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[C.Ann]

What other advantages are there to AAA? What kind of discounts and such?

Thanks!

 

[BethR]

Hi C. Ann!

With the AAA membership, you can get certain Hopper passes at the same discount as the Disney Club. You can also get discounts on Resorts - subject to availability, of course. These are the same amounts and the same "seasons" as the Disney Club discounts.
You can get free towing when you break down in a car. You can get Trip-tiks - the maps that show your journey from Point A to Point B. You can get discounts at other hotels and motels. You can do on-line reservations for a number of hotels and motels.
I highly recommend AAA.

 

[Lanshark]

This site should explain more:
http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/ZipCode

I have had AAA for years. I know if I am traveling and have any trouble, including locking my keys in the car, I can call AAA and get assistance. Actually, the only times I have ever had to call them my car was in my own driveway. Both times response time was less then 30 minutes. They are also running a special right now for $99 AP for universal which can only be obtained at one of their offices.

Several times my DH has been in Orlando on business and the kids and I have driven from Atlanta to meet him for a few days at WDW. For me it is peace of mind.

 

[PartyofSix]

I can't tell you how much your adding to your trip with just the security of knowing you want be stranded. Not to mention all the discounts at hotels and tickets for various things. Also they have Trip Tix's which maps out your route best I can figure. I don't sell AAA ( as a main courstey to my custmers I can sign them up) but we own a towing service and are AAA Providers so from that stand point I can tell you what your entitled to.

AAA Plus (the way to go)
100 miles free towing
Up to 2 gal's of gas free
Lockout service
Tire Changes
Jump Starts
Winching Service

AAA Basic
5 miles of free towing to the nearest place of Repair
2 gal's of gas brought to you, You pay for the gas at time of service pump price only
Lockouts
Jump Starts
Tire Changes
Winching Service

There maybe something I forgot but these are the main services ask by AAA memeber at our contract area. If you travel much at all the Plus is the best IMO. Hope this helps you. You can call AAA in your area and they will help you with more info on tickets and maps are free. And no I've never heard of Free Groceries.

 

[jgates]

This is probably the same program we offer thru our checking club at the bank I work at. You choose $10 worth of coupons, send in $1 or $2 shipping, receive $11 or $12 coupons back - you select what you want such as Cheerios, etc so you get exactly what you would use. I have yet to do it but a gal I work with said it is the most underused product and she swears by it. One of these days I will get around it to. I believe the coupons have a minimum expiration of 90 days or something along those lines.

I also swear by AAA Plus- It's a little costlier - $135 or so for myself, dh & 17 year old son, but peace of mind is a wonderful thing. We just used the wrecker this winter when ds hit a deer - he hauled us right to our yard and wouldn't even take the tip my ds tried to give him. When my mom & dad were 165 miles away one time, it got them back to 65 miles or so (you can be taken anywhere) and that was close enough for my dh to run down with the part when he got off work in the middle of the night and fix the car. The driver then sat and had supper with them (they bought as his tip) and chatted away to keep them company for awhile while they waited.

When we were stranded with a flat, AAA even called back to make sure we were on the road again and the truck had arrived within a satisfactory time period.

PS-my aunt paid $35 or $45 to get her keys out of the car - wouldn't take long to offset that annual fee!

 

[Cindy B]

I'll give a con...

AAA was $43 the first year, but it jumped to over $75 the second year.

We evaluated the cost.

We get free towing/roadside assistance with our car insurance (it covers rental cars as well)
I keep a second set of keys handy. I know how to change a tire.

As for trip discounts, My DH has a travel club/agency in his work, which has had more significant discounts than AAA or Disney Club.


For us it was duplicating coverage we already had and didn't really need.

There are the same discounts handy other places.

 

[PartyofSix]

Cindy B.... sounds like you went from 43 to 75 a year. That sounds like you had a basic memebership and you renewed up to a plus. Plus in AAA South is 82 for the first year and drops with renewals. I think basic is 40'ish like you said.

FYI---Lanshark

You are aware that AAA is with the memeber not the car right? If your son had of called you you could have made that call to AAA and he would have recieved the same service. If you are in your relatives car and have a flat AAA comes because that car was hauling YOU. Unlike Allstate and many Ins. company's that covers the CAR. Also with AAA they guarantee a members check as well for emergerny check cashing up to 200 per check. I only had to do this once with a memeber in our area broke down and we repaired her car and it was just over the 200.00 and she needed to give me an out of state check I called AAA and they were on there way in a matter of minutes.


