BMW Roadside Assistance

[kent11202]

Just curious. Have you ever used it? How long did it take for them to show up?

Talking with my neighbor and his wife has used it twice, once for a small accident and another time to get the car towed to the local dealer.

Amazing. When she pushed the button (after the small accident) they told her a tow truck was already on the way and would be there in about ten minutes - it was.

When the car wasn't running properly (very rough) she contacted BMW again and, as before, the tow truck was there in ten minutes.

I'm impressed. Given I've never seen a tow truck with BMW plastered on the door, who do they use? AAA?

[IEDEI]

i have called them 3 times. they use random towing companies in the area you call from...just like AAA often does.

1st time: picked up a 135is from the dealer BRAND NEW. 3 hours later all the coolant fluid leaked out. Next morning i arranged to have the car towed 65 miles to the dealer where i bought it. you can only imagine how upset i was......sucked!

2nd time: blew out a snow tire on a freeway in my 135is. called them from the freeway and said they can't pick me up from that freeway as it is 'restricted' so i left the road on a flat tire and called them again from a side street. took over 2 hours to come. BMW couldn't pick up my location of where i was (???). ended up peeing in the middle of a road because i had to pee. lol.

3rd time: had a massive blowout of a rear tire in my 1M at midnight coming home from a work-related dinner. pulled over on the side of the freeway. called BMW roadside assistance and they said they couldn't do anything as it was a 'restricted' access freeway (again!? such BS!!!). BMW roadside suggested i call AAA. what a disappointment. I yelled at them and told them they were useless!! called AAA and they arranged for a tow truck to get me off the freeway and then they arranged a 2nd tow truck to pick me up from there (apparently these restricted freeways have specific contracts with only CERTAIN trucking companies....such BS!!).

Honestly AAA is so much better than BMW roadside assistance. the 1M, like other M cars, has lifetime roadside assistance for flat tires but i think i'd rather just call AAA although these days i carry a full size spare in my trunk all year round.

[SROC3]

Major accident on PCH several years ago. Roadside assistance called about 3 minutes or so after impact, and they even got 911 on the phone for me, and had me talking to an EMT. Pretty impressive. Then in the middle of all that sent me a tow truck. I don't ever want to be in one ever again, but If I am, I am confident that BMW RA is coming to the rescue

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by kent11202

Just curious. Have you ever used it? How long did it take for them to show up?
[...]
I'm impressed. Given I've never seen a tow truck with BMW plastered on the door, who do they use? AAA?

BMW Assist response times vary a LOT by location and part of the country.

BMW Assist sub-contacts tow service to local 3rd party vendors, but pays them less than what AAA does. Therefore, the response times are usually slower, and sometimes completely n/a if you are in the middle of nowhere with a stranded ///M car.

I've personally got towed once by BMW assist out of my driveway (took ~2.5 hours for the flat-bed tow truck to arrive, and it was from a service home-based about 45 miles away from my home - none of the locals were interested @Assist rates). The second time I had massive sidewall puncture with instant deflation on a tollway, Assist refused to live to it's name.
AAA came through, but the rim was toast either way.

The challenge with Assist is that BMW is not willing to pay the going market rate for proper flat-bed tow trucks (as opposed to jack one end and drag-along ride). The last is a major concern if you drive an ///M car that can only be towed on a long flat-bed.

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