OT: AAA membership, worth it?

Don't you have any friends that would help you if you had a breakdown?

I always use a little more caution around people with AAA stickers on their cars.

It's just another form of insurance and you need to run the numbers to decide whether it's worth self insuring against potentially high-cost but low-probability events. If you're in an urban area, the "stock" level tow is probably enough to reach a generic service station. And you're right, there is a "Plus" level that provides towing service up to

There's nothing they provide that can't be handled on one's own but when "X" happens out in the boonies it could be nice to have one number rather than figuring out who to call for a tow. Even with the stock level, one shouldn't pay more than the going rate once beyond the "free" mileage and there could be some assurance that the towing company isn't a major rip-off artist (at least if they want to stay on the AAA call list).

Not in the Boonies in Nevada :-)

:-)

It sound like dental insurance which we don't have for that reason. You pay and pay but they only reimburse a tiny fraction of a root canal, and only after a longer wait time where you essentially pay for nothing.

Yeah, but couldn't I then just call a AAA tow service anyway and also pay for the first five miles? Assuming they don't have a AAA rate and also a rip-off rate ...

If AAA membership guarantees a reasonable rate and most others would be rip-offs it might still make sense.

(1) Ask your insurance agent about emergency road service coverage.

(2) Some cell phone plans include emergency road service for like $3/month.

(3) _Some_ high end automobiles come with emergency road service :-)

(4) AAA was, once upon a time, useful for up-to-date mapping for your vacation trip. With modern GPS, particularly with cell-phone-linkage (or map on the dash :-), who needs AAA? ...Jim Thompson

Doesn't your auto insurance company include towing? If not, it is usually cheaper to add it to your auto insurance than to get AAA coverage.

Good point, have to ask my Farmers guy.

My whole "plan" is five bucks a month, the provider is Bri'ish and for them we all drive on the wrong side of the road :-)

I think neither of our cars qualifies as high-end, they are more like your Nissan Frontier.

Don't have a GPS, never felt the need for one. But maps can easily be bought at the store.

I guess that all your remotes use AA? ;-)

Yep, good point, have to ask.

I've had exactly one tow under AAA. Was about 10 miles on flat terrain. That $80 tow cost me $1300. when you consider the premiums over the years. All the way in, the driver was 'selling me up' so I could pay even more.

A current phone book and cell phone in the car is the way to go.

Had brake service done by a 'AAA' certified shop.

They forgot to install some parts. A truly inexcusable botch which ruined a set of pads and had me driving an unsafe car.

This was long before 'yelp.com'.

--Winston

Here in California, they've been offering two different levels of membership (with different tow plans) for years. The basic membership level has a very basic towing plan: anywhere within 5 miles, or to the nearest AAA-approved repair facility, or to the towing provider's facility. This will get you to *a* garage or repair facility, but not necessarily the one you'd prefer to use. You do pay more (on a per-mile basis) to the towing contractor at the time of the tow if you want to go further than that... the additional per-mile rate will be no more than the towing contractor's standard rate.

CSAA has an enhanced membership level, for more $$, which includes a much more generous towing plan... up to 100 miles.

This sort of dual-level plan has been in place here for years... it's not a new thing.

Towing on my regular auto policy is $3/6 months.

We received an "offer" from them recently -- "Act within the next 10 days...". Long list of "benefits". But, not when you look *close* (yeah, if your battery dies, they'll come out and *sell* you one -- for twice the price you could by it yourself!).

Other half thought it might be worth looking into as she is getting ready for a lengthy road trip.

The deal-breaker was wanting birthdate, etc. ("Um, why do you need to know that? Does it affect the reliability of my *car*??")

How many L's in gullible?

I've always felt that dental insurance is a better bang for the buck than regular medical coverage in that I do go in for my routine cleanings and every year or so they'll find a little cavity or something to fix and I feel I'm getting some actual benefit from the insurance... whereas with medical coverage it'll usually be a handful of years at a time inbetween doctor visits. (...and then there's a $35 co-pay for which you might get TEN MINUTES of the guy's time...).

I guess the thing with dental coverage is that most people have a better idea when they're still young and working just how prone to dental problems they are, whereas with medical coverages it's often not until you're hitting 60+ that you start to see how lucky you were or weren't in the genetics lottery.

Anyway, what I really meant to mention here is that most regular automobile insurance policies have "roadside assistance" as an option. Back when I was just out of college and tended to have rather less-than-reliable cars, this was a very good value for me: Cost something like $30/year, and on average I'd probably get at least one tow every year or two that would have otherwise run $100-$200 each time. Hence you might want to call up your agent and see what he says his rates and coverate are relative to AAA's...

---Joel

For trip planning, try google. I planned a 1200mile trip last night using their "maps". (some bugs in it -- the router gets confused at times and there is no way to recover short of starting over).

With it, you can "bend" the route to accommodate any intermediary destinations along the way. Or, fabricate bogus destinations along the way just to coax it into computing mileage/time estimates to "convenient landmarks" (i.e., 27 miles, 0:28 to East Podunk) -- helpful *as* you are driving.

If you are driving "out west" where services are few and far between, it is helpful to create such "destinations" along the route. Then, when you *print* the route, you can opt to include miniature maps of each step along the way. These maps can be panned and scaled. So, I pan and scale to make the "services" available in each of those locations visible on those little maps. A handy way of keeping track of alternatives (for food, fuel and lodging).

I have 4 GPS's that I've rescued over the past couple of years. (I guess that tells you how much folks *like* them! :> ) I keep one in each car's glove box (along with "car" charger). They are handy for computing mileage -- but *silly* for driving directions! (can you spell "toy"?)

OTOH, keeping the maps up to date (actually, the points-of-interest) is handy as you can browse for nearby food, lodging, fuel, libraries, hospitals, etc. -- in a small enough device (yet not as insanely small as a cell phone!) *without* paying a monthly fee.

Affects the likelihood of your locking yourself out of the car or forgetting to watch the gas gauge? :-)

Note to self: Must ask, must ask ...

Strange. Maybe they give senior discounts. Hopefully it's not for targeted marketing by "our trusted affiliated businesses" ...

:-)

They *might* be able to claim that -- if they could keep a straight face (note that their "offer" isn't conditional! So, even if I told them I was born in 1895, am VERY forgetful, and was born in 1895, they're still stuck with me).

No, it was, "Give us this information. We'll run a credit report on you and/or sell that information to as many folks as we can!" (folks who purchase AAA insurance have been found to be statistically more likely to purchase ________)

The bang factor often becomes very small when you must buy a policy on the free market and not through a company. Capped at a quite low yearly max, long wait times, and when I last checked the reimbursements for most work was rather paltry.

Yes, will do.

I see my MD once a year -- annual physical. And the RN once a year (flu shot).

OTOH, I've busted a fingertip, drove my fingernail onto a "nail", colonoscopy, etc.

For us, it has *thankfully* been a net loss (I'd *keep* paying those rates forever if it would guarantee my health! :> )

The biggest advantage to any insurance is the reduced rates that the insurance company gets. E.g., just routine bloodwork can be a few hundred bucks "without insurance". *With* it, a few *dollars* (our lab tests are free).

The "negotiated rates" are a big win here, too. E.g., the provider agrees to a fixed, *lower* rate. Then, the insurance covers some portion of that. Get a crown and you'll shell out $500 instead of over $1K (depends on your market).