# Why are AAA and Similar Services So Slow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818 "2012-12-22T08:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/41 "2019-08-14T13:57:24Z")
The answer lies in call-for-assistance arrival patterns, the sporadic nature of incoming requests (not spread out evenly over each hour), the geography of the coverage area and the crushing costs it would take to have equipment on stand-by. Further, small groups (such as a garage with several trucks) are inherently unstable when it comes to providing a consistent service level. That only comes when you get to dozens of trucks and hundreds of calls. It’s easier to provide consistent service at scale. Like a doctor’s office, just two patients who take much more than average time in one hour can send the whole schedule into chaos. Small teams, which local regions are, cannot provide 20-minute turn times consistently. One will get out in 15, then someone will wait 45, then 30, then 10, then an hour. Same reason an intersection cannot give the same experience 24 hours a day: You cannot build it for the peak traffic, or it will be wasted most of the day. During peak times, you wait longer and your commute is longer. You try to find a balance. No local shops have trucks waiting to run out to you 24/7. That’s just waste and impossible to staff for. . ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/42 "2019-08-14T14:20:08Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > I was actually referring to their garage. > > Besides which, there is no way in hell that the tow truck was 30 miles away. Look at a map of NYC. Back when I worked in this business, it wouldn’t have been unheard of for a truck based in Manhattan to be completing a tow on the other end of Long Island or somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. That’s what I meant. Where the garage is located may have very litle to do with where the drivers actually are at any given time. 8 hours is a long time, though, I agree. And it does sound like someone screwed up during the process. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/43 "2019-08-14T14:55:04Z")
I have had AAA pretty much my entire life. My dad had been a subscriber since the 1960s. AAA is very good if you need a jump, a new battery, or a flat tire fixed. When it comes to something more involved, like a tow, that’s when the wait factor comes it. It seems like their towing contractors are coming in from the boonies, and if it’s a snowy day, then you’re going to have a long wait. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/44 "2019-08-14T22:52:43Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Back when I worked in this business, it wouldn’t have been unheard of for a truck based in Manhattan to be completing a tow on the other end of Long Island or somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. I have an extremely hard time believing this is commonplace. > [@](#): > > 8 hours is a long time, though, I agree. And it does sound like someone screwed up during the process. Seems to me it’s like the flaky secretary whose bus or train is always getting delayed on the way to work. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/45 "2019-08-15T13:24:07Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > I have an extremely hard time believing this is commonplace. Ok. I’m lying to you. Because. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/46 "2019-08-15T13:50:01Z")
Sometimes it takes them longer because they have to find you in some twisty turny neighborhood. With GPS it’s probably easier. Years ago my radiator died at Walmart. It took the tow truck driver approximately 10 minutes to get there because he was free and, as he said “everyone knows where the Wal-Mart on Speedway is”. I still don’t know how he unwittingly picked out my car from the half-dozen or so white Corsicas on the lot, though (I was by the entrance in the shade. It was 109 out). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/47 "2019-08-15T16:42:11Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > As far as I’ve been able to tell, AAA contracts with local tow trucks to service their members. I would guess that AAA pays their contractors less per call than the towing company would get for a direct call. Rather a “make it up in volume” kind of deal. > > So my theory is that on high demand days - say a snow storm or a very cold morning - the towing companies can make much more money by prioritizing the direct calls over the AAA calls. Combine that with lots of calls, and my AAA call for a jump start can have quite a wait. Probably less “make up in volume” and more of a “semi-guaranteed number of calls”. So it’s more that they know that being an AAA contractor means that they’ll get X number of calls a day on average, even at a lower rate, than the more volatile nature of eating what you kill, so to speak. I imagine that being a tow truck driver can be a sort of feast or famine kind of thing- when it’s rainy or icy or some other condition that could cause a lot of accidents, you’re in high cotton, but if it’s dry, sunny and clear, you’re probably lucky to get the occasional person with a broken fan belt or something. Being part of the AAA network means that you’re more likely to have steadier business. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/48 "2019-08-15T20:03:11Z")
Aside from the fact that the OP was begging the question, enough reasonable answers were provided. It’s not always a long wait. Long is relative. Resources, from basic trucks to full-on flatbed tow trucks, aren’t on constant stand-by just five miles from your random dead car on magic roads that have no traffic. AAA actually earned a reputation and became an iconic brand on the backs of good service and wait times that are, apparently, acceptable. An hour for a two truck at the wrong time and place will happen. But anecdotes are plentiful where a wait of less than 30 minutes was needed. Personally took AAA road service calls, and wait times of 45-90 minutes were on harsh days, with spikes in calls, during specific hours. Unless you want to pay 5 grand a year, getting equipment to you in 15-45 minutes for your paltry annual fee seems reasonable. . ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/49 "2019-08-16T12:41:55Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Resources, from basic trucks to full-on flatbed tow trucks, aren’t on constant stand-by just five miles from your random dead car on magic roads that have no traffic. > > … Unless you want to pay 5 grand a year, getting equipment to you in 15-45 minutes for your paltry annual fee seems reasonable. > > . Amen. Thank God I don’t do that job anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/50 "2019-08-16T17:33:08Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Ok. I’m lying to you. Because. Tows to Jersey City or Long Island City or Brooklyn I can understand. But the other end of Long Island is Suffolk County. Could you explain why it is common for tow trucks in Manhattan to go out there? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/51 "2019-08-16T18:44:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Tows to Jersey City or Long Island City or Brooklyn I can understand. But the other end of Long Island is Suffolk County. Could you explain why it is common for tow trucks in Manhattan to go out there? Maybe not “common”, but not unheard of either. The reason? That’s where the customer wanted their vehicle taken. People usually prefer to be taken to a mechanic close to home. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818/52 "2019-08-20T21:37:10Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Ok. I’m lying to you. Because. Actually what you said was that it’s “not unheard of.” You merely implied that it is commonplace and then later backed off: > [@](#): > > Maybe not “common”, but not unheard of either. Ok, so what? Maybe AAA was late for me because each and every time the assigned driver’s tow truck broke down and itself had to be towed. That’s not unheard of either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-aaa-and-similar-services-so-slow/644818.md?page=2)