Travel Assistance Network {TAN} list

[knittel]

I have not seen this on site {sl group}. It would be nice to have a list of people in the area of your travels that one could call if help is needed. This would be a volunteer type help. Could be a full garage, trailer to get you off the road, or a cup of coffee for moral support. Would like to get a list going if one is not out there yet. One never know when one needs help.     

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

I don’t think what you are thinking about is possible for our site since we are a truly international group with members all around the world.

We do however have two areas that you may not yet be aware of on our site that may help you to fulfill your need.

One is our “Member” pull-down menu where you can locate Members in your immediate area

———> https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?action=mlist;sort=location;start=0

And

The second one being a “Vendor” forum section where you can find shops that you may call upon if need be.

Here ——> https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Suppliers/Start

As for the Members area, you can open the “View Member Listing” this database you can sort by “Location” (the link above is sorted for you by Location), once done so you can Page thru the database until you found your state and see Members in your area or State. Some of the Members are not very active (they may have joined just to have access to the Benefits that our site offers). Nevertheless, you will be able to contact them by e-mail (PM) and find out what shops or Mechanics they are dealing with if need be.

A third way would be to let Members know your travel route (listing States and or major cities along your route). You can start a thread if you wish like “Planning to travel from Chicago along Route 66 to LA” then in your thread ask what shops or help would be available along the way if the need arises.

In the past 5 years, I’ve traveled over 12,000 Miles in my nearly 50-year-old car. I just make sure that the car is in good shape and so far I only had 2 issues one being a loose windshield wiper and the second one being a failed fuel pump fuse. The first one my toolkit screwdriver took care of it, the second one was very costly mainly due to to the lack of knowledge on my part ... it ended up being towed to my nearby Mercedes Dealer the tow truck driver damaged my radiator during the loading that’s another story, therefore it ended up very costly.

As a last resource and I know it will be costly I recommend you Google Mercedes Dealerships/Shops or Euro Automotive Shops along the way you are planning to travel.

I hope this helped you somewhat, safe travels!

Dieter

Edit; corrected some typos and grammar, the problem is sometimes I think in German while typing LOL

[knittel]

It would work , been an world wide group,one would break it down in to areas. North America, European, Australia, South America or what ever. It would be of a volunteer type. Not everyone would or could help. I my self have a large shop full of tools an a car trailer an a 150 miles from the nearest MB dealer. One can state what kind of help one could give. Times to call that are acceptable to call     Should be a PDF file one could down load an put in the glove box. It would work Just time an someone to set it up. I know that from other international car clubs I belong to it works 

[JamesL]

Not a bad idea - I know the Airstream groups run a "parking" system where you can park up on another Airstreamers property overnight. It's not used loads but nice to know the option is there. More common in the US than in Europe (at the moment).

There's certainly value in knowing that if you are on a road trip and have an issue  - or an hour for a cup of coffee - there's someone reasonably locally who may be able to help, have the odd tool or chat things through. I think it's one of the reasons that we try to put our locations on our profiles but if you are stuck, having a list in one place - even if a (members only) pdf linked from the homepage might be of help to someone.

[Peter van Es]

European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) make this sort of thing quite difficult. Every member would have to give individual consent, pretty much like we do in the registry... and that does not even contain personal data such as address, phone number or e-mail, which you would need to make this a workable idea.

I agree with Rolf-Dieter... the only practical way is to use the members list to select members in the area you expect to be passing through and contact them through PM. Also post a thread in the forum asking for help... that's the only way this is now practically possible with European Privacy laws.

Peter

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

knittel,

I tried to help you out, perhaps you did not read thru my post completely. However, as Peter (one of our Founding Members and past Presidents), pointed out it is not an easy task at all, in fact, it would take years before something like it could be done in our case, if at all. 

In German, we have a saying "Selbst ist Der Mann" translated by meaning it means "Do it yourself" This is why I found the best help I could offer was what is available on our site. As Peter explained, PM Members along the route you plan to take and they will help you to identify shops in the area you plan to pass thru. It might even be that you make friends along the way.

One nice thing about our cars is that they are very reliable if mechanically well maintained. It goes without saying that before one goes on a long extended trip one has his car in good shape.

I like yourself belonged to different car clubs, our site here is a bit different one can say it's not only about cars it's mostly about people. We get together in North America and Europe and once you attended one of our functions you will see what I mean. So no worries PM some of the Members along the route you plan to take and you will see Members here are ready to help members.

Safe travels,

Dieter

[Mike Hughes]

The New England M.G. "T" Register has published a Roadside Assistance Directory for many years.  It is essentially a subscription service - one agrees to provide address and contact information when opting in and only subscribers receive a copy of the Directory.  Think of it as a mutual aid society and the subscription cost covers the printing of the directory.

In 1993 a group of us were traveling the full length of Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway and Smoky Mountain Parkway from Front Royal VA to Gatlinburg TN in 40-60 year old M.G.s.  In the middle of Smokey Mountain National Park one of the TD drivers heard a loud bang, both rear wheels locked up and the car stopped dead in the middle of the road.  The engine, trans and clutch seemed just fine but the car was immobile, even with six guys pushing. I had a cell phone and, lo and behold, there was a signal out in the middle of bloody nowhere!  So we dug the Roadside Assistance Directory out of the luggage, looked up NEMGTR members in NC and found one in a little town not 20 miles away.  When we rang him, he dropped everything, rounded up a buddy with a roll-back and another who owned the local NAPA parts store and came to the rescue. Once our friend was in good hands the rest of us continued on to Gatlinburg.

Long story short, five of the eight ring gear bolts had loosened up and backed out.  One of them finally backed out enough to jam itself on one of the internal bosses in the differential casting, locking up the diff.  The NAPA store owner opened up the store, supplied new hardened bolts and lock washers in the proper size, Loctite, made up gaskets, got another friend to lend a bay in his gas station and they all had our friend and his wife on the road in time to join the rest of us for dinner!  Total cost?  A cold six-pack for each of the rescuers!