Should I cancel my AAA membership?

[HundredK]

We are on a strict budget right now to pay down debt. If we drive a newish car, do you think it's worth canceling our longstanding AAA membership? Just got our renewal notice and am trying to be very judgy of all these annual memberships as they come rolling in. What do you all do?

[Jluke]

How many times have you used AAA?

Do you have a long commute for work?

Do you have family/friends nearby that can pick you up if your car breaks down?

Do you take advantage of the discounts that come along with being a AAA member?

Answering those questions may tell you what to do.

[creditcardfree]

We have auto insurance that includes (I'm sure at a small cost) road side assistance. Check your policy to see if you are already paying for something similar provided by AAA. If you don't have it, check how much it might cost to add it to your policy, so you can compare it to your AAA renewal.

[bjl584]

I cancelled mine a few years back. I bought a new truck in 2011 and it came with 5 years road side assistance, so AAA was redundant.

I may renew it soon, as my truck is getting older now.

When I did have AAA I used it a handful of times. It is nice peace of mind.

[HundredK]

Our auto insurance does include roadside assistance, but it's super cruddy. We needed to use it once with our last car, and they informed us that they couldn't find anyone to get out there for at least 4 hours. While we were stuck on the side of a highway in a heavily populated area. We ended up calling and paying for a tow truck driver ourselves (who got there in about 10 minutes), and he told us that none of those low cost auto insurance plans ever work as well as AAA for getting you help quick. So that's what prompted us signing up for AAA in the first place.

[DaveInPgh]

I have been without it before and regretted it. Honestly not sure I would even get rid of it if I bought a new car with roadside assistance. I have used roadside assistance through the car manufacturer before and the service was not even close to as fast as AAA.

[msomnipotent]

I used it a few times when I had an older car. I bought a new car and added roadside assistance through my auto insurance. I think it was $9 a year or every six months. Can't remember which. I just wish I knew about it before I paid AAA $60 every year!

[disneysteve]

I'm a big fan of AAA. Unless you have alternate coverage like from the car manufacturer or your insurance company, I would keep it. The cost is nominal, a few dollars per month. It's great that you are focused on paying off debt but less than $10/month isn't going to make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

[HundredK]

It's great that you are focused on paying off debt but less than $10/month isn't going to make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Hmmm.. is your AAA less than $10/month? Mine is just about $16/month (about $190 per year). Wonder if we have some special level of it? That's something to look into.

[disneysteve]

Hmmm.. is your AAA less than $10/month? Mine is just about $16/month (about $190 per year). Wonder if we have some special level of it? That's something to look into.

You may have Premium or whatever they call it. Basic shouldn't be that much. How many drivers are you covering. Here it's $53 and $39 for the 2nd person so less than $8/month.

[HundredK]

You may have Premium or whatever they call it. Basic shouldn't be that much. How many drivers are you covering. Here it's $53 and $39 for the 2nd person so less than $8/month.

Just 2 drivers. I will log in as soon as I can and take a look. Maybe I can just downgrade or something and still feel good about it all.

[disneysteve]

Just 2 drivers. I will log in as soon as I can and take a look. Maybe I can just downgrade or something and still feel good about it all.

Just checked. Plus level is $85 + $65 for additional people, so $150 vs. $92. That may be what you have.

[HundredK]

Just checked. Plus level is $85 + $65 for additional people, so $150 vs. $92. That may be what you have.

I just logged in and looked - I am at a level called Premier, and it's $193 for 2 drivers. My membership doesn't expire until next month, and when I tried to change my membership level, it says that I have to renew first before I can make changes. So, I guess I will have to call them tomorrow. We don't need Premier! Thanks you guys!

[disneysteve]

I just discovered that one of the employee discounts available through my part time job is a discount on AAA membership. It is only $39 instead of $53. I'm not sure when we're up for renewal but when we are, I'll definitely take advantage of that.

We already have the employee discount on our cell phone plan which saves us about $25/month.

[moneybags]

We've used it a few times for flat tires and once when DH was driving and we ran out of gas!