AA recovery of broken down bike?

[strumpet]

Thanks for pointing the AA limits out. I've never used my AA Plus, but peace of mind is a great thing when out travelling. The $49 extra for AA Plus is well worth it when you're beyond the black stump and have a breakdown. You'd have to be bloody unlucky to go over the $800 limit.

[R650R]

There was a similar discussion over in the ADV section after one of the guys had coil fail up tolaga bay way. Same big $$$ to get home and over what his insurance covered.
Depending on your employer its not always an option but I'd be looking at staying in a cheap motel/backpackers and getting what you need sent to you, take a break.
I always have an old tyre sitting around, barely road legal but something someone could courier to me if cut beyond repair long way from home.
If you are an AA member then 120 for 800 of what is essentially insurance cover for breakdowns isn't too bad... not a fan of them myself either.
Perhaps its time someone setup something in partnership with that bike courier fella, better to give money to one of our own instead of the AA who seem to be in bed with the govt despite their charade of protecting motorists rights...

[Gremlin]

Thought I might add some related info. Some bike insurance policies also include breakdown cover. Read the fine print, it also has limits on claims etc. I found them more restrictive than the AA limits.

[Oakie]

Exactly.
Its either you OR the bike, so the whole sales pitch of the AA getting you and the vehicle home and everything being sweet is a crock.
Basically as I live in Wellington I can write off any form of recovery north of Taupo.

Buses not go from north of Taupo?

[nosebleed]

I'll give you $500.00 for the Fleetline in your Avatar

[Murray]

Buses not go from north of Taupo?

Exactly - the op is touring the North Island so not like he has to make an urgent flight home!!

[russd7]

i cant praise them enough after our recent experiences.
On holiday up north for xmas we ovr nighted in wellington then headed up the east coast, got as far as the first round about in hastings and the old wing just died, called the AA and after a short wait the yellow ute arrived, had a quick look and realised he could do nothing so called a towie, truck arrives and delivered us to hastings honda, 4 hrs in there, altenator pulled out and bench tested, couldn't find problem but put new battery in anyway and told that we should make gisborne easily so headed off, got to the top of the ranges before gisborne and she died again, no cell coverage so chucked her in maori overdrive and coasted down the hill until we found a house, called AA again and a towie was sent out, bike stored in workshop over night and he then took us to get a feed then dropped us to a motel then picked us up again in the morning, had battery chrged so we rode bike to an auto sparkie and they didn't want to know us so off to gisborne honda, they had the bike for another three hours and thought they had fixed problem so we headed off to opotiki, 107kms later she died again in the middle of the waioeka gorge, by this time im more than a little frustrated, no cell coverage so i waved down a car and got a ride out to opotiki leaving the wife with the bike, again rung the AA and organised a towie and we shot out to get bike and wife, now this was xmas eve, we got back and they helped me sort out a rental and the bike was left on the trailor in their workshop over xmas, all this for no cost except for the motel which we already had booked and the battery and a little time charged by the bike shops.
the only negative i would say is getting through the AA phone system
as for what was wrong, last guy that picked us up was an auto sparky by trade so he whipped the altenator out and found the issue in about 2 mins.
luckily we have a very good friend in invercargil who happened to have a spare that he couriered up to me in tauranga and i installed it myself.

[russd7]

The quote for the tow back to Wellington is $800 + GST, and I'm $500 out of pocket for the flights.

where the hell you getting it freighted from, it only cost me $390 to get my wing from tauranga to nelson when i bought it and would have only cost $500 to get it to dunedun if i wanted and that included goatshittax, ok that was 12 months ago but im damned sure things haven't gone up that much

[Gremlin]

where the hell you getting it freighted from, it only cost me $390 to get my wing from tauranga to nelson when i bought it and would have only cost $500 to get it to dunedun if i wanted and that included goatshittax, ok that was 12 months ago but im damned sure things haven't gone up that much

Likely that freight charges you for one way, but towing it, you get charged both ways of travel, as the tow vehicle then returns to base.

[superjackal]

They've always done right by me ... the three times I've needed them they were more than obliging.

They were great when I had a flat tyre, towed straight to dealer. AA++

[russd7]

Likely that freight charges you for one way, but towing it, you get charged both ways of travel, as the tow vehicle then returns to base.

its a bike, it doesn't need to be towed and the three different bike movers i talked to all do trips to the south island on a regular basis which means they go through wellington, i don't understand why he has been quoted so much to get his bike home, time the OP did some homework of his own i would say.

[wysper]

its a bike, it doesn't need to be towed and the three different bike movers i talked to all do trips to the south island on a regular basis which means they go through wellington, i don't understand why he has been quoted so much to get his bike home, time the OP did some homework of his own i would say.

That's most likely true. But you are paying for someone else to do all the sorting for you, and sorted out now. If you are prepared to do all the running around to find the cheapest price when you break down then fine, you will most likely be able to do it for less. If you want to make one call and have some one sort all of it out for you then you will need to pay to make that happen. There are extra people in the chain that all need to be paid. Hence I would say the higher price than what you might be able to arrange for yourself. They will have business partners that they prefer to use, they may not be the cheapest or the ones you would you use yourself.



Up to you how you want to play it.

[russd7]

That's most likely true. But you are paying for someone else to do all the sorting for you, and sorted out now. If you are prepared to do all the running around to find the cheapest price when you break down then fine, you will most likely be able to do it for less. If you want to make one call and have some one sort all of it out for you then you will need to pay to make that happen. There are extra people in the chain that all need to be paid. Hence I would say the higher price than what you might be able to arrange for yourself. They will have business partners that they prefer to use, they may not be the cheapest or the ones you would you use yourself.



Up to you how you want to play it.

fair call but took me 5 mins on the internet to send a cple of quote requests and a cple of mins on the phone when quotes received.
thanks for the info re the AA plus tho, was intending on getting it myself before my north island trip but as it turns probably wouldn't have helped us much more than they did anyway. was still very pleased i was an AA member.
pleased you are sorted

[cleverchap]

For those that are interested..........
I pay my AA membership so I don't have to do all the running around, getting quotes etc. I pay for a service.

Yes I diagnosed the reg/rec issue pretty much straight away but trying to find one in Kerikeri at Christmas? Yeah they are just over there behind that pile of rocking horse shit next to the hens teeth.

Turns out I would have probably been better off doing what russd7 did jumping the bike and riding as far as I could, then calling the AA again. I could have done this 6 times and probably got about 250kms before having to wave the white flag.

Re flying home, the AA told me to book a flight back to Wellington because they couldn't get me a hire car (part of the AA plus membership package) and they couldn't fix my bike so there was no point hanging about.


Oh and its not a fleetline, its an original

[Ulsterkiwi]

not quite about the OP question but is related. Just been reading about a guy who was up North had a break down and called the AA. Appears they have lost his bike, problems with his case and their system yadayadayada, its just amazing this guy has not completely blown a gasket. Look on the AA New Zealand Facebook page and you will see the details there.

I think the moral of the story is if you ask enough people there will be those who say they had a great experience with a service provider and those who wouldnt cross the street to piss on them if they were on fire. (that and always read the fine print!)