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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Breakdown cover - alternatives to the AAA?
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-03-2014 05:14 AM
This is gonna be a long, rant type post. For those who aren't seeking some free entertainment, the short version of it is this: can anyone recommend an alternative to the AAA for breakdown cover, which will absolutely guarantee to come and help you 24/7/365 and tow you, in a worst case scenario to a destination 75 miles away?
The reason it's gonna be a long, rant type post is because it's nearly 3am, I'm in an empty projection booth in an empty theater with bugger all else to do except write it, and I've just found out the hard way that the AAA will not do the above.
Driving into work this afternoon, I developed a coolant leak courtesy of a split in the upper radiator hose. I attempted a bodge repair involving duct tape and cable ties, but it didn't hold and I overheated about three miles into the drive home (for those that know LA, in Echo Park around Sunset and Alvarado). I nursed the car into a gas station forecourt, called the AAA and waited on hold for over half an hour (this was at around 11pm). The lady who eventually answered asked me where I wanted the car towed. They could only tow me to within seven miles, so home (65 miles away) was out. How about a garage that could fix it? Only if I could give her the name of one that was open (at nearly midnight - yeah, right!). I told her that I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood and needed help finding somewhere. After a catty remark about the inadvisability of trying to do long-distance commuting late at night in a 15 year-old car (which, incidentally, I maintained totally and utterly in accordance with the maker's specs), she tried Googling, found one place nearby and tried calling it, but got no reply.
I won't bore you with the rest of the saga, but the end result was that after nearly three hours a truck did show up, driven by a lovely guy who took me back to the theater and the car to a nearby garage, who will give me a quote in the morning (but this was no thanks to the AAA - the tow firm was a subcontractor and the garage owned by one of the driver's friends - no doubt the quote will not be a competitive one, but frankly I'm beyond caring).
So here I am, with five hours to kill until the first train back to San Bernardino. My wife offered to drive in and pick me up, but there's no way I'm letting her do that at the end of a long day. At least as things are, only one of us is in a jam, and I am now safe. I'm guessing that this place will be able to fix the car pretty easily, even if the radiator is nuked. My wife is urging me to admit defeat and get a newer car, and I may well swallow my pride and end up doing that, given that I have a 140-mile round trip commute four days a week and I truly don't want anything like this to happen again.
I guess I'm shocked because when I lived in Britain, I was a member of a breakdown service called the RAC, for which the deal was simple: for around the equivalent of $200 a year, they guaranteed to come and rescue you, 24/7/365, and tow you to any destination you chose, anywhere in the country. There could be a bit of a wait in the middle of the night (e.g. a couple of hours, especially if you're male and stranded in a relatively safe location), but there was none of this BS about trying to find a subcontractor who was willing to come out, and expecting you to know about garages in an unfamiliar neighborhood along your commuting route.
Therefore, can anyone recommend anything similar in Southern California? I'm willing to pay well over AAA membership rates for a similar level and efficiency of service to that which the RAC provided in Britain. Many thanks in advance. In the meantime, at least the ghost of Sid Grauman has someone to keep him company tonight...
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-03-2014 09:26 AM
quote: Rick Raskin
AAA offers expanded service up to 100 miles at additional cost. He in the East its called AAA Premier and costs about $118/year.
Thanks. Once I'm back home, have had a bit of sleep and am feeling sane again, we'll investigate. When I moved here we simply added me to Olivia's AAA plan at a slightly higher annual fee: neither of us thought to ask precisely what was and wasn't included. In my case I guess it was because even the most basic, barebones RAC option in England included a tow to their nearest approved repair facility that was at least open to receive the broken-down car at any hour of the day or night, if not actually to fix it.
What disappointed me most of all about the AAA was that they had to look on Google to find someone to come and tow me - they don't have their own trucks and drivers directly, even in the middle of LA (and so goodness knows what they'd have done if I'd been in the middle of nowhere). That's really why I'd at least like to find a service that claims to have trucks/drivers on standby 24/7 covering the LA metro and Inland Empire areas, because, as I discovered last night, the AAA clearly don't. So an enhanced AAA membership that would theoretically include a tow all the way home wouldn't be much use if they can't find anyone to come out in the first place, which was nearly what happened last night.
I'll check out the insurance with breakdown cover as an add-on route. Our next renewal is due in October, so that could be a possibility.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-03-2014 01:24 PM
Steve - the leak wasn't in the radiator or heater core - it was an inch long, lateral split in a hose. This was directly below the distributor (or at least I think it was - it was pitch black in the middle of last night when I was looking at it). Must have been chafing against something I guess, or just simple rubber fatigue. My guess that it was too big a leak for sealant gunk to have done very much, but I'm certainly going to be carrying a can of the stuff in the trunk in future. Thankfully, it looks like I managed to stop the engine before the radiator was nuked - the garage to where the car was eventually taken have just called to report that they think that a new hose plus a refill should sort it, and will let me know when they've done that and pressure tested.
Back home now thanks to Amtrak, but will check out everyone's suggestions when rested and calmed down a bit - many thanks.
quote: Jeff Taylor
I've gotten the same actual local road towing service company with AAA, Lincoln's service, and BMW's own breakdown service--the only difference being that the BMW and Lincoln services would take you free to the nearest dealer no matter how far it was. All of them are merely dispatching services.
Which means that the same local towing companies are sitting there waiting for the calls from pretty much everyone who provides breakdown cover to the public - the AAA, dealership plans and the rest of them. I guess the determining factor is which contracts are most lucrative to the towing companies, and those are the ones they prioritize.
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