Roadside Assistance; what are our options in case of a major breakdown?

[p6x]

I went through the fine prints of both my Insurance (Progressive) and AMA;

Here's the gist:

Quote

Towing services for qualified vehicles are covered up to 35 miles to the nearest qualified service facility (or to any other location requested by the member of equal distance at no expense to the member). If over 35 miles, the member is only responsible for the overages incurred after the initial 35 miles. 

When you are riding in the west of Texas, 35 miles does not get you to any motorcycle shop. Those can only be found in major towns, and in any case, not Moto Guzzi.

Overages can be just about anything;

How much are we talking about? 500$, 1000$?

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, p6x said:

Overages can be just about anything;

How much are we talking about?

Have you asked your insurance? Or a towing company? One or the other should be able to give you an idea.

 

I have a membership in the ADAC, roughly translated the "General Geman automobile club". It is similar to the RACV, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, in which I was a member whilst I was still in Australia. They both provide emergency help, i.e. they will come out to you and try and get your vehicle going again. If it can't be repaired on the spot, they will tow to the nearest affiliated workshop. That works well, but they, the towing companys, of course earn the bucks with fixing the problem in their workshop. If you want to get the vehicle home, or to "your" workshop, that's your problem.

The system works, though. I've had to use them a few times, and was very glad to have the membership. Costs about €60,- a year, I think. "Wasted" money most of the time, but when you need it, worth every cent.

PS: as far as distances go: I spent a year working for a band in Australia. We were on our way from Adelaide to Sydney, and the vehicle blew a radiator hose somewhere east of Swan Hlll on the New South Wales side of the river. 65 km back to the previous town, and 70 km to the next one. The bass player hitch-hiked to the next town, and the RACV (or RACNSW) came out and towed us in.

All well and good, but they only repaired the blown hose. The next weak spot blew at about 3 in the morning, somewhere near Yass, I think. The Auto Club there refused to come and get us in the middle of the night, but were there at 9 the next morning. They had to go to Goulburn to get parts, but they did the job properly, and refurbished the entire cooling system.

We got back on our way at about 2 in the afternoon. I should mention, we had left Adelaide after a show at about 2 in the morning. The second breakdown was at about 3 in the morning the following night. "Back on our way" was at about 2 in the afternoon of the third consecutive day without having been in a bed. The plan had been to check in to a hotel in Sydney, sleep a bit, and then go on to Newcastle to play a show. Because of the breakdowns, we drove through to get to the show. Of course we got a flat tyre about a mile short of the venue, but we had a spare. After the show, we drove back down to Sydney to the hotel. Because I was the only one who hadn't drunk any alchohol, I drove. Newcastle to Sydney is about two hour's drive. I don't remember any of it.

Edited Wednesday at 10:22 PM by audiomick

[docc]

1 hour ago, p6x said:

I went through the fine prints of both my Insurance (Progressive) and AMA;

Here's the gist:

When you are riding in the west of Texas, 35 miles does not get you to any motorcycle shop. Those can only be found in major towns, and in any case, not Moto Guzzi.

Overages can be just about anything;

How much are we talking about? 500$, 1000$?

The AMA has come through for me twice, and couldn't get to me a third time.  The first overage was maybe $70. The second tow was 310 miles and the overage was $700. Yet, the advantage was: I called for assistance late on a Saturday evening in a relatively small town in North Carolina. The recovery operator had me loaded by sunset and was determined to get me home (at 3 am). I gave him a good tip.

23 minutes ago, audiomick said:

PS: as far as distances go: I spent a year working for a band in Australia. We were on our way from Adelaide to Sydney, and the vehicle blew a radiator hose somewhere east of Swan Hlll on the New South Wales side of the river. 65 km back to the previous town, and 70 km to the next one. The bass player hitch-hiked to the next town, and the RACV (or RACNSW) came out and towed us in.

All well and good . .

Ah, of course: the bass player. I can hear the keyboardist tell the lead guitar player, "If the bloke is never seen or heard from again, what bass I can't do with my left hand, you can do with your thumb."

Cannon fodder!

[gstallons]

What failure caused the road towing ?

[audiomick]

3 minutes ago, docc said:

Cannon fodder!

Yes, of course.

But it was a Trio, no keyboardist (thank god...), and the bass player formed the band, and was the owner of the vehicle.

This is them, and the "coming just in time" in the first video is truer to life than is funny.

 

[audiomick]

5 minutes ago, gstallons said:

What failure caused the road towing ?

Me?

