We experienced a flat tire on our first day of RV travel to our son’s wedding. We have had Good Sam Roadside since we first owned an RV in 2009. Once before I called them for an overheating issue in Kansas and the service station man was very nice. He brought oil and checked things out but it was ok. He suspected the very hot day. It was over 100 degrees. After a rest we were able to continue without issue.
At first I just thought the tire was low so tried to refill it with our air compressor. But when that didn’t happen Dave suggested calling Roadside. It was getting late in the day on Saturday. However the dispatcher was able to find a technician to bring out a new tire. He was working in his headlights and the cold to remove the old tire from the rim manually and install the new. He said we had run it flat so it was ruined. He also said the valve was loose.
The Good Sam Agent had told me to take a photo of the DOT code and the tread but did not mention retaining the tire to prove a roadside hazard caused the flat. He also didn’t mention the other number I had to call for tire coverage. That is a separate insurance number. I did not keep the bad tire for their inspection. I dont think that’s practical because the RV was packed for travel. I just didn’t know the very restrictive rules on coverage and I could not find them online. It was there but I was reading the wrong brochure. My insurance card said Platinum but actually I had Platinum Plus. So although I argued that there was no way to keep the tire the service guy did not point out a road hazard caused the flat and only road hazards are covered by the insurance. Run flat afterwards? It’s your problem.
Our old RV had a spare tire mounted on the back that we never used. Naturally once we no longer had a spare we needed one.
The best part of the story is that a new tire was installed and we were on our way in the morning. It was very disappointing though and I’m not confident we will ever use the tire insurance with the built in loopholes. Roadside is worth the cost but tire coverage is not.
