Is AAA worth it ?

**Preston** · 06-10-2009, 01:53 PM

I'm going over my budget this year and in a few months my AAA membership will come up for renewal.

AAA used to be a necessity as I travelled 10 months out of the year and a few times 100 miles of 'free' towing saved me. Or hotel discounts. We had a AAA plus membership giving us 8 (four each person) 100 miles tows if we need them.

But now I have a steady local job which I bike to (most days) and my wife has the same employer so often times we are able to car pool as well.

I haven't made a AAA service call in two years. It costs me $113 a year to have our premium package for both of us. Maybe cut down to just me? It would put the yearly cost down around $80.

AAA covers towing if our car breaks down. It does not help us find a rental if we need it. There are rental car companies that give a AAA discount but I am usually able to find a better deal with a company that doesn't give any AAA incentive.

We own two cars -- one is 1999 Olds Aurora with 105k miles on it. Excellent condition as we got it from my grandmother who drove it gently and took good care of it.

The other is a 2001 Chevy Cavalier with 135k. I got this car for $100 a few days ago but it is good shape. I got it from a coworker who just wanted to get rid of it. I have not noticed any significant problems with th is car.

I called my insurance company and adding towing/rental coverage is an extra $20 per 6 months but I would have to have full coverage to have this on there. I will put full coverage on the Aurora as it is our main dependable car.

But if the cavalier breaks down I am screwed... or I would just leave it at the side of the road and pick it up later.

I am considering dropping AAA altogether because I do not see much benefit. But I am also considering cutting down to a basic member ship with just me (which would give me a 5 mile tow if my cavalier breaks down) which would cost $50 a year and having towing/rental thru our insurance so would cost $90 a year, but would have rental coverage if we need it.

Feedback?

**nodmicks** · 06-10-2009, 04:32 PM

I have ins with AAA so I need to be a club member to keep those great home and auto ins rates. However when we were NOT insured with AAA I added a 12 rider to our ins policy that covered towing etc every 6 months..

**Judi Dial** · 06-10-2009, 05:31 PM

We use the towing about 3-5 times, every 2-3 years for some reason. It seems just as we're thinking, like you are, that maybe we could drop it, we need it, and we don't.

Although part of that is that I am frequently alone in the car and we live in the country so having towing is something I need. And, I do travel quite a bit too.

My

Judi

**craftypam** · 06-10-2009, 05:41 PM

Are you talking about changing ins companies alltogether? I thought with AAA the towing came with the membership. You can still add it with other companies. Every time my ins is due I call other companies to check rates. I don't know where you live, but in MI if you belong to a credit union you get a discount. The larger the credit union the larger the discount.

**MaryCarney** · 06-10-2009, 06:20 PM

The time I let mine expire was the last time!! We had a flat in the middle of the night after Cubs' game in a not-so-nice part of Chicago. We fumbled around for over an hour until two very nice college students rescued us (a Chicago police officer watched the whole time and said he 'wasn't allowed' to help us, even by calling a wrecker)
Regular car insurance will re-imburse for towing, but AAA sends a towtruck when you call, no matter where you are. When you're away from home and don't even know where to begin to look for help with problems like that, THEY ARE THERE.

**Contrary Housewife** · 06-10-2009, 06:25 PM

I used to have it when I traveled a lot with an older car and it paid for itself so many times...

But these days we rarely drive outside the city unless we get a rental, and our insurance covers towing in town so I dropped it. We do have the comprehensive to go with the towing/rental coverage. I didn't see why we needed AAA on top of that.

**mauimagic** · 06-10-2009, 07:56 PM

We have AAA and are keeping it - for DD, DH and me. I want DD to have it so no matter where or who she is with - she'll be protected. It makes our lives easier - have not had to use it much - but when we did, it was invaluable. Keeping it as sanity insurance!!

**forHISglory** · 06-10-2009, 10:16 PM

Preston, it sounds like you are looking carefully at all sides of the question. The answer, of course, is going to be different for all of our different situations.

My answer is that I will keep AAA. We have the insurance on our vehicles and on our home. We get a AAA discount on our security alarm system. We travel a lot, so the travel club is good for us.

