Josh Wardell’s MINI Cooper S

I need your help to find a good roadside assistance program! I’m only a few hundred miles away from 50,000. Not only will my MINI’s warranty expire, but so will coverage by MINI’s excellent roadside assistance program. I’ve called them and begged to extend the roadside benefits but they have no way to do so.

With MINI dealerships being sparsely located, it is very important to have long-distance towing coverage. I only proved this a year ago when I had to ride all the way home from MINIsOnTop in a tow truck–about 350 mi round trip. AAA only covers three miles of towing, charging you $3 per additional mile–that would cost over $1000!

I’ve found a few options but not sure how trustworthy each are, especially since they do not have their fine print on their website, and probably not until you sign up do you find out they won’t tow to the dealer of your choosing etc. AAA has a “plus” membership for $75/year that includes 100mi of towing, but they will not allow you to join that program until you’ve been a member of their three-mile program for a year. GM Motor Club seems to be a good deal at $59 and unlimited towing. And The Auto Club has unlimited towing too at $69, but for $89 they also include tire and wheel road hazard coverage–something I’ve been considering as I’m about to buy new tires as well.

Please let me know in the comments below what experiences you’ve had with third party roadside assistance programs, and feel free to recommend some more. Meanwhile I can only hope MINI smartens up and offers extended roadside assistance coverage.