USVI-On-Line

We recently became AAA members and I'd really like to take advantage of all that it offers. Please let me know what has worked for you and what hasn't...i.e. travel insurance, roadside assistance, travel agency, maps/routes/road construction/current traffic updates. Anything, really. We took the plunge with it because it offered a huge discount at a hotel that we're staying at for a wedding in April. Pretty much covered this year's annual fee.

I have had AAA for years for roadside assistance which works just fine. You call, they come but sometimes you have to wait. However, my auto ins now includes roadside assistance so we might drop it.
Hotel discounts usually run around 10% but occasionally more. Never book the AAA rate without checking other rates. I have found that at times AAA rate is higher than best available.

Our experience has been the same as mbw1024.
I never think of other discounts they may offer. In Florida batteries tend to die suddenly and totally; AAA has worked well for getting a correct new one and installing it, and we have had a few occasions needing towing, even from home.

I'm glad you posted this. We were thinking about joining AAA for roadside assistance since our cars are getting older. We recently got a brochure in the mail from Citicards Advantage (American's FF miles program) with info about their roadside assistance program that starts in Nov. It also includes travel interruption and cancellation insurance. So we decided not to go with AAA, but since AAA offers hotel discounts, I think I will take another look.

AAA is great for the kids you can add them as associate members. We used them to unlock the cars about four times over last four years. If you going for the hotel discount only you get the same discount using AARP. AAA’s advantage used to be the great maps and tour guides which is kind of become obsolete with GPS

AquaGirl wrote:I'm glad you posted this. We were thinking about joining AAA for roadside assistance since our cars are getting older. We recently got a brochure in the mail from Citicards Advantage (American's FF miles program) with info about their roadside assistance program that starts in Nov. It also includes travel interruption and cancellation insurance. So we decided not to go with AAA, but since AAA offers hotel discounts, I think I will take another look.

The only thing I would check about is how quickly the response time is i.e. who they partner with to provide the roadside assistance. AAA has set up a very effective network of local garages. The times the kids have locked the keys in the car we had someone there to unlock the car within 15 minutes

Thanks Shoe - very good point. I will check on this. Its a new benefit of American Advantage, and there are lots of caveats in the Ts&Cs!

I had roadside assistance through American Express. My car needed to be towed in the middle of winter while it was snowing. I called the number. 25 minutes later the dispatcher called me and told me that they use the same tow truck companies as AAA does but that AAA members get preferential treatment and it would be 2+ hours before they could get to me.
My mom was with me and had AAA and we told the guy to cancel it and we would call them.
40 minutes later I was on my home and my car was on the way to the shop.

While it is not likely that you will break down on a snowy cold night when everyone else has, I did and the very next day I signed up for AAA

I have used them to jump a dead battery on a very cold day a couple of times. Repsonse time was always fairly quick. They were great to have back when I was younger and driving the kind of car that would fritz out once in a while, always prompt and polite with a tow. I agree on adding your kids as associate members.

AAA also offers discounts on Amtrak tickets. The biggest perk they have for me now is that they have an office in the city where you can renew your drivers licence. The lines at the Boston RMV are ridiculous and there's never a line at the AAA office.

shoemak38 wrote:AAA’s advantage used to be the great maps and tour guides which is kind of become obsolete with GPS

Yeah I remember that! The first year we were dating John and I did a cross country driving trip. AAA mapped it all out for us, researched where construction was etc. and planned our route. They gave it to us on a books of maps called a "trip-tic" if I remember correctly. It took them about a month to put it together. I also used their travel agency for our first flying vacation together that same year. They booked everything for me in advance and I would stop in every week after work payday and pay down a piece of the trip, haha. Good memories