Problem with Ford Roadside Assistance

[dmur726]

What is everyone’s experience with Ford Roadside Assistance? Mine was a huge fail.

Yesterday I ended up with a flat tire. It was bad enough that, inflating with a compressor, it wouldn‘t hold air. I called FRA around 4:30 pm to have my car towed to a tire shop. At 6pm I called for an update and was told it would be 45 more minutes. The only problem was all of the tire shops are closed by 7 at the latest. Great. So with a flat tire, I can’t even get home from work.

I called back and rescheduled the tow for the following day. They promised to send someone at 9 am.

When I got to work at 8 I immediately called again to make sure my tow was scheduled. I received a text message saying my service request was entered.

At 10 am I called for an update and was Told the tow truck was three minutes away. By 11:30 they said the truck was 15 minutes away. The tow truck showed up at 11:50. It was almost 4 hours after my rescheduled tow. I ended up waiting a total of 6 hours for a tow…for a flat tire!

What would happen if I had been stranded on the side of the road? Even without being stranded, the time is ridiculous! It really makes me nervous to think this is my backup should something else happen with my car.

Then, perhaps, I should open another thread to talk about the tire that couldn‘t be repaired, and alas, America’s Tires says there isn’t even a SKU for these tires so they can’t get a replacement for me…I really love this car, but what am I supposed to do?!

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[BMT1071]

What is everyone’s experience with Ford Roadside Assistance? Mine was a huge fail.

Yesterday I ended up with a flat tire. It was bad enough that, inflating with a compressor, it wouldn‘t hold air. I called FRA around 4:30 pm to have my car towed to a tire shop. At 6pm I called for an update and was told it would be 45 more minutes. The only problem was all of the tire shops are closed by 7 at the latest. Great. So with a flat tire, I can’t even get home from work.

I called back and rescheduled the tow for the following day. They promised to send someone at 9 am.

When I got to work at 8 I immediately called again to make sure my tow was scheduled. I received a text message saying my service request was entered.

At 10 am I called for an update and was Told the tow truck was three minutes away. By 11:30 they said the truck was 15 minutes away. The tow truck showed up at 11:50. It was almost 4 hours after my rescheduled tow. I ended up waiting a total of 6 hours for a tow…for a flat tire!

What would happen if I had been stranded on the side of the road? Even without being stranded, the time is ridiculous! It really makes me nervous to think this is my backup should something else happen with my car.

Then, perhaps, I should open another thread to talk about the tire that couldn‘t be repaired, and alas, America’s Tires says there isn’t even a SKU for these tires so they can’t get a replacement for me…I really love this car, but what am I supposed to do?!

In stock at Tire Rack.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...HR9PASXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

 

[ChasingCoral]

What is everyone’s experience with Ford Roadside Assistance? Mine was a huge fail.

Yesterday I ended up with a flat tire. It was bad enough that, inflating with a compressor, it wouldn‘t hold air. I called FRA around 4:30 pm to have my car towed to a tire shop. At 6pm I called for an update and was told it would be 45 more minutes. The only problem was all of the tire shops are closed by 7 at the latest. Great. So with a flat tire, I can’t even get home from work.

I called back and rescheduled the tow for the following day. They promised to send someone at 9 am.

When I got to work at 8 I immediately called again to make sure my tow was scheduled. I received a text message saying my service request was entered.

At 10 am I called for an update and was Told the tow truck was three minutes away. By 11:30 they said the truck was 15 minutes away. The tow truck showed up at 11:50. It was almost 4 hours after my rescheduled tow. I ended up waiting a total of 6 hours for a tow…for a flat tire!

What would happen if I had been stranded on the side of the road? Even without being stranded, the time is ridiculous! It really makes me nervous to think this is my backup should something else happen with my car.

Then, perhaps, I should open another thread to talk about the tire that couldn‘t be repaired, and alas, America’s Tires says there isn’t even a SKU for these tires so they can’t get a replacement for me…I really love this car, but what am I supposed to do?!

This is a problem with roadside assistance through any program, Ford, AAA, BetterWorld, your insurance company, etc. Almost all the time they are simply working through a network of towing companies around the country. That's the weak link. These companies and their drivers are often unreliable and will usually take longer than the first estimate.

There is also no guarantee they will know how to tow a Mach E, so have the instructions printed in your glove box. Take the time to memorize them while you await the tow truck and watch to make sure they do it right! In case of serious accidents, this second guide is useful as well.

Don't forget the need to know where your jack/lift points are, too.

 

[RickMachE]

Yesterday I ended up with a flat tire. It was bad enough that, inflating with a compressor, it wouldn‘t hold air.

In addition to the compressor supplied with the vehicle, it's supplied with sealant. Did you use that or just the compressor?

 

[MyLittlePony2022]

I have to agree with @ChasingCoral. Though there are some horror stories about towing issues with FRA, is it FRA that was the issue or the tow companies? I have AAA and had a flat on my Lincoln. They use an app to call the truck, pinpoint your location and track the driver. You could see a bunch of tow trucks running around on the app screen, like Uber, but otherwise it was useless. They show when the truck was supposed to arrive but it did not update when it was 30 minutes past the arrival time. Could not see the location of the driver. I did not need to escalate the issue to try to get help, but I suspect that there is no one to call to say "hey, where is my tow truck?".

I live in the SF Bay Area so demand for services is high and traffic is bad. In the distant past it took me 2 hours to get a truck to jump start. I think there are too many factors here such as demand, traffic, number of available trucks, how long the previous service took, lunches/breaks, location and I suspect cost is a factor. If you got a full price tow or a highly negotiated and discounted tow from (AAA, FRA, Geico, etc.), which one do you think the owner is pushing the drivers to take.

Now, that does not take away from the frustration and pain of the many stories people have as they wait and wait and wait for a tow. I hope to not be one of those stories, but when I am, I will probably vent just as everyone else.

 

[dmur726]

In stock at Tire Rack.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Primacy+A/S&partnum=255HR9PASXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Thank you for this. I’ll contact them.

 

[dmur726]

In addition to the compressor supplied with the vehicle, it's supplied with sealant. Did you use that or just the compressor?

I tried just the compressor initially, to pump it a little before using the sealant, to see where the leak was and how bad it was. The air came out as fast as it went in, so we decided the leak was too big to seal.

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