Coach-Net roadside assistance review

[sande005]

We've had Coach-Net for many years now. Got a basic level coverage back when I had a Jayco Fifth, free for a year, and then just continued on with it, transferring to the Imagine when we switched. Never used, until....

This past trip, we were nagged by a "trailer wiring fault" message on the truck. Things seemed OK, but try as I might, there were no mobile techs available at any of our longer stops (all booked up) to take a peek. I did what I could in the campgrounds, but couldn't identify the problem.
In southern Indiana, we stopped at a truck stop which was pretty far from anything, for lunch. Came out to get going, and this time the truck complained of "no trailer". Current temp was 35 degrees, with moderate long term rain and high winds. Ish. But I crawled around under to see what I could see. Nothing.

Decided to give Coach-Net a try. First call was answered quickly, and had no issues verifying membership (I had forgotten to bring my membership card with on the trip). First question - "Are you in a very safe location?" (not stuck on the side of an Interstate, etc.)
Advisor promised to have an in house RV tech call me back within an hour for a phone consult. Actual call back was 15 min. We discussed the symptoms, and what I had tried to do. He decided there was little additional he could advise over the phone, so put us in queue for roadside assistance.
That call back was in another 15 min. That advisor was already briefed on the issue, and detailed what she was going to do to find a person come out. She noted it might take an hour, but she would call me back.
She did, within the hour. Had had a hard time finding anyone due to the distance, but had contacted one that could be there within 2 hrs. Coach-Net would pay any trip charges, but we would have to pay for the actual work that was done. She gave a detailed estimate of the projected costs to replace the main 7-way cord, which they assumed was the likely problem. It was pretty reasonable.
During the 2 hr wait, she called back twice to both see whether the tech had arrived, and to see generally how we were doing.
Tech arrived, and spent about an hour crawling around checking things. Turned out he was from a truck road repair place, and not familiar with RV's. But was an experienced general mechanic. He couldn't find anything. Advised we drive it to his truck shop about 40 miles away, where depending on availability they would try to get at it the next day, if they had an opening to get it in. He said they'd have to remove the entire underbelly to trace the wiring. On its own, the "No Trailer" fault went away, but we still had the "wiring fault".
He noted that Coach-Net had already authorized the 1 hr of time, and since there was no repair, there was no additional charge.

My wife and I discussed and fussed, and decided that we'd rather a "real" RV repair place look at it. If we had to drive anyway, we'd see if we could carefully limp home without trailer brakes.
Coach-Net called back again to check in. We advised we would try to make a go of it to get home. She noted that they could not authorize any future calls, unless it was transport of the RV to the original tech's location, and if we had gone more than 20 miles, that would be not allowed either.
We decided to take the risk. Drove Interstates all the way, making a LONG detour around Chicago, to avoid chances of stop-and-go. Used Interstates as we wanted to avoid back road stops, intersections, etc. to minimize the need for braking. Of course left excessive distance between us and other vehicles.
Turns out, the F-150 brakes did a great job of stopping the trailer when needed. Stopping distances were pretty much the same as normal, although we didn't need to do any emergency jam-on-the-brakes tests.

During the two days back, Coach-Net called back 3 times just to see how we were progressing and that we were OK.

I was VERY impressed by their service. Sure, a better roadside tech would have been better, but given where we were, and what they could find at any distance from us, the situation was understandable.

Far, far better service than any I have received over the years from AAA for my cars, or the stories I have seen over the years about Good Sam. I will definitely stick with them, and may even upgrade my coverage....

You may want to look into them to see if they fit your needs.

[FT4NOW]

Great review! Did you ever figure out what the issue was?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[oriderusa]

I know some folks that have has similar messages and I suggested that they get some Dielectric grease, and apply to the ends of his tow cables and to the truck. That seemed to fix all the problems.

[WhittleBurner]

If you are ever out of phone range and need help don't count on Coach Net to cover the tow it they did not get the call. We were refused because we did not call for them to arrange the tow, no one had cell service. Not even the officer who kindly went down the mountain to call help for us.
Odd circumstance maybe, but they lost is as a customer when they refused to cover because the service was not arranged by them. Guess in their books we should have asked the officer to call coach net not the nearest tow truck

[sande005]

Great review! Did you ever figure out what the issue was?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Not yet. Amazingly, the dealer was able to schedule me in for service within a week of my call, so it goes in Monday.
I was able to determine that the cord is providing brake line voltage to the junction box, so probably not a cord issue. No obvious wire problems in the axel areas or from what I could see on the back side of the wheels.
I had planned to pull tires, regrease bearings, and check it out in more detail, but the significant other declared that I was not going to do that, and instead I was to have the dealer do it all. Something about having too many non-RV projects already. So off it will go....

[FT4NOW]

Not yet. Amazingly, the dealer was able to schedule me in for service within a week of my call, so it goes in Monday.
I was able to determine that the cord is providing brake line voltage to the junction box, so probably not a cord issue. No obvious wire problems in the axel areas or from what I could see on the back side of the wheels.
I had planned to pull tires, regrease bearings, and check it out in more detail, but the significant other declared that I was not going to do that, and instead I was to have the dealer do it all. Something about having too many non-RV projects already. So off it will go....

Keep us posted. The trailer wiring fault is usually an indication of a short on the brake circuit. I would initially do a visual check of the wiring that enters the axle tube, good place to run off insulation. There are more involved tests with a meter and checking magnet resistance, but if it's an intermittent issue, I'd start with the possibility of some damaged insulation.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Wileykid]

Although most likely it is the trailer, do not rule out your truck. I had the intermittent "service trailer", trailer disconnected notification on my last truck, and after checking all the wiring in the trailer, and several visits to the truck dealer, we traced it to the trailer plug on the truck. Replaced it, and all was good from that point.