On a beautiful Saturday night - no rain, snow, sleet or ice - with no extenuating conditions - I had a flat tire and called for road service. I should note that my car is not equipped with a spare tire or a jack and I know AAA that I would need a tow.
I was on US route 119 about 4 miles from Mt Pleasant, PA to the south and 4 miles from I-70 and New Stanton, PA to the north.
My first call to AAA was at 11pm. They promised to either call back or text back with an update. I called them again every 45 minutes to an hour. They never called or texted an update. At one point, they suggested I leave the car unattended and they'd get towed around 4am. The only problem with that was we were stranded along the highway with no way to get to our hotel.
At around 2am (I've now been sitting along the road for 3 hours), AAA actually suggested I just call 911 and let the police handle it. They did promise that they will reimburse me for the tow.
Thanks to the dispatcher working the late shift with the PA State Police. She had a tow truck there within 30 minutes and we finally got towed into New Stanton around 3am.
Two lessons learned:
1. Never buy a car that isn't equipped with a spare tire and a jack and
2. Don't rely on AAA for help when you need it - if they can't get a tow on a nice evening with no other weather related issues, I hate to think what their service must be like in challenging conditions.
One last note, as the police arranged tow arrived and as I was trying to call AAA to cancel my request, they did finally (@ 2:30am), call to say they were dispatching a tow from Pittsburgh (30-40 miles away) and that he'd be there in 45 minutes. Thanks but no thanks, read more