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Am wondering what some of you use for emergency roadside service.
After dealing with 4-5 different service techs over the past two days and getting wildly different messages regarding my car not starting and what I need to do, I am beginning to hate AAA as much as my husband.
He doesn't trust them - thinks they "price gouge". For my part, I wonder why we have a gold membership if we're not going to use it!
I like the peace of mind that emergency roadside service provides, but would love to know other options besides AAA.
(Sorry, don't have anything constructive to contribute...been a AAA member for years and never had a problem, but haven't needed them for more than a couple flat tires and a battery change.)
I've never had a problem with AAA either - except for the pricing if you want above the basic level. When we worked, it made sense to keep that premier membership. Now, we've dropped to the basic plan, and we're good with that price. We'll pay the extra out of pocket to tow it to where ever we want to go.
About a year ago, I did look for alternatives. I found nothing that compared on a nationwide, major scale as does AAA. For kicks, I called the 24 hour emergency service offered that was attached to one of my credit cards. After 20 minutes on hold, I gave up. And re-enrolled in AAA.
I like the peace of mind that emergency roadside service provides, but would love to know other options besides AAA.
Some auto insurance companies offer the service. However, I have heard that if you call, they can treat it as a claim, and in the worst case, drop you from coverage.
Am wondering what some of you use for emergency roadside service.
After dealing with 4-5 different service techs over the past two days and getting wildly different messages regarding my car not starting and what I need to do, I am beginning to hate AAA as much as my husband.
I'm not following are you talking about AAA affiliated garages or emergency roadside? Your post says the latter but those people shouldn't be giving you advice on why your car won't start (unless it's blatantly obvious).
Have you had the car towed to a mechanic for evaluation?
AAA road service has worked for me on several occasions, and I'm happy with it. The AAA auto repair shops, though, I'm not keen on. They've proposed many non-essential repairs to me, and I got tired of hearing the sales pitch when I just wanted an oil change. So I quit going.
AAA Carolinas is actually a corporation Carolina Motor Club Inc. Members used to be able to vote on the leadership, but in 2004 members were persuaded to make the board self-perpetuating. The garages began to spring up not long after. I've always suspected that the leadership was increasing their compensation through the expansion.
In January, Carolina Motor Club completed a deal to sell out to a Michigan-based operator The Auto Club Group. Don't know what that means for AAA Carolinas members.
I'm confused too. AAA doesn't fix your car, they tow you to the place that fixes your car. They'll jump your battery or do very minor repairs if possible, but that's it.
I've had nothing but positive experiences with AAA roadside and basic services locally.
But I did have an experience which afterwards, had me wondering -
A little over a year ago the previous non-AAA battery died, AAA came and replaced it with of of their own, said mine was dead or unreliable. The guys seemed trustworthy and I'm a pretty good judge of character. Though it was still barely within warranty, I had to get to work and couldn't be arsed to replace it on my own so got the AAA one then and there, no drama.
About 9 months later the battery died due to user error, had AAA come to jump it. Fired right up and has been right since. The mechanic, different guy, said the one I got from AAA was slightly under-powered for my car, and that if I went to them about it they should replace it with the right one at no charge.
Not being paranoid but after he left I thought to myself, was he subtly fishing for a tip?
I would think it against policy to tip roadside, but after years away am still baffled by the tipping norms here. But let's not turn this into a tipping opinions derail.
Not sure if I should have posted in the Auto forum, but it did happen here.
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