- There are a record number of RVs on the road right now,
but there are not a record number
of RV roadside providers.
What does this mean for you?
Stay tuned and we're gonna break it down.
- [Female Speaker] We are Charity, Ben, Dakota and Trinity.
We decided we didn't want to wait for life of adventure.
So in 2017, we bought our first RV
and set off to live a life of travel in the USA.
We've visited over 38 states in three years
and have many more to go.
Follow along to learn all the best places to see,
RV and travel tips and much more.
(upbeat music)
- So thank you so much for coming back to the channel.
We recently read an article from rvtravel.com
about the whole state of the union, so to speak,
when it comes to roadside assistance and RVing
and we wanted to make video
because we have personally experienced
what is going on this past summer
when it comes to roadside assistance and RVing
and now we'll tell you
about that a little bit later in the video,
but suffice it to say, when we kind of read some of this,
it totally resonated with us
and we wanted to share this information
with you guys out there
because it could potentially impact
each and every one of you.
So we have a Class A diesel pusher motorhome.
It's about 40 feet long
and in the three years that we have owned our rig,
we have been towed twice.
The first time happened down in Arizona,
where we had a fan hub come apart and our rig overheated
and this was just outside of the Benson area of Arizona
and we had to get towed approximately eight miles.
And then another time,
just this past summer in the Sturgis area of South Dakota.
Now, I'll put a link for this whole video
'cause we did document everything
that happened up above if you're interested in taking a look
at more of what happened
and how that whole experience turned out.
But after that experience,
we really started looking into the whole
roadside assistance thing for our RV
because there was a gap in what our insurance covered
versus what the actual tow bill was
because our insurance capped at a certain dollar amount
and we wanted to make sure we were protected
and didn't have that issue again,
especially if an eight-mile tow bill cost us enough
where we had an out-of-pocket amount,
we couldn't even imagine what if it had been more than that.
So we secured a different roadside assistance plan
through Good Sam after that,
to be able to just have the peace of mind knowing
that we would be covered for any roadside assistance.
So this past summer, we had a breakdown
in the Sturgis, South Dakota area
and now this whole breakdown, we also documented.
This was about a five-day ordeal.
So it was two different videos that we documented this in
and I'll put a link up above for those two videos
and also put a link at the end for those two videos as well
because the way that everything unfolded
was fairly interesting
and we learned a lot and probably you can learn quite a bit
from this whole scenario that happened too.
So wanna probably go back and watch those at some point.
So there are really two things
that you need to know right now
if you are an RVer even a vanlifer
when it comes to roadside assistance.
And then we're gonna share some tips
a little bit later in this video
about how to choose a roadside plan that works,
so make sure that you watch to the end for those.
Now, this is a direct quote from rvtravel.com.
"The large number of inexperienced new RVers
also brings trouble to road help services.
It's very frustrating to everyone
when so many new RVers are having problems
on their very first trip.
We're seeing many more calls for technical assistance
since many RVers just don't understand how their rig works.
That problem is compounded by customers renting RVs
from peer-to-peer rental companies.
They have zero experience with the RV
and they're calling our help centers,
adding to the very high call volumes."
And here's another quote.
"Towing charges are going up with the demand
for their services and RVers experiencing breakdowns
on their trip can likely expect more delays
and more difficulty finding qualified service personnel
to get their rigs back on the road."
Boy, can we attest to this.
When we broke down,
I called Good Sam the day before
that we needed to be towed.
Now, luckily we found a Good Samaritan
that pulled us into a campground itself
and again, there's just so many interesting
and miraculous points to the story.
You really should just watch the whole saga unfold
and we'll link at the end,
but we didn't need to be towed out until the next day.
So I gave Good Sam a full 24 hour's notice.
Well, the next day came and the time window
that they told us that the tow truck would be there,
that time window came and went.
And so,
well,
probably just wanna show you what happened right here.
So, when you say you wouldn't
be able to get to us this afternoon,
would you be able to get to us like yet today,
like early evening?
- [Male Speaker] I have an appointment tomorrow morning.
- Okay.
- [Male Speaker 2] In the meantime we've got this.
- Yeah, no, I understand.
It's the height of RV season.
- [Male Speaker 2] Well, and I shouldn't say this,
but this one company they use in general is horrible.
They will spend hours calling around
to see if they can save $10.
- Right, okay.
Alright.
- [Male Speaker 2] Are you in a campground?
- Yeah, so here's the situation.
I am in a campground, but what we've got is that,
so we have a diesel pusher.
It's a no-start problem.
Pretty darn sure it's a fuel delivery issue
because I had it at the Boss Truck Stop in Rapid yesterday.
They put a fuel pressure regulator on it
and a factory fuel filter sent us down the road.
We were singing down the road just fine,
but as soon as we came to a stop, we died.
Couldn't restart it.
We were right off of I-90
and there was a campground literally
right across the street, so a Good Samaritan stopped by
that had like a F-550 truck and a tow strap
and was like, "I can at least haul you into the campground."
But I have an appointment with Butler CAT in Rapid City
for six in the morning tomorrow.
So I was hoping we could get there
and be in the parking lot then by 6 AM tomorrow,
so that way we could have him start looking at it
'cause I mean, we're from Florida
and this isn't our home base
and anybody else is like two weeks out
to be able to get us serviced.
And so it's like, I want and of course it's a CAT engine.
It really just needs to be looked at
by somebody that knows CAT.
