Roadside assistance when towing

I imagine the only ones that would be let down, would be those that don't adhere to the stated restrictions.

Helped an elderly couple out on the Nullarbor couple years ago on Xmas day their vehicle had split a rad hose and had a melt down they were QLD RAC members we drove into Mundrabilla RH to call the QLD RAC for them thought we would be driving on but after asking us for the members credit card in case there were extra charges (started to lose faith in them then) we gave them ours so at least they would try and dispatch help straight away. Left our camper trailer at the roadhouse the staff there were all bleep so no help, drove back patched their vehicle enough so they could limp into the Road house and we towed their van in passed the recovery truck just before the Road house all ended up ok.
Cut a long story short check any extra costs the company may want, and check on the coverage. I am happy with the RAC they have recovered us once when a motor blew and did a sterling job with a mate who wrote off his van and vehicle. Not all are that good and the service may vary when you leave the state they are in. If you do check on what they cover make sure you get it in writing. As for restrictions on the size and weight for recovery if it is that far out insurance won't be coughing up either, for a recovery process though if it is the vehicle they will tray it and tow the van. If the van is so damaged it can't be towed it will be recovered to the nearest town or roadhouse and trucked in later.

RACV Total care was excellent after car broke down at kulgara NT, car on flat top with van hitched to back of tow truck and into Alice springs. No mention of length of van or weight.

As the motoring organisations have reciprocal arrangements to use agents of their counterpart in other states, check you fine print and it will most likely say that the service maybe limited in some areas. Depending on what the agent has, he may not be able to tow larger vans, but in areas where the agent can, you should still get a service even if above the specified size at the discretion of the agent.

A higher level of cover may have an additional dollar amount to be used according to your needs to the limit of the amount, be it on hire car, accommodation or additional costs from the tow.

Motherhen

When i owned a landrover discovery,it broke down in north sydney when i was towing a lightweight camper.
Called landrover assist they sent a tilt truck to recover the disco but refused to allow the camper to be towed,advised me to leave it on the roadside...

Hi, I have just gone through this
I'm with racv total care but for a van, their size limit is 22 feet all up- tow hitch to rear of van. They stated this is because if the van is to be towed on a flat tray, they aren't allowed to have any part of the van extending beyond the tray
I have a 23 foot van plus a frame so racv wasn't going to help me
I then found motoring 24/7http://www.motoring24-7.com.
From what I can see, they won't cover vehicles over 20 years old or 3.5 ton but nothing mentioned about length
There are charges though for outback areas, and also if your vehicle is damaged in a collision - other insurance should apply here
Hope this helps

Gday Glenn,

Cant you just email them the specs of your set up and ask if they cover it?

Hi all,
Unfortunately I'm able to tell a story also and this one is very recent, I live in Penrith ,SYD and we were 8 hours south near the boarder ,just leaving camp with the van hitched on the back on Saturday (yes EASTER Saturday ) we had a bad shake on the cruiser and pulled into the first town we came across it was unable to be fixed so we called the NRMA, the NRMA worked hard to find us a truck that was a duel cab so it could load my car on the tray and hook the van on the back with me in the front seat and my wife ,15 and 11 yr old sons and Diesel our English staffy sat in the back, because it took so long to organize we limped to a close by van park and took off 1st thing Sunday morning, the driver was absolutely brilliant and we had a great trip back, we had top level cover called premium care and I had to pay the difference which was $500 as it was a $3500 tow but hey I would of used $200 diesel and I expected to pay an excess, all I can say is don't even think of travelling without this cover because anyone's car or van can breakdown.

Regards John.

I currently have the second highest cover with RAC, but need to move up to the the highest.

When trying to sort through the fine print online, I did notice that it stated that for other areas outside the metro area, it was up to the agent what was towed. I guess this is because depending where you are, they may not have anything big enough.

Although If I am paying top dollar, I would expect that my camper be towed as well as the Dmax. Even if it meant they had to go back to get it, depending on distance of course.

Remember these roadside assistance groups are structured arround joe average in the family station waggon.....everything they do and everything they think about is in the light of that.

If you have something large or out of the ordinary, you may have a problem.

A friend of mine gave up on RACQ, because at one time he was driving an "exotic european car"..he had a minor problem, but the roadside mechanic was simply not interested in doing anything but towing the vehicle.

If you are towing a large fifth wheeler with a chevy silverado.....that is going to be beyond what the road side assistance groups are interested in or equipped to deal with.

I can understand them drawing the line at a 22 foot van.

most medium rigid tilt trays will just fit a 20 foot container on the tray and only be able to carry it empty.

Quite a lot of "normal" tilt tray tow trucks will not accomodate a fully loaded landcruser.

By the time you build a tilt tray on a medium rigid truck, particularly a duel cab you would be pushing to put 3 tonnes on the tray legally.

The other old chestnut, is the tow driver, only being prepared to recover the vehicle and the driver.....Single cab truck with one pasenger seat........that leaves the pasengers in an interesting position.

all worth thinkimng about and in advance.

cheers

If you are out in the country and break down, with the top line of cover the RAC will arrange transport of driver and up to 4 passengers.
when more than 100k's from home you are entitled to $1260 for car hire and or accommodation.

You are also allowed 2 tows per incident, so I am wondering if those that have large vans can use both to have there vehicle towed and then have there van towed.

I have asked the RAC to send me either a PDS or the Terms and Conditions for their Roadside Assist, so I can get a better idea of what the limitations are.

I was pondering this a couple of years ago and settled for the RACQ top cover which will cover my vehicle up to 4.5 tonnes and the van. The interesting part for me is that should the vehicle need the tray then its length and weight are constraining factors and I was informed when I was at Roper Bar yacking with the store owner that the guy servicing that area has/had three different size vehicles and I would need to make it clear that I have larger vehicle to make sure the right vehicle is sent.

Fortunately it was not needed but the time to worry is when you at home nice a comfortable and not when broken down.

Kind regards