It was a Ford F350, ex-ambulance. Old, and probably not well looked after. The first thing was a radiator hose. The next thing was the bit where a cooling hose went into the block, or came out. Basically, the cooling system was on the edge. When the first weak point went and was repaired, the next one came right behind it.

Edited Wednesday at 11:30 PM by audiomick

[docc]

3 hours ago, gstallons said:

What failure caused the road towing ?

In 136,666 miles/ 220.000 km, my Sport has needed four or five roadside assists. All of the other issues, I have solved with field expedience.

A failed regulator caused me to phone my family to bring the neighbor's trailer to gather us up. The early Sport's "battery warning light" alerted me to the issue and got me halfway back home for the rescue effort. One other time, the "battery light" came on and my battery positive had loosened and blew the charging fuse: close to home, young son came and jumped me off from his Jeep.

Two of my roadside tow assists were related to failed driveshaft yokes. First the rear, then (later) the front. The issues leading to these failures are documented here, elsewhere. Don't cross thread or otherwise screw up those driveshaft pinch bolts!

The tow from 310 miles away from home was attributed to rear wheel bearing failure *complicated* by "stacked tolerances" from a too-short rear wheel bearing spacer, various wear changes, the history of driveshaft failures, history of collision damage, and substandard wheel bearings.

[Lucky Phil]

12 hours ago, audiomick said:

Have you asked your insurance? Or a towing company? One or the other should be able to give you an idea.

 

I have a membership in the ADAC, roughly translated the "General Geman automobile club". It is similar to the RACV, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, in which I was a member whilst I was still in Australia. They both provide emergency help, i.e. they will come out to you and try and get your vehicle going again. If it can't be repaired on the spot, they will tow to the nearest affiliated workshop. That works well, but they, the towing companys, of course earn the bucks with fixing the problem in their workshop. If you want to get the vehicle home, or to "your" workshop, that's your problem.

The system works, though. I've had to use them a few times, and was very glad to have the membership. Costs about €60,- a year, I think. "Wasted" money most of the time, but when you need it, worth every cent.

PS: as far as distances go: I spent a year working for a band in Australia. We were on our way from Adelaide to Sydney, and the vehicle blew a radiator hose somewhere east of Swan Hlll on the New South Wales side of the river. 65 km back to the previous town, and 70 km to the next one. The bass player hitch-hiked to the next town, and the RACV (or RACNSW) came out and towed us in.

All well and good, but they only repaired the blown hose. The next weak spot blew at about 3 in the morning, somewhere near Yass, I think. The Auto Club there refused to come and get us in the middle of the night, but were there at 9 the next morning. They had to go to Goulburn to get parts, but they did the job properly, and refurbished the entire cooling system.

We got back on our way at about 2 in the afternoon. I should mention, we had left Adelaide after a show at about 2 in the morning. The second breakdown was at about 3 in the morning the following night. "Back on our way" was at about 2 in the afternoon of the third consecutive day without having been in a bed. The plan had been to check in to a hotel in Sydney, sleep a bit, and then go on to Newcastle to play a show. Because of the breakdowns, we drove through to get to the show. Of course we got a flat tyre about a mile short of the venue, but we had a spare. After the show, we drove back down to Sydney to the hotel. Because I was the only one who hadn't drunk any alchohol, I drove. Newcastle to Sydney is about two hour's drive. I don't remember any of it.

A blown radiator hose had you scuppered on the side of the road Mick...amateur . Thats what electrical tape is for. Tape up the damaged area, top off the radiator with the water you always carry with you and leave the radiator cap partially open so it doesn't pressurise the system and you're on your way again. I've done it a few times and it lasts a while in most cases. At worst to the next town where you can a least get a room for the night and consult the local garage.

I crashed my first car as a teen in the main street of Paramatta in Sydney and the fan nicked the radiator core in a few places when the engine came forward , coolant everywhere. No worries. Some silastic and a couple of matchsticks jammed into the holes and the Rad cap only installed to the first click so system not pressurised and I was on my way home again. The cooling system doesn't need to be pressurised to work in the short term. Worked for me in a WSB race one time when we had a water leak across the head gasket. Finished the race fine but it dumped quite a bit of fluid in Park Ferme after the race. 

What's wrong with kids these days. It's a source of pride being able to do road side repairs. A totally lost art. Nothing brings a smile to my face like a Tesla owner stuck on the side of the road. I just cruise past thinking "call Elon" 

Edited Thursday at 10:43 AM by Lucky Phil

[guzzigary]

7 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

 "call Elon" 

Lately I’ve thought of a few things to call Elon

[gstallons]

I am gonna be nice and leave this alone

[p6x]

On 3/12/2025 at 4:59 PM, audiomick said:

Have you asked your insurance? Or a towing company? One or the other should be able to give you an idea.

