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Thanks, my data are pretty dated as well.
Just a correction to the info I posted above, it seems that for all membership levels, the benefits apply to four tows a year, not just one. I guess the decision as to whether this is useful comes down to the state of your car!
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Thanks everybody for posting such great information.
AAA is a regional based membership. For example when we were in Alaska our AAA membership was "Alaska / Montana" membership and the allowances and fees are different than Hawaii. When we moved here from Alaska and didn't update our membership, although we called and got service from the same 1-800 AAA number for the tow, somebody from the Alaska / Montana office had to submit a claim to the Hawaii AAA to get reimbursed for our "out of network" type coverage. It was relatively seamless though the Alaska / Montana claim guy had to call me when the Hawaii office had a problem with my expired AAA membership (though it had not been expired when the tow occurred... they straightened it out among themselves).
Perhaps one reason why our collective AAA memories differ.
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"Perhaps one reason why our collective AAA memories differ."
Without a doubt. I spot-checked a couple of other places (SoCal and New York) and many of the benefits were different. In both those cases prices were higher but on the whole the benefits were the same although New York had some big differences in certain categories (no rental car benefits for instance, but think I can understand why that might be in a big city). Towing distances for basic membership were quite different and worse than here, but didn't try more rural areas on the mainland.
EightFingers - curious to know if this thread has helped you make a decision, and if so, who you plan to use, if anyone.
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AAA is a regional based membership.
It gets better: their 800# "magically" routes your call based on the area code you're calling from. If you brought a cell phone from elsewhere, make sure the first thing you tell them is where you "actually" are.
Towing distances for basic membership were quite different
I believe it's Ohio AAA that offers the "Gold RV" membership level, which is basically unlimited towing distance for any size vehicle.
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I was curious, so I did some hotel searches in places I routinely visit, with no check mark for AAA discount, and then with it.
Hilton chain hotels are showing $5 - $30 off of the "Hilton Best Price". Joining today.. This will add up in a hurry.
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leilanidude - if your trips involve rental cars, you may want to explore renting a car via the AAA site. You won't always get the best deal, but I've often come across deals that save me a couple of hundred dollars on a weekly rental that I couldn't match on any other travel site. At the very worst they seem to match the best deals you can find elsewhere.
In my other life I was a travel agent...
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My work has car rental discounts that I can use for personal rentals that are simply unbeatable. (I have had full-size cars for $12 a day, even $15 once from Enterprise in Hilo. The guy at Enterprise asked how I got the rate...) Oddly enough, the corporate hotel discounts aren't generally that great but we have to use their tool for all work travel.
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"My work has car rental discounts that I can use for personal rentals that are simply unbeatable. (I have had full-size cars for $12 a day, even $15 once from Enterprise in Hilo. The guy at Enterprise asked how I got the rate...)"
Wow. That's one hell of a deal!
