Blown Out Tires

[AustinBoston]

Austin;  Good Sam ERS covers everything AAA+ does. You do not have to be towing. It's just another road service company.
and JMHO it is a better deal than AAA+ because at least it is nation wide. If you end up in an area that doesn't offer AAA+ (AAA gold) (AAA RV) you are on your own as far as the trailer is concerned and then you have to try and get reimbursed from your local AAA.

This is only partly true.  While you may have to pay up front for towing the trailer, the towing is arranged by a national location; they will dispatch what is needed.  But compare prices, and what you get.

In the last two weeks, I have walked into a local AAA office, plunked down my card, and walked out with local and regional maps of three metro areas.  Cost me five minutes and $0.00.

But yes, that reimbursement thing can be a PITA.

Austin

[dthurk]

This is only partly true.  While you may have to pay up front for towing the trailer, the towing is arranged by a national location; they will dispatch what is needed.  But compare prices, and what you get.
 
 In the last two weeks, I have walked into a local AAA office, plunked down my card, and walked out with local and regional maps of three metro areas.  Cost me five minutes and $0.00.
 
 But yes, that reimbursement thing can be a PITA.
 
 Austin

AB, my understanding of Good Sam ERS is that they will take care of whatever needs to be taken care of.  Tow vehicles are covered, as well as anything else you might be towing.  We've switched from AAA to GS ERS because of the towing factor for us.  I would expect GS ERS to be able to handle replacement of camper tires as well as tow vehicle tires.  We have used their service for one of our vehicles and have been very satisfied with the speed of service as well as the quality.  We've not had to use the service while towing, so don't have any personal experience in that area.  Hope we'll never need it, but glad we do have coverage for towing as well.

As far as attacking space aliens, I don't do anything specific or intentional to prevent attack, but I do keep brain wave transmissions down by wearing my aluminum foil covered baseball cap at all times.  Does that count?

[wavery]

Yukkkkkkkkk!!!!! I hate threads like this. :banghead:

Now I've gotta go out and buy new tires. :swear:

My PU is now 5 years old....has been parked in the garage since new......towed at least once a month.....but now you've got me all paranoid.... :%

I hate having problems on the road. :banghead:  AGAIN....it must be the sailor in me......but I'll go out next week and get a new set of tires (including spare). :morning:

I hope you guys get a commission on this. :sombraro:

[flyfisherman]

Yukkkkkkkkk!!!!! I hate threads like this. :banghead:

Now I've gotta go out and buy new tires. :swear:

......but I'll go out next week and get a new set of tires (including spare). :morning:

Question ... since a spare is a "spare" and you use it temporarily until the "main" defected tire is repaired/replaced, why can't you use one of the present tires (the one in the best seemingly shape) as a spare?

[Old Goat]

Austin, Good Sam does cover your tow vehicle towing or not. I left AAA PLus   after many years for Good Sam because it got so expensive for our vehicles and RV. Also, their towing service is not available every where in the USA like Good Sam's, a fact they forget to mention. Good Sam has unlimited towing milage and AAA does not.

[AustinBoston]

Also, their towing service is not available every where in the USA like Good Sam's

Once again, that is absolutely and utterly not true.  There are times you will have to pay up front to tow a trailer (and get reimbursed), but they have the service.

Oh, and based on the number and amount of AAA discounts I receive, my AAA membership is better than free (more than pays for itself).  We've had single discounts that came to $60, the cost of the basic membership.  Try that with GS.

Austin

[dthurk]

There's more to our GS service than just liking one better than another.  I've had other issues with AAA, not related to road service, that has caused me to drop our membership with them.  I won't go into the story here, it's too long and involved.  
 
There are several road service options available;  AAA, GS, Allstate and probably others.  Check them all out and choose the best one for you.  But having any would probably be better than having none, to avoid difficulties encountered by OP.

[AustinBoston]

I must be in the mood for an argument, so let's not take me too seriously...

