Hello All, thanks again for all who responded to my question about dumping on the road. I thought we would have a much more difficult time finding places, but it was all good.
My husband, baby, dog and I just got back from 10 days on the road, our first big trip. It was mostly the most fantastic time I have ever had traveling. However, we did hit a couple of snags.
On the trip up from Las Vegas (where we're from) to Spokane WA we developed a fuel leak. We discovered just how bad it was by the time we got to Missoula Montana and were so close to Spokane where my father could help us with it that we took our chances with great worry, bad gas mileage, detriment to the environment and a great safety hazard. My father was able to help us with that leak once we got to Spokane. However, on the way back home the air conditioning stopped working, and for those of you who know how hot the southwest gets it was not pleasant. Fortunately, we pulled over just to find the condenser (I think that's what it was) had frozen. We gave it time to thaw, but then as soon as we hit the road leaving Salt Lake City, UT, our temperature gage shot straight up. Pulled over to find our radiator spewing and sputtering. That happened on Sunday, and well, in Salt Lake, it's almost impossible to find someone who has all the right parts on Sunday. We ended up having to miss work on Monday and wait to get it fixed.
We got in late last night after all was taken care of, happened to be a faulty thermostat.
So my question is...with all of these mishaps and mechanical failures, is there a roadside assistant program out there that's any good? I don't know if any road side assistant program would have been able to help us on a Sunday in Utah, but I can see where so many things can go wrong and break down many miles from home, and neither my husband and I know much about automotive repair.
Also, it didn't cost us much for that repair, but the mechanics had said before testing it that it could be anything from a hose to a new radiator to worse case a cracked head. Ugh! Luckily, the fix was replacing the thermometer, but if it had been a cracked head or something it would have been terribly expensive. Does road side assistant programs help you with unexpected costs of repairs like that? Is there anything of the like?
Sorry so long, a bit excited about our trip, but very concerned about major break down or repair at another time. Wondering how to be prepared next time.
Thanks,
Mal
My husband, baby, dog and I just got back from 10 days on the road, our first big trip. It was mostly the most fantastic time I have ever had traveling. However, we did hit a couple of snags.
On the trip up from Las Vegas (where we're from) to Spokane WA we developed a fuel leak. We discovered just how bad it was by the time we got to Missoula Montana and were so close to Spokane where my father could help us with it that we took our chances with great worry, bad gas mileage, detriment to the environment and a great safety hazard. My father was able to help us with that leak once we got to Spokane. However, on the way back home the air conditioning stopped working, and for those of you who know how hot the southwest gets it was not pleasant. Fortunately, we pulled over just to find the condenser (I think that's what it was) had frozen. We gave it time to thaw, but then as soon as we hit the road leaving Salt Lake City, UT, our temperature gage shot straight up. Pulled over to find our radiator spewing and sputtering. That happened on Sunday, and well, in Salt Lake, it's almost impossible to find someone who has all the right parts on Sunday. We ended up having to miss work on Monday and wait to get it fixed.
We got in late last night after all was taken care of, happened to be a faulty thermostat.
So my question is...with all of these mishaps and mechanical failures, is there a roadside assistant program out there that's any good? I don't know if any road side assistant program would have been able to help us on a Sunday in Utah, but I can see where so many things can go wrong and break down many miles from home, and neither my husband and I know much about automotive repair.
Also, it didn't cost us much for that repair, but the mechanics had said before testing it that it could be anything from a hose to a new radiator to worse case a cracked head. Ugh! Luckily, the fix was replacing the thermometer, but if it had been a cracked head or something it would have been terribly expensive. Does road side assistant programs help you with unexpected costs of repairs like that? Is there anything of the like?
Sorry so long, a bit excited about our trip, but very concerned about major break down or repair at another time. Wondering how to be prepared next time.
Thanks,
Mal