Even though I am a AAA Arizona, Inc. employee, I must first state that I am no way biased because my living comes from AAA. Although it may seem that way to some of you.
Okay, now down to business. I would say AAA is your best overall value, because you do get more services and other things for your money. The Auto Club of America does provide unlimited service calls, but you are having to call a central call center for your service. There is another club out there, I believe its the Better Day Club (or something to that effect) that even offers bicycle roadside assistance. The drawbacks on both of these are clear. AAA clubs staff locally as much as possible. If you are broken down in Arizona, chances are you will speak to a Roadside Assistance agent who lives and works in Arizona. We do have overflow agents in Florida, and they do a bang-up job for not actually being here.
AAA has three levels of membership, and you should decide carefully which is best for you. If you are towing anything, riding a motorcycle, or driving an RV, the only option that will cover all your vehicles and trailers is AAA Plus RV. This is the most expensive option of course, but I must tell you that in Arizona, the additonal $30 per household per year to upgrade from Plus to RV Plus doesn't even come close to the charges for even a flat tire change on a boat trailer. In fact, AAA Arizona actually loses money on every RV call we process. Good news is we don't get too many of them.
For those driving standard cars, trucks, SUV's, and vans (that have not been lifted or lowered), there are 2 options for you.
The first is AAA Classic membership. The mileages you get vary from club to club, but most offer the first 5 miles free, with each subsequent mile at a per mile rate (in Arizona, it is $4/mile over the first 5 miles) - or back to the contractor's garage or, if they do not have a garage, to a garage of their choosing for free.
Personally, I take the AAA Plus. In Arizona and most other states, Plus grants members 100 miles of towing at no charge, in addition to emergency fuel supply at no charge (other variations from the Classic membership also apply). Plus is primarily an upgrade to your roadside assistance.
Of course with any AAA membership you get a wide variety of maps for free (including all state maps and many metropolitan maps), trip-tiks (mixed feeling about these I can see), tourbooks (provide information on lodging, restaurants, attractions, and even tid-bits about each state, including some major driving laws that motorists need to be aware of).
There are many other benefits, but I do recommend checking with your local club, as I can only provide insight as far as the exact benefits of AAA Arizona.
Whether you choose AAA or one of our competitors, I am glad to hear that you are taking the opportunity to check out what it's all about.
And on a side-note, our drivers are too busy to be listening to scanners in their rigs. Many of our contractors also contract with state and local police. At our dispatch center in Phoenix, we have a direct line for Arizona DPS, should they need to contact us. We do have a couple of HAM radio operators that have set up a multi-frequency scanning array at one of our rural dispatching stations, but they don't even have the time to gather the information as it's transmitted, only that a call is coming in from DPS.
Any other questions, feel free to ask me.
-Brad M.
Administrative Assistant
AAA Arizona, Inc. Automotive Services
