Re: emergency Road Service

Al Balmer wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:19:21 -0400, bill horne <redydog@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

wwemu1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:16:54 -0400, bill horne <redydog@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

<snip>
Not sure what kind of proof you need. When we went full time and were
looking at other companies for full timers insurance, the rates were
quite high. One of the agents told me that I had had several
accidents. When I inquired as to "what accidents?", I found that the
"accidents" were actually the couple of times I had used the tow
service. In one case, we had called but they never got a tow truck out
as I found a solution without them. Yet it was counted as a "claim".
It sure ain't the same old USAA I went with in 1954....
I've used the service on 2 different vehicles 3 times (total) in the past few years, my rates have not risen, and I still get the "Exemplary Driver" discount. That doesn't sound to me like they were counted as "accidents".

But you haven't asked another insurance company to check your record?
Might be different.


So far, I know that:
1. My towing and labor incidents were reported by USAA to the nationwide data service used by insurance companies as "towing and labor" - not as "accidents". I know this, because I checked my record at the nationwide data service used by insurance companies. My "accidents" were listed variously as "Collision", "Comprehensive", and "Towing and labor". Other insurance companies cannot misconstrue that as an "accident", but nothing says they can't treat it as one.

So if an insurance company is treating them as "accidents" - or reporting them to ChoicePoint as "accidents" - I'd say that would be an insurance company to avoid.

2. I don't know how other insurance companies treat and report "towing and labor", but if you don't have USAA, it would certainly be in your interests to find out. Which you can do - if you've had a towing and labor incident - by registering (free) at ChoicePoint/ChoiceTrust/C.L.U.E. and getting a report (free) on yourself.
http://www.choicetrust.com/servlet/com.kx.cs.servlets.CsServlet?channel=welcome&subchannel=clue

3. USAA says they don't raise rates because of towing and labor. They have not raised my rates.

And they just answered my email with:
-------------------------------------------------
We received your e-mail regarding Towing and Labor Coverage.

Towing claims are logged as an incident so that the proper coverages can be paid out. Though they are not held against your rates, we reserve the right to cancel the coverage if we feel the coverage is being abused.

As a reminder, Towing and Labor Coverage includes, but is not limited to, the following emergency road services:

- Towing disabled vehicles.
- Changing flat tires.
- Emergency gasoline service.
- Emergency service for dead batteries.
- Towing from snow, sand, mud, and similar conditions.
- Lockout key service.
----------------------------------------------

All of that is fine with me - particularly for $4/yr - and if my assumption is correct that "similar conditions" includes pea gravel.

And should they cancel that coverage because they "feel" I'm abusing it, I have no doubt they'll talk to me about it, consider any extenuating circumstances I may present, and not necessarily stick to some hardwired "policy" displayed on the monitor in front of them.

After 40+ years with USAA, I remain happy with them, and my strong opinion is that anyone who is qualified for USAA would be doing themselves a disservice if they don't examine it when searching for insurance.

However, any of you who consider USAA roadside assist should most definitely ask specifically about your own situation - big MH with toad, big truck with big fiver, etc.

However again, since USAA is a "dispatch" and claim-paying service for towing and labor, I see no reason that if anyone else could handle your rig, USAA couldn't too.

In addition, I don't have to use them as a dispatch service - if I want, I can find my own towing service, and file the claim later.

In fact, when I had my kid's car towed last year, I didn't even have to do that. When I attempted to pay the tow service, and he found out I had USAA, he refused my money, and worked it out with USAA himself.

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.
.

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