My wife backed her 2007 Vert. out of the drive this morning to go to work about 6:30 AM. When she shifted to drive the lever moved but the transmission stayed in neutral.

She left her AAA card with me and took the truck to work so she wouldn't be late. She is the cardholder, I'm not on it.

I called AAA and told them what happened and asked them to send a rollback to take the car to a shop. They asked if my wife was with the car. I told them she was at work and I was with the car.

They informed me that it was "Road Side Assistance" and that the card holder had to be stranded with the car before they could help.

Now my wife has to figure out how and when she can be home to get the car towed.

AAA wasn't much help on this one.

 

Just call a tow truck. She doesn't have to be there if you pay.

 

That is a new one. I have had many occasions where the AAA has responded to things such as a flat tire on one of my other cars, and it did not matter to them which car or who was with it.

 

I can't blame AAA for this. They sell spouse memberships, and you chose not to buy it. The AAA towing rules normally work well, as it follows the cardholder not the car. So, if a cardholder is with a friend's or family member's car and the friend or family member is not an AAA member, the car can still receive the benefits, which is great. Unfortunately, the opposite happened in your case and it actually is your wife's car, but the benefits still stay with the member and not the member.

As Mr. Dover pointed out, you can still just pay a tow truck if you want to.

PS - Next time just have your wife use the app to request service if she has a smartphone.

 

Pics of your wife please......

 

I edited your comments a bit.

Several years ago my wife (AAA cardholder) and I ran into a huge snowstorm coming home from a New Year's Eve gig (musician) which resulted in my van getting stuck in a large snowdrift on the road about 50 yards from our driveway. After my wife gave the towtruck driver her AAA card he still charged us because we were in a "commercial vehicle", a van used to haul my gear.

 

Everyone knows the card holder must be with the vehicle. Apparently you didn't,but now you do. Btw why don't you both have AAA? my wife and I do, its cheap enough along with many benefits.

 

That's really why I posted. I didn't know this was the way it worked. I thought other Forum members might benefit from this knowledge.

We hadn't used AAA for years. Having to have the card holder with the car was news to both me and my wife. The last time we used AAA I called it in, the tow company came to the house, never asked for I.D. and never even asked to see the AAA membership card. It was kind of a surprise when they didn't do the same thing for us this time. I imagine a lot depends on who answers the call at AAA as to what kind of service you get.

I was never a fan of AAA. My wife has had coverage for 30 years and you could count the number of times we have called them on one hand. It has served as an insurance policy to us but we really haven't got our money's worth. I have a 2008 ZO6 and my wife has a 2007 convertible. Together we have logged over 130,000 miles on them and this is the first time we have had to call AAA for help on the Corvettes.

My wife feels more comfortable having it. I don't blame her. Being a woman stranded on the highway alone can be a dangerous situation.

Around town I don't see much benefit in AAA. I can always call a buddy if I need help. I keep my car in top notch condition (as I do my wife's) anyway so it's rare that anything ever goes wrong with them.

If we are on the road my wife is with me 98% of the time anyway and she can handle the call to AAA.

 

AAA has saved my butt and my spouse's on many occasions. It is cheap to add a spouse to one's membership. I have been a member since 1979.

 

I also like the free maps!! I have all the state maps and most regional ones. I look at them all winter planning my summer road trips. Lol

 

My daughter broke down with her 2 small children. AAA said it could take several hours before a tow truck could come. She said that she would not stay with the car for that long and to call her when the car was delivered to the repair shop. Reluctantly they agreed. Sometimes common sense rules!

 

I have good sam because I have an RV and they will tow an RV with the proper towing vehicle. That said, they also cover all the cars we own and we've actually only had to use it once for my wife's tahoe. They were 1000 times better than any experience I've ever had with AAA. To me, AAA is only good for like 10 bucks off at sea world and such.

 

27 year member here..saved me a few times!

 

I've had RVRoadhelp for years and got rid of AAA+ to save money as RV will tow whatever you're riding or driving to wherever you have to go to get repaired, rental car, a friend's car, a motorcycle with or without a trailer, an RV, anything. Good Sam is about as good although I don't have first hand experience with them. Have used RV a couple times, both times a nice flatbed showed up and towed me where I had to go to get repaired, once, just over the border of another state, 106 miles away.

 

Will they tow your vette (or an RV) up to 200 miles to get you to the right shop? I don't want to just go to the closest garage that maybe located in some ghetto. A AAA Premier RV membership will. That is why I have that more expensive membership level for that added feature.

Here is a comparo of AAA membership levels:
https://chicago.aaa.com/membership/member-types/771.uts

 

AAA service is regional. In some regions there is no AAA+. They don't tow motorcycles and they DO have a mileage limit. RVRoadhelp doesn't.

 

I agree that I didn't know you had to be w. the car as a member. As said, in the past all you had to do was call it in and most times they never checked even to see the card.

Then again, the last time I used it was on my new '08 that died after three weeks of non-use. (nov. '07)

 

TerryL,
I have AAA Premier with the motorcycle option and they DO tow motorcycles without the RV option. Things do change over time. I'm in FL, so offerings may be different here.
Bob

 

That's my point Bob, in my region AAA+ does NOT cover motorcycles.

 

Maps...what are maps?