Who are AAA competitors?
I have roadside assistance through my cellphone company, Verizon. $3 per month per driver.
Auto insurance policies often offer towing insurance. You have to arrange and pay for the tow, but then can get reimbursed. I don’t know if anything beyond tow coverage is available.
If you buy a new car, it may come with roadside assistance; OnStar-equipped GM vehicles come with a year free, Hyundais come with 100,000 miles free, etc. Lots (most) auto insurers offer roadside assistance, including Allstate and State Farm.
Then there’s Road America, Cross Country, and a host of motor clubs, which function just like AAA.
Note: do not get roadside assistance from your insurer. Many of them report roadside assistance calls to ChoicePoint just like accident claims, so a couple of breakdowns can severely eff up your insurance premiums.
I belong to the BP motor club. I don’t know how comparable it is to AAA, but I’ve always had good service from them. My membership costs about $15/quarter.
I have roadside assistance with my Volvos, last time I checked I think it was Amoco Motor Club.
Much better than AAA in that I’m allowed more than three calls per year.
Hmmm. I’m a AAA Plus member, and I’m not sure about how many calls per year I’m limited to. To be fair though, three tows in a year is a lot.
Regular AAA only pays for a 3 mile tow, beyond that you have to pay. Many times your tow is beyond 3 miles. AAA plus allows for a tow of any length.
Not sure if it’s different in your state, but here in CA, AAA Plus gets you 100 miles. AAA Premier gets you 200 miles. AAA Classic is 7 miles, not 3.
You would likely have to be in a remote area if you need a tow of > 100 miles. Unless of course you want to get a tow back home rather than the nearest mechanic. I think the limits probably vary by state, I am in NC.
That’s why I have the Plus membership. We have a line of credit with our mechanic so it’s better to bring the car there than “held hostage” far away. Not to mention the hotel/food/etc while the car is fixed.
AAA basic = free tow to nearest AAA Affiliated garage/repair center.
I knew a guy who had a rental car break down on the Alaska highway. They brought him a new rental car but I think it came from 300+ miles away. He was lucky it broke down at a store and not in a remote area.
Holy crap, I was about to start an identical thread. AAA has been pissing me off something fierce, and I was wondering who else out there provides a similar service.
And you can’t use more than one in a day! When my car exploded, I had it towed to one of their “AAA Approved Mechanics” who wouldn’t even pop open the hood for less than $100. I said screw that noise, and called back to have my car towed in front of my apartment while I mechanic shopped. Guess I should have done that in the first place, but I’m newish in town, and was flustered, etc. Anyway, the lady on the phone told me I couldn’t have my car towed again even though I have four (4) tows per year, and at that point had only used one. If I wanted to have it towed home, I would have to pay a per mile charge and a $65 initial hook up fee. So I said to the lady, “So if I call back in three hours at midnight, someone will come out for free.” She said, “Yes.”
Ridiculous. Since my car was running intermittently, I asked the car gods if this could be one of those intermittent moments, and sweet talked and cajoled my vehicle into making it the seven block drive home. I made it home, and didn’t have to pay AAA or any of the mechanics in their cartel. Suck it, AAA.
My AAA Plus membership gives me up to an 100 mile tow when I’ve lived in Kentucky, Ohio and now, Indiana.
I just used it last month, as a matter of fact. It came to 96 miles! I was really sweating it. They charge you something along the lines of $3 per mile after the initial 100.
I didn’t know that. They shouldn’t be able to get away with that. Why does it really matter when you use up your allotted tows?
Better World Club.
(emphasis theirs)
Their pricing seems complicated, but that also lets you figure out and get only what you need. If I find I need a service again, I’ll sign up with them. For now, I live in a large metro area where I’m unlikely to get stranded in a difficult position, and my mechanic has tow truck on staff and rolls the cost into the final repair bill.
I didn’t know this either, and was shocked and pissed when the lady on the phone told me that. I asked her what difference it made, and of course she did not have an answer. I suppose it wouldn’t have been good for company image had she replied, “Isn’t it obvious? We tow you to one of our partners who will charge you an exorbitant amount of money, and if you don’t like it, we’ll charge you an exorbitant amount of money to leave. We try and make it so that you’re paying one of us a shitload of money.”
We found it a better deal to get AAA basic combined with towing insurance through our car insurer. That way we can use AAA to find/call a tow truck (and use things like the lockout service and some of the discounts) and just hand over the extra charges to the insurance company. Towing insurance is dirt cheap.
Another benefit is that while towing insurance is based on the car, AAA is based on the person. So when one of the guys packing up my house for a move locked his keys in his car, I called AAA and they came out and opened the car up for him.
If you have a warehouse store membership, check with them. We belong to Costco now, and they don’t offer roadside assistance, but when we were with Sam’s Club, their Premium Membership came with free roadside assistance that was pretty darned good, IIRC.