AAA cancelled me

My experience with AAA has been hit-or-miss, but some of the bad experiences have been pretty significant. It's been a couple years since a really bad experience, but there were certainly times I was on the verge on canceling.

Needed a tow from work, called at 2pm, they found a place, then that place canceled, and they had to find another. I think thhis happened multiple times, because I was in that parking lot until after 6pm.

Broke down on the side of the freeway, engine dead, in below zero weather. Not only did it take them over 2 hours to get someone out to us, but they prioritized a tire change in a gas station parking lot over people on the side of the highway with no heat in extremely cold weather. It got cold enough that my friend called someone to let us sit in their car and let us warm up. I even asked AAA if we could leave the keys and my AAA card with the vehicle, but no, that wasn't allowed.

Transmission went out on my Insight only 10ish miles from home, also in winter, but at least the car still ran, so I could stay warm. Their original ETA was under an hour, so I stayed with the car, instead of getting a ride, and picking it up later with my truck and trailer. The ETA just kept going up, until 3 hours later, they said they weren't even sure how my case was dispatched, because it was out of their limited working radius due to the weather and high number of calls. I gave up and had someone come get me.

I tried again the next day, using the app so I could wait at home until close to the ETA, which was around 8:30pm. I left when it was 10 minutes away, and by the time I got to the car, it had gone up half an hour. I called, and once again, ETA kept going up, but at least they didn't say it was cancelled for some reason (although the first time, they couldn't find it in their system). After 2 or 3 hours, they let me leave the car with the keys, so I went home. Tow truck driver showed up at my house at 12:30 AM, dropped it off, and told me he was still handling calls that had been made the shift before his.

I did have a couple semi-reasonable experiences lately, had a flat tire (car had no spare, just the can of goop, and it wasn't enough to fix it) and was picked up in less than 30 minutes, and ran out of gas on the side of the freeway and had gas in a little over an hour (original ETA 45 minutes).

I have pushed their service to its limits in the past, using the full 100 mile range on a few occasions, but oddly enough those times I was actually picked up within an hour, where most of my long wait times were 10-40miles, and they didn't try to cancel us, yet.

I've had USAA for over 30 years, never had an issue with them.  They've always paid a fair amount, most of the time without any argument, took care of the issue quickly and go after the other parties insurance for us if we get hit by someone else.

DrBoost said:

 for that reason, they are dropping you?

It's legal because they aren't "dropping you", they are declining to renew.  It's a new contract every year, and when it comes up for renewal they decide whether or not they think it's worth continuing the business relationship.  You paid for a year's service, you got a year's service, but nothing says they have to continue beyond that.  Flip it around -- you treat the end of a year's membership as a chance to decide whether or not to continue it, right?  Why should AAA have fewer rights than you?

Pissing off customers by getting rid of the ones who are projected to be expensive may or may not be good business, but morally there's nothing wrong with it.

As for the slow tow service when making calls for assistance, yes, it sucks.  OTOH, it's not really AAA's fault, they are just routing your service request to the area dispatcher and if there are no trucks then there are no trucks.  You're not going to get faster service with anyone else because all the trucks are busy.

My only experience with USAA is when my wife's friend's teenage daughter backed into my legally parked, unoccupied Audi and they spent over a year claiming it was my fault.

Forward them this thread and tell them that a group with significant interest in the matter would like to know the real answer. 

Pete

I think that one must take into consideration the increasing uselessness of car owners in situations where AAA might not have been called in days past.

I recall having a rare flat tire maybe 10 or 12 years ago, on a bridge ramp with lots of traffic  and even then the slowly passing drivers were offering me cell phones to call CAA (our Canadian equivalent of AAA).  Apparently, no one thinks of trying to sort out a problem themselves (not talking about those without any capability, but those that are able)  and simply rely on AAA, which sends the society costs way up.

I don't recall when they instituted limits on service, but I used to need them once a year or so for a quick jump start when a battery failed or a spare tire turned out to be flat. I'm sure there were limits but me and my fleet never came anywhere near them.

Today, few (other than some of the guys that hang out here, I expect) think to do anything but call for a truck.

I've had the top-level plan for a few years now.   The price has escalated quite a bit, so I should probably double-check my benefits and make sure it's still worth it. I've heard of them banning people who were using it in appropriately (buying multiple cars per year).  So far they're winning, which is OK.

I'm surprised this thread title isn't more common around here. 

IMO tow plans aren't worth it. Most likely it's an added cost for something you'll never need and, as this thread testifies, if/when you do need it there'll likely be a bunch of problems. Long waits, poor service, denied service, etc. Use it too much and you get dropped anyway. I think we average needing about 1 tow per year and we've had pretty good experience just straight calling a local towing company. If they aren't available or the wait is too long move onto another.

