Roadside

Does your insurance go up if you use roadside assistance?
If your car quits in your driveway will roadside cover towing it to
the shop?

In article >,
Terry > wrote:

> Does your insurance go up if you use roadside assistance?
> If your car quits in your driveway will roadside cover towing it to
> the shop?

Only if you need roadside assistance as a result of causing an accident.
If your car blows a gasket, for example, no insurance company would
raise your rates just for asking for a tow.

Ladies and Gentlemen (and I use those words loosely), Scott en Aztlán
said in rec.autos.driving:
> Terry > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
> >Does your insurance go up if you use roadside assistance?

Some insurance companies offer it as part of the policy. Mine does, even
though I have yet to use it.

> How would your insurance company ever know that you called for
> roadside assistance?

If he called them.

> My wife has called AAA several times for flat tires and lockouts over
> the past few years; I have not noticed any rate increases, although
> it's remotely possible that they slipped one in when we changed
> vehicles.

Never had to call AAA for lock out or a flat, but have had to call
numerous times for dead batteries...

--
"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State.
My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on
their own, so both of them together is certain death."
--George Carlin

> How would your insurance company ever know that you called for
> roadside assistance?

If you get both services from the same company, they could conceivably
talk to each other. For instance, AAA offers insurance too; and a few
firms that you think of primarily as insurance companies also offer
roadside-assistance coverage.

That having been said, I have never heard of any of them raising your
insurance rates on account of roadside-assistance calls unrelated to
accidents. The two functions seem to be run as separate business
propositions. (As in all insurance related matters, much doubtless
depends on the state as well as the company.)

The roadside-assistance programs usually *do * have an escape clause
that lets them cancel the service if they decided you were over-using
it. You're supposed to maintain your car decently, remember to fill up
with gas, and turn its lights off and pocket the keys before going in
for the night, using the roadside service only as Plan B. (It probably
takes quite a lot of doing to get cancelled; I've never known anybody
who even got to the nastygram level.) But I don't know that they
would (or would even be allowed to) cancel your insurance as well.

Cheers,
--Joe