Folks Of Interest HAGERTY ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE SUCKS!

I have Farmers, talk to people, had great dealings with a total loss 15+ yrs ago and I get a post card on my birthday. Seriously I think it all comes down to the rapport you have with the insurer (I look for insurers who own their small business). I can call and add or dump a car, plus he knows me by name.........also ALL my cars are old (pre '64), daily drivers (some liability only, some full coverage).

As for roadside, I carry tools and extra parts....I built the car, I'll get it home and I don't have a cell phone.

 

AAA worth it. And as others have stated state farm offers towing. Used them once on daily driver. I paid the tow up front then sent in the tow bill and got reimbursed.

 

To the best if my knowledge, NO insurance companies, including AAA, have their own tow fleet. It is all contract towing, governed by terms in some agreement between the ins co and the tow companies.

If, in fact, and not by chance, AAA Premium is superior in the performance of their contractors, there has to be at least one good reason for that. The first possibility that comes to mind is, as a single entity they have more 'insureds' and are responsible for directing much higher volume to the tow company......stated another way, AAA is the tow companies Best Customer....whereas most other ins carriers, individually, are low to very low volume sources of business. No tow operator would want to lose his best source of business.

The other possibilities that come to mind are that AAA might pay a little more and might pay more promptly. Perhaps AAA screens tow companies more carefully before contracting with them. All speculation on my part, but something has to account for the consistent claims in this thread that AAA offers superior service.....even though it is contracted.

Ray

 

Boy, the way they advitise on these car action shows you would think they are the best.I GUESS NOT! Bruce.

 

I have had instances where AAA tow trucks reused to move a car. Car was similar to an MG. 1st tow truck refused to move the car due to the condition and did not want to damage it. All depends on who they send. Luckily with AAA they have many facilities they deal with so the owner just called back and they send another company.

 

Grundy for insurance and AARP coverage for towing. Just remember to tell them it's a lowered car or modified car and ,hopefully, they'll send a truck and driver that knows how to deal with these.

 

AAA does use other contract towers for towing, but they do have their own fleet of service trucks for things like dead batteries, lock outs, out of gas, etc. When I blew my water pump I told the AAA person on the phone I needed a flat bed because of the type of car it was (my 27 roadster) and the guy did an exceptional job in loading it. He even wrapped rags around the axles to keep the cable from scratching them.

Don

 

Been with Hagerty for years have had two unfortunate body repair claims both were taken care of very promptly with no issues. Used the roadside assistance two times also have never had an issue. When the distributor went out and I was twenty to thirty miles from anywhere they had a wrecker (flat bed) there in an hour on a Sunday morning. That being said if you break down where they haven't contracted with a local towing company I can see where the wait would be longer. But as the OP stated CUSTOMER SERVICE should always be number one! If I was treated like that on the phone and not able to get reimbursed for a service I am paying for I definitely would be taking my hard earned money elsewhere!

 

I have three cars with Hagerty and been doing business with them for almost 20 years with no issues. Premiums are very competitive. That said, I see that there are four special policy endorsements based on the fact that I live in Colorado. I also have AAA with the RV endorsement and have found that the service varies from state to state based on the contracts with tow companies. I can't help but think that attitude based on frustration with a broken down car may have contributed to poor service.

 

LOL ... maybe you don't need to hear Hagertys side of the story, but I would like to hear why Hagerty "kept you on hold on the phone for 1/2 hour and why they chose "not to pick your car up on the same evening of your breakdown". Sounds fishy.

 

I have had Grundy on my collector cars for many years. I use a broker who specializes in old/classic cars and get immediate service when I need it. This broker actually recommended I switch from Hagerty which he started me with to Grundy because Grundy was so much less expensive. I use AAA for road service. I haven't had any claims with either yet.

 

All businesses have some customers they would be only too happy to have someone else take care of.

Ray

 

Ya know, if it's anything like the car repair business, the skilled guys tend to get weekends and evenings off. That's why when you call at 7 PM on Sunday, you get to talk to some rookie who don't know much. Then again, when those rookies don't show up for work, guess who they call to come in? So sometimes you do get a good "agent" (phone jockey). IMO it's a bit of a crap shoot any more.

 

Sorry for your bad experience. I must stick up for hagerty though. During the recent earthquake, a bunch if crap fell on my roadster doing superficial paint damage, mostly scratches and chips. I called hagerty and they sent an appraiser out right away. I received a check very quickly for more money than I expected. Everyone has been very courteous and quick to respond in all my experiences with them. I also have AAA for roadside and that's been great. I went snowboarding with a buddy who wound up losing his keys. We were stuck up on the mountain and AAA sent a locksmith out to make a key for my friend's car!