- [Male Speaker 2] It's still early morning for me,
I know that.
It's that time of the year,
there's just hasn't been enough tow companies
in the areas for the volume of people
stuck this year.
- Yeah.
- [Male Speaker 2] We're just backed up.
- So after we posted this video,
the comments started flying in
and other people told us where they had very similar issues.
Where they called for roadside assistance
and they never showed up
and they left them high and dry.
And so we have a few tips now
after having experienced this
of what you can do to make sure
that you get roadside service
when you actually need it.
So tip number one.
You know the saying the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Well, be prepared to be the squeaky wheel.
We were told that what happens with Good Sam
is that they call several different service providers
and they get quotes
and they're looking for the cheapest one.
Well, what happened in our particular case
was that Good Sam had called
this particular service provider to get a quote
and they didn't just give them the okay
to just dispatch them right then and there
to come tow us.
They started making other phone calls.
Well, by the time that then they got around
to calling the service provider back and said,
"Yeah, go ahead"
because they couldn't find anybody else cheaper,
that service provider had already
taken a bunch of other calls
and then now he couldn't get to us.
So if you have called for roadside assistance
and they've given you a specific time window
or whatever it is that they have given you,
make sure that you stay on them to find out
how they actually secured a service provider
or are they still playing this game of calling around
and trying to find the guy
that's gonna be 10 bucks than the last guy
that they talked to.
Tip number two.
Speak with that service provider directly
and make sure that you have talked to them
to confirm the time window
of when they're actually going to show up.
In our particular case, Good Sam told us
that this was gonna be the service provider
and then when I got on the phone with him,
I got a very different story.
So confirm with that service provider
that you've been told is going to come out
that the story that you're getting
from your roadside company matches the story
that you're getting from the service provider
regarding the time that they're actually going to show up.
Before we get to tips three and four,
we wanted to take a minute
to thank the sponsor of today's video, Togo Power.
Now we've pretty much learned the hard way
over the last four years what it looks like
to not have a power source when we need it
and it probably really came to that point of just,
we can't do this anymore.
This last summer, when we were in northern Wisconsin,
trying to upload a video in an area
that we had driven to and the laptop was dying
and it just turned into a minor disaster,
not having a constant source of power.
We had our "I've had it" moment
and decided we needed to have something
that we could bring with us
to have a portable power source
that was a hundred percent reliable.
So we were super excited to be able to partner
with Togo Power with the new, advanced 360 Power Station.
Working remotely means that we can work in the forest
or at the beach
and having a way to power our laptops, phones,
charge camera batteries, drone batteries,
all of the things that keep us moving
and creating videos is a very helpful plus.
The whole reason we live this lifestyle
is to be portable and the Togo Power Station
makes portability completely possible for us.
The Togo Power Station can be charged
through a household outlet, through a power outlet
in our Jeep or our personal favorite
with the Togo solar panel because hey,
we all like free energy
and who in the RV world doesn't love their solar?
We've been using the Togo solar panel
to charge our power station
and while here in sunny Florida,
we're finding it actually charges rather quickly
through the solar panel hookup
and we can actually charge our devices simultaneously
while charging it with the solar panel.
One thing we love about the Togo solar panel
is it's foldable, which means it's very easy to transport.
It even zips closed
so that while it's in our basement compartment
of our RV or in the back of our Jeep,
it's protected and we can transport it safely and easily.
Plus with the folding stands in the back,
that makes it very easy to set up
at just the right angle to maximize the sunshine
to charge the power station.
So we are super happy to have the Togo Power Station
in our RV tool arsenal.
You can find it at the link in the description below.
Tip number three.
Check with your insurance company
to see if you potentially have roadside assistance
as part of your insurance.
After we switched over to Progressive insurance,
we found out that we actually had roadside assistance
that covered our motorhome
and it even covered our motorhome
in the event we needed to be towed
with no out-of-pocket maximums
as far as a dollar amount was concerned.
That was different than our prior insurance provider
that we had when we broke down that time in Arizona.
So you don't wanna be paying double for something.
So double check with your insurance provider
to see if the type of roadside coverage
that they have for your RV policy covers you
for those roadside emergencies as well.
Tip number four.
RV dealers are way backed up with repairs,
so if you end up needing a repair
that is causing you to not be able to move on, right?
So this is a repair that your motorhome's not drivable
without having had made
or your trailer's not towable
without having this repair made,
check with either heavy truck shops
if you have a drivable RV or check with trailer shops
if you have a towable RV.
We've had very good luck with being able to find service
that is able to get us in very, very quickly
by using Caterpillar or Freightliner dealers
because we have a diesel pusher,
any sort of heavy duty truck shop
that works on say UPS or FedEx trucks
can usually work on motorhomes as well.
And a lot of times, different trailer shops
that work on horse trailers or utility trailers
can also work on the chassis part.
So your axles, tires, wheels, brakes
of any sort of RV chassis as well.
So you'll have to let us know in the comments below
what your experience has been with roadside providers
and if you've ever had to call roadside assistance
for your RV and how that situation turned out.
We would love to know in the comments below
just what your experience has been
or if you have a roadside company
that you're just super happy with.
Let us know that in the comments below as well.
Thanks so much for watching this video.
If you would like to see more videos
with really fun places to visit and travel with your RV,
check those out right over here.
And if you would like
to see some of our RV renovation series,
if maybe you're considering that or just curious,
you can check those out right over here.
If we don't see you on the road or at the campground,
we'll see in the next video.