AAA Emergency Roadside Services: Don’t call us — summon us online

It happened this morning.

The battery on our Honda Accord died — a battery we bought through AAA less than three years ago. I tried to call AAA Emergency Roadside Services for help, but after navigating my way through a confusing menu, and enduring about five minutes of elevator music, my call was disconnected.

Then I remembered something the automated greeting had mentioned: Try sending a roadside assistance request online. I hadn’t thought of that. And I won’t bury the lede here — it worked like a charm.

An AAA truck arrived almost a full hour ahead of schedule and a technician replaced the battery at no cost. He explained that the battery we’d bought through AAA had a tendency to fail almost three years to the day after it was installed, which was just outside its warranty period. He told us AAA now uses a battery from a different manufacturer.

I was also shocked at how easy it was to use the AAA Roadside Services page. Within two screens, I had a confirmation (see above).

In short, I’m a very happy AAA customer.

I’m not a happy customer advocate, though.

When AAA disconnects a call — in my case, it went from “hold” music to a fast-busy — it isn’t doing its customers, or itself, any favors. Calls made to Emergency Roadside Services are all important. Hanging up on one is a little bit like ignoring a 911 call.

Surely, there’s software that can prevent these kinds of accidental disconnections, which usually happen with call center volume is at its highest.

Next time I need help from AAA, I’ll go to its site. Or I’ll download its iPhone app and use it.

  • Craig

    Meanwhile, for the many people who have a roadside emergency on the road and with no iPhone or internet… there is what option, exactly?

    Call and get hung up on and wonder why the consumer advocate didn’t talk to somebody from AAA about why this happens?

  • Roberto

    What’s the point of AAA? If you’re already making a phone call, why not just call a local service station?

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    From listening to the message, counting the time to press 1 for roadside assistance to when the AAA employee answer our call, the total time for this process has been under 60 seconds for our last three calls to AAA in the past three years. I have been satisified so far with the time it has taken AAA to answer my calls. My disappointment has been what occurred when the tow truck arrived.

    February 2010: The battery went out in my car. I called AAA to tow my car back to the dealership since the battery was purchased there and was under warranty. First, the tow truck company wanted only to jump my car instead of towing my car 8 miles to the dealership. The guy said that my battery only needed a jump not a replacement; however, he didn’t do any testing. Then, he did a hard sell about buying an AAA battery. Why spend money for an AAA battery when my battery will be replaced free by the dealership?

    January 2010: The battery went out in my wife’s car. A different tow comapny but the same refusal and hard sell.

    December 2008: A car pulled in front of me and I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car and caused a part of the brake to come off. The tow company didn’t want to tow my car to the brake shop (the brakes were under warranty and the repair work was done for free) but gave me a hard sell to take my car to an AAA approved garage.

  • Wrona

    The online apps a great idea, especially if you are somewhere with internet access (or have a smart phone). But it’s definitely worrying that the phone call got disconnected because most roadside emergencies don’t happen where you have easy access to a computer and, despite what some people like to think, not everyone has an iPhone (or other phone with easy to use internet). If this had happened to my mother or aunt, for example, they would’ve been out of luck.

  • Needs a Vacation

    Well this is great, but not everyone has a cellphone with internet access, and so I find it appalling that you can’t get emergency service with a phone call. Do I need to add that not every place has cellphone coverage? If there is no cell tower coverage, I don’t see how internet wireless access is going to help much.

    As a member of AAA I am PAYING for them to answer the phone when I call for emergency road service. It is not acceptable that you can only get service if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, and only get service if there happens to be cell tower or internet wireless service access.

  • jayne52

    This sounds great- except for those of us who have paid for AAA and have no i phone service. I refuse to pay for the extras charged on IPhone, so I use a regular cell phone. In order to get help in an emergency- I now have to buy and pay for online cell service?

  • Sarah Di

    That’s all fine and good provided that you have access to the AAA website when you encouter a need for roadside service. Unfortunately, not everyone has full mobile internet access or an iphone so they still need to give people the option to call even in our digital age.

  • http://www.AAA.com/news jgraziani

    Hi Chris, I work for AAA and want to say thanks for the shout out on AAA’s online and iPhone roadside assistance solutions. Sorry about the untimely disconnect — I’ve already asked Member Relations to look into that for you, and they should be contacting you directly. Glad they arrived early to replace your battery! Have a great day.

  • Jeanne in TX

    @ jgraziani

    Wow! It didn’t take long for someone at AAA to pick up on this thread. ;-)

    Glad to see it, actually. Definitely better than the deafening sound of silence.