Keep in mind------if you are in a wreck and 911 is called out and they dispatch the wrecker to the call, even though you have AAA it will NOT cover this call in total. It will pay your AAA wrecker there contract amount and you minus that from the total call. Normally this is not a big deal as the towing company will hold the car and the insurance company writes a check for towing storage and repairs. Just beware if you don't have the company take it back to their shop you can incur more charges if you tow elsewhere. The different county's and citys' set the towers rates for 911 calls. In our town it's 65 minimum which 90% of calls are. In a town 9 miles over it's 125.00 and I'm ashamed to say.....most of your contractors only get a flat rate say 20-25 to perform all these services to you. We make money if a AAA member lets up fix there car or tow them 100 miles, or has basic and gets towed. I love AAA and my AAA memebers. I was able to help an older couple just yesterday who wrecked there car 1 mile from our shop and they came in all shook up. I let them rest and get there things out of there car and I took them to a rental place and introduced them to the lady that would help them. They were so nice and grateful for my time and taking them. It's satisfing to help people. But IMHO, stay away from allstate it works totally different than AAA. Allstate sets a $ amount for you and after that you are up the river. A typical call is 25 to load your car and 2.50 a mile you do the math.LOL Allstate memberships are 80. -125 you can figure it would take long to eat that up. Please don't get on me for all the info....just giving my insight on the various clubs and what they could mean out of pocket on your vacation trip as I have seen many of you take a miniumal amount of cash this could impact a family vacation.

 

[C.Ann]

Thanks so much for all of these responses!!

 

[PartyofSix]

You are right. You do have to pay upfront with car insurance towing. With AAA you just sign the ticket and your on your way! It's a wonderful program. If you have just join AAA they will upgrade you for the difference in the South AAA it's 83 dollars so the difference in what you paid for basic and plus would upgrade you. Now if you've had AAA for a few months and upgrade they will pro rate you for the plus upgrade. Your doing a smart thing it will more than pay for it's self if you use it once. PM me if you need further questions answered. Have a Great Vacation

 

[Cindy B]

I used the car insurance towing, and I never paid a dime. The head gasket went out on our car it was towed to the dealer, no cash outlay for me.

Called the insurance company, all they I had to do was sign.

The insurance company cut a check to the towing company.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

The only thing you need to do to figure out if AAA is for you is to see if you cover the cost in the benefits and services you will actually use. AAA certainly duplicates some of the benefits I have elsewhere but year after year they usually come out better.

I generally use the roadside service once a year at 100 miles with the plus membership this gives me peace of mind knowing that I can get my car home or close to home on a single tow. I use the AAA discount to buy theme park tickets on site or at the office. I use it for hotels & special rates on rental cars from certain providers. I use the mapping service which you might think is duplicated by mapquest but it isn't because they track where construction is on your route & can give you routing around where the construction is causing big traffic problems. You can also get free travelers checks. And where I feel I best recover the membership is by getting the tourbooks on different states & cities. They are free (with your membership!) They give you lists of hotels that they have evaluated in locations that would be hard to come by otherwise. They give you information parks & recreation in some of the most non-touristy destinations you can imagine. They have local advertising in their books which can be really handy for planning a trip to Small American Town, USA.

And I know how to change a tire too...but if I can avoid getting my hands dirty, or kneeling on the ground in high heels and a dress I'd like to. Plus I find if I do try & change a tire myself I invariably get assistance I'd rather do without.

 

[C.Ann]

 

[BethR]

Hi C. Ann!

I was rereading this thread and I read again AAA's offer of "FREE Grocery Coupons." I'll BET that these are cents-off coupons that if totaled would add up to $500. But I strongly doubt that they are coupons for free items.
If you are considering joining AAA please do so for the services that AAA offers, not for the grocery coupons.
(And I STILL recommend AAA. )

 

[C.Ann]

 

[Jordan's MOM]

We have learned that just one trip a year gives us back our membership fee to AAA. That is in addition to all security it affords you while on the road. When we were at DW in January we saved 20% on our resort, 20% on our HDDR tickets and 5% on our hopper passes. This alone paid for our membership. We will again save over 100.00 on our vacation in July. In the past several years we have also been towed three times!!


Jordan's mom

 

[jgates]

I was thinking that they were cents off thou-but I haven't seen them face to face. Like I said, the gal i work with loves it because she can order exactly what she wants.

With the coupons in my Sunday flyer lately (our local towns are about 50,000) - we get about 3 coupons -SERIOUSLY- and the rest is ads-I would be a lot better off doing this.

You are increasing my guilt level!

Just as an added note - again I love AAA, but if you are a Sam's member - check your motel discounts with both programs before you book. We have received fantastic Sam's Club rates at different motels. Also-look at the color or picture ads in the AAA guides-sometimes have some good specials in there which you might ignore if you are just reading the text info for that town.

 

[BethR]

Wow C. Ann - guess I missed that! That sounds pretty cool! You will have to let us know how this works out for you. I would love to know what you will get with your coupons.

 

[MEM]

AAA is great for the roadside service and its triptiks but in my first WDW experience, the "discounts" the AAA travel agent got for me were very disappointing. I told her I was buying an annual pass and she either didn't know or didn't tell me that once the AAA "discount" (about 10% on the room) was applied, that I could not get the AP room rate. I found that out at the hotel. With AAA, I paid nearly the rack rate for PORFQ when my AP rate (in late August) would have saved me about $400 over the course of the 10 day trip. She also got me lousy rates on airfare...and she was the office manager! I was a total WDW neophyte so I didn't know until after the trip how badly I had overpaid.

Ever since, I have made my own reservations and done extremely well, thanks to tips from the various unofficial WDW websites.