The Need for Roadside Assistance

[vinyw]

My daily running is of around 60-70 kms and very often I undertake long highway journeys. I have been getting my car regularly serviced. Do I still need to spend money on buying Road Side Assistance ?

[CorsaVeloce]

Vinyw, Roadside Assistance or RSA comes in handy when you have a breakdown, yes, but in todays time and age and the way cars and bikes are being built, there is less need for them. Most manufacturers, including Maruti, Honda, Hyundai and even the luxury brands such as Mercedes, Audi have an RSA programme that they offer with new cars. There are plenty of options also available in the market otherwise. All are more or less similar when it comes to services and products offered by them. If you are one of the hands on person and don't mind doing small things, like changing a tire or push starting a car, I do not think you need a RSA package. It also depends on what car you use and how long it has been with you. The older the car, chances of it breaking down increase.

[ramit_7]

Vinyw Well, Road Side Assistance can be quite beneficial, especially for those who use their vehicle a lot. Because of regular service let's assume that probability of mechanical breakdown could be less. But we still cannot ignore the possibility of collision or accidental damage. In such scenarios Road Side Assistance can be very helpful as it offers the necessary assistance and puts you back on your way. The benefits of RSA outweigh the buying cost. It essentially prevents you from getting stranded. Many a times the fault could be as minor as a dead battery or vehicle running out of fuel but it does leave you stranded nonetheless. Receiving help in such testing situations at just a phone call is definitely worth spending some meager amount on RSA.

[Arjun]

Vinyw A car well serviced and maintained should not require Road side assistance in a perfect scenario. However, the scenario is not always perfect. There can be many things that would call for road side assistance in spite of being service regularly. There can be minor accidents, under body hits and even issues due to errors from the service center(they are also humans after all).Now, inside city limits where the workshop is easily accessible this may not be an issue, but as you mentioned that you do long drives it can be helpful. I have also been been maintaining my car regularly as per the manufacturers recommendations in an authorized service center but still I have required to contact the RSA in the last one year(40,000kms). Once , I had parked my car very close to a rock, which could hit the underbody. As I had parked it behind it, I thought I would reverse while coming out. However, while coming back, I forgot about the rock near the front and moved ahead. The rock hit the underbody where a gear mounting was placed and displaced the mounting. The RSA was called and they came and refitted the mounting. Recently, during monsoons I was driving down to Mumbai. Had got the car serviced just before the trip and had replaced the wiper blades too. 5 am in the morning, 150kms into the journey, the driver side wiper stopped working after being on for 5 minutes. I checked and found that the wiper arm nut had come lose. The spanners in my toolkit were not enough to fix it. In this case, I waited for the rain to stop and took the help of a bike rider. As it was a smaller nut, the toolkit in the bike had the right size spanner and that helped me fix the issue. So, if you do long journeys often ,its good to get an RSA. Sometimes, on weak battery, they also help to jump start the battery while you can get it replaced.

[vinyw]

Thanks CorsaVeloce, ramit_7, Arjun for your inputs! CorsaVeloce I have a 4 year old Honda City - looks like I might need to buy Roadside assistance to have a peace of mind. Any recommendations? ramit_7 - What all things should I keep in mind when buying RSA? Arjun - good to hear that help could reach you in time! how much did your plan cost? I can see multiple options in market and I was bit confused..

[kaiserketkar]

Vinyw Like most here have pointed out RSA is a good thing to have. It's like insurance, you might not use it, in fact you'll be glad if you didn't, but you'll still happily pay the premium every year for peace of mind. I had a clutch failure in the middle of town in Pune few months back. This was when the RSA came in handy. Because although I was in the middle of the city, I didn't have the means to take the car to the Authorised Service Center. Mahindra arranged for a flat bed pick up and had the car transported to the Service Center promptly. Depending on the specific offering, RSA also comes with other facilities such as arranging for a taxi to take you a specific number of kilometers from the site of the break down, arranging for keys to be delivered or fuel in case you run out of it, and also in some cases a daily allowance for stay in case you're stranded. Since your car is 4 years old, you have two options- you could opt for Honda's official RSA where the company will arrange for a pick up to the nearest Honda Service Center. Alternately a lot of insurance companies offer premium insurance policies which include a RSA as part of the policy. Since Honda has a decent service network, my advice would be to stick with the company RSA option.

[ramit_7]

Vinyw The entire purpose of RSA is to receive appropriate help in least time possible. So, the most important thing to keep in mind is the service network of the company. The service should sprawl over many states and should offer help 24X7. The next factor to consider is the type of assistance being offered. There are companies which offer RSA to people but are not backed by the technical know-how. Sometimes the technicians are not good enough and at times they do not have enough resources to help you. So it is best to go for RSA offered by popular brands rather than that of local workshops. I have been at the receiving endnin a similar case where I had to wait for over an hour for the help to arrive and when they arrived, it was shocking to realize that they had no towing vehicle available. It is important to consider your necessities before buying a particular plan. For eg; If you drive on highways a lot then it makes sense to opt for plan that offers flat bed towing vehicle. But if your usage is limited to city drive then perhaps you may not need it.

[BinnyGrover]

Thanks for the information. I was looking online to find a good roadside assistance plan, Found very few options. Planning to go for a plan provided by Cardekho, (Found it here: https://www.cardekho.com/road-side-assistance ) Any reviews? How good is there service?