Went to meet up with the HOG chapter this morning and upon arrival at our rondezvous one of my group heard a hissing sound coming from the back of my bike. Yup, rear tire. Two or more nails as far as I can tell. Well OK, no ride for me and the wife today so I called AAA for a tow. After waiting nearly two hours we ( the wife and I) called them again only to be told: "Oh, we could not get anybody authorized to handle motorcycles to come our for you. You will have to call any tow company of your choice. We called and left you a message." Well, we DID NOT get any such call from AAA. Apparantly there are not many towing services around our area that are insured for MC towing so, we were SOL this morning. Well, almost. Called HOG roadside asistance and had a flatbed there in less than one hour. The driver was a rider himself and got us home in good shape. Thank you RoadAmerica! I've had AAA for years on my cars and they have been great. But for bikes, not so great. I suppose the whole thing is regional. Availablility of MC tows varies from place to place and day of the week. So if you have AAA/RV, dont break down in North Jersey on a Sunday.

 

Interesting. I have the AAA/RV and RoadAmerica, same combination, but so far, I've not needed it (other than AAA roadside assistance for my car or truck).

 

AAA pays the tow companies 1/4 of retail, most tow companies use them as filler work or to keep the repair shop rolling.
If you were a tow company & had 2 calls at the same time 1 retail at $100 & 1 AAA for $25 & they both were the same distance which one would you take first, now a second retail call comes in while your on the first, there ya go the AAA customer is going to take a back seat again, then you throw in that the AAA call is a bike, that actually takes some care & is going to take longer than a "hook & book", maybe the AAA call will get tired of waiting & call someone else.............

 

Orcas Tow, Wow! I never realized that. Funny, before today, based on my past experience with my cars being towed by AAA I would have reccomended them to anybody. Thanks for your insight. I'll upgrade my RoadAmerica next time and pass on the AAA/RV.

 

"AAA pays the tow companies 1/4 of retail"

Let's be accurate here....I work for AAA, in the midwest we pay approx. $XX hook up and $X.XX average per mile. We are not an insurance company, but a motor club for it's members. Each club accross the country is basically a franchise, working under AAA Nationals rules. AAA is made up of multiple clubs accross the USA. Any "quality" tow company can tow a motorcycle if they are professionals and care about doing a good job. One problem I have seen is alot of towers are greedy and don't want to work, only make the quick buck.

 

I have had several experiences with MC tow companies here in Southern California. I work for a fire department and have responded to several motorcycle accidents and have seen the tow rigs that show up.

I have always seen top notch equipment with the AAA tow companies. I have also seen top notch equipment with some of the other companies.

I have seen home built tow dollies that have come apart while loading a bike and the ensuing damage. One was a new Dyna with less than 250 miles on it. The rider had come to a stop in the middle of a twisty mountain road to avoid hitting a cow and dropped the bike. He broke his ankle and could not ride. The crash bars (er uh engine guards) were scratched on the bottom. After the dolley failed and came apart, the handle bars were bent, the tank bent, light broken and bent. The rider had already left in the ambulance and didn't get to see the results of tow company mediocre efforts of getting in the motorcyle tow business.

Stick with a company that has good equipment. You have the right to refuse the service if the equipment is substandard. Another hour waiting for someone who knows what they are doing and has good equipment is better than waiting for a month to get your bike fixed.

 

Any other towers here to chime in, I can only speak for my corner of the world, maybe its different here in Washington from everywhere else but 2 hrs waiting on the side of the road is not out of the norm, must be all the volume that AAA has around here.
Jeepster, that $2.50 per mile is loaded correct, that means if the tow is 30 miles away & it needs to be towed 5 miles further away to the nearest dealer then the tower would be paid $50 hook + $12.50 for mileage, thats $62.50 for 70 miles & well over an hours time, figure in the fuel (even at 10mpg is $25), truck wear & tear, driver wages, insurance & exposure liability, our local AAA guys are running ragged & wearing their trucks out for peanuts.
Heres a link of some thoughts from former AAA tow companies AAA members from all over the country, its a good read http://www.itow.org/cgi-bin/ib3/ikon...58;act=SF;f=23

 

Just like Grover, AAA is great in SoCal. I had to call in Scottsdale AZ and they were there in 15 minutes. Our OPG (official police tow) here in LA is great with wrecks and impounds, but they prefer it if I ride the bike up onto the flatbed for them. ZOOK

 

Good advice, Grover. Especially about the right to refuse service.

 

OK, here's my 2-cents worth:

On the matter of AAA contractors, here in the Northern Virginia area we see that most tow co.'s who provide AAA service are the ones that need the work. Meaning that if you own or run a repair shop, & you tow the breakdowns back to your place for the repairs, you might be breaking even on the tow. But on the other hand, the AAA dispatcher will recommend your shop as a AAA "approved" facility to the owner of the disabled vehicle, thus bringing your shop work to make a buck on.

The company I work for has been in business since 1941, & we do not perform any motor club tow service. The rates that AAA & the other larger clubs want to pay their contractors are well below our standard rates. Of course I'm only speaking from my point of view, this is not bashing AAA. They are good for some people, but the 90 minute ETA they give usually turns into 2-3 hr. wait...!!!!

We have a enclosed trailer, dedicated for transporting m/c's, as well we use a "Hog Holder" rig that the front tire locks into, then we load it on a flatbed & secure it. A normal tow for a breakdown on a bike would be $125.00 hook-up & $3.00 per loaded mile. Seems a lil high compared to a AAA tow I know, but my drivers are industry trained, & my equipment are late model trucks that are well equipped, insured & inspected daily. We haul alot of bikes, mostly police requested tow's, & if the rider is in a jam, no insurance to reimburse or other means of paying, I do give discounts

As a Hog™ member I hope that I would recieve the same professional services that I render should I ever need it, when I'm out of town & my guys are too far away to come save me....LOL

We are a small company, employing 25 people, five of us ride so we treat m/c's a lil better than most would I imagine.