Comparing Road Side Assistance Services

Mr. and Mrs. Edge were recently involved in a bad car accident (not our fault) and had to use our AAA membership emergency roadside assistance.  Although I love AAA, and will keep my membership for life probably, it did get me thinking about towing services in general. Long story short, I was not flattered with the amount of time it took to pick us up on a busy highway.  So, I have done some research since then to see what options one may have instead of AAA.

Just a simple Google search revealed that someone had beaten me to the punch on comparing towing/auto services.  And, quite thoroughly.  Top Ten Reviews laid out a matrix of the top ten roadside assistance services one can purchase.  Not only did it compare pricing, but it also listed additional features, such as discounts, an other extras, and rated them, too.

Car Towing

Among their top ten is All State, and one of the main reasons is that they are cheaper than AAA.  But, another critical difference is reimbursement for bail if you are arrested falsely for a traffic violation.  That was a service offering of which I had not heard.  All State also offers retail discounts, but I did not see any listed for hotel or other travel savings--a big selling point for AAA.

Bottom line is that there are plenty of options for emergency roadside assistance, but there may be limits on towing distances before added fees, so check.  I know from recent experience with AAA that their basic membership only provided the first three miles free, each additional was a few bucks more.

Do your own research, but in a pinch, I would just go for the trusted provider with a long history, AAA.

Buying A Car? Use AAA's Auto Buying Program

Buying a car, for some at least, is a pretty major purchase.  One you don't want to take lightly, either.  I am not much of a car person, so when I do need to buy a car one day, I will be taking advantage of as many tools as I can to do so.

Today, I got an email from AAA regarding their car buying program.  You must be a member of AAA first, which for $69 or so, is a tremendous deal.  The program provides a shopping comparison tool based on the prices others paid for their cars.  I haven't used this, but given that its AAA, I am sure that it will be easy and effective.

Save on car towing services

While it's another added expense to maintaining a car, having road side assistance is simply a necessity.  Most people probably wouldn't trust themselves to fixing a flat tire, if they could avoid it.  And if there are no other cars around, good luck jump starting a dead battery on your own.

There are options for road side services besides the obvious major auto associations.  While they may offer discounts on all sorts of products and services in addition to automobile assistance, you might be better off seeing if your car insurance company offers road side assistance as part of their insurance packages.  Geico, for example, according to their website, offers towing services starting at $12.  That is substantially less than other offerings, but do your homework to see what that includes.  Towing charges can vary depending on how far your car is from a service station.  And, you may only get to use the program a limited number of times a year before being hit with a premium charge.

Sad about missing discount shopping and services opportunities?  Don't be.  Speaking of Geico, their Geico Privileges Program offers typical, major big box store discounts similarly offered elsewhere.  And, it's free.  Plus, if you read this blog often, other discounts are widely available, if you know where to look for them.  I will show you where.

Moving? Make sure you identify savings opportunities right away

If moving, especially in with someone, be sure to take advantage of savings opportunities as soon as possible.  And, such as in the case of services one must either change or cancel with a move to another city, such as phone, cable, or insurance coverage, there may be a whole list of potential savings available to you that didn't exist before.

Case in point: if consolidating households, make sure that no one is still paying for renters insurance on an old residence. Instead, add the new resident to your policy right away and cancel the old one. While this may seem obvious, it would be easy to forget about one's pre-existing coverage while contemplating a new policy and the options you may need. Do this: call up your old company, see if they can't match or beat the price for the policy you will be getting on and then dump them if they can't.  You can always change a policy, but if you are paying for both a new policy, and an old one, then you are wasting money.


Similar advice can be given for cable and telephone (wireless) service.  Moving to a new area might mean new provider opportunities that didn't exist before.  Rather than listen to your old cable company whine about getting you to transfer, and not cancel, your service, see if a new company can give you a new customer rate.  Same with the wireless company.  And, with wireless, it may be cheaper to get a "family" plan than to pay your old rate.


Coupon opportunities also exist for moves.  As mentioned previously, the U.S. Postal Service provides a packet of coupons to companies like Home Depot, Best Buy, and Lowes Hardware just for moving. 

Finally, if moving for a job, you may be able to write off moving expenses, provided you meet the criteria.  This IRS topic from their website helps you to figure out if you are eligible for that.

Bottom line: moving can provide many new opportunities for savings, which can take the bite out of the cost and hassle of doing so.

Save money on gasoline with Giant Food gas rewards

The BP oil spill may still be continuing, but you can save money while supporting another oil company instead.  (I am going to go out on a limb and say BP will be raising prices whenever they can get away with it for as long as possible.) 

But, back to the good part about saving money.  For some time now, Giant grocery store has had a deal with Shell Oil called Gas Rewards.  The premise is very simple:  register with the program, shop at Giant, and earn points when you shop.  Points are earned at a rate of 1 point/$1 spent.  Once you hit a threshold of 100 points, that's good for $.10 off a gallon.  Shop a lot?  Rack up enough points and you can save up to $2.20/gallon in one visit.  Their website has a very helpful tutorial in case you need more explanation, but once you visit the gas station, pop in your Giant card and the price per gallon will go down as you redeem points. 

Although they are everywhere, visit this site to find your local station.