Is AAA membership worth the cost?

[ua_guy]

I'm perfectly capable of changing a battery myself. However, if you are at home with one car that has a dead battery, you're kind of stuck. My wife had no way to get to an auto store and I wasn't there to take care of it or install it. Without AAA, she would have been stranded. The last time my battery died, we were out shopping without an auto store in the vicinity so again, we called AAA and they came and took care of it.

I can see your point of view. $100 is relatively cheap, and even if you can do those things yourself, it's not always convenient or timely to do so.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yes. I can change a flat but if you have two flat tires you need a tow. Second with the age of my old cars I couldn't always get the lug nuts off. I've changed tires, batteries, oil, and air filters. BUT when you are home solo and battery dead it's worth it.

By the way we got my in-laws car jumped every time we're home a 1996 caravan. So the older the car the more it's worth to get it.

[disneysteve]

Keep in mind that AAA is not just road service.

I already mentioned hotel discounts, which can really add up if you travel much. Just out of curiosity, I just looked up a hotel outside of D.C. where my wife and I have stayed in the past and will likely go to again. For this weekend, the AAA rate is $15/night lower than the regular rate. So if we were to go there for a week, we would save well over $100 with our AAA membership. That would more than pay for it right there.

AAA also gets you discounts many places. You can get reduced prices on theme park tickets, museums, movies, ball games, and much more. There are also a lot of stores that give AAA discounts. I think a lot of this stuff is very under-utilized.

AAA also has a travel agency and an insurance agency.

[ua_guy]

So, my interest was piqued, so I read the entire Emergency Roadside Service guide and benefits included with AAA Premier in our state. Lots of interesting things, here are a few:

Trip interruption service - Up to $1500 reimbursement for lodging, meals, transportation if your vehicle becomes disabled or a qualifying event interrupts your travel.

Emergency Breakdown Car Rental - This one is weird. AAA pays for one day of a rental vehicle if your car breaks down, however, it stipulates you must rent the vehicle for at least two days. So really, it's 2-for-1 if you're on the hook for two days.

ID Theft Restoration - Who knew?

Winching/extrication - Is provided if adjacent to a public roadway, 1 truck is included, and a 2nd truck for up to 1 hour.

Bicycle Service - Basically you get a free ride home if your bicycle becomes disabled.

Towing - Up to 200 miles.

I was thinking about some of the trips I've taken, and some of the places I've been stuck...It does not cover breakdowns on trails, logging/mining roads, or forest service roads. Basically only public throughfares "on-road." The important piece for me would be getting towing service from the nearest public road back to a Jeep dealership or qualified repair shop.

...and as long as YOU are a member, any vehicle you are driving or are a passenger inside of, is covered for the Roadside Service/Towing, etc.

I just might go fish that paper application they sent to me out of the paper bin to see if they're offering any signup incentives, if it's any better than signing up online.

[snafu]

We had the service years ago when DKs were tots but cancelled because we never used it. I suggest you compare their list of services with your experiences over the last three years. There are so many on-line booking sites like hotels.com or hotwire.com whose service is nearly instant and prices are remarkable. As mentioned GPS has overtaken map services. Likewise, Trip Tik info is available on your smart phone. Tow/tire change/lock-out service is a cheap bonus on our auto insurance policy. If your car is more than 5 y/o or you travel long highway miles by car it is reassuring.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I personally do not think it is worth it. I had it a long time ago for about 3 years in a row. When I didnt use it for those 3 years I thought why on earth am I paying $100/year for this? Its been 6 years without it...thats $600+ that I can now put towards needing a tow, battery jump, etc. As long as you have a spare tire in your trunk...theres no need to wait for AAA to show up to change it. (for those who do not know how to change a spare tire, you should be ashamed. That should be required to pass the driving exam imo!) And for those who say they're not strong enough...there are devices now that are really cheap and give you a lot of leverage so it requires very little effort to get the bolts off. That excuse doesnt work anymore.

