Competitors for AAA
 

I'd like a roadside service subscription like AAA and I'm wondering what competitors are available. I know that I could get it with my auto insurance, so that's one other option. I saw a tire repair kit that came with 3 years of roadside service once in a store...I think it was Slime-branded. I checked their site and found similar kits but they don't say anything about service.

There's Good Sam. They market mainly to RV drivers but AFAIK their roadside service/towing subscription is valid on cars too. It's more expensive but offers unlimited-distance towing.

How about other companies?

Edit: Found another one. Nationwide Roadside Assistance is $40/year, includes coverage and cards for spouse and children at no additional cost, covers $100 worth of towing instead of 3 miles, but doesn't cover winching out of snow if you get stuck.

Edit again: For my own reference...
https://nationwideroadsideassistance.com/FAQ.aspx
https://www.aaa.com/aaa/240/sne/membe.../benefits.html

AAA, at least here in California, costs about $100/year if you take the Premium service. Four calls (or is it six? I don't recall right now, I think it is four), up to 100 miles towing. Basic AAA is six miles, for me when I've needed a tow, it has usually been a lot more than six miles. If I am riding in someone else's car, and it breaks down, I can get them towed on my account.
This is in addition to free maps, travel agent service (does anybody use travel agents anymore?), discounts on various and sundry stuff, and I can go to the AAA office and register a car, or pay registration, w/o going to the DMV. That's probably worth the money right there.

I got the insurance company rider for roadside assistance, for something like $1.50, 15 yrs ago. Coming home from a camping trip, I lost power to the wheels. I'd forgotten about my towing insurance, but one of my passengers belonged to AAA, and got a tow truck. She and I were riding in the tow truck, which was towing my (RWD) vehicle.

All of a sudden, the tow truck driver said, "Oh sh**!" I looked in the mirror, and my vehicle was sending up a shower of sparks, dragging on its rear bumper and axle housing. A tire/wheel assembly attached to 3' of axle shaft was cartwheeling down the highway next to the tow truck, causing all the other vehicles on the road to get out of its way. A rear axle bearing had failed, allowing the axle to come apart.

For years, I wondered why my insurance company paid me for the 15 yr old vehicle, as I didn't have comprehensive or collision coverage on it, just liability. One day, it dawned on me. It was my $1.50 towing insurance that covered that incident! Best $1.50 I ever spent.

I know that roadside assistance is available with my cellular service (AT&T). I think its something like $3 or $4/mo.

haah wow. but really, wouldnt that have been the tow truck drivrs fault for hooking it up wrong? with a RWD vehicle your supposed to tow it from the rear...

It was actually a 4X4, so I probably put the transfer case in neutral for the tow. It's also possible it had an AT that was flat towable.

LOL, did anyone notice my garbled spelling of "competitors" for the subject line? I must have been tired or distracted.

I'll have to check with Sprint, $4/month would be a bargain.

This is what I see from my online account management.

I use CSAA (AAA) because of the long range tow.
The problem is their own success which causes so much business that 30 minute to an hour or longer waits for the truck are common in major metropolitan areas.

The problem with any company is how long a wait for help.

AAA will put a battery in your vehicle. Turns out you pay a premium for it. Proves there ain't no free lunch.

I use AAA as well.

Long waits are common.

I re-examined the option from my insurance company. I misread it the first time. I thought it was $8 per month, but it's $8 per 6 month term. At $16 per year it is a no-brainer. I don't intend to ever use it, but if my vehicle needs to be towed, there it is.

Yep...30 minutes is about par for the course.

A little story...I ran out of gas (broken gas gauge in my Nash Rambler) on the I-210 freeway in Pasadena on Sept. 30, 1987. On an overpass. While waiting for Auto Club to get to me, I noticed that the bridge was vibrating. At first I was thinking earthquake, then I realized that it was vibrating from the weight of the cars and trucks going over it.

I was awakened the next morning by a 5.9 earthquake...

wow scary, ive only felt/remembered one aftershock. i just layed down in bed and cosed my eyes, second i did that it felt like someone grabbed my ankled pulled me down then pushed back up real fast. i kinda sat up in bed listening, heard some stuff clinking in the house got up looked around my room, looked outside, walked all around the house and looked outside nothign weird... i didnt know if i imagined it ir not... turns out the next day there was one by st louis and the aftershock one reached up here:p

theres a canal bridge (maybe 100 feet long) 4 lanes wide that if your stopped oon it and a semi comes up next to you or passes the other direction you can feel it shake and bounce. kinda unsettiling:eek:

I have never experienced an earthquake. We very rarely have them in RI. I think there's only been one or two in my lifetime - and I was asleep when it (or they) happened.

I lived in Westlake Village then. The banging of closet doors woke me and I lay on my back waiting for bits of plaster to fall on me, as happened to me during a major earthquake in Ethiopia a few years earlier, then I realized where I was and raced out of the upatairs bedroom to check on the children to see the hanging lamp over the stairs swaying in huge arcs, just missing the wall four feet away.

I think we're due up for one again soon. I went through the one in '71 (Sylmar)...had a TV chassis next to my bed with an exposed picture tube...then the '87 Whittler quake, a few smaller quakes in the late '80s/early '90s, the '92 Landers/Big Bear quakes (2 big quakes for the price of one!), '94 Northridge quake, another couple in the late '90s. Also a couple small ones this decade. Been pretty quiet lately...

The small ones are kinda fun...as long as nothing is broken and no one is hurt...

My wife was in a parking lot one time for one...she thought it was kinda interesting seeing the cars bounce up and down...

This is what I use:
https://www.betterworldclub.com/
No less costly than 3A, but I have a clearer conscience about it.
I have their bicycle coverage, too.

As someone who drives fairly unreliable vehicles, I've had AAAplus for about 20 years (ever since my brother drove trucks for them), and I will continue to use it. The nice thing is that I can get towed up to 100 miles for free - many "basic" services will tow you 3 miles then charge a pretty steep mileage charge after that. I'm never within 3 miles of home...

-BC