thread is from last year. But on topic... policies are changing and getting much more strict.

Depending on how cool the driver is...

Anything with a 6 inch or more lift... nope.
Anything too low... nope.
No current registration and insurance... nope.
Been non running for a long period of time... nope.


They are called courtesy tows and they are stopping as much of that as possible. My family has been AAA members for a long long time and everyone except for me has AAA plus.

I had them come out to move my caddy from my old house to my new house. I had the current insurance paperwork. He asked about registration. I said it's been continuously insured since the day I bought it. I just don't have the current sticker on and don't have the paperwork. He then says... well I can't touch it without that paperwork.

I told him I could have it there in 20 minutes. He said... well we probably can't tow it anyways. Your car is too low and it's clearly been stationary for a long period of time... we don't do courtesy tows anymore.

Ended up costing my $278 to have a different tow company come get it despite having AAA and towing through statefarm. B.S.

The bumper did drag up the bed putting it on and off. But it wasn't really a big deal at all.



I keep hearing all these stories about people moving stuff all over the place with AAA. So far ALL of my experiences have been driver related. You either get a good one or a bad one. AAA related tows are the worst because the drivers don't want to get in trouble.

With my statefarm tow I had a car towed from my wife's work to our house. Their policy states that they can only town the car to the nearest shop that works on that particular car. In our case that was a few miles in the opposite direction. The dude towed it to my house no questions asked. On the paperwork he put "Ray's Garage" so that it would get covered. LOL!

bottom line... AAA's product is becoming less valuable as time goes by.

 

really? i guess the AAA towers in monterey are all chill about it. The one that towed my car and my dads car have 2x4 with em.

 

How many years ago was that?

 

im usre there IS a policy against towing lowered cars. but like BK said, if you got a tow truck driver that knows what hes doing with 2x4s, youre good. the AAA driver i had was real good about it. my car is pretty damn low. as soon as the front wheels were fully on the end of the bed, he lifted the bed a tad to save the nose. he pullled the car up a little, placed 2x4s under the edge of the bed and let the bed res on the the wood. he then pulled the car all the way up with no prob. rear tires went up wood, then bed. some drivers will BS cuz they dont want to be liable for your custom weight reduction mod ("OOOPPPS, was that your bumper?")

 

exactly... it's driver based.


And yes they do have a policy about towing lowered and raised vehicles. No go. Getting much more strict these days.

 

lol at my thread getting bumped by spam...

 

3, maybe 4 years ago?

 

I don't undersand the significance of this thread being from last year. It's from seven or so months ago, and is stil relevant. But anyway, I have had four AAA tows within the last twelve months. Never at any point have I had to show my registration and/or insurance (at any time, since 1999). One car of these recent four had obviously been sitting for a while due to it's dirty windshield and I could not get it started - this was my '02 SAAB Aero wagon and was around the time of this thread. The last car was my wife's '03 SAAB Aero wagon, which had been lowered, and the first guy could not figure out how to get it on the truck, but called another driver, who arrived and hooked it up just fine.

I do not doubt that the policies are becoming more strict. I also would not be surprised if they cited policy or some new rule if they did not feel comfortable towing in a given situation. I have been through a few things like this before, have a lot of experience getting cars onto trucks from my racetrack safety-crew experience, and do my best to eliminate as many of those variables as I can before the driver arrives.

 

Dang, what gives?

I been a member 12 years and only used them once. I see now where my premium is going

 

The significance is that it was for a particular question and particular situation that's already been resolved. That's why the year old comment.


As for me asking when someone did something it's because I literally just dealt with AAA and another guy that tows for them as well. Both drivers said that policies have gotten much stricter in 2013. Meaning the last 5 months...

5 months being less than 12 months... makes it a valid question.



You've been very fortunate with your tows.


I was going to try again with another driver but like I said and probably would have been able to get it towed... but whatever. Car is where it needs to be now. I think it was a combination of tougher policies, a driver trying to get off of work and just not wanting to deal with it and the fact I was missing some paperwork when he showed up. Gave him an out.

That's why I said it's probably heavily driver to driver. Some are lazy. Some are not.

 

i used my tow a few weeks ago and the driver specifically asked if i have current insurance and registration. he checked to make sure as well. i think if i did not have current tags/insurance, they would not have towed my car.

not sure if it matters but it's from santa rosa to san ramon.

 

I got towed the other day and he just asked if it was registered, I said yes, he towed it. Didn't look, plus it's a tow truck driver, you could slip him a 5 and he would tow you...

 

LOL! you must live have some stupid *** tow truck drivers where you live.


$5 to risk their equipment AND their jobs?

I have known some tow drivers over the years and they've been known to take some money from time to time as "tips" but not $5 and non that drove for companies that made their money off AAA calls.

You screw up a AAA contract for the company you drive for and you can guarantee you're fired.

 

i know haha and ppl just keep going on and on about towing . did you get the parts on yet?

 

5 was more of a for a point example... More of an exaggeration. They would probably look at 5 and laugh.....