The only way AAA makes sense is if you have a POS car that breaks down a lot or you stay in a hotel for vacation more than a week at a time. The AAA membership could be recouped in the saving from the hotel room.

Rennigade makes a good point here. I've spent $200 (2 years coverage) thusfar and haven't used it since. I'm reconsidering not renewing and just taking my chances in the future. It might be more economical for me to just pay per occurrence should something happen. Knowing my luck though as soon as I cancel it I'll breakdown (lol).

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

If our travel was limited to two weeks a year, I wouldn't purchase it because we have basic towing and labor including with our auto insurance.

However . . .

We travel extensively, often in remote areas, and usually with a travel trailer in tow, and I get tremendous peace of mind from knowing we have help with a 200 mile radius should our towing vehicle ever break down, no matter how remote our location, and will not need to be concerned about over-and-above cost. Between the towing vehicle and trailer we have a total of six potential flat tires on any given trip.

And I do continue to use their paper maps for long treks, and would always recommend keeping paper on hand for times when GPS is just plain WRONG, or wants to send you the shortest, not necessarily most feasible way. Dedicated toll highway, ferry crossing or steep mountain pass anyone? All three of which present significant challenges when towing, and the only way to see and avoid them sometimes is via a paper map.

[disneysteve]

And I do continue to use their paper maps for long treks, and would always recommend keeping paper on hand for times when GPS is just plain WRONG

I have never found GPS maps to be wrong. The directions they give may be wrong but the maps have always been correct. I almost never use GPS to tell me how to get somewhere. I only use it to see the map and then plan my route.

That said, I do still keep a paper road atlas in each car. You can't see the big picture on GPS. If we are taking a long trip, it is extremely difficult to plan it using GPS or Google maps because you only see a small area at a time. With a paper map, I can see the whole state at once. That often comes in handy.

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

I have never found GPS maps to be wrong. The directions they give may be wrong but the maps have always been correct. I almost never use GPS to tell me how to get somewhere. I only use it to see the map and then plan my route.

Travel to some of the remote places we do, and you will. Often times the 'front door' to an area isn't where GPS indicates it is. In those circumstances, a paper map becomes our best friend.

Not to mention a quirk in our Garmin that continually tries to direct us off several exits of our local freeway, then back on, not recognizing that it's been a through freeway for over 15 years. Technology is great, but it's only as perfect as the folk that program it.

Edit: I just remembered one 'biggie' and two more recent examples- 1) Our Garmin seems to loathe left hand turns, and will often direct us up to a mile out of the way to force us to make a right hand turn into our destination. 2) It directed us onto a dirt road recently, when a paved road was adjacent but something like 1/10th of a mile farther away. 3) It bypassed our destination completely, not recognizing the rural road we were attempting to reach, which was marked on our paper map.

And don't even get me started on what a GPS did to us in Costa Rica a couple of years ago! Made for some great stories afterward, but not so funny at the time.

Bottom line, when traveling far from home I cross check via MapQuest before departing, and bring along a paper map.

[Like2Plan]

If our travel was limited to two weeks a year, I wouldn't purchase it because we have basic towing and labor including with our auto insurance.

However . . .

We travel extensively, often in remote areas, and usually with a travel trailer in tow, and I get tremendous peace of mind from knowing we have help with a 200 mile radius should our towing vehicle ever break down, no matter how remote our location, and will not need to be concerned about over-and-above cost. Between the towing vehicle and trailer we have a total of six potential flat tires on any given trip.

And I do continue to use their paper maps for long treks, and would always recommend keeping paper on hand for times when GPS is just plain WRONG, or wants to send you the shortest, not necessarily most feasible way. Dedicated toll highway, ferry crossing or steep mountain pass anyone? All three of which present significant challenges when towing, and the only way to see and avoid them sometimes is via a paper map.

