Roadside, Towing, and Your Insurance Company

Roadside service or towing…whatever you want to call it, will likely not make you happy in event of a breakdown on the side of the road with your automobile.  Automobile insurance policies typically have a nominal benefit that is really designed to get you off the road and towed to a nearby repair shop.  And if that repair shop is less than 15 miles away from your place of disablement and you chose the towing coverage on your policy, then you’re likely ok.  Or if the cost of the roadside repair is less than $50 you’re ok…when you need to be towed more miles or the cost of repairs is over that amount, you’ll be paying out of pocket for the difference.

But let’s face it, some of you travel…and you travel a lot, far away from your home for work or on the weekend, you need something else to cover you for long distance tows or breakdowns.  There are other companies out there that specialize in this sort of coverage like AAA.  They’ve been around for years and they have various programs that will tow you 100 miles per tow or if you pay more, more than 100 miles per tow.  This becomes valuable if you have a strong desire to get your vehicle towed back to your hometown dealer or specialty garage.

So why do I tell you to seek out a competitor service?  It’s a matter of having a specialty product, like AAA, to service that towing need.  The last thing I want to see is that you’re disappointed that your insurance policy won’t cover a long-distance tow.  AAA costs a lot more than any ancillary towing benefit in an insurance policy that costs $5 to $15 per year.  The AAA program will cost you around $145 annually for two vehicles (that’s what I pay).

I’ve had AAA for 22 years and haven’t “used” it in 22 years and long gone are the days of requesting maps for your vacation road trip.  But I used it last week when I was 175 miles from home and my truck got a flat while I was towing a 26ft long trailer during a snowstorm no less!  I would have never been able to get the tire down from its storage area under the frame as it was rusted and frozen on and the lug nuts where so over-torqued that the AAA tech used a 4ft steel pipe breaker-bar to get the lug nuts off!  From phone call to back on the road the whole ordeal took 45 minutes.  I never once thought of my insurance company for this service…but AAA took care of it and it was worth 22 years of premiums to be back and running that fast.

Point is, have low expectations for towing or roadside when you only pay $5 to $15 a year for towing.  Don’t think that since you pay $X amount for the other parts of insurance it should pay for towing; it doesn’t, those other premiums pays for the risk associated with you damaging someone else’s vehicle or damaging your own vehicle.  If you have that potential need for having a long distance tow, get the AAA coverage and we can remove the towing off your policy; no need to pay for it twice.  Get a little savings, get a better product that fits the need, and have piece of mind that you’ll get your vehicle back home.

Call the office to review towing on your policy and we’ll take care of you.  Local agents helping local clients, everyday.

Keith Beausoleil, CPCU

Keith Beausoleil is an insurance agent at Fortified Insurance Agency. Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH specializes in coverage for auto insurance, automobile insurance, home insurance, homeowners insurance, umbrella insurance, renters insurance, condo insurance, RV insurance, motorcycle insurance, boat insurance, personal watercraft insurance, PWC insurance, snowmobile insurance, golf cart insurance, business insurance, commercial insurance, surety bonds, rental property insurance, and more. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs an independent insurance agent.