Crap or Not? #2 - AAA Membership
Posted by Cap in Stop Buying Crap! on July 18, 2006 |
Crap or Not? American Automobile Association Membership
Got the renewal bill in the mail a few days ago.
Hmm.
Is AAA membership all fluff, or is it the greatest thing since slice bread?
Of the four years of membership, their service was utilized a few times. Once to jump start a car (couldn’t find the jumper cables), twice for towing buddies rides, another time to find a trustworthy auto repair shop, and a few times for those ‘free’ travel maps.
Then there’s those famous AAA discounts. Hotels, theme parks, restaurants, and retail stores. These were taken advantage of whenever possible. In fact, if you’re a frequent traveler, AAA discount will easily pay for itself within days.
AAA Membership price seems to vary by region. To the top right, you’ll see that for a Southern California basic membership, the price is $47 and an additional $24 for another adult membership. $71 for two people. Not too bad.
Still, in recent years their service have been utilized less and less—while their membership price has been slowly increasing. $71 per year isn’t a big deal, but ten years of that and it’ll be $710. That’s a lot of hot Cheetos.
Crap or not? You can vote on the top left of the blog.
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28 Responses to “Crap or Not? #2 - AAA Membership”
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July 18th, 2006 at 6:13 am
AAA is an investment. On those cold winter nights when your car won’t start, you appreciate the investment.
What really saves you money are the discounts. If you travel you can save on airline tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals.
Don’t forget to ask vendors if they have a discount. We recently went to an outlet mall and they had coupon books for AAA members. We ended up saving 20-50% on all our purchases.
July 18th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Totally worth it! If you consider that there are two adults on the plan, the fair thing would be to slit the cost, $35.50 a year for what is essentialy roadside assistance is a great deal, regardless of the other random perks.
The best way to look at a AAA membership is to think of it as insurance. Would you venture out without car insurance because you havent used it “less and less” over the past few years?
July 18th, 2006 at 6:48 am
We decided not to renew ours, at least for now. Check with your insurance company to see if they offer roadside assistance - ours did. We don’t travel (that whole lack of money thing) so the discounts didn’t matter to us.
July 18th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I purchased my first AAA membership a week before I got married and used it the day of my wedding after our car broke down on the way to our honeymoon spot. I will be forever grateful for my AAA membership. I just look at it as a little extra car insurance.
July 18th, 2006 at 7:20 am
1. For $60/year, it gives me peace of mind when my wife is driving alone or is in somebody else’s car.
2. Registration in Pennsylvania plus AAA membership costs only $20 less than the one without, so it was cheap.
2. Since our preferred hotel chain is Hampton Inn, we get 5-10% off for every hotel stay. That itself should pay for the AAA membership.
July 18th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Our family has always had AAA for a few reasons.
#1 was we never had cell phones up until last year, and no one answered the home phone, so it was pretty much needed.
Security - Our father always wanted us to be safe when out with people, so he keeps us on the plan.
Discounts - We use it a lot for rental cars which we get for any trip over a few hundred miles(Often) as well as hotels
And towing most importantly. We live under the mantra of “If I buy a car flat out for 2k and have to fix it every ~3 months for $150 we had a car payment of $75.”
It works real well because almost all repairs we do ourselves, and just need it towed to the house.
If we started buying cars we’d probably keep it for the sake of me and my sister(Lets my father sleep at night I guess…)
July 19th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Let’s not forget about AAA’s insurance services.
I’ve had AAA car insurance for the past 4 years. There rates are among the lowest in the region. Every year at renewal time I shop my policy to various insurance companies and none has been able to match AAA’s affordable rates.
Although I haven’t taken advantage yet, AAA’s life and homeowner’s insurance rates are reasonable.
Add the frequent service for flat tires, registration renewal and lock-out service; our membership value has become exceeded its cost.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
AAA has been a lifesaver for me and mine more times than I can count. My spouse and I have had a membership for 10+ years, and it’s been worth every penny. I even gave my oldest son a AAA Plus membership as part of his Christmas gift last year, and it’s helped him at least once this year already.
Yes, the price keeps going up (over $90 this year for just my spouse and I), but I wouldn’t be without it.
July 20th, 2006 at 9:17 am
I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think it is worth it. I had two posts about AAA back in February. I got a lot of flack from AAA people saying that has saved them so much money, but I did the math and over five years I would be out over $280. Some even said that the free maps were worth the $40… um, no, those are now $40 maps. My insurance agent has maps that are really free.
What a way to start the day
AAA
July 20th, 2006 at 11:52 am
I bet savvysaver has never had keys left in the car or had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere or had a radiator conked out in the heat of summer.
Believe me, even if I don’t use their service for the next 5 years, the 70-mile towing of my car to the garage was well worth the membership.
This is one of those things that you may not need it frequently but when you need it, you’ll pay for that service regardless of price.
July 20th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
I recently rented a penske truck from Missouri To chicago….the truck rental was $420….they said if I was a AAA member, I would get 10% off.
So I signed up and got $42 off…..thats like getting the AAA membership FREE!
As for hotels and tavels, i think u can get better rates online… I dont think AAA helps so much. It might help for travels where you dont book online…
for example, I thought i could drive the Uhaul truck the same day, but I got tired and i spent the night midway….the hotel gave me a $3 discount for being a AAA member.
So as U can see, AAA has paid of itself within 24 hours of purchasing it.
I read on the website that you can get 10% of Pizza hut! Is this true? I go there quite a bit and always forget to say im AAA member.
July 21st, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I bought the roadside assistance reimbursement from my insurance company for $6 per year per person.