In reply to amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) :

I rented an RV from a big rental company. Covid hit, I cancelled the reservation. They somehow failed to note that and charged me anyway. My credit card company sided with the RV company. Everyone blew me off and treated me like a nuisance. I have a Twitter account that I've used maybe a dozen times. I have less than 10 followers. I tweeted directly at the the CEO, VP, President, and every other C level exec at the RV rental company and I had the VP on the phone the same day personally refunding my money. They don't give a berkeley about you, but they do give a large berkeley about their image. 

stuart in mn said:

I've had an AAA membership ever since I first got my license, so that's nearly 50 years.  On average I've probably used them twice a year - some years not at all, other years up to the maximum number.  I honestly can't recall ever having a bad experience with them.

I've had AAA since I sent my daughter off to college in a beat up 94 Camaro. We probably average about one tow a year, but almost all of them are 100 to 200 miles. They hauled the Camaro home from school twice and within the last 6 months hauled the G35 home after losing an engine on track. I have no complaints. 

I'm always amused by the weird corporate speak that is created these days. They didn't cancel your policy.... they "non-renewed" you. WTF,O?

Sparkydog said:

I'm always amused by the weird corporate speak that is created these days. They didn't cancel your policy.... they "non-renewed" you. WTF,O?

There's actually a distinction there.  Cancelled would be "no more coverage as of X date regardless of when your current agreed / paid coverage cycle ends".  Non-renewal means "coverage continues through the end of the current agreed / paid cycle, but you can't start a new cycle of coverage"

In reply to Sparkydog :

Non-renewal is not the same as cancel. One is at the end of a contract, one is generally mid-contract.

It's not corporate speak, it's English. 

infernosg said:

IMO tow plans aren't worth it. Most likely it's an added cost for something you'll never need and, as this thread testifies, if/when you do need it there'll likely be a bunch of problems. Long waits, poor service, denied service, etc. Use it too much and you get dropped anyway. I think we average needing about 1 tow per year and we've had pretty good experience just straight calling a local towing company. If they aren't available or the wait is too long move onto another.

This.  With the proliferation of cell phones and mobile internet access, makes a quick search, and direct call to a tow truck driver a very viable alternative to AAA.

Maybe in the city. 

Out here in the boonies, a tow can easily be $600-1000, especially with an RV.  Worth the "insurance".

Toyman! said:

In reply to Sparkydog :

Non-renewal is not the same as cancel. One is at the end of a contract, one is generally mid-contract.

It's not corporate speak, it's English. 

Yes - I don't know why people have a problem wrapping their heads around this - seems perfectly simple to me. They seem to think that they have the right to enter into a new contract term regardless of what the other party says/wants.   

Wonder how they would rationalize it if they were the ones that wanted to go a different way at the end of th term and the auto club said no, we are renewing you whether you like it or not.    This is why contracts are reduced to writing - then it doesn't matter what you thought, the rules (and law) are clear.

I've had AAA since like 1992.  For the most part, I've gotten far more than my money's worth out of them over the years, even if I only call one time each year, which I did for probably at least 20 years.  Like so many things these days, they have only gotten more expensive and offered less.  They did build a bunch of stupid new offices in CA a few years ago, though, so someone on staff still thinks travel agencies are a thing.  Sense a down in flames thing here at some point.

I'll keep paying, because it seems that competitors don't really compete.  

The best insurance is having a truck that can tow . . .

ddavidv said:

Insurance companies and others who offer 'roadside assistance' programs usually use a tow dispatch service called Agero.

They suck.

AAA and Agero both pay crap rates, so tow companies either refuse to do the tow or put  you at the bottom of the list. The shop I worked at did AAA tows and we made no money on them. The best we could hope was that we'd get the repair job if the customer didn't have another destination in mind. The employer I currently have uses Agero and multiple hour waits are not uncommon. Sometimes they 'forget' to even come get you.

I honestly don't pay for any of these services. The number of times I've needed a tow have been minimal. I've figured out who the good local tow guys are and who charge King's Ransom rates. I just call the good guy and pay him cash. Still less than I'd have paid AAA all these years.

It's a little tougher if you're on a trip but with Google at your fingertips a few customer reviews will tell you what you  need to know.

A place where I used to work got a AAA tow service delisted after we caught them on three occasions diverting our customers' cars to their shop.

Me, I would have just reported the cars as stolen and let the police sort it out.

I used Geico or Progressive at my end of POR last year (I go between the two every couple years, keeping the price down that way) and there were no objections despite it being 8+ miles off the pavement on a logging trail. 
 

I find them handy because in that scenario at 3 a.m. when I have limited service, low battery, and no influence with napping wrecker drivers, it was nice to have a concierge to do the negotiating.