I have two cars that are fairly newish and well-maintained (a 2010 Beetle and a 2008 Civic Hybrid). We travel some, but not more than twice a year. Is AAA worth the $100 it would cost to cover both me and my fiance?
I haven’t had many flats in my life, and have only had to be towed 3 times in 30+ years of driving. I have never seen the value in AAA, but maybe I am missing something.
Yes, it is definitely worth it. AAA is more than just towing insurance. It can also get you discounts all over the place from restaurants to hotels to pharmacies that will easily cover the cost of the membership even if you aren’t very aggressive about it. It usually gets you a discount on your current car insurance as well ($50 or so a year) and AAA offers discounted car insurance in some states. They also offer services like mortgage refinancing with special rates.
I never got many flats either until the last few months when I had three just because of bad luck with road debris. They showed up quickly and paid for the tow each time. They also offer locksmith services if you get locked out of your car and jump starting if you need it. I have used it maybe 10 ten times over the last 12 years and each time was very necessary. Another good thing is that it doesn’t just cover your cars, it covers you wherever you are even if you are just a passenger in someone else’s car or if someone else like a guest at your house needs it.
I buy AAA roadside assistance every year. I don’t always use it, but when my husband locks his keys in the car or I get a flat it’s invaluable. but my youngest car is about 16, and I’m on the road a lot, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
It also allows me to be the hero when one of my friends locks keys in the car or needs a tire changed. AAA will work on any car, it does not have to be yours.
AAA is like any insurance, you pay for it with the hope that you will never need it.
They also provide discounts for certain hotels and other attractions, as Shagnasty said. But that convenience pales in comparison to breaking down in the middle of nowhere or locking your keys in the car and being able to fix the problem with a phone call. No muss, no fuss.
Insurance is useful for covering sudden, large expenses that would seriously screw up your finances. Homeowners insurance, health insurance, life insurance all fit the bill. Liability auto insurance is required by law, but collision insurance is not, and if your car is a serious piece of shit that you can afford to replace on a moment’s notice, then you are statistically better off not carrying collision insurance.
For a long time I was not a fan of AAA, viewing it primarily as insurance to cover roadside assistance. I can change a flat tire just fine, and my financial situation is such that I can readily afford a $150 tow if my car truly is broken. But breakdowns are extremely rare events: my car has died on the road just twice in 25 years of driving, so looking back on that record, I always felt that AAA would have been a waste for me, and I was glad for my decision not to have been a member for all that time.
My wife had AAA before we were married though, and she has kept it even after we got married.
The surprising truth is that the membership has paid for itself through the discounts we obtain at various other business, e.g. hotels. My wife can’t change a tire, so I suppose it would be appropriate for us to retain AAA membership even if we didn’t get hotel discounts.
Bottom line? AAA membership may pay for itself (and then some), if you take advantage of the discounts. The tow coverage then becomes a nice bonus.
I’ll still change my own flat tires though, just because I don’t want to wait 45 minutes for a mechanic to arrive on scene.
It’s definitely worth it. I’ve used them 3 times in the last 10 years, and each time would have been very problematic without them.
The hotel and other discounts alone pay for it.
It certainly is nice if you happen to lock your keys in your car or need a tow and can get help without having to pay a bunch of money on the spot – especially when you’re on a trip or something where it would be a big inconvenience. The fact that it covers any car you happen to be riding in is especially nice. Their maximum towing distance is fairly generous too – I believe it’s up to 50 miles one way, which could be a very expensive tow if you were paying out-of-pocket and needed to get to your dealership or whatever.
If you’re like me, you just change a flat tire on the side of the road, but some people would rather not, and it’s a bigger benefit to those people.
That said, obviously you might have years where you pay $100 and get nothing for it. Definitely keep an eye out for AAA discounts…I’ve been to museums where you get five bucks off the entry fee just by flashing your card, and hotels where it gets you a decent discount. One could easily make a case for it being worthwhile just for those discounts, if you travel a lot and remember to ask if they offer one.
I like that it covers the person, not the car. I can get any car towed for free, which came in handy last year when two drug addicts got stuck in the mud at my neighbor’s house. They were completely helpless and clueless. I called AAA and got them towed out of there.
Also, it gives me peace of mind with my kids. They all have a card on my account. The hotel discounts pay for the card easily every year. (we spend a lot of time in hotels.)