I carry a Citi platinum Mastercard. If I ever need towing or lockout assist or a jump start, I call 800-MC-ASSIST, and they dispatch a towing company. Then my insurance reimburses me, and it doesn’t count as a regular claim, so it doesn’t ruin my rates.
For travel and hotel discounts, use the web.
July 21st, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Man AAA posts just suck in comments :)
Thanks for the link Cap
July 26th, 2006 at 3:23 am
Never drive in Pennsylvania without a AAA card, unless you live there and have PA plates. Non-AAA cardholders with out-of-state plates who get pulled over in a speed trap have to pay the fine in cash, to the cop, right there on the side of the road, or else go directly to prison. AAA cardholders can surrender their card instead, and then settle the matter by mail like civilized people.
Don’t know if any other states work the same way. But saving me from a 3-day weekend of gang rape in 1993 was more than enough to earn AAA my business for life.
August 15th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for sharing, Matt. Do you live there? Is this still the case? If so, I’ll be sure to never visit Pennsylvania, ever. I don’t need my hard earned tourist dollars going to a state that has its head in the dark ages. I prefer natural selection via free market principles, or at least my own economic sanctions. :)
August 16th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Somehow we have been AAA members for 20 years and I am only 32.
Actually my MIL bought it for my husband and and his brother. When I got married 5 years ago and were asked if we wanted to keep it going, we said yes, added me and dropped my BIL.
My husband always had bad trucks and used AAA literally monthly to be towed. He got a newer trucks but we still kept it.
We moved to a new developing neighborhood and I got about 6 flat tires. Boy was I glad to be able to call AAA and have them change out my tire.
You can also use AAA on other cars you are with, like if you were in your friends car that had a flat.
In Texas, its $75 for the 2 of us. We think its worth the money to have piece of mind, especially when our cars are getting a bit older and have more miles on them.
August 19th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
We have had AAA for several years. Within the past year both my DH and I have had two flat tires and they responded in little over an hour each time. Recently we saved about $15 on a hotel room for a one-night stay. I called the hotel’s 800 number instead of reserving it online to see how much discount we would get before booking. So I think it is a good deal and I agree with other comments about it giving us peace of mind.
August 22nd, 2006 at 10:26 am
It’s absolutely, positively worth it. I went without auto club for many years but started AAA about 4 years ago. Since I’ve been a member, I’ve had dead batteries and flat tires in the most inconvenient places, during some horrible weather conditions.
AAA was there for me within the hour in all cases, including during one of Chicagoland’s very nasty snowstorms, when newscasters said to expect to wait at least 3-4 hours for help.
One Monday morning, I called a local service because I had accidentally locked the car when I parked it in the garage on Friday evening. They wanted over $100 to open it. And then I remembered AAA, which I had never called for this type of “emergency” (I wasn’t on the road, after all). The nice man from AAA just walked in, asked a couple questions about airbags, and had the car open in seconds.
But it looks like I’ve been missing something, because I’ve never paid any attention to those discounts.
It’s renewal time soon, and I’ll do it without hesitation.
August 22nd, 2006 at 8:29 pm
I forgot to mention but yeah I ended up renewing my membership.
Besides the benefit, one of the major reason why I’ll still continue to use AAA is because of the discount mentioned—specifically discount w/ auto repair.
Denise: 10-20% auto repair discount at AAA approved auto shop can save a bundle. having a source to mediate possible problems with the workmanship of repair at AAA approved shop is also another peace of mind.
August 24th, 2006 at 4:16 am
I have it for the family both for my peace of mind and also so I can sit fat, dumb, and happy in my lounger watching TV while someone else runs out and rescues the wife and/or kids.
The only way to make hotel reservations these days is online. When my son got orders to Colorado from Iraq, his wife drove there from Virginia a few weeks early to get an apartment. When she was getting tired she would call me on her cell phone and I would make a hotel reservation at a motel in the next town. This easily saved $30-$50 night even off the AAA rate.
August 26th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I like having roadside assistance being a female and traveling alot. Check with your cell phone company, as I have road side assistance with them now and used it for towing and flat tire.
September 26th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Suggestion to all … check out CSAA.COM - did you know your membership can be used at payless shoe source for 10% off shoe purchases - great savings for children shoes for school,(they combine this with other current sales) Lenscrafters for eye glasses, restaraunts, did you know you can book your travel at CSAA.com as a member? Find out the current savings and discounts… they are updated, plus you can get a list of AAA preferred repair facilities that show your card and save on mechanical services for your car? 10% off car repairs…
November 12th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Bought a AAA membership in July 06. Locked keys in car in September. AAA was there in 15 minutes and retrieved my keys in about 2 seconds. No charge. Bad accident last Monday. Jeep needed to be towed. AAA shows up in about 30 minutes with a nice shiny new AAA flat bed tow truck and tows Jeep to shop. No charge. Nuff said. Memberhip has more than paid for itself.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
It is a better deal to BUNDLE with AAA than buy insurance and coverages thorugh your phone company, credit card company, etc..me..ill stick wit my car insurance and dealership for my safety valves.
March 29th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Just 2 days ago a buddy asked me if I had a coat hanger because he’d locked his keys in his van. I didn’t have one, but I found a good piece of coated stiff cable. Did we get into his van? No, the seals they put on doors now make it quite a bit harder than it used to be. I told him, “call AAA” he did, they were there in less than 30 minutes. There are other times I’ve used their service, this was the most recent. Since I do travel and my wife and son are without me at times, it’s a no brainer. GREAT investment.