Good Sam Roadside Assistance Saved Me Again

[wdk450]

Gang:
It was 104 degrees on Sunday afternoon when I decided to drive the truck from Cloverdale Ca. (on US101) over to the cool coast in Fort Bragg (60-70 degree temperatures there). I was just 8 miles East of Fort Bragg in the redwoods forest on Hwy 20, when the warning chime went off on my dash and I saw the coolant temperature gauge pegged over. I had blown out my 2nd water pump in about 2 years. Fortunately my Verizon phone worked, and my GPS gave me an accurate location. The Good Sam dispatcher got me a tow driver to arrive by 6pm (Sunday evening), towed me into FT Bragg to a repair service (closed) adjacent to a couple of motels and restaurants. I survived the night in the motel without any stuff. The repair shop, American Repair Company, primarily works on boats, but the owner is a master mechanic and does cars, trucks and RV's, too. They opened at 8, and I was out of there by 10:30, paying 1/2 of what I paid for the same job in Woodland, Ca. 2 years ago. That time 2 years ago I was hitched to the Bighorn, and Good Sam provided a semi-truck tow to tow my hitched-up rig.

Bottom line is, this is the best $100 (or so) I spend on my RV every year. This time I didn't even have the Bighorn with me and Good Sam came through.

BTW, I spent most of Monday afternoon on the cool Northern California seashore, before returning to the 104 degrees heat inland again.

 

[scottyb]

Very nice to know. I have been paying it since I bought the rig.

 

[Rodbuster]

It's always great to hear "good" stories.
We are on our way from Florida to enjoy some of these "cool" temperatures in California.
Be there in about 2 weeks.

Dick

 

[westxsrt10]

Good Sam RV roadside assistance is the only way to go IMO.
We had AAA for 30 years but they won't change a tire on the wheel or bring a new tire if requested. Also Good Sam is $25% less than AAA.

 

[Tundra2084]

We use Coach Net and like yourself it was a life saver for us, while traveling from Ontario Canada to San Diego to see son and daughter in- law, who was due to have our grandchild any day.
On the way thru Las Vegas on highway we saw something in the road but had no choice but to go over it rather than around it, due to cars on both sides of us. We slowed down as fast as we could and ran over a truckers mud flap that sill had the bar attached to it that connects it to the truck. Held our breath and didn't hear anything bad, just the rise and lowering as we drove over it. About 10 minutes down the highway in the middle of nowhere, we heard a thumping sound so, quickly pulled over only to find, ALL of the plumbing hanging on the road, as well as the landing gear leg on drivers side on the ground. Seems when we hit that flap it smacked the leg clear off inside and ripped all the plumbing off.
We called Coach net and they had made arrangements for us to meet someone a couple hours away to get it fixed. Ok so on our way we went, after tying the leg up, and pulling the little that was left of our plumbing off so we could safely travel on. Fast forward a couple hours and just outside of Fontana California we watched as a car hit something in the road and blew his tire. Ok we pull to the extreme right and missed the rebar sticking up out of the pavement. We get about 1/8 of mile and lose power in the truck, coasted into a pull off with no power but engine still running. Again had to call and request help from Coach Net and explained to them about no way to takre trailer off of truck, and unable to move truck.
So here we are stuck with a damaged trailer with, no landing gear or plumbing and a truck with engine trouble. It said the outside temp was 101 and traveling with two dogs on top of it. After the first truck arrived and saw the problems, it was another two hours before the huge flatbed came to take both Truck and Trailer to different locations.
First truck that arrived took us with him to find a motel that allowed dogs while second one hooked up and loaded both units on flatbed.
We were able to get a motel that night thanks to the tow truck driver and the next day we got a rental car and made it in time to be there for granddaughters birth the next day. It took two weeks to fix the truck and trailer landing gear only. Drove home and vowed to never drive thru Vegas again lol

Coach Net not only paid for the towing but also the rental car for 3 days and trip interruption. We will never leave home without it. Had to use it once more when on our way home from a 6 weeks stay in Florida our axel seized and had to get it towed to dealership to get repairs done. That only took 4 weeks to get a new axel replaced in South Carolina. Nope was not a Heartland Unit and they were in no hurry to deal with a Canadian Dealer for repairs.

 

[JohnD]

I got an email the other day from GSRAS thanking me for renewing my membership . . .

I looked at my bank account online . . . and sure enough they had renewed it!

I used it once last summer when we ran out of gas in the middle of NoWheresVille, Nebraska!

This is us waiting for the Good Sam service truck to bring us some gas . . .