Are all roadside assistance companies equally bad?

February 8, 2023 9:22 AM

I'm in Upstate New York. I recently needed a jumpstart, and I had a bad experience with my current provider. Their app told me that they had located a service provider, but no one ever came (and the call center finally admitted that the app gives the same answer to everyone, and they couldn't find anyone to come out and help me). I'm looking for a better alternative, but all the companies seem to have lots of negative reviews online.

I suspect that the problems lie more with the specific towing compies than with the overall provider. And I also suspect that all the roadside assistance companies contract with the same towing companies, so maybe there is no way around the problem.

I was initially leaning toward switching to the service offered through my insurance company (Allstate), but I was scared-off by multiple complaints I found online.

There's also AAA, but lots of people complain about them, as well.

What's a consumer to do?

posted by alex1965 to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (25 answers total)

Best answer: I use AAA (even though they've done things I don't like for years and years).

They do a lot of business with tow truck companies (a driver at a local place once told me that AAA calls make up the majority of their business), so I would imagine a service provider would want to maintain a good relationship with them.

I would take online complaints with a grain of salt. I've used roadside assistance many, many times over decades. Every time the experience has been somewhere between 'fine' and 'good,' and I've never written a review. If I ever had a bad experience, though...
posted by box at 9:31 AM on February 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

i've had fine experiences with AAA.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 9:46 AM on February 8, 2023 [6 favorites]

I use AAA. I haven't had any bad experiences with them, even in the boonies. They do keep tabs on the service providers through the call center; I've had the call center call to check on me when there was delays and their text updates are usually pretty accurate.
For the cost, I'd go with AAA. From what I've heard from the tow truck drivers, they're quick to cut the relationship with any business that doesn't do well by the members. So while there might be some bad instances, they do seem to do what can be done to prevent them.
posted by shesaysgo at 9:46 AM on February 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

This is going to be like banks or airlines where everyone will have bad experiences sometimes and nobody reviews good service.

That said, I think AAA has the most leverage with their subcontractors. The problem will always remain that if nobody's available, nobody's available, but at least if someone accepts the deployment and doesn't follow through it is all logged in the AAA system. It's probably not shocking that the best service I had from them was in Los Angeles and the worst was out in the boonies - where you often tend to be when shit goes wrong that you can't deal with yourself somehow - but the primary issue was that it took someone a long time to be available to come from a fairly distant little town with only a few tow trucks. I still knew what was going on the whole time, though, which is the strength of their app and network.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:50 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Their app told me that they had located a service provider, but no one ever came

I've never had a problem with AAA.

I'm not a fan of AAA's politics, but at least they have presence beyond just a website and an app. Towing companies often advertise their AAA-affiliation right on their trucks, and you can search for AAA-approved repair shops on the website. When you call their dispatcher, you get a live person who can tell you immediately what local service provider is being sent to your location.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:50 AM on February 8, 2023

I have CAA (Canadian arm of AAA). I've used them about 3 times for a jumpstart and had a great experience each time -- reached someone on the phone immediately, got a dispatch, driver showed up within 45 minutes and gave me a jump. No complaints from me.
posted by mekily at 9:52 AM on February 8, 2023

I would assume there are a lot of complaints about Allstate's roadside service because of the fact that there are a lot of complaints about Allstate in general. Allstate is both a very large insurance company, and a very bad one. That means there are a lot of people to write bad reviews. Even if a smaller regional company (like the one I work for) has terrible service, there are fewer bad reviews, just because there are fewer policyholders to write reviews. But also, my company doesn't suck like Allstate does, which further lowers the number of bad reviews.

Roadside assistance also isn't the kind of thing that's likely to get good reviews. Anyone using it is already having a bad day, and anything other than perfection is at best an inconvenience and at worst a panic. And even if you do have a good experience, you generally have something to do in the immediate aftermath, which makes it less likely that you'll write a review.

I will say that I would expect adding roadside to your Allstate policy would probably be cheaper than getting a separate policy from a third party.

You're correct that the local towing contractors are usually the bottleneck. And except in enormous cities, there usually aren't many towing companies to choose from, which means that all the roadside assistance providers you'll find are fishing in the same pond. If you live in a small town, you'll probably get the same tow truck whether you're with AAA, Allstate, or your current company. And if that towing company sucks, well...

If your concern is mostly about things like jump starts or flat tires, you might consider purchasing a portable jump starter and compressed air tire inflator instead.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:52 AM on February 8, 2023

AAA has been reliable for me.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:56 AM on February 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

My family is obsessed with AAA. It's the thing my parents give to friends kids when they graduate high school. I've had a AAA membership since the day I got my driver's license. I spent many childhood weekends visiting the AAA with my parents to get maps and triptiks for every excursion we ever took. They've come found me in below zero weather to give me battery jumps more times than I can count, fixed tires on the go, and drove out to the middle of nowhere in Canyonlands to drag my whole family back to civilization when the van's transmission quit.

