finally they were able to find a tow company from pretty far away. They came and did the job.

We now carry AAA as well so we won't be stranded near home.

All I can say is I'm very glad I read your post... maybe it's an anomaly... but, you know past experience is a prediction of future expectations ... again my experience with the AAA response time is stellar.

Sorry you had a rough experience with Coach Net... I try very hard to keep my vehicles current; but, it's always good to have a backup...AAA... is excellent for what they do.

Your post has inspired me to stay with AAA....

[avanti]

Total BS.
For the third and last time: Towing insurance companies do NOT run their own tow services. (The only exception is a very few metropolitan areas where AAA has their own fleet.) Any insurer can get any towing company that is available. If you waited three hours for CoachNet, you most likely would have waited three hours with anybody else. It is about your location, the weather, and the traffic. Nothing to do with the provider.

I have had horribly long waits with AAA. I didn't respond to your question because this information is irrelevant to deciding where to buy towing insurance. It simply wasn't their fault. Nor are long CoachNet or Allstate waits their fault. This is the reality.

Edit:
And don't forget that AAA is not a single organization--all calls need to be routed to one of dozens of local "clubs". The quality of these organizations vary widely.

[pasusan]

Originally Posted by avanti

Total BS.
For the third and last time: Towing insurance companies do NOT run their own tow services. (The only exception is a very few metropolitan areas where AAA has their own fleet.) Any insurer can get any towing company that is available. If you waited three hours for CoachNet, you most likely would have waited three hours with anybody else. It is about your location, the weather, and the traffic. Nothing to do with the provider.

I have had horribly long waits with AAA. I didn't respond to your question because this information is irrelevant to deciding where to buy towing insurance. It simply wasn't their fault. Nor are long CoachNet or Allstate waits their fault. This is the reality.

Edit:
And don't forget that AAA is not a single organization--all calls need to be routed to one of dozens of local "clubs". The quality of these organizations vary widely.

Not BS. Sorry you don't know me - but that was my experience. I even gave the Coach Net guy names of local tow stations and when he called them they never heard of Coach Net and wouldn't go out. This was my reality.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by pasusan

Not BS. Sorry you don't know me - but that was my experience. I even gave the Coach Net guy names of local tow stations and when he called them they never heard of Coach Net and wouldn't go out. This was my reality.

I in no way doubt your story. Apologies if it came across that way. The BS is the conclusion (not particularly by you) that this story is an indictment of CoachNet (or any other provider). My opinion, anyway. My only point is that in general "on the road" response time does not discriminate among providers. The important differences are along other dimensions, as discussed.

MAYBE AAA could have convinced one of the local garages that you referenced to take the call, but this is far from a foregone conclusion. AAA and the others tend to have contracts only with larger providers, and absent a contract, the willingness to respond is dicey. Next time you are being towed (hopefully not soon), have a chat with the driver. I think he or she will confirm how this industry works.

[booster]

As I have mentioned before, there was definitely a lot variation in response from the towing companies based on who is calling them, or at least there used to be when I had a lot of contacts in the repair and towing companies.


Here in the Minneapolis area, very many of the towing companies would not do a AAA tow or jump start when things got busy, and most were never called when things weren't busy. Back then AAA was the big dog, and there really weren't enough of the other insurers to make much difference.


AAA would not pay near what the tow and jump start guys could get dealing direct with the customers, so they would not take the jobs. Those that were locked into contracts with AAA would put the public ones first and AAA calls after, so the waits were longer. Of course this was all during horribly cold weather when there were way more tows and jump starts needed than were available. During slower times, the contracted companies would be the only ones doing AAA towing, and it usually wasn't a horrible wait.


I did "gypsy" jump starting my last 3 years of college, with a gas powered jump start unit stuffed in the trunk of an old Valiant. I could pretty easily earn a years tuition during a normal winter, starting cars in the University lots and hitting apartment complexes on weekends. I once made $100 on a Sunday, when tuition was only $135 a quarter. The school lots were good for $10-20 a week in cold weather. My regular summer and after school job paid $1.45 and hour, so not bad.



I think the past history is why I prefer having a road service that I call, no matter where I am, or if I need some guidance on finding a company I can call in for a list. I just would pay what they charge, and get reimbursed from the insurance company. No worries about who will or won't come out based on the insurer.