Road assistance insurance in the outback

Hi Dust,

If you are covered by RAA/Road assis you should be covered Australia wide.
I have Victoria RACV Total care and I am anywhere in Australia. give your local mob a call and see what they offer.

I would not go anywhere without it, last trip l had to get towed to Broken Hill from about 125km away after doing a water pump.
Rang RACV and the got us towed with camper trailer (Classed as 2 tows as 4wd and Trailer), they organised the parts for us, drove past and got parts and then they dropped us off at a garage. So if I could not fix the problem the garage would on the Monday. (this was Saturday) RACV organised accommodation for us and where going to pay for taxi's if we needed them.

All up this would have cost us well over $1000.00 if we had to pay, but they covered the lot. They also had great follow up service to see if we where ok.

I would not go anywhere without it. it is great way to make your holiday a little easier if you happen to break down.

Hope this helps,

David

had assistance and flat bed truck tows etc with vehicles alot older and heavier than that with RAA and RAC as well as the NTA or whatever it is doing the work for them

Thanks guys, if the RACQ put an L/C on the trailer and towed the caravan I guess they should manage a troopy camper wothout a problem! I suppose the RAA is the equvalent?

Dust

I am with RAC of WA and take out standard cover for most vehicles, but Classic for the vehicle we go away with the most. I understand that if in another state, reciprocal arrangements apply with the other state motoring bodies, but cover may be limited to the cover provided by that state's organisation. My cover has a $ amount for extras, such as towing outside of the 100 kms cover limit, accommodation or car hire. There is no mention of vehicle weights, and with two tows per incident, it should cover tow vehicle and caravan. We haven't needed it, so the insurance is working!

Motherhen

In NSW NRMA premium care has a tow limit of 3.5t with the same ancillary conditions as has been mentioned, accomodation, hire car etc etc think the ceiling per incident is $3.5k.
From past experience though with others we were travelling with, (we've yet to have to use it) they tell you to get to the nearest town. bit hard when you are broken down. This may be because the bloke in trouble actually rang the NRMA from warburton roadhouse rather than ringing the WA version of the NRMA and they had no idea where Warburton was.

Did you get in touch with your roadside assistance (RAA) before asking on the forum. If not, why not? Surely they are the most appropriate body for specific answers. Go on give them a call, you might be surprised.

I am RACQ Gold Member with Ultra Care. All my vehicles and caravan are comprehensively insured with RACQ.

If you check my profile you will see the picture of my situation just across the NT Border near Camooweal at the end of last year.

Managed to contact RACQ (operator said, "Oh, you are in the NT, you will have to contact our sister body". duh). Pay particular attention to 'words' that are used ... 'Breakdown' - carried vehicle and towed caravan (as per picture) back to Camooweal (about 15 kms). Agent left vehicle on tray and parked our van in the yard behind the garage at Camooweal. RACQ then arranged to 'recover' back to Mt Isa the next day. Now here is the crunch ... Agent charged me $200 for towing the caravan from Camooweal to Mt Isa. I naturally thought I would be able to recover that cost from RACQ. NO!! "We only cover the vehicle and trailer for 'breakdown', this was a 'recovery' and we only cover the vehicle, trailers, etc are YOUR responsibility". At no stage did the RACQ Agent mention I could not claim reimbursement from RACQ.

Nissan Mt Isa wanted to charge us $15,000 for a new engine so my wife contacted RACQ and after much insistance they agreed to recover the 4x4 back to Townsville (arrived a week later). In the meantime, I caught a plane back to Townsville, picked up my 2003 Patrol and drove back to Mt Isa. Next day I hitched up the van and towed it back to Townsville.

RACQ reimbursed me a total of IIRC $350 for a $500 air ticket, $200 tow job, and $x for return trip to Mt Isa. So much for being 'totally covered' with 'insurance'!

Read the small print !

Malcolm

Dust,
the weight issue is critical with roadside assist and 4x4.
I upgraded from RACV road assist to RACV Total Care because it had a higher weight allowance for towing. Works out cheaper for me anyhow as I have 4 vehicles to cover.
Check it out, may work for you.
Ian

Dust,

I've looked into the various levels of RAA cover on several occasions, but there is nothing there that takes my fancy - limits apply to everything, so I stick with the lowest level of cover.

As far as the 2 ton limit goes, I know people who have be looked after even though their 4wds are well over 2 ton, but I think RAA sets this limit in case some contactors can't manage bigger vehicles.

I'm yet to find anyone who'll cover an expensive retrieval from the middle of a desert.

You will not be covered if you are off a gazetted road. For example Googs Track is on the map but you will not get road service from an automobile club out there, same for the Simpson Desert etc. If you are at Dalhousie Springs then the answer is probably yes.

If you are a member of an automobille club ask them the specific question"Am I covered if I am off a gazetted road" The answer will be no I'm pretty sure.

There used to be a mob called Auto24 who were offereing something along the lines you are looking for but don't know if they still exist.

Ensure the vehicle and van are in the best possible condition you can mechanically and electronically, carry appropriate spares and travel in company if you are worried. As well make sure you have some cash on hand and money in the bank. If you do breakdown and can contact an autoclubs approved repairer then you may be able to do a deal directly with them.

Regards

RobA

you need to clarify what you call outback , my understanding is
road assist is only where a 2wd vehicle can go , check what the insurance policy says .
mechpete