AAA has many programs available. In my particular case, I purchased their program based on the roadside assistance. I trusted their expertise, local connections and customer service.
Sadly, here are the FACTS of my poor decision.
At 9:09pm Last night, I had to request a tow for my vehicle to the repair shop. I removed the car from the mainstream traffic, parking it in a spot at the Oaks at Lakeside. My estimated time for the tow was 2 hours. 11:09pm came and went. I placed a call back to AAA to ask for an updated time. The person I spoke said she was unable to tell me when the vehicle would be picked up and would not give me an estimated range. I gave it another hour, and finally came home to get some sleep. I kept my phone on ring in case I was notified of it being picked up.
No calls came in overnight, so I went to check on the vehicle. It was gone. I called AAA, spoke with someone who was unable to tell me if my vehicle had been towed or not. She waffled between it being picked, not being picked up and told me how difficult her job was reviewing 2 pages of notes on this pickup. Her final answer was that my car was not picked up by their towing and no truck had yet been dispatched to pick it up. Fun fact, at 8:57am a tow truck was finally dispatched with a pickup time after 10am, nearly 12 hours since the request. If I had been on the side of the road, I would have been there for 13+ hours.
After calling around, we found that although the vehicle was parked in a spot in the front office parking lot, the oaks at lakeside had it towed and it was at in impound yard. After speaking with the in-pound yard, I called the Lakewood Ranch AAA branch for guidance on my next steps to have the vehicle towed from the impound lot to the mechanic. I was told that they do not have a "manager" onsite and that they do not handle anything to do with roadside. Their only help was to transfer me to AAA complaints.
AAA complaints, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. We can transfer you onto someone else. On that call, I was told that I could submit receipts for reimbursement but if I want to know what will be covered, I have to talk to the reimbursements department. Thankfully though, they can mail a form out to me to submit my receipts, not email, only mail.
AAA reimbursements says right on their message, please allow three weeks for us to process your reimbursement. 30 minutes on hold, finally gave in and left a message. 4 hours and counting, no call back.
Interesting fact that I learned when arranging my own towing from impound to my mechanic. With rising part costs, gas costs, AAA has refused the price increases of the local towing in manatee county. This has led to a significant amount of companies dropping AAA. For Bradenton and Sarasota, there is a high likelihood that your tow truck will come from Tampa or Port Charlotte.
In all of this, you might think like I did, maybe tow trucks just weren't available. Elmer's towing who towed me today said they were running last night and had plenty of available time. Had I have reached out to them directly, my tow would have been completely quickly and I would not have had two separate tows costing an extra $200. read more