I ran out of gas while driving today.

Mom, age 92 was with me. Without thinking, I phoned AAA on her membership. I found the phone rep to be highly incompetent. For instance, when I told her I was driving a Mini Cooper, she asked me who makes it. WTF ???? The whole call was filled with inane questions and she just sounded totally confused about what she was doing. Anyway, she ended up telling me that service would take about 65 minutes. I explained that my somewhet frail 92 year old Mom was recovering from severe bronchitis and it was like 30 degrees outside...was there anything she could do? Her reply was a totally unsypathetic no, sort of like " you'll wait your turn like everyone else." It wasn't the fact that she wasn't going to do anything, it was her attitude about it. You go AAA

As soon as I hung up, in a blinding flash of genius, I remembered that at 46k miles, I was still covered by Mini. So I fished the road service card out of my glove box and call the 800 #.

What a difference. The service rep was friendly, caring, and intellegent. She rattled off her questions in an efficient, rapid fire way, and in less than 2 minutes, she had me scheduled for service. She said it would be a bit less than an hour. I explained the situation with Mom to her, and without any hesitation, she promised me she would expedite the call. In less than five minutes, the truck showed up, poured in some gas, did not charge me for it, and drove off.

Guess who's sticking with Mini.

 

Great job taking care of mom ! and thanks for sharing the good news about Mini Roadside !!

 

I'm looking at the fine print on the back of my "Roadside Assistance Card"

"Services are provided through AAA and its affiliated clubs in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada."

Sometimes its all in who you get on the phone.....

 

Good job,
MOMs' are pretty important.
Al.

 

You're right. There are service people and then there are service people. But it goes further than that.

It seems that if you buy an AAA membeship yourself you get one level of service. If you come in another way, such as through Mini, you get another.

For instance, when I called in the first time on AAA I was told specifically that I would have to pay for the gas. When I called in the second time on Mini, I was told the cost of the gas was included in my service.

In other words, each car company negotiates it's menu of services, like the gas, number of miles they agree to tow you before you're charged milage, etc. Whereas if you join AAA on your own, you don't get to negotiate anything, it's take it or leave it.

 

Triple A sucks. A friend of mine had an engine fire in a '64 Porsche, while out in the boonies. AAA was called--their free tow was...1 (one) mile! The negotiated price for the tow to civilization was $500.

Fortunately I was at home, and got the order to bring the BMW with the tow chain. We brought him to our garage (60 miles), to await insurance handling...

I would NEVER join AAA.

 

It depends where you are. I have had good and bad AAA experiences. But, the towing limitation was clearly noted in the literature I got. The premium package had 100 mile towing included, last time I had AAA.

 

I think I pay an extra $14 a year for my roadside assistance thru my insurance.

I have to pay up front for the service submit the bill back to my insurance agent and get a check.

Worked like a charm when my wife locked her keys in her car.