AAA - Way More Than Just Towing

The number one thing that gets people when they call AAA is they have an idea that AAA is like the fire department. A towing operator waits around at an office, until they call, and the guy jumps in his rig and races to the scene. While they always strive for 30 minutes or less, it's not always possible... and really it's not something that you can get upset over. The trucks must operate within the speed limit, so there is no "racing to the scene".

Second, they must take priority highway calls first as a contractual requirement: so if someone is 45 miles outside of town on the main highway, they get helped before you do in your office or home.

Third, they get a lot of calls. When I worked for AAA in the Arizona Roadside Call Center, we answered in excess of 300 calls per day just in the Phoenix Metro Area alone. It was worse in the winter when our trucks were grounded in Flagstaff as it was too icy to drive on the roads.

So just remember when you call AAA that their drivers are not the fire department, they go from call to call with little or no down time (I actually had to order a driver to take a lunch once!). If you're comfortable in your home or office or in a parking lot, unfortunately it will be 'when they get to you', dangerous situations will always take precedent. Such as a baby locked in a car... we had 7 trucks dispatched at once to one call, and who ever got there first got the call. Luckily we had a AAA-Owned Fleet rig 4 blocks away who stopped changing a womans tire while it was still on the jack. She was ticked off even when she found out why he had to go, leaving the car still jacked up.

Most of the time though you'll wait no more than 20 min to an hour at the most in the Phoenix Area, just don't be upset if it takes a bit longer.

They might be great most of the time, but the one I saw personally sticks in my mind! They lost my trust that day.

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Originally Posted by Arizona Brad

The number one thing that gets people when they call AAA is they have an idea that AAA is like the fire department. A towing operator waits around at an office, until they call, and the guy jumps in his rig and races to the scene.

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No, but I would expect them to respond within the school day!

I don't know the particulars of the area, but like I mentioned, people sitting on the side of the road come before people sitting in an office.

AAA, like any other service, is not perfect and having been on the other side of the phone, I've had more than a few AAA contractors that I wanted to go personally kick in the rear for providing substandard service, and one or two just because they were rude to me and the rest of the staff. I had to tell more than one station operator that the next call they got would be from the Director, and if that were to happen they can consider their contract terminated. In winter, here in AZ, this means no jobs for a lot of their drivers. Most of AAA's services are contract based, except if you live in major metro areas that have AAA Fleet Services (the AAA Branded trucks that don't say "Big Bob's Auto Towing" or such other names). I can tell you there are in a lot of ways stark contrasts in service between the three zones: AAA Fleet, AAA Preferred Vendor, and AAA Vendor.

Fleet services do no other services (member only services) meaning the only way they service non-AAA members is at the express direction of Law Enforcement or in cases where safety is of a concern. Their response times are fast, the drivers are clean and the trucks immaculate.

AAA Preferred Vendors are very similar (they usually have trucks purchased through AAA at major discounts, so they are the classic Red/White/Blue), only they do commercial calls but because they are Preferred Vendors, they have to dedicate so many drivers to AAA.

AAA Vendors, well, those are just companies that decided they wanted to contract with AAA. They get some stickers, and a contract. A lot of them are great and are pushing hard to meet their expectations so they can become preferred vendors, but there are a few that do it just because it gets slow in the winter months and they need the income.

Just some more insight into AAA for those who wanted to know.