Posted: 3/9/2016 8:06:39 PM EDT
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I've had AAA for nineteen years now, and I'm due for renewal. And honestly, I'm thinking to myself, "Self, is this really worth it? $50 a year, and you've used it, what, once? Twice? In all that time?"
I went in and talked to one of the salesmen, and surprisingly he was honest, and agreed that maybe it really wasn't worthwhile for me. I rarely travel, so AAA discounts on motels & cars weren't really paying me, I never run out of gas, and I can change my own tires. OTOH, tho, you know Mr. Murphy is always just hangin' and waitin', ready to bite you in the ass.  My car is 13 years old with 150,000 on it; if nothing else, it's nice you can just make one call, and they'll handle the rest. You don't have to sit there, broken down on the side of the highway, frantically trying to find a towtruck at 3 AM in a strange town.
What sayeth the hivemind? How many have AAA? Worth it? Wouldn't live w/o it? Scam? Heck, it is only $50/ year... |
| Premier member here. Between me, wife and three kids who have cars (one of which goes to college 700 miles away), we drive about 60k per year. Shit happens and it's nice when AAA comes and jumps your car or changes your flat or tows you. Some years it pays for itself, some years it doesn't. But it always pays for my peace of mind. |
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All my cars have high miles. We regularly drive long distances. I maintain them well, but stuff breaks. My wife and kids can change a tire no problem. Having said that, I'll keep my AAA. About 3 years ago, I was out of town for work. My wife was driving her car with the kids in the car near home (about 10 miles out) and hit a piece of metal which shredded the tire. It was almost dark, starting to snow. She called me (what the hell could I do) I reminded her about AAA. Some dude showed up in 15 mins, changed her tire and sent her on her way. For that ONE save, I'll keep it. |
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For me, the advantage was, with a wife that had a 50 mile commute 1 way or me traveling a good half of the state - If one of us were home with 3 young kids and the other had car trouble in the dead of winter or middle of the night, or I was out of town. It was 1 phone # that worked no matter where we were. Money-wise it may have cost a little more, but it was easy peasy the few times we had to use it. YMMV Edit: grammar and spelling |
| I rarely use my AAA but recently my 19 YO daughter called home at midnight got her towed in within an hour and she has a 2013 with less than 50k it was a freak impact that broke a fuel line under the car. With that said you can get tow coverage from your regular insurance company for much less than AAA but it may not come with direct bill and may take a bit longer to get the truck to you. My emergency road service on my car policy is $3.20 per year and cvers a lot of thing beyond just towing. Check with your agent you may already be paying for it.. |
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WELL worth it.
I used them several times over the years for a pickup truck that developed electrical gremlins. Eventually got that worked out. Practically get my annual fee back in maps and tour books every year. But most of all it's worth it to me for DMV services, as the only DMV in my area of 275k people has a line out the door full of illegals applying for driver licenses.. |
| I have t needed a tow in a long time, but even with AAA, after the free miles they give you, it was $4 per mile. This was probably 8 years ago, no clue what it is now. I consider it a form of insurance, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. |
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many insurers offer that as an add-on for a couple bucks a month.... Quoted:
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Towing is where the real pay-off is - used it on more than one occasion for unexpected breakdowns and accidents. Don't use it. They may send you fancy Roadside Assistance cards but using them = an insurance hit. |
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I dropped mine years ago. Here's why:
When you are stuck on the side of the road and need a tow, you want it fairly quick. AAA has service contracts with certain companies to provide the wrecker service. They often take 1-2 hrs to arrive. Meh. I'd rather pay myself and get the closest hook. |
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I dropped mine years ago. Here's why: When you are stuck on the side of the road and need a tow, you want it fairly quick. AAA has service contracts with certain companies to provide the wrecker service. They often take 1-2 hrs to arrive. Meh. I'd rather pay myself and get the closest hook. When something happens in the middle of the night, it's nice to just call AAA and have them send somebody, rather than try to find a 24hr number that a guy may not even answer. FWIW, the longest I ever waited was about 1hr, and that was the middle of the night, when AAA woke the guy up to come get me. |
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Your auto insurance policy may provide some emergency roadside assistance. I'm in a similar mindset now. At my last job I traveled a good bit using my own vehicle. Now I don't.
It did come in handy a couple times back then, with dead batteries and flat tire assistance (the jack starting sinking in the ground and I couldn't get the jack to lift high enough!). I pulled off the highway far enough so other drivers wouldn't hit me but probably every twenty cars some moron would still swerve to the rumble strips. |
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Family plan, but man was I pissed when they refused to pay after my truck went off the road and into the woods.
They said because I was plowing snow when it happened it was not covered, they thought I was commercial plowing. Despite the fact that my vehicle has passenger plates and I went off the road plowing my own driveway they would not budge. |