AAA to tow projects?

In scouring craigslist et all for neat project possibilities, it's come to my attention that I might need some way of getting such a vehicle home should I decide to buy it. But without easy access to a truck I have no good way of going about it. However, with AAA plus I have free 100 mile tows ... so could it be done? Has anyone used AAA to tow unregistered project vehicles home?

AAA towed this one for me I had them repo a car once, too.

The collective experience here is that it is usually the driver's choice as to weather he accepts your tow or not.

Typical tactics include:
Make sure the car looks as road worthy as possible.
Place some plates on it, they dont have to be the exact plates especially if you are not driving it.
Make it look as if it borke down while you were driving it and now you just need to get it home to fix it.
Push the car off a dealers lot and onto the street if needed.

If you don't know the person towing you, be prepared to talk a good game. I have had this done before, so I know it works.

But generally if you have the title in hand, they won't say no.

I had figured that if it looked reasonably driven and then borked that it wouldn't be an issue. However one car that piqued my interest is relatively complete, although sans engine ... might be hard to explain that one.

Though Keith's pic might make it possible to have anything towed ...

My friend tried but AAA turned him down because it had no plates, thats all I know

Keith wrote: I had them repo a car once, too.

I'm kinda curious to hear the story behind this one

Why use AAA yourself, I used my friend's AAA to tow a paroject car for me,

technically they don't like towing w/o plates or insurance, but then they don't need to know anything about either, I had the XR4Ti towed, it's not mine, but it is tagged and insured and on the street, I've had my buddies towed as well, just told them to tell the dude they were me and given them my number, said i 'lost the card' never had a problem...

Got a pal with a pickup truck? You can rent a U-Haul trailer for ~$60/day. That's how I got my RX-7 home. Ironically, my pal now works for AAA and said towing my RX-7 home was good practice.

I got that wreck home on a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. They never asked if the car had more than two wheels. And I did put a spare on the right rear so it had two. The driver just kinda shrugged. He got paid either way.

As for the repo - well, I came across a car that we'd been trying to track down. The owner had defaulted on the loan and we'd decided it was time it sat in our garage instead of his. I spotted it on a residential street half a block from my house at 11:30 pm on a Saturday night. We had the title, so I called AAA and had my dead car towed "home" :) The driver said it wasn't his first repo, although I'm not sure that was in the employ of AAA. The weird thing is that we never heard from the guy who had the car.

Keith wrote: The weird thing is that we never heard from the guy who had the car.

He's thinking one of two things.
1) "Oh well, they finally came and repossessed it. I don't want to/have to talk to them anymore."

2) "Oh E36 M3, the car got stolen! I hope the guys who have the title/lien don't come looking for it soon!"

Clem

As others have said they aren't supposed to to something home that isn't registered insured ect, but like Keith said, they're getting paid anyway so as long as it isn't a major pain in the ass to do, like still buried in mud to the door handles a mile from the road, most people will do it, though keep in mind they aren't paid alot per call, but make their money on volume so if it's going to be a big project them may tell you to get lost. If they do take it and it's a project remember to throw the driver a couple bucks.

I had them tow my Spec RX-7 a few times, when I broke down at the track. But, the car was tagged for street use, so not quite the same as a basket-case or trailer-queen.

Done it before I always brought legit looking tags though.

FWIW, I had my wifes Liberty towed (roll back) by AAA to a local garage the other day after I butchered the oil filter (installed by a moron, apparently). The driver was talking to a woman at the garage who asked how much AAA payed him and he responded "$85.00". That's a not-too-shabby rate for a 4.5 mile tow, even after accounting for travel to and fro, op costs, etc.

Dan

I was towing a project (no mistaking it, had roll cage, no plate, interior etc.,) and I had a rear hub go bad. So I had a rollback take it the rest of the way.

He asked me "Got 3As?"

I've always made the car look semi legit while doing it. This time, I need to finally move my damn 87 CSX in pieces ....wonder if I'll be pushing my luck with this one. Anyone in the boston area wanna tow a car to worcester for me ? :)

For 10 years I never had a problem until one time. I have a 66 Bonneville that is basically a rolling pile of disassembled parts. They towed it three times, but that fourth time I got a driver with a bee in his bonnet and he didn't tow it. AAA even has that car on file, so if I call for a tow they'll send a driver, but the driver won't tow it unless its "roadworthy."

The AAA tow policy says that its just for roadside breakdowns. 9 times out of 10 they'll probably tow it and not care. The driver does get paid per tow, so 90% of them will just take it and go.

Bumboclot wrote: FWIW, I had my wifes Liberty towed (roll back) by AAA to a local garage the other day after I butchered the oil filter (installed by a moron, apparently). The driver was talking to a woman at the garage who asked how much AAA payed him and he responded "$85.00". That's a not-too-shabby rate for a 4.5 mile tow, even after accounting for travel to and fro, op costs, etc. Dan

It's gone up a bit in the last few years than, we used to get about $45

I had the AAA contract for lockouts in our area for about 10 years, and although that's not towing, the routine is the same as far as AAA is concerned. They establish a base fee (usually below average area value) and add a limited mileage rate to it. If you submit the proper paperwork with a valid card number and signature, you get paid; it took 30-45 days sometimes, but that's business as usual for a locksmith, or a wrecker service. I finally decided not to renew the contract because I was tired of getting up at 3 in the morning to drive 20 miles to open a car for less than it was worth. I didn't lose money, but I didn't make any big profit from it either, so I just let it go.

The bottom line is, it's up to the individual under contract to make the decision on any given call, so treat him real nice. As long as the card is valid, and the paperwork is done, he will get paid for it.

Bringing back an old thread because I'm thinking about doing this too. There is a car with a blown head gasket and probably a few other problems too 225 miles away from me. I was thinking about getting the AAA RV membership and then paying for the extra 25 miles. Will they let a new member do something like this? The car looks pretty road worthy

Spun my very clean, very streetable M3 at an autoX and dropped the oil pump nut (no oil pressure). Didn't think for a second I would have a problem calling AAA to tow it home. As they are pulling the car into the flat bed the guy says "you know AAA won't pay for this because you are at a race track". He takes pictures of my blue tape numbers and calls into dispatch that I'm at an "race course" (abondoned airport).

Then proceeds to charge me $100 to tow it home.

THANKS AAA!

miatame wrote: Spun my very clean, very streetable M3 at an autoX and dropped the oil pump nut (no oil pressure). Didn't think for a second I would have a problem calling AAA to tow it home. As they are pulling the car into the flat bed the guy says "you know AAA won't pay for this because you are at a race track". He takes pictures of my blue tape numbers and calls into dispatch that I'm at an "race course" (abondoned airport). Then proceeds to charge me $100 to tow it home. THANKS AAA!

BullE36 M3. I would have said that you didn't make that clear before you hooked it up, either tow it via the AAA agreement because this isn't a race course, it is a parking lot or put it on the ground. If they leave, pull the tape numbers off and roll the car off the course, help cleanup the course and call them back for a tow.

Still, $100 isn't bad for a tow, but it was a dick move on the driver's part to not tell you that before hooking you up.

A 10.00 bill will improve the driver's attitude quite a bit. Works for me.