Roadside assistance

[MacAddy]

Hi everybody! Im in a little bit or a bind here. So my motorcycle is currently at work in Amsterdam but the bike battery is completely dead or at least I'm not getting any juice at all so I'm unable to start it up. I tried calling Unive but apparently my insurance only covers roadside assistance if my bike is damaged from an accident. Do you guys have any recommendations for a motorcycle towing service / roadside assistance in the Amsterdam area? Also for future reference what do y'all use for roadside assistance? We got AAA in America which is amazing and I thought I was paying for it here but apparently not .....





Thank you guys so much !!


Edit: noticed that with ANWB that if I get it now service kicks in within two days so does that mean that if I order the service now that in two days I can request the service?

 

[Panofsky]

We've got the ANWB that offers "wegenwacht" [roadside assistance], which is comparable to AAA. You can register with them now and they will help you. However, since your not a member they will charge you an additional fee on top of your new membership.

Note that the regular membership does not actually cover the city you live in but does cover the rest of the Netherlands. They have all kinds of premium memberships, so have a look at those as well.

Univé only covers your insurance. They might do roadside assistance as well but it will cost you (don't know for sure). The ANWB does not seem to have an English page but here's a Google translated link.

 

[Katswiri109]

Is the battery really broken or just empty?
Maybe you can charge it? Otherwise I think a motorbike shop can pick it up and repair the bike for you.
ANWB is most common in the Netherlands, you could also become a member now (which is of course more expensive) and get their service.
Don't know what kind of bike you have, maybe there is a Motor-Forum member close to you, and willing to help?
And last but not least you can of course ask a college or so, to give you a jumpstart with startercables.

 

[MacAddy]

I'm not actually sure as I drove it to work this morning so it seems strange that it would drain so quickly but I'm also not a very mechanical person haha. I'm thinking though if it is just a dead battery I'll order a new one and replace it myself but is there anything else to check like blown fuses? Basically when I turn on the ignition nothing happens at all.

 

[Rob RD]

Just a dead battery isn't worth all the fuzz. Buy a new one, place it and GO

Maybe it is a tip for you to join ADAC, they are cheaper and for the Netherlands they send ANWB

 

[Rob RD]

I'm not actually sure as I drove it to work this morning so it seems strange that it would drain so quickly but I'm also not a very mechanical person haha. I'm thinking though if it is just a dead battery I'll order a new one and replace it myself but is there anything else to check like blown fuses? Basically when I turn on the ignition nothing happens at all.

Do you have a possibility to jumpstart it?

 

[Traffic Taurus]

I'm not actually sure as I drove it to work this morning so it seems strange that it would drain so quickly but I'm also not a very mechanical person haha. I'm thinking though if it is just a dead battery I'll order a new one and replace it myself but is there anything else to check like blown fuses? Basically when I turn on the ignition nothing happens at all.

Most of the time when you've a bad battery your dashboard will light up when you turn on the ignition. Because it went completely dead so suddenly, I guess it could be your main fuse or something else isn't making contact.

Just my two cents

 

[MacAddy]

Just a dead battery isn't worth all the fuzz. Buy a new one, place it and GO

Maybe it is a tip for you to join ADAC, they are cheaper and for the Netherlands they send ANWB

Yup thinking I might go this route and do it myself. ADAC sounds interesting! Is it fine to join even if I'm not in the Netherlands?

 

[MacAddy]

Most of the time when you've a bad battery your dashboard will light up when you turn on the ignition. Because it went completely dead so suddenly, I guess it could be your main fuse or something else isn't making contact.

Just my two cents

Ok yeah normally when the battery is bad I can at least see something so I'll make sure to check the contact and main fuse

 

[Stefan666]

Actually, you can get help by the anwb.
It does mean you become "a member" on the spot, for a ( premium ) price.
It will cover you for 12 months.

You got several membership types, but probably the guy who comes to assist you can help you with that.
( i assume you do need a dutch adres for it )
Its a insurance on your name, so not specific for "that motorbike" , but -any- vehicle you drive.
( yes, even a truck )

Considering its Amsterdam.. nobody -screwed- with the bike ? ( lock damage ).. ect ?

 

[Bart_T]

Just gonna chime in here; there's also a few on-demand roadside assitance providers active in the Netherlands. The ones I know about are AllSecur's 'Pechhulp on Demand' and CentraalBeheer's 'RoadGuard'.

I haven't used these services myself, but I reckon they're... probably fine? I wouldn't be surprised if either of these services simply sends you an actual ANWB mechanic.

A single instance of assistance will likely be a bit cheaper than what you'd pay for an ANWB subscription. However, that does mean that you don't have ANWB's year of coverage, so should anything else happen within that year, you'll have come out cheaper if you'd gotten a subscription.

So I suppose it's a gamble; how much do you trust your bike not to break down on you within the next year?

 

[Rob RD]

Yup thinking I might go this route and do it myself. ADAC sounds interesting! Is it fine to join even if I'm not in the Netherlands?

My Brother in Law is ADAC member because of a trip to Norway... so, yes, they help in different countries... but ADAC is German and some of them Germans speak German, might be a problem for you... All Dutch speak English

 

[MacAddy]

Just wanted to write a little resolution and shout out to Unive. On Friday I ended up checking the fuses and unfortunately couldn't find anything wrong so called back to Unive to check again about their policy, and it turns out that while their "official" hq stated that I did have roadside services, their "emergency" office still had my motorbike registered to the previous owner whom did not have it and thus that was the confusion (doubting how they handle their data now ... ). They ended up sending me a really nice motorcycle repairman who found out that indeed my battery was dead because I might have accidentally left it on the parking light mode (seriously...what is that mode even for???).

Once he jumped it and got it working again I took it to work where the battery died again of course but after some very helpful coworkers and learning how to push start I managed to get it back home. I don't stall the bike that often but I'm not going to lie I was pretty stressed riding home knowing that if I ever stalled the bike I wouldn't be able to start it back up . I ended up ordering a new battery and replacing it myself (shipping in the Netherlands is so incredibly damn fast!) but thanks for all the help and information guys!

tldr: Don't be dumb and leave your bike in the parking lights mode and learn to bump start your bike. Also if you get Unive get the roadside assistance it's only like 3 euro a month extra!

 

[Rob RD]

As a matter of facts is ANWB registered on the person, not on the bike...

 

[MacAddy]

As a matter of facts is ANWB registered on the person, not on the bike...

Yeah I think if I didn't already have the Unive one ANWB would be what I would go with especially since I travel so much and often out of the country.

 

[Dutch]

my battery was dead because I might have accidentally left it on the parking light mode

Don't work so long, then the parking light does'nt have time enough to drain the battery completely


On a lot of bikes it is indeed easy to leave it on parking light by accident. Just turn the ignition key 2 click counterclockwise instead of 1 for the steering lock. By the way, never trust only the stearing lock as sole protection against theft. It is rather easy to overcome.