I will try to make it brief folks. On a rainy Sunday afternoon we found ourselves driving over a big cave-in on the highway, as result both drivers side tires bursted and were damaged beyond repair. Cops came and a highway licensed tow truck as well. Family is Ok too.
1-The car performed excellent, driving straight and an immediate TPMS warning indicating no pressure on both drivers side tires. We were also able to pull over safely onto a grassy area.
2-No damage to either rims or suspension- very impressive too.
3-Tow truck drove us to a near by tire shop that happened to be open 24/7 - well, I'm in NYC; yes, on a Sunday afternoon.
I made the claim to Kia Roadside Assistance for towing expenses but Kia denies the $140.00 claim because the car wasn't taken to a Kia approved facility. Why would I risk loss of work time to take the car to a dealership 15 miles away when a tire shop located at just under 2 mile distance solved the problem in under 2 hours and on the spot? they also found the same OEM tires!!!
If you ask, I removed roadside towing from my insurance policy when I bought the car. I see that Kia doesn't stand by your side in basic roadside situations. Moral of the story, Kia Roadside is meaningless. I imagine that if you run out of gas for whatever reason you should tow your vehicle to a Kia dealership for gas - yeah right.
Adding roadside assistance to my insurance policy.
I will try to make it brief folks. On a rainy Sunday afternoon we found ourselves driving over a big cave-in on the highway, as result both drivers side tires bursted and were damaged beyond repair. Cops came and a highway licensed tow truck as well. Family is Ok too.
If you ask, I removed roadside towing from my insurance policy when I bought the car. I see that Kia doesn't stand by your side in basic roadside situations. Moral of the story, Kia Roadside is meaningless. I imagine that if you run out of gas for whatever reason you should tow your vehicle to a Kia dealership for gas - yeah right.
Adding roadside assistance to my insurance policy.
glad to hear you and family were ok and not harmed.
I have not been put in the position you were in so am going with a generic answer. roadside assistance - as i understand it - requires you to call the number on the sticker on the window when you are in trouble. they will then guide you on what to do. presumably they call a tow truck they have a contract with that will then take you to a place they have contracted with to do the repair. step outside of that process and the audit folks (I am an accountant even if i don't work as one) will throw a fit because it violates company (Kia) expense managment rules.
Thank you dardsa,
Need to say though that in the best case scenario calling the Kia 800 number is the way to go, however in this case as I tried to call them a tow truck just approached us, they knew of the gaping hole. The issue here is also that on a State Thruway only licensed tow company (s) are allowed, my hands were tied. NYPD arrived very quickly too and so the story goes.
Look, had I done it their way it would have cost Kia double or triple plus my time, expense along with the aggravation to my wife and kids; all of this on a cold and rainy day.
The way I sum it up is that I'm disappointed. What is the point of roadside assistance coverage?
It is useless if it only applies to take the car to the dealer or their network, we had two damaged tires and no mechanical problems on a Sunday afternoon with miserable weather. This should be called Roadside Mechanical Breakdown Assistance, simple. Knowing that I should have kept my car insurance roadside assistance program which does pay regardless.
It is all spelled out in the owners manual and warranty booklet as to what it covers. The towing is only covered if it is a warranty related breakdown. They will bring you gas, change a flat tire (with your spare), give you a jump start and help you if you get locked out. If it isn't a warranty related item, you are on your own for towing.
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
As an added consumer benefit, Roadside Assistance is provided on all new 2016 model Kia Vehicles from the date the vehicle is delivered to the first retail buyer or otherwise put into use (in-service date), whichever is earlier, for a period of 60 months or 60,000 miles, whichever is earlier, subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions set forth in this manual.
More information regarding the services available under Kia’s Roadside Assistance program is available in your Kia Vehicle’s Owner’s Manual. These services generally include:
• Towing to the nearest authorized Kia dealer or an alternative service location in the event of a warranty-related disablement
• Out of gas assistance (out of gas assistance is limited to a maximum of 2 times per year and a maximum of 2 gallons of gasoline)*
• Flat tire assistance*
• Jump start assistance*
• Lock-out assistance* (excludes reimbursement for replacement of any missing, lost or damaged keys)
• Trip interruption expense benefits in the event a warranty-related disablement occurs more than 150 miles from home and the repairs require more than 24 hours to complete (limited to $100 per day for a maximum of 3 days per incident) NOTE: Fleet vehicles are excluded from reimbursement under Kia’s Trip Interruption Policy.
* Roadside Services are limited to a maximum of $75 per occurrence.
I'll also add this... No matter who you have towing with, you must first call, they locate someone THEY agree to use and THEY send them. You can't pick, you can suggest, you could have had the tow truck driver call them and see if THEY could broker the deal.
Learned this all the hard way. My brother was on my cellphone plan and insurance while in college and he drove a heap! AT&T had roadside and State Farm also had roadside and then Verizon. They all worked the same way, they found someone and THEY sent the company THEY chose even if it didn't make sense. The above post that mentions $75 per occurrence is pretty standard.
On the plus side! His fuel gauge never worked and they will deliver a gallon or 2 of fuel way more times than you think they would before they shut you down.
Roadside assistance programs are always filled with rules. I didn't even know Kia had one, not that I would have used it anyway due to the aforementioned rules.
FWIW, if you're interested in that sort of thing, I think it's worth it to get a AAA membership. They have rules too, but I think they're a lot easier to work with.
You might want to consider filing a claim again the city or whomever is responsible for the road where the damage occurred. I have hard of cases in the past where this sort of claims were honored, not sure if they were honored for legal or public relations reasons.
I've heard that when you do need roadside assistance, make sure your vehicle is towed to the CLOSEST dealer, even if it's only a few miles closer than where you bought your car/typically get service. I needed a tow on my Mazda6 while it was under warranty, and I 1) didn't call the roadside assistance (I should have), and 2) had it towed 30 miles to my dealer (instead of 20 miles to the closest dealer). $150 tow bill - Mazda actually covered it without complaint, but I doubt I would have been as lucky with some other manufacturers.
I'm sorry to hear about the incident but am glad your family is safe and the vehicle performed as well as it did under the circumstances. That is very reassuring to know. In the meantime, this has been an excellent dialogue with valuable information. So thank you for posting the issue and thanks to everyone who has contributed the various pieces of information and experience.
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