So keep looking for the answer that fits you and your lifestyle.

**monkeywrangler71** · 06-10-2009, 11:43 PM

We have it because we only have one vehicle and get an abnormally high number of flat tires. If we had two vehicles and were both around all the time I might be willing to give it up.

Considering that you bike most of the time, if you were only keeping one membership wouldn't it make more sense for it to be your wife's? It sounds like she drives more often than you. If you broke down, you could just leave the car and come back with her later for the tow.

**Preston** · 06-11-2009, 01:50 AM

In researching this I came across something called "Better World Club" and it's similar to AAA, but greener and cheaper... I'm thinking about having my wife sign up for a membership and cancelling AAA...

http://www.betterworldclub.com/roads...e/benefits.htm

**indigo53** · 06-11-2009, 11:29 AM

We live in the "boonies". Only a couple of service stations in our county does AAA, and they're only open weekdays during the day. So it's definitely not worth it for us.

**Rippin508** · 06-11-2009, 12:56 PM

I have AAA. I have had to use it for my own car before and it has saved me when my friends car broke down.

Plus I have used the other discounts that come with my membership.

**Judi Dial** · 06-11-2009, 01:36 PM

Huh, I forgot. I DID have a AAA tow truck driver refuse to tow me once. It was New Year's Eve, I was 10 miles from home and there was a sleet/ice storm, people were wiping out all OVER the place.

My brakes had felt "mushy" just before I went skidding. Another tow truck pulled me out of the middle of the road at a cop's request. I waited, with town cops, state cops, a K-9 cop, and a burgulary detective in sub-zero weather for AAA to pick me and my car up. I waited for 4 hours! Being New Year's Eve AND icy,the cops and tow drivers were busy.

The tow truck finally showed. When I told him I wanted a tow home he said, "I can't afford to do that. I thought it was a snow bank extraction! He turned my car around, stomped on the brakes a few times and said, 'You'll be fine, just be careful." and he left!

So I drove gingerly to the nearest c store and called DH. (This was before cell phones.) He was working, his office line was busy, so I left a message, including if I DIED on the way home or was injured he should sue the hell out of AAA and oh yeah, get all the cops I waited with to testify about how long I'd waited for the tow and the conditions.

I went the long way home that day, really grateful I had a Volvo station wagon. It was slippery as all get out and it seemed that sometimes my brakes worked but sometimes it seemed like they didn't. When I got home, I pulled forward on the street to back into our driveway and DH drove up in his car, he'd been out looking for me. I saw him, threw the car in park, and fell apart.

Ok. I have had the steering fail on a car before,(pretty scarey!). Also, I grew up in Los Angeles and didn't learn to drive in snow/ice until I was over 35. That 1/2 hour drive took me 1 1/2 hours.

It ends up I had a vacuum leak in my brake line. Sometimes I DID have brakes, and sometimes I didn't. I wrote a nasty letter and filed a formal complaint with AAA. I don't have any idea what (if anything) happened to the guy, a gas station owner. He sold the station and the new owners don't tow.

I had another car towed by another AAA driver later and he explained that the drivers get a set amount per mile and per pick up and so he could make like $100 towing me home or $1000 pulling people from snowbanks in the same hour. Not a huge comfort to my family if i'd died, but I suppose understandable.

That drive home was as close to hell as I ever want to get!

Judi

**Monroe on a Budget** · 06-19-2009, 07:32 PM

I consider AAA to be equivalent to car insurance. I don't earn enough in discounts to make up for the membership, so that marketing spin just doesn't work on me. But my family has had to call a tow truck from time to time -- dead batteries were the two most recent calls.

**cab54** · 06-20-2009, 10:27 AM

DH insists on it because he worries about me and the DSs having car trouble.

The thing I like about it is there is a grocery store near us (family owned) that on Wednesdays, will give you 5% off your bill if you have AAA and are over 50. So I try to save my grocery runs for Wed. when I can.

I was kinda bummed, though, that they didn't even have to ASK me if I was 50.