Tire Blowout Part 2
Recap – We experienced a major front tire blowout on our motorhome. There was significant damage to the following areas: side fender, tire well, passenger wall, and tile floor. The blowout caused the RV to be disabled on the side of the road.
Most RVers carry some type of roadside assistance and this was the first time we actually got to use the service we had been paying on for 7 years. The real question is how did it perform?
While your experience might be different from ours, here’s how it went.
Are you in a safe place?
Now that I knew the extent of the damage, my choice was to call Good Sam Roadside Assistance. I located my insurance card and paperwork and called the toll-free number. I was on hold for maybe 2 to 3 minutes before an operator came on. She asked for some basic information to verify my coverage. After that, the first thing she asked me as I was explaining the damage or the situation was am I in a safe place? That’s kind of a standard industry question but a difficult one to answer in my situation. I have a 43 foot motorhome on the side of a major highway with cars whipping by at 70+ miles per hour.Would you consider that a safe place? It was the best I could do at the moment.
Is the RV drivable?
I’ll admit the next 15 minutes of conversation was very frustrating. I was asked multiple times, is the RV drivable? How was I supposed to know? I’m not a mechanic and based on the visual damage I didn’t think there was any chance in heck that I would be driving that RV off the side of the road. My mind was clearly set on needing a tow truck. The operator made it clear that the first step was to try to have ROADSIDE Assistance come out and bring a new tire. At that time that mechanic could assess whether or not the RV was driveable.
Hearing this I wasn’t happy with my options but I really had no choice in the matter. Now I want to make this clear, the operator was very nice on the phone and it wasn’t her fault. I think the frustration of the situation got the best of me. I was not rude but looking back on it, I could’ve been more understanding of their protocol. They are experts at this, right?
A new tire… how much is that?
The operator began searching for a company to bring a new tire to my location. She would call me back as soon as she could locate one. Being that we were still 5+ hours from homebase, I felt there was no need for the entire family to be sitting on the side of the road. I also didn’t feel it was the safest place for my family. So I sent them all ahead in my mother-in-law’s RV. They could at least continue home and if I was stuck for a few days, so be it. About that time, the Florida Highway Patrol arrived. Thank goodness for them. The FHP Officer turned its car lights on and diverted the speeding traffic out of the right lane. This was incredibly helpful. A few minutes later Florida Highway Assistance arrived, and he was so nice and helpful, as well. He actually stayed with me the whole time I was stranded on the side of the road. Twenty minutes later, the Good Sam Insurance operator called back with good and bad news. Good – She had located a company that had the tire size I needed. They could deliver in 30 minutes ( it actually took 50 minutes). The bad – The cost for the one tire installed was $800!
That apparently was not covered by my roadside assistance plan. She also stated that if the mechanic determined that the RV was not driveable, then she could authorize a tow truck to come out and take us to the nearest camping world or RV repair shop. My expectations for the success of a tire replacement were very low.
How did we do?
The mechanic arrived with the new tire and he assessed the damage. We were surprised at the amount of cosmetic damage to the RV. My question to him was whether he thought putting the tire on the RV would be driveable. He was very confident in his ability to replace the blown tire, as far as the long-term driveability, he didn’t really have a definitive answer. To my amazement he did a fantastic job of jacking up the RV and changing the tire. I mean it literally took him 20 minutes to get the job done. He was a true professional.
The only thing I didn’t like was when he had to bill me for $800+ dollars. I know it wasn’t his fault and he was just doing his job. I thanked him and gave him a $20 tip for doing such a fantastic job. But the question lingered in my mind, do I trust driving this RV 5+ hours to get back to Georgia? My answer was no. But what in the world would I do next? Find out the answer to that and so much more of the saga in part three of our tire blowout experience.
Keith – Dad of Soulful RV Family
RV Tire Blowout Part 2