In fact, no. They don't give you any ball park idea. Simply because it depends which company will be available to assist you. Remember, this is Texas and it is quite grand here. Based on where you break down, they will call the closes assist and depending on many factors, the price can vary.

Today my Quota left me without any gear change while I was about 80 miles from home. This time, I had a 10mm spanner and I reassembled the shift lever with the gear lever. In any case, if push had come to shove, I would have set the bike in fourth, and I would have been able to get back to 4 miles away from home without the need to change gears. The rest of the way, in 3rd or 2nd would have worked too.

But I have been in remote parts of Texas, and as I said, 35 miles does not get you to any town. Of course, in Europe, you are never far away from civilization.

[po18guy]

Towing is a few dollars monthly on most auto policies.

[Gmc28]

16 hours ago, p6x said:

In fact, no. They don't give you any ball park idea. Simply because it depends which company will be available to assist you. Remember, this is Texas and it is quite grand here. Based on where you break down, they will call the closes assist and depending on many factors, the price can vary.

Today my Quota left me without any gear change while I was about 80 miles from home. This time, I had a 10mm spanner and I reassembled the shift lever with the gear lever. In any case, if push had come to shove, I would have set the bike in fourth, and I would have been able to get back to 4 miles away from home without the need to change gears. The rest of the way, in 3rd or 2nd would have worked too.

But I have been in remote parts of Texas, and as I said, 35 miles does not get you to any town. Of course, in Europe, you are never far away from civilization.

Looks like you have the same options as i do, with AMA and Progressive, and then i recently added AAA.   After years of refusing and not needing to pay for AAA, I just recently changed my tune because my beloved "whitey", my F350 diesel, which has 320,000+ miles and running as well as ever, but i figure if i tempt fate too long it'll bite me.  so a towing option for the old Ford also gets me additional towing option for bikes, via AAA.

 I cued up the AMA option last month to have my '16 Duc towed, in case my timing didn't work out with a part i needed to get it running, and on a tight schedule.  I didn't pull the trigger, and it took me a good 20 minutes to wade through the process, but looked like it would have worked well.  But that was just for a ~10 mile tow. 

AAA says its up to 100 mile tow, for the middle membership option.  I wouldn't want to justify that annual cost for just the bikes, but with the truck as the main focus there, then the bonus for the bike tow is great.

I have never really looked into the progressive option, though i think i check that box for coverage, since i recall it being super cheap.

[p6x]

1 hour ago, Gmc28 said:

Looks like you have the same options as i do, with AMA and Progressive, and then i recently added AAA.   After years of refusing and not needing to pay for AAA, I just recently changed my tune because my beloved "whitey", my F350 diesel, which has 320,000+ miles and running as well as ever, but i figure if i tempt fate too long it'll bite me.  so a towing option for the old Ford also gets me additional towing option for bikes, via AAA.

 I cued up the AMA option last month to have my '16 Duc towed, in case my timing didn't work out with a part i needed to get it running, and on a tight schedule.  I didn't pull the trigger, and it took me a good 20 minutes to wade through the process, but looked like it would have worked well.  But that was just for a ~10 mile tow. 

AAA says its up to 100 mile tow, for the middle membership option.  I wouldn't want to justify that annual cost for just the bikes, but with the truck as the main focus there, then the bonus for the bike tow is great.

I have never really looked into the progressive option, though i think i check that box for coverage, since i recall it being super cheap.

Unfortunately, as with EVERY insurances, as long as you pay the premiums, everything goes well. Then when you need assistance, this is when you discover that what you thought was covered, is in fact NOT!

With AMA, I paid for the tow option, but I did not know it was restricted to 35 miles. I thought it was "to the nearest dealership". With Guzzi, the nearest dealership may be hundreds of miles away. But the best came after; AMA told me I would not have gotten any roadside assistance anyway, because I needed to register the vehicles that may have needed it. Ahead of time.

Did you know that? I asked why don't you request to register at the time you tick the roadside assistance box? the answer was, it is indicated in the Terms and Conditions.

This is finnicky. To me, it seems they want to make sure they can get out on technicalities...

Edited 18 hours ago by p6x

[docc]

I also discovered that AMA requires you to declare a destination before they will dispatch the recovery operator.