 

Never had a problem with Hagerty used roadside assistance and claims excellent to work with and there roadside assistance covers my families daily drivers cant ask for more.

 

I have had good luck with hagerty , I have used their flatbed service a couple times when I was far from home and it was great. Gary

 

The best advertising is word of mouth....I'll put this back to the top!

 

AAA has service trucks that come first in many cases in my area. They try to get you rolling if possible. If they can't get you back in service they call a tow truck.

 

Had a tow claim with Grundy. Broke down by the side of the road. Paid claim immediately. Two weeks later blew the engine in my Nash an hour away from home. $250 tow, paid claim immediately. I figure if they can pay two claims in two weeks with no problems, I'm sticking with them!

 

You will notice that the title of this thread has been changed. Received a phone call from Hagerty this morning. Turns out that Hagerty sub-contracts out their roadside assistance to a third party. I related the whole story to them, and I informed them that the sub-contractor is representing themselves as Hagerty to customers, and that they are seriously damaging Hagerty's reputation. Hagerty promised to look into the matter, and reimburse my tow bill. I will keep you updated on the proceedings. Still not happy that it went down the way it did, but hopefully they will take care of the problem so that no one else has to go through that.

 

A number of years ago my 2 sisters and myself were heading North to Mammoth Lakes from So Cal and my sisters car broke down about 40 miles from Mammoth. My sister has AAA Premium coverage and the car had to be towed the last miles to Mammoth but there was only room for 3 total people in the tow cab. I volunteered to take the ride in the car being towed and the tow operator said that was fine. It was a very interesting experience. Total silence. The car aimed towards the blue sky. Very surreal but it worked out fine. We only lost an hour of time.

 

My 20 ft enclosed race trailer with the '57 inside lost an axle about 90 miles from home on a Sunday afternoon. It took about 4 hours, but Haggerty found a lowboy semi & big ass forklift to load it all & haul to the shop. They called about every half to keep me up to date on progress.

 

I think sometimes it comes down to who they contract in your area. I ran out of gas this past Feb in frigid cold weather. I called Hagerty roadside they said should be there withing 40 minutes. 60 minutes goes by nothing, I call them up and they sounded confused as to why no one showed up. They said they would call me back right away. They call me to tell me that the tow company they called for fuel dropoff never received the fax to come out and get me fuel. They apologized and said we will be there in 20 minutes. Waited another 30 minutes nothing. Now it's been 90 minutes and I'm freezing my nuts off in 10 degree weather sitting inside my truck shivering. Someone pulls up next to me and sees my hood open and offers to help me, they ran home to their shed and brought me back 5 gallons of fuel and off I went. I called Hagerty and told them I am changing my insurance provider due to what happened and how pissed I was. They apologized and the next day I received a call from someone in their customer service dept. She apologized again and told me what happened with the tow company dropping the ball. She offered me a $50 amex gift card for my inconvenience and asked me to give them another shot. I did appreciate that they did that and sent me the $50. I am giving them another shot but if it happens again I'm done with them.

 

One of the most important things to remember with any insurance company is get a up to date stated value from a licensed appraiser. Nothing worse than fighting an uphill battle with an insurance company because you do not have an agreed upon value prior to your accident.

 

Ive had Hagerty for many years and used tow service 3 times with no problems. They even towed my wagon back from the track after it chucked the driveshaft.. Easier than driveing back 70 miles to get the hauler.
Not long ago I bought & insured a 30 Vicky on Monday and then wrecked it on Wenesday before they had pics.
Hagerty paid up , I got paid quickly and retained the Vicky = Free Car & $$

 

Well, in the interest of complete fairness, Hagerty customer service did call me again, and gave me an update on my complaint. They have "counseled" the operator that left me on hold for 30 minutes. They have instructed the towing subcontractor to increase coverage in my area. Hagerty has reached out to the tow company that I called myself (All-Star Towing) to be part of their network. I have received a refund of my tow bill, from the subcontractor. Hagerty has offered to refund the cost of my roadside assistance for the year ($30), and upgraded me to the next level of roadside assistance (basically gets me 150 miles of flatbed service). Still not happy with the way it all went down, but satisfied that Hagerty stepped up to try to make it better.

 

That's good to know, good of you to give an update.
Unfortunately, with the purchasing power of HAMB Alliance, $30 & tow refund may be too little too late.
Make a customer happy, they may tell their neighbor, upset a customer, they'll likely tell the interWEB as far as it'll reach.
But Haggerty's a strong enough company, they've done a lot for the collector car hobby, so they'll improve going forward.