Ok, so I don't have AAA. Both cars we own came with some sort of roadside assistance, so I didn't think it was necessary. (I did sign up for AAA after last night's fiasco though )

Last night in Chicago, I went over a shallow pothole that had a sharp and jagged outcropping lip. It took out BOTH my right side tires. Total gashes in the sidewalls.

I pull over and call MINI Roadside Assistance. It's free to tow it to the dealership which is 30 miles away, but about 70 bucks to tow it to my house which is 3 miles away

I elect to pay the money and have it towed to my house. Was told the truck would be there in an hour and a half ... They're late, every time I call, they're "5 minutes away". In the end, after 3 hours, I called and told them to cancel the truck and to make damn sure I wasn't charged anything on my credit card.

I left the card parked on the street, and am getting it flatbedded to a tire store today to get the tires put on.

This was #3 in a string of bad luck events this week, so hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on.

 

Hmm...that's odd. I thought my MINI Roadside Assistance card said "services provided by AAA". So I pretty much thought that if I ever had to call them, I would actually be calling AAA.

 

Is provided by AAA - I had the same problem on a Sunday afternoon - my cooling tank on my 02 exploded. I waited more than 2 hours for a tow truck in Tysons Corner VA - if anyone who doesn't know where that is.. it's a busy metropolitan area in suburban Washington DC.

I bitched on roadfly.org forums (before I got wise to using NAM) and someone from MINI picked up on my complaint and the next day someone from AAA called me and asked me to detail my experience.

AAA ended up sending me a $100 AMEX check. Bottom line - call MINI USA and let them have your full fury - you buy a MINI you should be able to get roadside assistance in a timely manner.

 

Sounds like the blame falls on the towing company to me. Many times it is not location which governs which tow truck company comes and do the towing. If they have a contract then they are the only ones that are going to be called no matter where you are in relation to them. Happened to me once and the tow truck guy explained it too me (over a two hour wait because this ONE towing company covered all of metro Atlanta with the particular roadside assitance I had at the time).

 

Good idea, I'll definitely call ASK MINI. They told me the name of towing company, and it definitely wasn't AAA.

Went and bought two new tires, getting the car flat-bedded over there later today. 85 bucks a pop for Falken Z-512 ZIEX's installed. Coulda been worse.

I just hope my rims aren't damaged.

 

AAA can be no better. I friend who used to work at a garage told me AAA calls were put at the of bottom of the list. Audi roadside once quoted me 4 hours on a busy day. Solution? I called my dealer specifically and they sent their flatbed out in 30 minutes.

As for delivery to dealer or home you should discuss it with the driver not the phone tech. The driver has little interest in towing your car any further than he has too. I had my Mazda flatbedded after a blown tire and he was happy to drop me off at home instead of the dealer. A nice "tip" could help if he balks.

 

I have heard that Chicago has really rough roads. Maybe you should reconsider to getting tires with higher profiles. I just don't understand why people that live in cities with poor maintained roads end up with low profile tires that are prone to road damage.

As far as the MINi roadside assistance, is not their fault. They don't own the tow trucks or run their operation directly. Rather the services are sub-contracted to AAA. Call and complaint to MINIUSA for sure.

 

They told me 90 minutes in downtown Boston, and I had to stay within sight of the car. Gee thanks, I'll just hang out in this McDonald's for an hour and a half and do all the puzzles on the kiddie menu. I've now stashed a novel in my car in case this ever comes up again: "On The Beach" by Nevil Shute, and endlessly uplifting utopian vision.

 

MINI Roadside assistance is worse than using your regular AAA card. I hate MINI roadside assistance. They pretend to be all nice and friendly on the phone, as if everything is under control when it obviously isnt.

 

You lost me dude. Are they supposed to be nasty and arrogant then?

 

hahahahahah.

No, what I meant is, they can be more honest, they can say "Hmmmm ... Gee that bites that you're broken down, ok lets see, I'm supposed to tell you that the MINI Roadside assistance will be there in 30-45 minutes, but that would be lying... actually the AAA will be there in 3 hours if you're lucky. If you want a flatbed you're screwed, unless of course you dont mind sleeping in your car until tomorrow morning. I would offer more help, but there really isnt anything further I can do. I just work here. Would you like the number for AAA?"

 

It's not MINIs fault that AAA can't get your car towed right away.

It's not AAAs fault that the local tow shop can't get your car towed right away.

It's not the tow shop's fault that there are other cars in front of you.

Nowhere does it say in any of the literature that you will get your car towed right away - sometimes they promise times and sometimes they are wrong.

All the service is is insurance - whether it came free with the car or you paid AAA for it. Plus they do the legwork to find you a tow truck regardless of where in the country you are.

I have waited for a tow truck my fair share of times and have been pleased with the customer service whether it was AAA or MINI Roadside. I've also been frustrated by the time it has take to get a tow truck to me and totally understand your frustration when it does take longer than promised. However, if you must place blame make sure it's the right person/organization. Or, instead of spending time figuring out who to blame, think of it this way.... you've got a good excuse to be late, use it. relax.

 

I'm actually considering going down to 16's for this same reason. These Chicago roads are rough

 

I understand that, the reason I was upset is because every time I called for an update, I was told "10 to 15 minutes more".

Don't lie to me, just tell me they're running late. Better than me sitting there holding a giant pee, when I coulda gone somewhere, had a bite to eat, tapped out, and not miss the truck.