  • Chicky

    I used to be in AAA. I’m not anymore. I have roadside assistance through my cell phone company. They are reliable, tow my car to any place I want them to, no hard sell for any products, and it’s $3 a month on my cell phone bill. So that’s my way of solving it. No internet access necessary.

  • http://rjtalestold.blogspot.com/ Dick Jordan

    I’ve been a AAA member for over 35 years and never had a problem connecting with the Emergency Roadside Assistance number and have always received good service from the tow truck drivers who have responded.

    Like Chris, my last experience with the ERA was when my battery died. Although I have an iPhone with the AAA ERA app, I couldn’t get a strong enough data signal to use it. But the phone call from my iPhone was promptly answered and before long my car had a new battery and I was on the road again.

  • Charles

    If you have a cell phone, see if your cell provider offers roadside service. We switched from AAA to the Verizon roadside service a while back. It cost less than half as much and it covers everyone who has a phone on the account, so I don’t have to buy 4 memberships to cover everyone who is driving in our family. AAA roadside service and insurance are both greatly over-priced.

  • MeanMeosh

    I’ve only had to call AAA a few times for emergency service (thankfully), and have never had a problem with call wait times. It’s usually a couple of minutes tops. But if it really is true that AAA is now skimping on their call centers in favor of having people put in service requests online (as opposed to a one-off where you just had bad luck )- I find that quite disturbing. I don’t have a PDA with internet access, and refuse to get one for many reasons. What am I supposed to do?

  • Jennifer

    I have to say that I’ve never encountered a problem with AAA in the 20 years I’ve had the service. I’ve never been disconnected from a phone call and I’ve never used an app on my iPhone to contact them. I’ll look that up. Trying to find a local service station or tow truck at 1 a.m. isn’t my idea of safe. I’ve also never had a hard sell on anything. Given the service and the discounts on travel, AAA is worth it to me. It may not be worth it to everyone.

  • Craig

    “Glad to see it, actually. Definitely better than the deafening sound of silence.”

    Agreed. It’s so much better for everybody when companies *want* to address problems with customer service.

  • Roberto

    @Jennifer For what it’s worth, if you have a Visa credit card, you can get roadside assistance for a fee of $59.99 per service call. Just call 1-800-VISA-TOW. I realize that if you plan on getting stranded a lot, it’s cheaper to get AAA.

    Personally, I used to have AAA, and I got a flat tire. Great, I thought, I finally get a chance to use this service. So I call AAA, and the friendly CSR told me they could get someone out to help me in only 4 hours! I told her I’d change my own stupid tire, and that she’d be canceling my membership, effective immediately.

    I haven’t had AAA in about 10 years, and I haven’t missed it. Few places have decent AAA discounts anymore (you can typically get as good or better prices via some other method). I’ve changed several tires in that time. No big deal. And if I ever get in a real pickle, I’ll call VISA-TOW.

  • Carver

    Like everyone else, I can only speak for my experiences with AAA. They’ve been mostly excellent. I’ve had a couple hiccups, but I expect that is normal for any company. I’ve never had a hard sell. It was only after my battery completely died did I learn that AAA also sells batteries.

  • http://www.AAA.com/news jgraziani

    Jeanne in Texas and Craig: Thanks so much!

    Thanks to everyone else for sharing your AAA stories! Please be assured that AAA is not replacing the call centers — it is simply adding *more* ways to help you connect with AAA. As Chris found out, it was helpful when he needed it. But you can still call AAA 24/7 from any cell phone or land line.

    Two things to add to the conversation: 1. If you ever have a problem with AAA service, we want to know. Contact MemberRelations@national.aaa.com and let them know what happened. 2. AAA discounts are usually worth the cost of membership. Check out AAA.com/discounts to see an entire, searchable list. The iPhone app for that is called AAA Discounts. It’s cool and it’s free!

    FYI — in case you didn’t see it in my other comment, I work for AAA.

  • Dennis

    I don’t get your reasoning, Roberto. Calling a service station would cost an arm and a leg compared to the approximately $50 a year AAA charges for membership. You should be congratulated that you can change a spare tire, but most of us can’t. Having to wait 4 hours is inconvenient, but sometimes on rainy days or during traffic there are delays. The starter went out in my car last summer and I had to wait for over an hour. The truck that came could not get the starter to even work temporarily so they had to call another truck to tow me. Because of the wait, AAA waived the towing mileage restriction and towed me to my mechanic over 15 miles away. If you’re like Roberto and can fix your own car, the membership is worth it just for the maps. AAA is great!

  • WildBill

    CHRIS, YOU’RE A JINX!!!

