Though I realize his question was geared towards Geico only, but if you are paying $12 a year what do you think you’ll get?
$104 AAA FYI
(They also have a $81 (6.75 a month) and $51 (4.25 a month) per year plan.)
AAA Premier member benefits include:
- One tow up to 200 miles (auto only — one per household), and up to 100 miles on the remaining service calls
- One Day Complimentary Rental Car (with in-state tow)
- 24-hour Emergency Travel and Medical Assistance
- 24-hour Concierge Services
- Up to $1,500 Trip Interruption Benefit
- Increased vehicle locksmith coverage up to $150
- Up to $300,000 Travel Accident Insurance
- Many other exciting member benefits!
You know what you need. A tow to your house, not a dealer. So I guess it doesn’t matter how cheap Geico is if you don’t get what you want.
I don’t even have AAA, but my parents do and I’ve used their service at least 10 times. I have had cars that aren’t even on the road towed ~50 miles to my house on AAA.
On my one truck I got a flat, not knowing that the previous owner switched out the lugs, so now the lug tool didn’t fit. AAA showed up and changed my flat for free in about 30. I didn’t even have to get dirty. (Though the guy didn’t want to put my spare on because it was a rusty rim.) They guy wrote it up as he couldn’t find me as he was paid hourly so my parents wouldn’t see it getting used. Not sure if that mattered or not though.
I had a car towed here in Texas on my parents AAA haha.
I might get it myself for the Rally just in case.
Hold on let me google Geico for you.
On July 28th, 2008 we were leaving Pittsburgh to begin our adventure across America, when we made it no more than 15 miles out of town only to have our transmission catch fire. I managed to get the fire out and called Geico, because we had roadside assistance with them. I didn’t think for one minute that a problem with our transmission would be covered by our auto insurance, however I did know that they would have to tow us as part of the roadside assistance. Which they did, even though they towed the RV to an autobody shop rather than a mechanic’s garage. The other thing that the Geico representatives, who were not only very easy to get in touch with but were also very polite and always returned my calls (in the beginning), did was to tell me that:
- Damage caused by the fire would quite likely be covered by our policy.
- We were entitled to $1000 in spending money for things like hotels, car rentals and food while our RV, our home, was in the shop.
The setback was great, but those two pieces of information were a little piece of solace. So Olivia and I spent the next few days in hotels, frustrated by the delay to our plans but happy at least in the knowledge that everything was being taken care of on Geico’s end, and that soon we would be back on the road.
Two days passed, then three, and still the local claims adjuster still hadn’t gone to look at our RV, each day saying she would and then each day not actually going. It took her five days to look at our RV. We had been staying in hotels, the cheapest we could find in the area, for those five days. Finally, she calls me back and tells me that the damage is not going to be covered. Additionally, she tells me that the portion of our $1000 of spending money that we’d used thus far also wouldn’t be covered.
My jaw dropped to the floor. The $1000 was initially a bonus to us, we weren’t expecting it nor did we ask for it, Geico told us we were entitled to it. I complained, and a few hours later someone from Geico called back to tell us that they would cover whatever amount we’d spent up until that point, but that no more money would be able to be used. Additionally, the autobody shop that they initially towed it to couldn’t, suprise surprise, work on the engine. So we had to arrange for the thing to be towed to a garage some 30 miles away.
The RV’s transmission was fixed, on our dime, but in the end Geico owed us $660 for the initial towing and another $440 for the second tow, as they were responsible for this. They also owed us $540 for the portion of the $1000 we’d spent. Even though Geico had arranged the original towing, they wouldn’t pay us our $660 until we faxed them a copy of the receipt. In my mind, they could have easily taken care of this themselves, having arranged the towing. Then we ran circles trying to find out who we were supposed to send the receipts for the $540 to, and again with the $440. Today is September 16th, 51 days after the initial problem, and I still haven’t received the final check for the $440. A week ago I called Geico and told them I hadn’t received the check, and they assured me it was in the mail. Today I called back, and a very nice woman sympathized with me, stated that it hadn’t been mailed, and that she was placing it in the mail tomorrow.
All in all, the vast majority of people at Geico are very nice, and everything they said they would take care of they did, short of actually fixing the transmission, which I can understand because it wasn’t an accident, but a mechanical failure. It bothered me at first that they said it would be covered, and then retracted that, but I chalk it up to poor communication on everyone’s part and perhaps some less-than-well trained phone reps.
And to be fair, Geico has paid us $1200 with another $440 on the way for a policy that only cost us $69 for that month, so they have lived up to their part in that regard. It’s just unfortunate that if we hadn’t hounded them every day for several weeks, they wouldn’t have paid anything, and that they took so long to get an adjuster out to look at our RV, knowing full and well that we lived in the thing.
Update: Only a few hours after I posted this, a man named Tom from Geico’s RV division called me and formally apologized on Geico’s behalf for any and all problems we’ve faced. He even said that the Vice President of the RV division had read this post and was reviewing our case. I found this to be very cool on the part of Geico, and also an indication that they’re constantly monitoring the Web for information on their services, so they are trying to improve their customer relations. Great job, Geico!
Insurance Companies Raise Rates for Roadside Assistance
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Several companies report use of roadside assistance coverage to raise the insurance rates of those who become stranded.
Insurance companies are raising rates on people who lock their keys in the car or become stranded on the side of the road. Several major insurers report claims made under roadside assistance policies to the Coverage Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) database controlled by Choicepoint, Inc. The system records any inquiries or claims made under automobile or homeowners’ insurance policies for five years. Insurers use the database to raise the premiums of their customers.
Several insurance companies, for example, refused to cover Andrea Davis, 31, after she had two flat tires and locked her keys inside her 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. Davis learned her old insurance company, Geico, had reported her three claims to CLUE. Davis paid Geico $12 a year for roadside assistance, but the company never disclosed that using flat tire assistance would raise rates.
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