Before we left Prince Edward Island on our 36-day trek across Canada there was a lot of planning that had to happen to make sure our trip went smoothly. One thing that we had to get set up before our departure was our RV roadside assistance plan for our RV should any issue happen while we were on the road. We already had insurance and our warranty protecting us but we wanted to completely put our minds at ease. This meant getting set up with a stellar roadside assistance plan.
Having a great RV roadside assistance plan will keep you on the road, helping you to arrive at your destination.
Do You Need An RV Roadside Assistance Plan?
Most RV owners should have an RV roadside assistance plan. The people I know without an RV roadside assistance plan are mechanically inclined with great handyman skills. While I know my way around a computer, I have no clue on how to fix things when they break. Even if you are a skilled handyman and know your RV in and out, you may not have all the tools needed to fix an issue when it arises and you’re in the middle of nowhere.
For us, getting an RV roadside assistance plan was all about peace of mind. We knew that if we had a tire blowout in Northern Ontario or if our truck began overheating after climbing the Coquihalla Summit we’d have help. Nothing is worse than being broke down and being stranded. That’s why an RV assistance plan made sense to us. When we departed PEI for Tofino, we hadn’t driven the RV yet aside from a short test drive. We needed to know that everything would be OK if something unfortunate happened on the road.
In doing my research about RV roadside assistance plans, I read on a lot of forums about RVers who purchased a plan only after they had already had an issue. Many of these RVers had tire blowouts, or ran out of gas in the middle of the night and had no one to help. You can be smart and travel wisely limiting the chances of something unfortunate happening, but no matter how prepared you are something will go wrong at some point. In the end, it’s better to be overprepared and protected against unlucky situations. An RV roadside plan is the perfect way to protect yourself.
How We Chose An RV Roadside Assistance Plan
Like most things regarding our RV, I spent hours researching the handful of companies that provide RV roadside assistance plans. At first, deciding on an RV assistance plan was tough. A lot of the companies offer similar services at varying prices. As I began narrowing down my list of potential companies and plans I was interested in, I began looking for further advice.
The best advice you can get on RV products and services is from other RVers. Because we’re full-time RVers, I wanted the insight of other full-time RVers. There are many great resources to gather information on the internet regarding RVing information. I’ve found that the various RVing forums and Facebook groups are the most helpful.
When I asked these various groups about which RV roadside assistance plan they would recommend, the one company that kept coming back to me was Coach-Net. Early in my research, I had found Coach-Net but it wasn’t until reading about what other RVers had to say about Coach-Net that I decided that they were the best option. While typical streams of advertising help to sell products and services, when it comes to our RV, nothing helps me decide on a purchase more than word of mouth. Many fellow RVers had recommended Coach-Net over the “other guys”. In a lot of cases, this was because these RVers had a terrible experience with “the other guys” that left them stranded. After switching to Coach-Net these RVers saw the difference in the customer service provided by Coach-Net.
Knowing that Coach-Net was the preferred RV roadside assistance plan for many RVers was comforting but I still had to do some final research to see if they were right for us.
Why We Chose Coach-Net
Armed with the recommendations of many RVers, I looked further into Coach-Net’s plans and services to see if they would be a fit for us. The first thing I had to check was to see if they offered their services in Canada. There’s nothing worse than getting all excited about a product or service only to find out that you can not get it in Canada. Thankfully, Coach-Net is available in Canada. However, Coach-Net does not offer their RV Protect service in Canada but that wasn’t the plan we were interested in.
After completing my research, we decided that Coach-Net was going to be the plan for us. Here’s why…
- Coach-Net specializes in providing RV roadside assistance. Other companies offer other products and services aside from RV roadside assistance. Coach-Net solely focuses on RV roadside assistance. It’s nice to know how dedicated the company is to providing a quality service to its customers.
- 24/7 Service. Not only does Coach-Net offer around the clock service, when you call with an issue, you’re also going to speak to someone who is factory-trained, RVIA/RVDA and/or ASE certified. This lets you know that when you call Coach-Net that you’re going to get someone who is competent and will help you with your issue.
- Campground Coverage. Not only are you protected while on the road but with Coach-Net they will also cover you if you are in a campground giving you extra peace of mind.
