Why do people display AAA stickers on their cars? Proud of their insurance company?
mangeorge
They probably think it will serve to identify them as members to the tow-truck driver.
This is my understanding. I think at one time they included them with your membership card.
I think it’s simply because they’re told to. When I first got a AAA membership, they sent the stickers with the membership package, and I’m pretty sure the AAA package said something like “Put these stickers on your car!”, so I dutifully stuck them on my car.
Later, I realized that the tow truck driver couldn’t care less what bumper stickers I’ve got on my car; I could have a bumper sticker that says “This car is the personal vehicle of the Grand High Exalted Poobah of the American Automobile Association and all AAA personnel should render aid accordingly”–what’s actually important is the little credit-card-like piece of plastic and the account number. So I’ve never bothered to stick 'em on my current car.
So: People put the AAA bumper stickers on their car out of unthinking obedience to instructions. I mean, people probably wouldn’t obey an instruction that said “Mail your first born child to this P.O. Box” or “Recite the words ‘Hail Lord AAAsmodeus!’ thirteen times at the stroke of midnight while trampling the Holy Bible underfoot”, but “Put these decals on your car!” is a pretty harmless instruction.
And AAA tells people to put the stickers on their cars for advertising purposes, of course.
AAA is roadside assistance, not auto insurance
With Allstate motor club, a competitor to AAA, they also gave you stickers, on the bottom in small type was something along the lines that Allstate will pay a reward of $5,000(?) for any information leading to the arrest of anyone damaging this car.
I assume AAA has the same deal.
In some areas, AAA is both insurance and roadside assistance. I don’t recall seeing any such promise on my sticker, but I’ll take a closer look. Hmm.
WAG, AAA was the first nationwide company to offer a reward for auto theft/vandalism. People displayed the decals as a deterence, the practice continues as some sort of minor status symbol.
In the UK many classic cars have AA decals (AA is to UK what AAA is to US). Never understood the reason though.
http://www.olavsplates.com/foto/gb_c-4047.jpg
http://www.olavsplates.com/foto/gb_rph6.jpg
It has to be as MEBuckner says. There are many cars out there with the stickers that are not covered by AAA. I doubt that many drivers remove them when they sell the car or quit AAA. I know tow truck drivers do check your AAA card. I’ve also heard that members go to the back of the line vs paying customers. Makes sense.
AAA in my area sells (pretty aggressively) not only auto insurance, but home owners as well. They also dffer DMV services and trip planning, etc.
Peace,
mangeorge
Lots of people in the US have AA bumper stickers as well. Completely different except that perhaps the tow truck drivers are also “Friends of Bill” and will pick you out of a ditch as a favor.
Hi, my name is Bill, and I am a lousy driver. 
[chorus]
Welcome, Bill.
[/chorus]
There is a significant aspect of the AAA story, unmentioned thusfar, that, I believe, plays into the answer. At one time, to be an AAA member – emphasis on member – meant something. It was a declarartion of allegiance, like wearing your team’s logo or, I suppose, like displaying an NRA sticker today.
AAA has a long and proud history dating back to 1902 when owning a car was an odd-ball, often-derided thing to do, and good roads were extremely rare. Like-minded car enthusiasts and auto-oriented businessmen banded together into what became AAA. It was part fraternity and part lobbying group. It pushed and supported pro-auto developments: better roads, auto tourism, good and accurate maps, road safety, etc.
It still carries on as an advocacy/lobbying group, but most of that work is done behind the scenes. Meanwhile, the personal, homespunny aspects of club “membership” are largely forgotten, and today most people, like the OP, think of the group as the just guys who’ll tow my car and jump my battery for $45/year, period. But the sticker, I imagine, harks back to the days when one driver would see it on another driver’s car and recognize him as a “brother of the road.”
Still do. Just got my AAA renewal. Got stickers. Did NOT put them on my car.
We needn’t overanalyze. If you give some people stickers for joining / contributing to something, they will reflexively put them on their car. Particularly those little decal type of things like the AAA stickers and the ones handed out for contributing to the local NPR / PBS affiliates. If it’s a full size bumper sticker, some realization of tackiness may set in, and people will balk.
My auto insurance is through the AAA’s insurance company, but they are separate entities although if you go to one office, you can file a claim and also get a road map of Toledo.
I have my auto insurance through AAA and also have the roadside assistance service. (No stickers on my car though). I am billed separately for these two services but as I recall I get a discount on my insurance for having the road side assistance.
Ever notice it’s usually senior citizens that have the AAA stickers on their cars? Some put the whole sheet of stickers on their bumper, instead of just peeling off one of the stickers on the sheer.
Been a member of AAA forever. Every year I get my new membership card. Every year I toss the enclosed sticker decals. If there were instructions to stick them on my car, I never noticed.
Answer to the OP question: Some people like to stick stuff on their cars. Some people don’t.
I think that, in general, seniors are less likely to be able to fix a flat or hike to a gas station than younger people. And yeah, I think the decal does have a sort of “old fogey” image.
Exactly what do you mean by “overanalyze”?
I’m 61, and still (pretty much) able to do those things. Don’t want to, though.
Use the assistance just once and the $45 is money well spent, imo. I spend far more than that at Peet’s.
The irony is that now that I’m older I’m able to afford more dependable, and expensive, vehicles.
Life is good!
Peace,
mangeorge