I like the highest level for our kids that comes with up to 100 miles towing. Have never known about any regional AAA, only HI and southern CA.
@jym626 Iâve had USAA for years as well and just confirmed it in the past year. Weâve never had AAA but our cars are up there in miles now and one had an issue requiring a tow this year. Happened at my parentâs house and my mom used her AAA to have it towed. I decided we should get AAA for ourselves but double checked our USAA policy and they cover many of the same roadside assistance things. They obviously donât advertise it so maybe thatâs how they can afford to offer it. 
I was just reading this https://communities.usaa.com/t5/Member-Stories/Is-Roadside-Assistance-Towing-as-good-as-AAA-s/ba-p/16035 which claims that USAA tows only to the nearest repair place,up to 14 miles. My AAA covers 100 miles. I will look into it further when it comes time to renew at the end of the year.
BUT, AAA got us out of a real potential problem this summer, right before DSâs wedding. DH FORGOT that we needed international driverâs licenses, which we are able to quickly get at a AAA office, right before we headed down to the wedding venue to dress for the rehearsal dinner! Have no idea if AAA offers international driverâs licenses to non members. And to add to the bonus, they took a really good photo!!
Doschicos- is it a standard part of the auto policy or an add on? Iâll have to look at our policy!
HImom- our AAA club covers 3 states.
The more basic AAA, at least in my area, doesnât offer up to 100 miles of towing, but I figured how often would I need a car towed that far?
Weâve always rolled the dice on the international driverâs licenses. Never have had them but have rented in many foreign countries. They never asked. Husband was pulled over by police this month (3 separate times including one time trying to hit us up for cash $ - a tale I guess for the trip thread) in a foreign country. They seemed perfectly fine with the USA license.
@jym626 To my knowledge, it is a standard offering as I never requested it.
Hmm⊠Looks like we declined towing and labor on our USAA insu, but they do show a phone # to call for roadside assistance. Next time DH calls USAA Iâll ask him to ask about the coverage - what is standard, what is extra and the cost.
Iâve had AAA plus for years. I go to their AAA shops for repairs which are under warranty for 2years/24000 miles with a 10 percent discount.
There is a AAA repair place near us. We used it recently when my battery was weak and DH was able to jump my car and I drove it over there. I happened to have a coupon from them for a free oil/filer change/tire rotation, so got a discounted new battery and the free oil/filter/rotation. They did try to sell me tires (I knew 2 were getting worn) but I buy those at Costco.
Doschicos, Just curious- if you look up your coverage (I just did on line) does it say you accepted or declined the towing/labor option (I forget what it was listed under).
I have the mid level AAA coverage which covers the 100 mile towing. We used to joke about the bail bondsman coverage it offers, that, thankfully, has never been necessary.
I once bought a piece of luggage and some other travel stuff at the AAA shop, and recently bought an adapter for my laptop which I didnât end up needing so returned it.
The ONLY reason the international driverâs license came across our radar is that the MORNING of the rehearsal dinner DH got an email from the car rental place overseas reminding us that we would need it. And while the car was at the hotel when we arrived, we did need to show our international driverâs licenses to complete the paperwork.
@jym626 Just checked my policy. It says âacceptedâ. Iâve had it for 30 years so way back when I must have OKed it? It shows that I am paying $12 per car per year for roadside assistance.
Thatâs pretty reasonable. Will have to reconsider.
But having a car towed only to the closest station, or within 14 miles might be inconvenient if, say we were down near the airport, which is about 30 miles from home. Seems to me we once had to have a car towed, and having the flexibility of it covering more miles was helpful. It may have been someone elseâs car we were riding in. Thatâs a benefit of AAA. You can use it even if you are a passenger in someone elseâs vehicle. Donât know if USAA would allow that. But still- $12/mo is definitely cheaper than what I pay for AAA.
Duffel I ordered from Kohls for DS#1 was originally $79. I paid 30. Rollerboard I ordered for DS # 2 - full price ( no one pays that) was listed as $329. Sale price $162. I paid $123. Ironically, the $30 bag requires a signature. The $123 bag does not.
I think I received an insert from USAA that while using the roadside assistance and accompanying features is an option, âit may be more advantageousâ to see if third-party services may offer the service at a lower rate.
In one USAA forum people stated that using the roadside assistance dinged them on their rate when it came time to renew. I have not verified.
I was also surprised to find that I had USAA roadside, despite having been stranded by a series of bad batteries over the course of 3 years. Finally went ahead and got AAA when I took my first roadtrip for colleges with my oldest. Wouldnât you know it, not a single problem during that trip.
jym - have you doubled the car rental codes for USAA and AAA? I havenât found that one offered a significantly better rate than the other in major cities, but would be interested in stacking if thatâs a savvy option.
Adding to the cheap rental car discussion. I found Costco to be way cheaper than AAA, specifically for Salt Lake City, recently, but other places too. Also, when I put in a pickup time of 12:30 instead of 12, the price went down by something like $150 bucks. I canât remember the exact price, but you get the idea. Maybe 489 vs 349⊠So it pays to mess around with time a little. My friend who was ready to book the higher price could not believe it.
All five of my kids are on our AAA. They range in age from 30 - 34. All live in their own place. Two not even in this state.
âIn one USAA forum people stated that using the roadside assistance dinged them on their rate when it came time to renew. I have not verified.â
This is what happened to me. I think I had Hartford insurance, had additional âtowâ coverage, so submitted a claim. They paid $50 out of $75 charge. Then when I moved and changed insurance, it showed a âclaimâ on my record and I think my rate was higher on my new insurance.
Definitely not worth it to pay insurance company $6-12, not get full reimbursement, and then pay higher rates. Just easier to join AAA.
Sometimes you can use one companyâs Club code code and anotherâs Promotional code (this example is with Hertz). It takes some time to do this, but often it will pay off. Flyertalk used to post great rental car deals but they seem to have tightened up on this.
In the last few rentals this mixing and matching coupons has pulled up a way better price than I got with Costco. Last summer when I first booked with Costco and then found a better deal elsewhere, I cancelled the Costco rental. It wouldnât let me cancel on line, but made me call in to cancel, and the rep wanted to know why I cancelled! What does it matter? I fibbed and said my kids decided to pick us up (truth was we were meeting our kids, but who cares). Its really none of their business, and I am not interested in telling them the better deal I got. They can do their own research!
As for timing of rentals, you have to look at whether your pick up and return times will add on an extra hours or so over the day. EG, if you pick up at noon one day and return at 1 or 1:30, you may get hit with an extra hours, or possibly and extra day. This last trip, I put the pickup time for the car at 45 min later than our arrival, as I know it would take a while to get through the airport, we had checked luggage, and then had to ride the shuttle bus to the rental car. If weâd gotten there a little early, the car was still ready for us (I called to confirm that this would be the case). The flight actually arrived 15 min early, but by the time we got through the airport, got the bags and rode the shuttle, we were right on time, so the landing --> car pick up took an hour total
Never had any issues with canceling Costco car reservations online. A couple of times I did not even cancel some of them, and it had not been an issue.
It was weird. I think it was Budget, but canât recall. Some deals are so discounted that they have a rule (this happened with the car we just rented a week ago) that if you no-showed or made any modification within the 24 hrs prior to the pick up, they were charging a dayâs rental. The deal I got (and no it wasnât a prepay; I donât like those and avoid if I can) was about 1/3 the cost of the rental for the same car with other deals on Hertz, or on other sites. We needed a big honker car, so got a Chevy Tahoe. I was literally brand new.