There's more to our GS service than just liking one better than another.  I've had other issues with AAA, not related to road service, that has caused me to drop our membership with them...

If you are going to go there, we used to get trashcans full of junk mail from Good Sam... :eyecrazy: ...even after we quit... :yikes:

Austin

[wavery]

We're gonna go a little "Off topic" here but wait until you hit 55 and AARP starts hounding you. They want you to pay them so that they can send you 2# of junk mail every day. They have everything from 100 different flavors of insurance to sell you to condos in Mexico. For all that.....they want YOU to pay THEM. That's a bigger racket then Good Sam any day (although Good Sam is a close second.

[flyfisherman]

Guess I'm just going to have to wade into this mess, too ...

I've had AAA since 1988 and on a good many occasions they have saved the day, from helping me with locked in keyes (how did that become such a habit?), getting stuck and needing to be towed out ... (with and without the camper!), and a couple, three vehicles back - bad batteries and once a bad starter. At first I just had the vehicles covered and later added the popup, which really was not all that much more. And speaking of the camper, broke a leaf spring with the Starcraft some time back and they came out and retrieved the PU and hauled it over to a Starcraft dealer and then on to an RV repair center (the Starcraft dealer did not make those kinds of repairs) and all at no cost to me. Plus, like Austin said, heaven only knows how many maps and routes they have outined for me. As for all the advertising, there is an option of choosing not to recieve all that junk. I see, however, they still manage to sneak a cedit card offer through, or some wonderful auto insurance plan proposal.

But over all, AAA has done a good job for me and I'm pleased with their service. I guess you just have to look at it like it was some kind of an insurance plan.



Fly

[AustinBoston]

We're gonna go a little "Off topic" here but wait until you hit 55 and AARP starts hounding you. They want you to pay them so that they can send you 2# of junk mail every day. They have everything from 100 different flavors of insurance to sell you to condos in Mexico. For all that.....they want YOU to pay THEM. That's a bigger racket then Good Sam any day (although Good Sam is a close second.

I can certanly believe that.  I still get AARP mailings for my Mother...and she's been dead for 8 years, we've moved twice since then, and even once threatened to sue them if they didn't take her name off their list.  :eyecrazy:

Austin

[Old Goat]

Austin, I have heard that AARP now gives it's new members an autographed picture of Harry Belafonte.
One does not have to belong to AAA or AARP in order to get discounts on lodging and services. I have always been able to find the same discounts and better ones on the net and in travel publications.

[dthurk]

Goodness gracious, AB.  Focus on the second paragraph of my previous post.  I'm just recommending OP gets some kind of road service and investigate the possibilities before purchasing.  

If AAA works for you, go for it.  We've chosen a different course, primarily because we ended up in court in Florida as a result of AAA heirarchy refusing to back up what one of their employees qualified to advise us told us to do.  As I've said before, it's a long story, longer than I want to get into on the board.  It's a great campfire story, though.  It exemplifies the stupidity of large corporations and shows what they can get away with as a result of (basically) unlimited financial resources.  We've not had anything to do with AAA since, but that's a personal thing, not something I try to push on others.  I can say, though, that we've not missed any service AAA provides, finding we can replace anything they offer without much trouble and at reasonable cost.

[AustinBoston]

Goodness gracious, AB.

Well, I did start my post with "I must be in the mood for an argument, so let's not take me too seriously..."

Austin (I NEED to go camping...)

[Skamper]

Thanks Austin!  We'll definately investigate the AAA options available to us.  This season we are planning on using our PUP at least every other weekend.  So I'll look to replace our tires in 3 years or so, that is without any unforeseen disasters like the one we just had!

Thanks again for all your info and help!  Knowledge is certainly power.

My tires have been on for 16 yrs and I have never had any problems.  I use the camper about 2-3 times a year.  I do not cover the tires in the off-season, but they are shaded pretty good.  I usually inflate them to close to 80 PSI.  I grease the wheel bearings about every other year or as needed.