Recently, we were told the tale of a vacationing family in the Florida panhandle whose RV tire blew out a few miles from their campsite. Luckily, they had a roadside assistance program along with their RV insurance, because changing the tire on an RV is much different than doing so on a car.
For those of you who have never faced or considered it before, safely changing the tire on an RV is not the quick switcheroo it is on cars and requires the help of specialized equipment and certified tire specialists. This family also happened to have dual tires, making it that much more complicated. Talk about a tiring adventure!
The size of the equipment necessary to safely change a tire on an RV is prohibitive for most motorists. In the case of a blowout, your roadside assistance team contacts a tire company which loads up a truck with the tools needed to change RV tires, including the air compression system that allows them to power the heavy duty jack, pneumatic lug wrenches, and fill the oversized tires once they are installed.
Look for a roadside service that is sign and drive. This way, if or when you need them, you would simply call your provider’s 800 number and then wait for them to send a service vehicle. If your road side assistance service is a good one, they will only work with companies whose workmen have received certifications for changing RV and semi tires. The service team should also be knowledgeable, thorough, quick, and check to be sure of your safety before anything else.
Another benefit? They may be able to secure a better price on the parts you need than you can find by calling around yourself. This family was safely back on the road for a great price and though nobody hopes for trouble, they had one more story to share from their vacation!
And that’s just a tire. There are any number of things that can go wrong with an RV, ranging from simple mistakes like locking your keys in to major problems that throw a real wrench in your trip. What if the worst happens and you need to be towed? Not just any tow truck can haul a large RV. Having a road side assistance program for your RV is extremely valuable, even more so than for your daily vehicles, because of the additional complications they face, usually based on their size and weight.
If you’d like help deciding which roadside assistance company is right for your overall RV insurance lineup, feel free to give our customer service department a call. For other helpful information and tools to keep your trip running smoothly, including RV travel guides, gas price finders and weather reports, visit our blog articles and traveler resources!