I had a 1989 Volvo. My AAA membership more than paid for itself, in 2 years I was towed 4 times. When I bought my 2005 Chevy Malibu Maxx (that’s right- 2 x-es) I didn’t renew. I have a dealie on my credit card that offers roadside assistant for about $60 per use, so if anything happens I’ll go that route.
I never used the other AAA discounts.
The one time I tried to use it, I found them hopelessly useless. Use google maps to find the place on Mass route 122 about 13 miles north of Barre. It took them 4 hours. By which time I had given up on them and changed the flat myself.
You might have towing coverage through your auto insurance company. I have “roadside dispatch” service through my Visa Signature credit card. This means that if I call the toll-free number, they will send a tow truck and move my car up to five miles for a fixed $59.95 fee. I don’t travel far from home and so I recorded the numbers of a couple of local tow companies on my cell phone directory for local use. If I’m away from home, I can use the Visa service. In other words, I chose not to pay for the AAA membership.
I change my own tires, but for anything bigger than that they are damn useful. It is worth it just to not to have to worry about finding an open tow truck in the middle of the night. We started with them long before smartphones, which made it even more valuable.
The discounts are nice also.
Another vote for yes. It’s saved my ass, and the asses of many a friend over the years.
Here is a list of discounts (Western PA version), in case you were wondering what all the fuss was about.
I’ve used my AAA many times. Last March I blew the driver’s side rear tire on the interstate. I can change a tire myself but this was a dangerous situation. The shoulder was barely wider than my car and I’d have my back to oncoming cars while jacking and changing the tire. Screw that! That’s why I have AAA.
My dad has been getting me a Gold membership every year since I started college (1997) and other than discounts, I’ve only used it 4 times to have other people towed.
However, I’ve driven a lot of miles in that time by myself and it gives me huge peace of mind. I probably would have a hard time getting up and driving hundreds of miles on my own if I thought I’d be “alone” if I had car troubles.
Dad asked me this year if I thought his gift was “worth it.” I said heck yeah. Now that my car is 10 years old I’d definitely re-up myself if dad wasn’t into it any more.
I’ve never used them for a flat tire but over the last 30 years I have used them many times including when I had a dead battery in the middle of the night and when I slid off the road into a ditch at 2 AM in a blizzard and they had a tow truck come pull me out.
I’ve also used them to get a discount virtually every time I’ve stayed at a hotel or rented a car. At least once I used their car buying service.
My favorite service though is that I can go to their web site, click a couple buttons, and free maps for anyplace in the country appear in my mailbox two days later and I don’t even have to pay for postage. Yeah, I use GPS like everyone else but I still like to look over maps when I’m travelling to a new city.
I’ve been a member for over 35 years, and while there have been many years I didn’t need a tow or a map, there were other years that were just disastrous from a driving standpoint, and AAA saved my butt a lot! There was the time we were towing a Uhaul from Ohio to Georgia, and withing ten miles of our destination had a flat tire in the middle of the night. We couldn’t get the tire off, so we called AAA…heck, he tried yanking the tire off by using the tow truck, and that puppy didn’t move…the rust had fused it on there so tight! So we needed two tow trucks…One for us, one for the Uhaul! Then there were the four times in three months we had to get towed before the mechanics figured out what was wrong with our thermostat. Then the battery that died during a blizzard (while driving) and the battery that died on a beautiful sunny day (while driving). The truck that gave up and quit running the second I pulled out of the E-Check station (why yes, I HAD just flunked the E-Check, also). I’m poor, so the odds of me having $40-$60 for a tow…and you always need one two days before payday…are fairly slim, so I’m very grateful my mom has given the membership to me for Christmas every year. Now I need to start giving it to my kids.
Had it one year. The one time I needed a tow they showed up three hours later. Now I pay an extra 2$ a month on mu auto insurance and every time ive needed to use it they were here in less than 30 minutes.
My insurance coverage (USAA) charges me less than $10/6 months for my roadside assist coverage, which includes towing, jump starts, probably changing a tire if I needed that help, etc. I don’t get charged anything out-of-pocket for towing, etc.
We aren’t travelers, so hotel discounts are meaningless to us, and based on a recent thread here on this board, the service times I get are at least as good as what AAA supplies, so I fail to see a point in paying 10x as much.