AAA new premier road service,

[w113dude]

Recently AAA introduced a new plan to their members, Premier plan is well worth the money, it coves up to 200 miles of free towing to your own location, cost of this plan is $100.00 per year. This will cover up to four free towing per year. An independent towing would cost at least twice as much.

This is a great deal for vintage car owners, I often travel to NY city, the trip is 350 miles each way, if any of my cars brake down along the way I can either have it towed back home or to my friend's in NY city.

Well worth considering!

[mdsalemi]

Not so fast, w113dude...

This is NOT a nationwide "product" (goodness I hate it when organizations call services, products) and is NOT available everywhere.  It may be available to you, depending on where you live.  It is NOT available to any resident of AAA Michigan.

Unfortunately you need to check your own local AAA office to see if it is available for your domicile.

The only "extra" available here is the RV+ membership and it looks like they reduced the towing down to 100 miles from 150 in years past.

[w113dude]

Oops, I thought it was available nation wide! Oh well good for me then 

[J. Huber]

We do have such a thing here in California. I currently have the AAA Plus which is apparently the level just below the Premier. I pay 135 for my wife and I (89 if it was just me). The Premier is 169 for us (109 single).

My coverage is 100 miles towing anywhere, 4 times a year, 3 gallons of free fuel (wow!) and 100 dollar reimbursement for a automobile locksmith.

The Premier is 200 miles, 4 times a year, 5 gallons!, 100 reimbursement for locksmith car or home, and 300K travel accident insurance worldwide and a 50 windshield replacement reimbursement... so it does some extras for 34 more a year.

One thing both offer is flatbed towing upon request which I think is imperative with the Pagoda.

You only need to use it once to really feel like you gotta deal...Trust me  

[mdsalemi]

I was towed once on a flatbed about 150 miles.  That was after the unfortunate transmission explosion years ago.

More recently when I was sorting out my combo-problems of the Crane ignition and bad power to the fuel pump, (both issues long since solved) I had to be towed about 15 miles.  Called for a flatbed, but a regular tow truck shows up.  The guy told me, "we didn't have any flatbeds available", and then said, "don't worry, I do this all the time on [insert name of classic/vintage car here] and never a problem."

The big problem was when he went to put the magnetic brake lights on the trunk deck.  "sorry, I don't want you scratching my paint, but more importantly, it's aluminum".  "Not a problem, I'll just place them on the doors"

I convinced him to just go slow, forget the darn lights, and take local roads.  Sure enough, we made it without an issue.

But I lost som hair that day--best to have a flatbed...more importantly, best to have a reliable car!

[J. Huber]

Since we are on "towing" stories... once when I was about 21, me and a couple buddies took a road trip from Santa Barbara to Vegas. For those who don't know, this is about a 7 hour ride though some of the world's most desolate land on earth. And back then there was not much in the way of services along the desert stretch of a few hours... Anyway, it was a Honda Accord (before they got fancy) and just past the town of Baker, the clutch gave out. Car would not shift. It was about 7 at night. Well, somehow I was able to call AAA. Not sure how actually as this was pre-cell I think...  Guy shows up and says "I can tow you back to Baker..." Well, here's a bunch of guys with money burning a hole in their pockets... I said "how much to tow us to Vegas?" 200 bucks he says (which was a small fortune then). I paid him (not them by the way) and off to Vegas we went, crammed in a tow truck. He dropped the car off at a Honda dealership. I left a note on the car that I'd be back in the morning to deal with it. My "plan" was to hit the blackjack tables and get my 200 back... Not exactly. Lost my #%&!

Anyway, somehow we made it back home...Oh to be young again... hmmm maybe not.