Outback Roadside Assist

[rocket rod]

Just wanting to gauge peoples choices and experiences with the plethora of roadside assistance policies that are out there. The type I might look at is recovery from anywhere, not the 100km from major town type.

[shanegtr]

club 4x4 where looking into having the 4wd recovery part of their insurance as a stand alone product at one stage. Not sure where its progressed to but that could be a good option if it ever eventuates. Im not away of any roadside assistance that's any chop once your more than a couple hundred kms from a town so I'd love to hear if there's any products out there

[discomatt69]

Club4x4 only cover remote off road recovery to the nearest made road where a standard tow truck can access and its an extra on your insurance policy. I had it last year for our Kimberly , Kakadu and Lorella Springs trip but went with a different insurer when the policy was due as I am not doing much in the way of remote travel in the next year

[Ferret]

Had a friend recovered from Birdsville back to Perth. Hotel accommodation, flights and vehicle trucking all covered by Landrover Assist.

Terms and conditions say recovery to 'nearest authorised dealer' which would have been Adelaide but they offered to organise everything back to Perth.

[Ghost-Who-Walks]

Just wanting to gauge peoples choices and experiences with the plethora of roadside assistance policies that are out there. The type I might look at is recovery from anywhere, not the 100km from major town type.

try top level cover with your local RAC (RACQ, RACWA etc).
I had top level RACQ cover for a trip to the tip of Cape York - D4 had some complications when we got to the tip (after Nolan's Brook on the OTT)....
RACQ sent our car to Brisbane (via barge to Cairns), our camper trailer on a truck home, and flew all 5 of us home. I think it cost me about $500 in excess - they covered the rest of the costs (which were about $6500)...
RAC top level cover costs around $300-$400, which is pretty good peace of mind, and well worth it if you have to use it.

[shedmarket]

Had a friend recovered from Birdsville back to Perth. Hotel accommodation, flights and vehicle trucking all covered by Landrover Assist.

Terms and conditions say recovery to 'nearest authorised dealer' which would have been Adelaide but they offered to organise everything back to Perth.

I had similar with Land Rover Assist only Birdsville to Coffs Harbour. Nearest hire car availability was 800 odd kilometres (they said) so they flew us home via Brisbane and Sydney. They also trucked the vehicle to Coffs to the dealer here to repair, their logic was if it went to the nearest dealer to Birdsville, once it was repaired they would still have to truck it to Coffs to get it back to me. The interesting part was they kept asking if all this was OK with me as they were obliged to follow the hire car/nearest dealer rule.

Their cover is Australia wide but only on two wheel drive accessible designated roads, not off road 4wd tracks. We were incredibly lucky as the front passenger side drive shaft shattered on top of Big Red after we had double crossed the Simpson so we only had to snig it down the other side of the dune to be on a designated road. If we were in the middle of the desert we would have been stuffed.

[TB]

Their cover is Australia wide but only on two wheel drive accessible designated roads, not off road 4wd tracks. We were incredibly lucky as the front passenger side drive shaft shattered on top of Big Red after we had double crossed the Simpson so we only had to snig it down the other side of the dune to be on a designated road. If we were in the middle of the desert we would have been stuffed.

They will help organise recovery from 4WD sites but that part is at our own expense, at least that's how I interpret the T&C's.

[shanegtr]

try top level cover with your local RAC (RACQ, RACWA etc).
I had top level RACQ cover for a trip to the tip of Cape York - D4 had some complications when we got to the tip (after Nolan's Brook on the OTT)....
RACQ sent our car to Brisbane (via barge to Cairns), our camper trailer on a truck home, and flew all 5 of us home. I think it cost me about $500 in excess - they covered the rest of the costs (which were about $6500)...
RAC top level cover costs around $300-$400, which is pretty good peace of mind, and well worth it if you have to use it.

RAC WA is kinda useless if you get out of the metro area or close to metro area. Country coverage is limited to a 300km round trip for the tow truck. Kinda pathetic considering the size of the state. Wouldnt fully cover you if you broke down in the middle of most of the major towns in the Pilbara - might be ok in country areas close to Perth however

[rocket rod]

RAC WA is kinda useless if you get out of the metro area or close to metro area. Country coverage is limited to a 300km round trip for the tow truck. Kinda pathetic considering the size of the state. Wouldnt fully cover you if you broke down in the middle of most of the major towns in the Pilbara - might be ok in country areas close to Perth however

I have my car insured with them but that's how I read the Roadside Assist policy as well. Not really worth it.

[Tony V]

I live in Cairns, I use RACQ Ultimate for roadside assist, in general, they will recover you from anywhere accessible, for example, the RACQ guys who work the Cape do go into many places to get you out.

Just check what you get on top cover from different states, RACQ allows 200km tow, often more if you have an LR, you need to go to the nearest authorised repairer.
They also have a healthy amount of extras, Car hire, motels, flights all in all to a total of $7,000 a year.

Some states are a lot less RACV is very poor as a comparison.

The theory is that Club 4x4 recovery will get you to where the Roadside will pick you up.

But in an accident situation, the Insurance company is responsible to get your vehicle out from anywhere you are covered.
Most companies would cover you for a drowning your car, bad fuel etc. But that seems to be changing.