We carry both basic AAA and towing insurance through our auto insurance.
AAA gives me one phone number I can call from any place in the US. I don’t have to try to figure out what town is close. I can use AAA for any vehicle I am around: it’s tied to me, not the car. (I’ve called AAA because one of the men packing up my house locked his keys in his car.) I’ve used it when my car wouldn’t start and it was -20°F. But basic AAA only gets you 5 free miles of towage.
Towing insuranc through my auto insurance is really really cheap. Less than the upgrade to AAA (the upgrade is $45/year). It will cover many more miles of towing. It is tied to the insured car. I can’t use it if we are on a road trip in a friend’s car.
So if I want my car to go to my favorite mechanic, but that is 50 miles away, I call AAA, get a local tow truck to hook me up and take me to the mechanic. AAA covers the call, the hook up and the first 5 miles. What ever bill is left, I pay and pass on to my insurance agent, who pays me back.
If you have a cell phone, and you have friends, you’re all set.
Years ago my motorcycle crapped out in the middle of Wyoming. My cell phone had a signal, so I called a friend several states away. He was at home, and I had him get on his computer and dig up a tow service for my location. Problem solved, no AAA required.
911 is for emergencies, such as an imminent threat to life or property. Call if you’re in having a medical problem, or if your vehicle is blocking traffic lanes; if your car is simply dead on the side of the road, you have lots of other numbers you can call first before tying up 911 services.
It would never occur to me to use 911 for non-emergency assistance and if I did use a service provided through 911, I would expect it to be very, very expensive. It is not a reasonable back up plan, I would either get AAA, or a smartphone with the Yelp! app so that you can find local mechanics with a good rating.
Massachusetts uses a unified response via 911 to get a hold of the MassDOT Highway Assistance Patrol. On the highway, signs indicate to call 911 if you have an emergency or need assistance, and this includes flat tires, running out of fuel, etc. It’s dispatched via state police, and is a free service, but only operates during rush hours.
It’s an emergency because clearing the highways quickly is important to ensure traffic backups don’t start occurring from disabled vehicles. Backups and traffic cause crashes, which snowball out of control unless kept in check. Additionally, being stopped on the highway for any length of time is dangerous, and really is an emergency. If the service can’t help you directly, they’ll at least move you off the highway to a location where you aren’t a hazard anymore.
Earlier this week I was driving to work on a backroad in a snowstorm and nearly hit a loose horse. I had no idea whose police force dealt with the place I was, so I called 911.
The system forwarded my call to the correct township, and I was told I was the second person to report the horse. (Fuck the bastard who called it in before me, then left. I stuck around to warn others)
A police car drove up a few minutes later and I continued on to work.
As Soliloquy posted above, different 9-1-1 centers (Public Safety Answering Points, or simply PSAP in industry lingo) treat calls for disabled vehicles differently.
In some major population centers there is a 311 service for non-emergency calls and such a report might be transferred to them. Or perhaps the 911 center would process the report only if it is on a major highway and likely to obstruct traffic. In a small center such as mine we just handle the call on our own regardless.
Regardless you are unlikely to be the first or last ever to call in such a report to 911 so you are unlikely to truly piss off the operator by calling 911 if you do not know an alternate means of making the report. We’ve heard it before and take marginal calls in stride.
You are our hero. It is very rare in my experience for the reporting party on a loose animal report to stay on scene, unless they have struck and killed the animal. Seeking to prevent a car vs large animal collision is a valid reason for calling it in. And as the 9-1-1 operator I would rather get the call before there is a collision than have to find a large animal vet and someone with a bucket loader to go deal with it after a collision has occurred.
I broke down on a fly over exit ramp with 1 lane and a tiny pull emergency pull off. In the dark. Cars were gunning it to get up the ramp and eventually merge onto another freeway. I called 911 first and explained that I needed flashing lights since no one seemed to see my flashers until almost too late, lots of screeching tires and honking and worse. Then I called AAA. The cop said I did the right thing and parked behind me lights flashing. I did have to laugh when the AAA operator asked, as they always do, if I was in a safe location. Oh hell no. I couldn’t even get out of the car, and had I, there was a 90’ drop to the freeway below and no where else to go
AAA asks you if you’re in a safe location, because a “no” answer will generate a call to the local police to assist you more rapidly. On highways, this manifests as the state police receiving the call, and often calling for an immediate relocate tow to remove your vehicle from the highway. In situations where you’ve called AAA, but the police can’t wait the hour and a half for some guy to show up, they’ll force an immediate tow on you, you’ll have to pay for it, BUT AAA will reimburse you for it. AAA really isn’t an expedient service, so if you’re ever in a bad location (median, left side, blocking travel lane, blocking accel/decel lanes, or on a ramp, or within 2 ft of the rt fog line, or around a bad curve where you just don’t feel safe, or if there’s no lighting working on your vehicle at night), just call 911 / your local police department to dispatch a tow and a cruiser to help you.
It should be said that these kinds of issues can usually be proactively prevented if people maintain half a clue about their vehicles condition. Replace tires before they go bald, check for even tire wear, replace and check fluids every 10k miles. The most common issue I see on the roadway is alternator and charging system failures. Unfortunately, car manufacturers don’t put ammeters on the battery clamps, which would detect the problem (seriously. why? airplanes have this…). A little trick you can do if you have an alternator failure is to attach a jump pack to your battery, bungie cord the hood closed, drive SLOWLY off the highway (to avoid windshield breakage), and drive to somewhere that can help you. The jump pack provides enough power to start the vehicle, and keep it running for some amount of time. You could also do this with any generic 12v battery that’s charged up. I know some guy who had several batteries in his trunk, and he ran a jumper cable from the engine compartment, outside the vehicle, and into the trunk just to clamp onto several batteries to get him to where he was going. I use this trick with jump packs all the time to relocate vehicles whose alternators have died.
I know this is zombie thread but I have been a AAA member for over many many years. For me it’s worth it because one tow will pay you back for the yearly fee and even if you never use that part of the service the discounts you find add up and pay for it as well. In fact the discounts are why I keep it even though I do have a similar service though one of my credit cards.
One thing to be aware of, because this happened to me, there is a limit of three emergency calls you can make in one year (the year is defined by you renewal date, not the calendar year). Beyond three they charge a fee (still cheaper than being at the mercy of towing companies though).
I recently shredded a tire on a jagged curb. 11 PM and I was concerned about my safety in that area. AAA had someone out there within 20 mins. He had a floor jack and had the tire changed in 10 minutes. A floor jack is much easier to use and faster than the jack’s that come with cars.
If you drive a lot, it makes sense to have a form of insurance for towing fees and roadside assistance. Through insurance, automobile association, car club or auto supply store.
Call 911 if blocking traffic or there is a danger of medical emergency or fire. Call the non-emergency police number of relevant after getting help.