- Tow vehicle coverage. Coach-Net offers services for motorhomes and towables. In our case, we tow our fifth wheel with our truck. Coach-Net will help us out if our truck ever needs a tow which eliminates the need for a roadside assistance plan specific to our truck.
- Unlimited towing. If the truck or RV has an issue and needs a tow, Coach-Net offers unlimited towing. They don’t have mileage or dollar amount caps meaning they will take your RV or vehicle to the nearest garage, even if it’s 200km away.
- Emergency Trip Interruption. In the unfortunate situation where we were to get into a collision, Coach-Net will reimburse us up to $2000 for an automobile rental, food, and lodging.
- Caller Locator Technology. If we were travelling in an unknown area and blew a tire it would be hard to get help. Coach-Net uses the same caller locator technology that other emergency services use to help locate your whereabouts thus never leaving you stranded.
Knowing that both our truck & RV are covered with Coach-Net puts a smile on our faces.
Our Experience With Coach-Net
The funny thing about an RV roadside assistance plan is you don’t want to use it because that means your trip was safe & smooth with no issues. We managed to travel 10,080km across Canada in 36 days with no issues. This meant that we didn’t have to use our Coach-Net plan and still haven’t needed to since arriving in Tofino. This is a great thing, of course, and we hope it stays this way. However, should we encounter an issue where we need to use Coach-Net, we’ll be sure to update you on how the service and experience was. We strongly believe that if an incident ever occurred that we would be in good hands with Coach-Net.
Put your mind at ease when travelling and get yourself a Coach-Net RV roadside assistance plan.
Do you have an RV roadside assistance plan? What’s your experience been like?
This post is sponsored by Coach-Net. We received a 1-year premium membership in exchange for this article. All views are 100% true and accurate of our feelings regarding Coach-Net and their products & service.
7 comments
Hi. I am a new Class A motorhome owner and am also searching for an RV roadside assistance program. I read your post on the reasons you chose Coach Net and I’ve looked into their services and pricing. I agree that their service seems to be good strong based on reading forum posts by other RV owners. My concern with Coach Net is the price. I see that it’s $249 US per year. As a Canadian, this would be even pricier given the current exchange rate. I was also looking at the programs offered by FMCA and Good Sam. Did you consider these options as well and did they come anywhere close in your final decision making process ? Thanks and I enjoy reading about and following your adventures !
I can definitely see your concerns with the price, seeing as it’s one more expense and might be completely unused which ours has been so far – which is a good thing. I’ve read a lot of negative reviews about Good Sam. While I’m sure there are plenty of good reviews, the bad reviews scared me away. If you’re a handy guy, you can probably get by without a roadside assistance plan, I however, am not which is why we needed one. I’m glad we haven’t had to use it yet, though. If there’s anything else you wanna know about, send us a line. Thanks for reading and following along, we appreciate it!
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Very good info, would never have known that, thank you..
Hi. I am a new Class A motorhome owner and am also searching for an RV roadside assistance program. I read your post on the reasons you chose Coach Net and I’ve looked into their services and pricing. I agree that their service seems to be good strong based on reading forum posts by other RV owners. My concern with Coach Net is the price. I see that it’s $249 US per year. As a Canadian, this would be even pricier given the current exchange rate. I was also looking at the programs offered by FMCA and Good Sam. Did you consider these options as well and did they come anywhere close in your final decision making process ? Thanks and I enjoy reading about and following your adventures !
Coach-Net let us down. First, they had no idea where we were. Then we waited 6 hours for a tow truck. When the tow truck showed up he just tied up our axel (we lost a wheel and never found it) with a strap (charged us $53.00) and had us drive 30klms to the repair shop on 3 wheels. An MTO officer stopped us on our way to the repair shop and could not believe the tow truck guy would let us drive like that. There was no mention of a hotel, meal or any reimbursement when talking to Coach-Net. We cancelled our membership when we got home.
Coach=Net let us down big time today. We spent 45 minutes on a call to them and they still could not find us on their maps. We were on a main highway and gave them the name of the nearest road by us that was 10 feet away. We were put on hold at least 8 times with highway traffic blowing by us . They never did understand our location or get us a tow truck. Tomorrow I will be calling them and getting a refund for the 5 years we paid in advance. Never again will we spend another dime with them