AAA Price

[myrdale]

While falling down the YouTube rabbit hole last night, I came across a video discussing the benefits of AAA. I've been a member for about 10 years now, I've only use the towing twice. In the video the guy mentioned his membership fee was $89 per year for him and his wife. I've been paying $100 per year.

Has anyone had any experience negotiating price with AAA?

I really don't travel much, and I've never used any of the benefits. How often do you pull the card out for discounts?

[Fishindude77]

We have a place five hours away that we travel to a lot, so purchased AAA in the event we would need roadside assistance.
Come to find out after discussions with my agent that State Farm includes the same stuff in our coverage, so we were double covered.
Knock on wood ..... but we've not yet needed it.

[rennigade]

No, never tried negotiating. We dropped AAA years ago after my wife started working from home. It was useful to use since it saved her around $15 per night each time she stayed in a hotel, which was typically 2 nights/week. The roadside was just an added bonus. Most people have vehicle insurance that covers towing. AAA will tow much further distance depending on membership tier though. All in all, I dont see much benefit to AAA unless you stay in hotels a lot. If you run out of gas, you deserve to be stranded. If you cant change a tire, you're a lost cause.

[ua_guy]

I have AAA for our RV. I extended it this year, but will likely not be going with AAA next year. They used to provide ~200 miles of towing coverage, up to 4 instances per year, for our RV. It was actually a pretty good deal considering towing it requires the services of a heavy wrecker. Not cheap. But this year they added language that caps the expense at $500. That's nothing. So, we will be looking into Good Sam or Coachnet, which apparently will cover the full towing bill. We've also never used AAA's coverage, so it's equated to peace-of mind, and not actual performed services.

I don't consider AAA "worth" it for non-RV stuff. Auto insurance can provide good general roadside assistance for passenger cars at a competitive price.

I have used my AAA discount for car and RV parts. I'm able to save up to 10% through certain retailers, but that hasn't paid for itself. Came close one year, but not worth it over time.

The price of membership seems to vary depending on the regional club. I have not been successful in negotiating down the price.

If you cant change a tire, you're a lost cause.

I wouldn't want my 75-year old mother to be changing a tire on the side of the road, even though she knows. She's probably not strong enough to break lugs any longer. Someone else can do that for her.

Also, you won't be changing a 22.5" semi-tractor wheel on the side of the road, unless you're carrying heavy equipment with you. Torque spec on those lugs is over 400 ft-lb. Big RV's generally don't carry a spare tire.

[bjl584]

While falling down the YouTube rabbit hole last night, I came across a video discussing the benefits of AAA. I've been a member for about 10 years now, I've only use the towing twice. In the video the guy mentioned his membership fee was $89 per year for him and his wife. I've been paying $100 per year.

Has anyone had any experience negotiating price with AAA?

I really don't travel much, and I've never used any of the benefits. How often do you pull the card out for discounts?

I used to have AAA, but cancelled it awhile back once I stopped driving beater cars.
Like you, I never used it much.
My truck had 5 year road side assistance, and the GPS made the old trip-tick useless.
There were a few "okay" discounts, but nothing that I ever was able to take advantage of on a regular basis.

I think I paid around $75 a year for the stepped up membership. (100 mile towing maybe)
I never tried to negotiate the price.

[myrdale]

If you run out of gas, you deserve to be stranded. If you cant change a tire, you're a lost cause.

I am not in complete disagreement. It would take at least two sets of hands to count the number of people I've picked up walking down the side of the road carrying an empty gas can over the years. Personally I am seldom under 1/4 tank, and always fill it up each time. There is a wide swath of society, friends and relatives included, who will only put $5 of gas in their car at a time.

I've helped a couple of people change tires, but what seems to be the #1 request I get is people with a dead battery needing to be jumped off.

If there is a lesson in all this, it is, keep jumper cables in your car, know where the jack is and how to use it, and look at the gas needle every time you crank the engine.

[myrdale]

My truck had 5 year road side assistance,

Come to find out after discussions with my agent that State Farm includes the same stuff in our coverage, so we were double covered.

At this point I think between the maintenance package i purchased with the truck, insurance, and AAA I am triple covered at the moment. I figured this would be good ammunition for disputing the cost of the membership. It doesn't renew until December, but I will update yall then.

[scfr]

A few years ago we switched from AAA to roadside assistance from our auto insurance company (Geico), for approx 75% less. In the past, we used AAA quite a bit for hotel discounts and maps, but our use of those had dropped quite a bit which caused us to make the switch. Now we just want the "just in case" of available roadside assistance. I used the insurance company's roadside assist for the first time last week and the service & speed were excellent.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

maybe i should dump our AAA. it's $110 for 2 members.