What is the best roadside-assistance on the open market?

we've had good luck with triple a for over 30 years. only discounts we've used is for hotels. but that saved us about half the cost of the membership until we became seniors, which is a better discount.

the few times we've had to call them, we either got a triple a guy, or local garage/tow. haven't needed a tow though, just gas or jump start.

but i don't have anything to compare them to

 

Spend $20 on an OBD2 reader so you can use phone apps like Car Scanner and Dr. Prius app to clear warning lights/error codes. Having one of these devices in your glovebox is often the difference between being stuck on the side of the road waiting for help and simply posting screenshots to PriusChat after you clear the codes and drive home. More often than not, by the time you're home your post will already have people explaining your diagnosis & repair options.

 

When a Prius has a problem with the hybrid system the dash lights up with warning lights and the computer shuts down the hybrid system so you will only have the gas engine not the electrical power and might not be able to have enough power to drive up a hill. And if you turn the car off on the side of the road with warning lights and the hybrid system is shutdown you won't be able to get the gas engine started again.

However, if you take a screenshot of the error codes and clear them the car will drive normally until the car senses the problem again. And the amount of time it takes for the car to find the problem again gives more information to help with diagnosis.

For example: I one time had a friend who got a great price on Prius with hybrid battery problems and his wife sat in the passenger seat clearing the error codes again and again until he completed the 100 mile drive to my house where I made the repairs for a few hundred bucks.

 

I looked around and I tried out a company called Best Roadside Service.

$100 a year but everything looks good on paper but when I needed a tow it was bad.

They refunded my $100 and I never renewed.

I joined AAA recently, they had a deal online.

Check out my profile for other helpful links.

 

Yes, the best roadside assistance is the one you don't have to call. So if you have some basic tools with you, a scan tool, and ideally a downloaded repair manual, you will often be able to at least understand what issue the car is having. Because there are hundreds of possible trouble codes and some indicate problems you would not want to keep driving with, and others are far less threatening, it is good to be able to quickly call it for which kind it is. Sometimes clearing the code and continuing to drive is smart. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the indicated problem will be one you can even fix with basic tools. if it isn't, at least you'll have your own understanding of what it is, and not be completely relying on whatever some unknown mechanic at the nearest shop might tell you about it.

 

I have had an AAA membership for over 30 years. The good thing about AAA membership is that it is the member who is covered not the car. You can use your AAA membership even if you are a passenger in your friend's car needing roadside assistance. While I had the AAA membership, it was always a very reliable service. But, to cover every driver in a household I had to buy extra associate membership. Also, the basic membership only covered a very short distance of towing (only 5miles). It works OK if you are always driving in a city, but where we live now in a rural county, the nearest shop could be far away. So, I had to have a Premier membership to increase the benefit to 200 miles of towing distance. When our family was young, AAA membership had a lot of perks that we could use, so it was worth the cost. But as we got older, we just didn't use the benefit often enough to keep paying ~$170/yr for myself and my wife.

About 3 years ago, I decided to drop the AAA membership and switched to roadside assistance from my insurance company GEICO. It saved almost $150/yr by doing this. I have used the towing service several times, once when the car was in an accident, and on another, the car had a mechanical problem and I did not want to risk driving it. Both times, the service was on par with AAA for the response time and service provided. At this point, I have no reason to go back to AAA again. Occasional emergency roadside assistance can be covered by my insurance.

 

Having roadside service is useful in many situations where all the code resets in the world won't make it drive. Run out of gas, 12v battery dead, inverter failure, flat tire, e brake frozen (recently on our 2017 crv), engine overheated, etc.

I like USAA for insurance and included roadside service. Otherwise AAA with extended tow options. I have used the USAA on a few occasions as has my wife.

 

I have seldom ever been able to do a red side repair because he usually requires tools but that you don't have with you. You couldn't possibly keep all the tools with you because you don't have a van. I did however one time by 27 mm wrench and replace the oil pressure sending unit which was leaking oil out of the back of the motor. Note how I bought the wrench while on the road and didn't have to carry around a pile of tools. My 2c

 

AMA motorcycle insurance gives you roadside coverage for your bike plus your car

 

A thread on PriusChat should maybe also mention:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_World_Club

 

I dropped my roadside assistance plan years ago. I can self-insure the risk of an unexpected towing or tire repair bill, and I found that the plan’s dispatching service wasn’t a reliable way to get help quickly.

With my relatively low annual mileage and some prudent risk management steps—paying attention to the fuel gauge, keeping the car in good condition, and as kindly discussed above, carrying a spare tire and other materials and tools for minor repairs—I seem to need roadside service or towing only a few times a decade, making it less costly for me to pay for it directly, when needed, than to pay someone else’s underwriting profit on a subscription plan, especially considering adverse selection.

The plan I had, resold by a now-defunct mobile phone operator, also didn’t provide much peace of mind: more than once, after finding it impossible, unsafe, or inconvenient to solve a breakdown myself, I called for help, only to learn that I’d have a lengthy wait before the contracted towing company would be available, or that the plan simply didn’t have any coverage at my location.

Today, there are plenty of other ways to find roadside assistance, without the ongoing cost of a subscription. Many law enforcement agencies have rotation tow programs, and in some areas, freeway service patrols provide limited help at no charge to the user. Visa and Mastercard give cardholders access to pay-per-use dispatching services, and in case of a collision, the comprehensive insurance carrier can usually arrange for towing, even if they might not pay for it.