[Woody72]

My buddy wrecked his Road-Glide the other night and the police had it brought to a holding yard. The next day he called HOG to get it towed to the dealer. When the tow guy showed up, he had a regular tow truck...not a flatbed. He said that he was going to "sling it" off the back of the truck for the 20 minute ride to the dealer. We thought that seemed kind of fishy, but HOG sent him right? Then he started tying the straps he was going to use to hang the bike, to the fender struts. It was about that time when we told him to get the hell away from the bike.

 

[DR_DEUCE]

And prescreen their preferred discounted insurance.. Their quote was almost twice what I now pay...No more HOG membership for me.

 

[Krayven Sumhead]

Is it really worth it?

I don't think I'll be renewing my HOG membership after this year....I've got towing, trip interuption insurance, safety equipment insurance and 4,000 dollars worth of 'bling' insurance with my policy through American Modern Home. If I accidently lose my leathers, I'm insured. I'm gonna miss those
'rockers' and pins tho..........:brows:

 

[TXCHOP]

Thank god that i have a trailer. In my m/c club, there are a couple guys with the keys to it so incase someone needs if for and accident or a breakdown there will always be someone availible to bring it home. I am way to anal about my bike to have it slung off a wrecker.....I am sure this goes the same for a lot of you other riders.....About the insurance prices....I have being young in their eyes......

 

[IndianaSteve]

Amen to that!!! I called them when my V-Rod's battery went dead after being parked at my office for a few hours. They had a flatbed/tilt wrecker here in about 30 minutes but the operator had never loaded or transported a bike before. He had to call someone else in his company - another 30 minute wait - to come and help him use the equipment he alread had. The 'expert' admitted that he hadn't had any training in loading or towing bikes but had done it a few times. They managed to get the bike to my house without any damage. The 'expert' had his wife, who was with him in his standard tow truck, follow in that truck while he 'rode' the bike as it being transported on the back of the flatbed truck. Jeesh! I've renewed my HOG membership, however. At least it cost less than what the tow would have been.

:wacko:

 

[Zuhaib]

Intresting..
When my bike was wrecked last year, i used HOG for the tow and the tow truck they sent was an great guy. At first it was kind of scary, it was an old 1950's Chevy pickup! You thinking this thing cant run for ****! But he has the whole proper towing equipment in the back, he himself had been riding for a long time.
Only grip was the fact the tow took so GD long that the physical pain from the accident started to kick in. Tho it was the next day in bed when it really hurt when i could not move for ****! but thats a different story.

 

[utrvp]

My buddy wrecked his Road-Glide the other night and the police had it brought to a holding yard. The next day he called HOG to get it towed to the dealer. When the tow guy showed up, he had a regular tow truck...not a flatbed. He said that he was going to "sling it" off the back of the truck for the 20 minute ride to the dealer. We thought that seemed kind of fishy, but HOG sent him right? Then he started tying the straps he was going to use to hang the bike, to the fender struts. It was about that time when we told him to get the hell away from the bike.

I think they probably did prescreen the towing companies as well as the insurance companies but like most of you know the best insurance company for a person in one town may not be best somewhere else. Towing companies are a lot like that too. Before I started riding Harleys I had a used Goldwing and heard the same stories with the Goldwing bunch. One person thinks the towing service is fantastic while the next guy thinks it sucks. You have the same situation in a different location and you have a totaly different experience. It just depends on where you live or where you are when you break down. This country is just too big to screen each and every one of the towing services in each and every town and I have found that in some parts of the country you just have to take what you can get or do without.

 

[Woody72]

Normally I would agree 100%, however, not in this case. I don't think it matters who you are, where you live, or what you ride, you're not going to want your pride and joy "hanging" off the back of a tow truck for a 20 + mile ride to the dealer.....or maybe it's just me?

 

[wyodude]

I've used HOG Roadside Assistance at least half a dozen times. Always a flatbed, never a sling. I agree that I would be uncomfortable with a sling tow.

 

[utrvp]

Normally I would agree 100%, however, not in this case. I don't think it matters who you are, where you live, or what you ride, you're not going to want your pride and joy "hanging" off the back of a tow truck for a 20 + mile ride to the dealer.....or maybe it's just me?

I don't disagree with that and I don't think it's just you but I do believe that where you are when you breakdown determines whether or not you get a flatbed or a regular tow truck with a sling. For instance if you travel in say Utah there are places where you might be 100 or more miles from the nearest tow truck. Even here in the east I travel in Virginia and West Virginia alot and there are places there where the closest tow truck might be be up to 100 miles.

 

[Woody72]

That makes sense. I didn't understand exactly what you were trying to say in the last post.

 

[03flstfi]

I've seen tow trucks pull into two of the local dealers with bikes hanging from the hooks...
One was a springer softail hung in the front from the neck, and slung thru the rear wheel in back. It was swinging back and forth like the pendulum on my grandfathers clock.

The other was a heritage, hung much the same way.

When my bike broke down, I called HOG Roadside, and told me the tow company would take 2 hours to get there... (I was 10 minutes from the dealership) When I queried the HOG rep on the phone, she mentioned the name of the tow company that had the bikes hanging from the sling....

Not my bike youre not...

I called a private contractor who was there in 10 minutes with a flatbed. I submitted for reimbursement thru HOG and got it... The private contractor is a fellow rider who I knew I could trust.

I still wonder how they would have picked up my bike since there are no holes in the wheels?....

EDIT: I also told the rep of my observations of the actions of their contractor...

 

[swmnkdinthervr]

I don't disagree with that and I don't think it's just you but I do believe that where you are when you breakdown determines whether or not you get a flatbed or a regular tow truck with a sling. For instance if you travel in say Utah there are places where you might be 100 or more miles from the nearest tow truck. Even here in the east I travel in Virginia and West Virginia alot and there are places there where the closest tow truck might be be up to 100 miles.

Yeah...here in Va we ain't even invented the sidewalk yet...:hystria:

 

[BigD]

I've used the HOG tow services more times than I would like to admit. I've had four (4) stators go bad on my '99 - but that's another story.

I've only had one contractor that I've had problems with and I refused his service. I immediatly called HOG and they got another company to handle the tow. You don't have to let the yahoo that shows up tow your bike if he isn't qualified.

I believe that feedback to HOG is very important in these cases. I filed a complaint and they said they would look into it. Just because they do a pre-screen, that doesn't mean things don't change. New owners, new operators mean changes.

 

[Texan]

......When the tow guy showed up, he had a regular tow truck...not a flatbed...

As nearly everybody says "it's the insurance company that picks the towing companies and not HOG". If the towing company mis-represents it's self to HOG and/or the insurance company, HOG is not to blame.

.. He said that he was going to "sling it" off the back of the truck for the 20 minute ride to the dealer.

I've seen bike's hauled/towed this way for years, long before the flatbed trucks of today even came on the scene. Matter of fact if you park in the wrong spot at Sturgis "you get the sling". Even noticed this past year they have a triple sling rig.

Then he started tying the straps he was going to use to hang the bike, to the fender struts. It was about that time when we told him to get the hell away from the bike.

Now this is bad. Sounds like an inexperienced driver. BUT and that a BIG BUTT if he's the only game in town at the time I'd probably shown him how to hook up the bike.

AND I'll echo what WyoDude said, I've used the HOG program several times in the past and have NO complaints about it.

o~\o