 

that would bum me out too and you are right. but do you think that they were really lying to you? i'm guessing but i think that they are telling you what they know.

i've let the wrong person have it more times than i care to admit. i'm sure i'll do it again, but at least i've learned to try not to. i guess that's my point.

 

We've had a good experience with Mini Roadside. The car was dead at the curb at our house, and they showed up in 30 minutes as promised. It also made it to the dealer undamaged. I think all of this depends on the towing contractors in your area. (I'm in NY ).

RY

 

At least everything worked out in the end, right

I'm on the phone with AAA right now arranging a flat-bed to take it to the tire repair shop.

 

STL MINI,

you've got some excellent points! I wish I could see things with that outlook. The tow truck dispatcher probably wasn't "lying" to him, I concur, but unfortunately in the heat of the moment, it's human nature to want to place blame on someone.

It is just generally an unfortunate series of events. Nobody has a great story about waiting for a tow-truck. They ALWAYS take too long to arrive, don't they?

 

i totally agree. human nature sometimes rules... it's not always the right thing though. you've just got to remember karma/payback is a b1tch. i've already gotten WAY too preachy so i won't go on.

 

The lesson here:

You get what you pay for. Roadside assistance (AAA) is a service paid for by MINI not you, in other words you aren't promised a thing and it was free to you.

If you buy AAA service they dont promise anything much either about your time.

The moral of the story.....

Instead of shelling out monthly for a middle man to give you a card in your wallet, make sure you put the monthly fee AAA would charge some place you wont spend it. And when you have a problem find the towtruck that can get to you right away and pay for it yourself. You will come out ahead in the long run and it keeps competition for service high, prices lower and the susnet becomes becomes beautiful again :smile:

 

yep, with that kind of attitude toward life, one would live a long
happy life. I envy. :smile: I know if I was bummed out about tearing
apart my tires, I'd wanna get home real quick to get me some
replacements.... which makes the wait feel even longer!

 

Ha! I figure I was getting some karma payback for something I did.

This was actually the third unlucky incident I've had this week alone:

1. Bathroom shower needs to be torn out. Previous owner didn't seal grout, moisture got back there, and there's mold ...
2. One of our cats got really sick
3. The tires

I think I deserve something nice to come my way now

Oh, and the AAA flat-bed arrived on time as promised

The roadside assistance operator was calling the tow company and checking on the status of the truck. She was relaying the information back to me.

All I'm saying is that there should be some common courtesy. If I'm meeting someone and I'm running late, I call to let them know. I don't think there's that's too much to ask or expect. I wouldn't tell them "I'll be there in 5 minutes" if I know I wouldn't

Roadside Assistance isn't "free", we all paid for it in the price of our cars ...

I'm sure thousands of people have had amazing experiences with them. I didn't, and I'm just venting to you

 

Once I was broken down (non-MINI) along side a major highway outside of Philly. I called AAA and proceeded to wait 2 1/2 hours with no show despite calling them back a number of times. I finally got a ride home with a friend. After a bunch of AAA lame excuses I made arrangements to meet at the car the next day and still nobody came. I ended up calling a private tow and cancelled my AAA membership and demanded a refund. I have never been back since.

-Dan

 

I'm sorry that you guys have had a bad experience with MINI roadside assistance. However, in my case, I have the total opposite to report and really want to defend them.

I needed to use them 1 month after I bought my '05 MCS last October. A LARGE piece of 3/4" plywood flew off the back of a pickup and went thru the lower spoiler on the car--straight in--and was actually sticking out of the car when I pulled over. Took out the AC condensor, radiator, etc. This happened the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.

Anyway after talking with my insurance, I called MINI roadside the Friday after Thanksgiving (I live in Maine, my dealer is in Mass) to tow the car to Mass.

The first tow truck arrived within 40 minutes (pretty much what Roadside had told me). They didn't have straps, I didn't know how to tie the car down and called Peabody. Gary King (who will forever be a star in my mind for walking me thru the whole thing and not being annoyed by my MANY calls...this was my first accident...ever) told me that they couldn't take the car because the truck didn't have straps.

I tell the driver, he calls his boss...along comes another tow truck (1/2 hour later). Again, no straps...only this guy was NOT nice and gave me a really hard time because I wouldn't let him take the car (he ends it by saying...good luck getting a tow here in Maine from a truck with straps. The only cars that need those are expensive cars like Porsches.)

Anyway, I call Roadside back and give them the story...they were pissed!!! The woman I spoke with was like, "oh yeah, give me 10 minutes and I'll call you back." Within 5 minutes I get a call from another tow and he tells me he'll be at my house in 5 minutes. I ask if he has straps, he does, and sure enough he gets there 5 minutes later (this is now the 3rd tow truck to come to take the car). I drive the car up on the flat bed, help him attach the straps, operate some of the tow truck controls (hey, I'm a girl...it was great fun). He's off and drops my car at Peabody. MINI roadside calls me back to make sure everything was taken care of (and gets the name of the first tow company so that they won't ever be called again)...Peabody call me on Saturday to tell me the car is there.

Roadside was so nice to me...everyone was so nice & helpful. During the whole process, no one acted like it was an inconvenience or seemed put out by my tons of questions. They did nothing but make it easier on me.

 

Well No wonder the whole world has to wait 3 hours for a tow. It takes 3 trucks to tow YOUR car....LOL..