My interaction with any of the roadside and extended warranty marketers has been very bad (although there are many with which I have never been involved). I have given up ever getting paid on the last one I did for Route 66 and when plans call and ask if they can include me in their network, I tell them I would appreciate it if they did not. I don't want to waste the time.

From a service provider standpoint, they make it sound like I am their best friend, especially during race weeks here in Bristol. Following up, on the other hand is a joke, from my perspective. All they want is to check off the problem has been dealt with. Once that is done, good luck to whatever follows. They want the phone time and diagnostic work for free, flat rate on the repair, and often whatever they decide the price should be for parts.

My two cents worth.

Steve

 

The one time I had a big issue in Colorado, I procured a RV tech. They did the work and I paid them.

At the same time I contacted KZ and told them the issue. I was a warranty issue. I submitted the bill and it was paid in full in less than two weeks.

Different from a road side assistance program though. Thank goodness I have never had to deal with that.

I do have insurance on my 5er that includes the towing if needed though.

 

I am always willing to do that and the warranty and manufacturers are always more responsive to owners than they are to techs. Unfortunately, they realize they may never need the tech again and act accordingly. If they don't pay me, what recourse do techs really have? I'm not going to sue someone for $200 and that amount is not worth the bother even in small claims court. Plus, dealing with a third party is just too darn impersonal for me.

 

RV,

I hear you man. From my days of driving tow trucks, both light and heavy duty, the specialty rv road service providers were the worst at paying. It got so bad we started flatly refusing to tow for them period.

They would totally screw you on the billable amount, only paying X for hook, X per mile, X for any winch or recovery work. And then they wouldn't pay. One particular service we had to take to small claims court. Every. Single. Time.

Company owner finally had enough and cut them all off. Cash only, or no tow.

They (road service) would call up, whining and begging us to take the tow, and say "We'll give you a P.O. and make sure you get paid". I would fire back to them "My bank won't cash a P.O. number, I need real money, and you guys never pay your bills." Then I would pull out copies of old invoices and read them the invoice number, their P.O. number, and say, that was 4 months ago, and you still haven't paid it. You pay all of these outstanding bills right now, and I'll take this tow right now.

--long pause--

"Yeah, I thought so. You're 'P.O.' is worthless. Give me a credit card number right now, and I'll run it, right now for the bill in advance, or else tell the customer to pay me out of pocket and you reimburse THEM."

Of course the customer would be mad as hell, and I can't blame them. They would be fully wound up by the time I got there and start ripping me a new one.

I would just flatly tell them the reason is your service doesn't pay their bills, I would show them the copies of the unpaid invoices from months back, and tell them that I can't put these invoices in my fuel tank or take them down to the store to buy food.

And I got paid a percentage of the truck's invoices when the bill got paid, so I wasn't working for free. Then I told them to take it up with their service, and good luck getting reimbursed.

But maybe it's all gotten better by now?

 

^^^^^ I hope so. I towed for years, like you and had the same problems you saw. Only one that paid on time was AAA (but we could only bill once a month), the new car dealerships and the loan companies that hired us to do repos.

We demanded cash or plastic for all other tows. No money? You can pick it up in storage at the shop.

On the origional subject, I carry AAA for our vehicles and Boat US towing insurance for when the boat is hooked up. They will even tow the truck AND boat if the truck dies. Covers everything between the front truck bumper to the trailer tail lights. Boat US is awsome for boat trailer (if that is what you have) towing needs.