    Ok, so MAYBE it’s not your fault, but yesterday afternoon, while waiting for my flight, I logged in and read the day’s blog about AAA. I’ve had AAA for about 10 years, and used the service once, I ran out of gas in Atlanta (I have no secondary low fuel alert….. and I’m stupid…..) and they responded with no problem.

    When I landed, I got to my truck, and …….. dead battery! (See – Chris’ fault!) So I whipped out my phone, and as I was dialing, I stopped. “Well, Chris was saying how great the internet request was, so let’s try it!” I was in a hotel parking lot, so I did have internet access.

    Problem #1 – I live in Alabama, but my truck was currently at a hotel near the Atlanta, GA airport (Park, Stay & Fly is a GREAT invention). AAA.com automatically looks at the IP address of your internet login and reroutes you to THAT AAA call center, in my case, AAA Auto Club South. But, you have to login to place a Emergency Roadservice Request. When I logged in, I was rerouted to the AAA Alabama Website.

    I was able to place my request, and received an immediate trip sheet stating that I would have help in about 90 minutes. It gave the Dispatching AAA club (AAA Auto Club South, Nashville), a confirmation number and THE PHONE NUMBER FOR THAT DISPATCH CENTER. Wow, That’s Service! Problem #2 – Nobody showed up…….

    After 90 minutes (not THAT long a wait and I had online poker to keep me entertained) I called the dispatch number. I gave her the confirmation number, and got the phone equivalent of a blank stare. “There’s no record of your request, OR that confirmation number”!!! But she immediately took my information, and dispatched a truck.

    He arrived in EXACTLY the time she said it would take (45 min) cheerfully got my truck started and was on his way.

    Turns out that when I left last week, I made sure that my headlights were off, I disconnected all my additional electronics, and then left the interior lights on!!!

    jgraziani, thanks for the address to AAA national, I’m sending a note right now about my experience. While it was annoying, I really appreciated the 1st question the Nashville call center asked “ARE YOU IN A SAFE PLACE?” and they really did, eventually, provide the service I had been promised, for free. I have my AAA for hotel discounts, and I stay in hotels about 275 nights a year. The AAA rates save me $5 – $15 90% of the time (I don’t qualify for senior rates yet), and I consider the availability of Roadside assistance just a nice side feature.

  • acproductions

    Well, AAA in California must work better than some other states, because I’ve had it personally for 20 years (and grew up with it too), have never been unhappy, have only had to wait more than 30 minutes ONCE in those 20 years, and I got a follow-up call letting me know about the delay and apologizing for it. Even the early morning that I had to call twice in less than an hour during a hideous storm, they were unfailingly helpful. I also had awesome service late one Saturday night when I got a flat tire on the trailer coming home from the beach. The tow truck driver came out, told us he really wasn’t supposed to change the tire on a trailer, but did it as a favor to me, as it was almost midnight, I was at a closed service station in a small beach town that was buttoned up for the night, and wouldn’t accept a penny – just wanted me to be safe and on my way home asap. I’ve had roadside assistance on everything from motorcycles to motorhomes, and I truly think the money I spend each year to renew is worth every penny. I’ve never been disconnected, or waited more than a few seconds to be connected. Maybe I’m lucky, but everyone I know has been as happy as I am.

  • http://paulson.lr@gmail.com MidMom8949

    I think it doesn’t really matter where you have your roadside assistance, just have it if you have children. We have more than used our annual fee for AAA for dead batteries (three times; same child left lights on overnight), flat tires (4 this year, another child, who seems to find road hazards), lock out (once–husband), tow (child with broken belt, another child with transmission problem).

    I just bought a new car that comes with roadside assistance. But I’ve never had to use it in 40 years of driving. . .

  • Bob Rosenberg

    Used the iPhone AAA app for the first time this week….after filling in all the requested information (hoping it won’t ask every time), I got a phone call from the responding service station telling me they would be to me in about 1/2 hour….great improvement over the long waits (especially in the winter) that AAA had using the phone

  • tony

    Had a dead battery yesterday. Used Eric & the guys at Leucadia tow. They turned a potentially bad experience into a pleasure trip.

  • flutiefan

    Only have had one less-than-pleasant experience with AAA. took over 3 hours to get someone out to the car (keys had been lost, there was a spare in my friend’s backpack inside the car), despite being a female at 2am in downtown Long Beach with many an unsavory character around. i was terrified. why would it take until 5am to get someone out to jimmy the lock?

    other than that (which, in hindsight, should’ve resulted in me writing a strongly worded letter), i think AAA is great.