You make some good points. We have had a couple of EPIC fails using GPS over the years (not lately though). Trouble is the paper maps wouldn't have helped us because they didn't have fine enough detail, either--(we were trying to find a specific address in a major city).

I find we sometimes have the opposite problem with the GPS and toll roads (though, just annoying)--sometimes the GPS will stubbornly route us away from the toll roads even when the toll road is the best way to go. (maybe it's an option I selected? )

[disneysteve]

Travel to some of the remote places we do, and you will. Often times the 'front door' to an area isn't where GPS indicates it is. In those circumstances, a paper map becomes our best friend.

Not to mention a quirk in our Garmin that continually tries to direct us off several exits of our local freeway, then back on, not recognizing that it's been a through freeway for over 15 years. Technology is great, but it's only as perfect as the folk that program it.

Edit: I just remembered one 'biggie' and two more recent examples- 1) Our Garmin seems to loathe left hand turns, and will often direct us up to a mile out of the way to force us to make a right hand turn into our destination. 2) It directed us onto a dirt road recently, when a paved road was adjacent but something like 1/10th of a mile farther away. 3) It bypassed our destination completely, not recognizing the rural road we were attempting to reach, which was marked on our paper map.

And don't even get me started on what a GPS did to us in Costa Rica a couple of years ago! Made for some great stories afterward, but not so funny at the time.

Bottom line, when traveling far from home I cross check via MapQuest before departing, and bring along a paper map.

That's exactly why I never use a GPS for directions. I only use them to view the map and plan my route myself.

[Like2Plan]

Edit: I just remembered one 'biggie' and two more recent examples- 1) Our Garmin seems to loathe left hand turns, and will often direct us up to a mile out of the way to force us to make a right hand turn into our destination. 2) It directed us onto a dirt road recently, when a paved road was adjacent but something like 1/10th of a mile farther away. 3) It bypassed our destination completely, not recognizing the rural road we were attempting to reach, which was marked on our paper map.

We bought a portable Magellan unit (purchased through AAA) a few years back. For a while, it was pretty good, but then our model couldn't get updated maps anymore (not supported). And, the traffic feature was an additional cost. And, it always took a few minutes to acquire a signal when just turning it on. Finally, the battery wouldn't hold a charge and it would only work if it was plugged into the cigarette lighter.
It was pretty reliable for the most part, unless there was construction (or there was some map change).

Now-a-days, I just use my iPhone and occasionally I will use my iPad if I want to see a bigger depiction of the area. It does a pretty good job and it has traffic on it, which is pretty nice.
Your point about having a backup paper map is a good one, though (especially in the wilderness areas).

It sounds like you go to some really interesting places.

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

It sounds like you go to some really interesting places.

We do indeed. Hitting FIRE means we now spend four to six months on the road hiking and RV'ing.

[breathemusic]

Personally, I'd rather fork out the $100 per year for the gold membership and know that if and when something happens, I can call AAA instead of scrounging around to find the nearest tow company or calling a bunch of locksmiths/tows to see who's going to give me a better rate, etc. And if you want to call AAA and get a membership on the spot because you just broke down or whatever, they charge an extra fee for same day use, so better to have the coverage beforehand.

I don't know about anyone else, but the few times I've needed to use it, it was never convenient. Locked my keys in the car once WITH IT RUNNING because I stepped out for a second to look at something and stupidly hit the lock button on mental autopilot. Another time I lost my keys in a river on a tubing trip that was 100 miles from home. I only had the AAA basic membership, but my sister-in-law who was along for the ride had Gold and I was able to use her membership because she was a passenger in my car.

It's nice to know that if I'm riding with someone else and we have car troubles, I can still use my own membership.

And I think $100 a year is worth it. I'm paying for peace of mind and ease of access in the even that I do have an issue.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I am about to admit a huge flaw I have. I lose my keys a lot. AAA has gotten me out of a jam A LOT! I've locked my keys in the car multiple times. Sigh. Whatever it costs I have made it back in spades.