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Why is your AAA $122, mine in AZ is only $57.00, wife's $31.00. We've had over $400.00 in savings this year alone in perks.
Might be worth it if you use the perks. Our very reasonable insurance coverage provides road service. For wifw and I we were paying around $200 yearly for AAA here in Southern Delaware.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered. I recently used them when my son locked his keys in his truck. They showed up in about 15 minutes, and a couple of minutes later we were back on the road.......for free.
How do they get in? The old shimmy doesn't work anymore.
This brings up another question. Who or what is covered? The driver or the car? If I loan my car to my son and he breaks down, is he covered?
Either your son needs his own membership, or he can be an associate member under yours (lesser cost than full membership), or if you are with him you can use your card for towing his, or anyone's car, as long as you are there. There's often a maximum number of free tows in a year though.
This brings up another question. Who or what is covered? The driver or the car? If I loan my car to my son and he breaks down, is he covered?
I can't speak for other regions (because there are obvious differences between regions), but AAA Texas covers the account holder (not specific vehicles), and any listed household members.
If you have AAA Texas coverage, and you are driving another vehicle, or riding in another vehicle as a passenger, you can use their services for that vehicle, as long as you are present when their responder shows up.
So my AAA plus membership is up for renewal for $122. Every year I wonder if there is a better deal out there. We now have two brand new cars and they might have come with some form of roadside assistance, Still, I prefer to have my own.
I kind of look at it like this. For us, it's about $100/year, which translate to about $8/month. I did have to use it a couple years ago for a tow home. We've also used it to get discounts on hotel rooms, so I think it's a nice thing to have. For us, we just treat it like insurance. If it was $200+/year, we'd have to revisit the idea of having it, because that becomes a little pricey. At $100/yr, it's an affordable cost for us.
I quit AAA. I dumped it after I got rid of both of our 17 year old cars.
Furthermore, my car insurance includes roadside assistance.
Also, you likely have a smartphone in your pocket. You can easily summon a towing company if you need one.
A towing company is going to charge you for every single mile. AAA Plus only starts after 100 miles.
My parents hit a deer driving through Keene, NY several years ago, and the radiator was damaged so they couldn't drive the rest of the way home. When AAA towed them the mileage came to 104, and the guy was nice enough not to charge them the extra 4 miles.
How does roadside work when you are going through insurance? Does the deductible factor in at all?
We have had AAA for 30 years with a few breaks on and off. We quickly realized you need the plus subscription for it to be of any use. Every now and then they cancel us because we use it too much. Then we rely on the roadside assistance our insurance company provides, but AAA offers more and is a lot easier to use.
One winter, becasue we had so many old beater cars (7) we needed jump starts six times, towing four times and a gallon of gas once (gas gauge quit working). They came and changed a tire for me once when I was unable to break the lug nuts free (they ended up breaking off one lug, but I just replaced it when I got home. You do not really need 5 anyway and they are very easy to replace). They changed tires for the kids twice and once removed a tire, brought it to the station for repair and then brought it back (I do not think they are supposed to do that, but they obviously were not very busy).
The towing service can be a lifesaver, but if it is a busy time for tow trucks, AAA calls go to the bottom of the list. They get a small amount from AAA, and four times as much form direct paying customers. Obviously you are gong to be last. I once waited 3 1/2 hours for a truck to come through AAA. Another time I waited for an hour then I called the tow company and told them I would pay the difference between AAA and their regular rate (which was about $60) if they came right away. A truck was there in 15 minutes. On the other hand, the 100 mile towing has saved our bacon several times. I have to admit we once cheated, towed a car 100 miles and he them drop it off, then called a few days later and had it towed the rest of the way home.
In addition to towing, they will jump start the car, send a locksmith, bring you a gallon of gas, pull you out of a ditch in the snow, bring you a gallon of coolant (I think you have to pay for the coolant). They also have travel services that are sometimes useful. Once in a while the AAA discount is better than what you can get through other discount programs. For a time, no road trip made sense without the all important Triptik from AAA. I am not sure whether they even bother to do those anymore. No one needs maps and you can learn the sites to see, find a hotel etc through google. AS far as who can use the service. Our kids have used my card or my wife's. I think they are not supposed to, but the tow truck drivers do not care. They almost never ask you for ID anymore. However our kids all have their won cards now. I think we have a family plan.
We had a different plan for a while (Amoco maybe?) however we switched back to AAA as soon as we were able. They simply offer the best package of services for the price.
Don't forget, if you use AAA you still should tip the driver.
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