AAA has its problems, but they are incredible, absolutely best in class in my opinion, at roadside assistance.
posted by phunniemee at 9:56 AM on February 8, 2023 [7 favorites]

I've had AAA fail me several times and no longer have their membership. I think they are individually owned by state or region, so service might vary. At one point, they limited calls to 4/year, worth checking. I get roadside assistance with my car insurance; it's reliable and they are quite accurate about the time it will take, which has always been under an hour, usually faster.

You can get a small, effective jump starter for under $100, and it can charge your phone, has a flashlight, fits under the seat. It's worth having for emergencies, yours or someone else's. I know how to change a tire, but the last one was on a chilly, rainy, night, and I was so happy to have someone come and change it in a few minutes; I'd have taken way longer. Battery and flat tire are the 2 big issues, plus towing in case of an accident.
posted by theora55 at 10:07 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

I drive a lot less than I used to, and mostly stay near civilization.

like theora55, I carry a portable jump starter - and also a separate air compressor, which are pretty much all I'd ever used AAA for anyway, in the decade+ where I was a subscriber. I figure that if I'm in a bind, I call up AAA and re-activate my subscription if I truly need a tow.

>knocks wood, as the gods are always listening<
posted by enfa at 10:10 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's been a few years since I've had roadside assistance, since I had a lease, then a new car that included roadside assistance for a few years, but I was happy with Better World back when I was driving a beater. I switched to them after reading a Harper's piece about how AAA uses members' fees for anti-environmental lobbying. I would totally use Better World again. Here's their page on how they differ from AAA.

Do bear in mind though that any roadside assistance company is going to rely on local businesses to provide actual services, so there are things that are harder for them to control.
posted by FencingGal at 10:11 AM on February 8, 2023

(Enfa, there’s usually a 7 day waiting period, but your approach might still make sense otherwise)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 10:19 AM on February 8, 2023

Disclaimer: my dad worked for AAA, I've always had it, I haven't had any bad experiences with roadside service other than (a) having to wait for the truck coming from wherever, and (b) we had 3 people and warned the company of this and they were still all "we can't fit 3 people in our truck," so the rest of us literally got a ride in a police car to the nearest restaurant--that was pretty amusing, actually.

I note that the issue may just be with the people that get hired in your region. Maybe the contractors aren't that good or are flaky. As Fencing Gal pointed out, it may be more issues with the local contractors.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:19 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

My family has used AAA my whole life across multiple states and we haven't had problems. Even though I don't currently drive, I am still a member and they recently sent someone promptly when I called while riding in a friend's car that blew a tire. I will likely never leave AAA.
posted by fies at 11:19 AM on February 8, 2023

I've used AAA since 2016, and it has generally worked well. However, I've had consistent issues with their on-site battery service technicians being unable to diagnose a bad battery. It's happened multiple times since 2016 with different technicians who've been sent out. Several of the technicians even said "It looks like the battery is the issue, but because this test comes back saying the battery is fine, we can't replace the battery." I was able to talk one of them into letting me buy a battery they had on hand, but otherwise their response has repeatedly ended with "Well, you need to bring the vehicle to a AAA shop and leave it for a day so they can run thorough battery checks."

So: AAA roadside assistance has been consistently reliable. AAA battery service has been consistently unreliable.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:22 AM on February 8, 2023

Like many services, most people do just fine with AAA in mid-size and bigger cities and suburban areas. When you're in a rural area, its service is seriously deficient.
posted by yclipse at 11:30 AM on February 8, 2023

I'm near Albany and use Geico roadside assistance and have had very good experiences. Twice I had someone out to change flat tires in less than 15 minutes. But yeah, available providers are going to vary a lot depending on where exactly you need service.
posted by metasarah at 12:40 PM on February 8, 2023

I've heard that on the occasions when local towing companies have too many calls than they have operators, that the direct-paying customers will receive quicker service/will be placed higher up on the queue. AAA may funnel a lot of customers to the towing company, but the negotiated payrate between AAA and the towing company is not as good when the towing company can cut the middleman out and deal directly with the customer. So, you may just try contacting local service providers yourself and not through AAA.
posted by TheLinenLenin at 1:50 PM on February 8, 2023

Depending on where in NY you are, the State Farm HELP truck is very useful. I broke down in Westchester County and my USAA-dispatched tow trucks never came. The HELP truck guy explained that the local tow companies tend to do that kind of job last because of its low reimbursement rate. But if he called for a tow on my behalf, they would come right away because they get in trouble otherwise.
posted by xo at 4:36 PM on February 8, 2023

I've absolutely never, ever had a problem with AAA. We went through a few years where we had problems with the 12-volt battery in our Prius (not the hybrid battery). The last time we needed a jump the AAA guy advised us to get a new type of battery that is supposedly better for powering electronics in the car (sorry, I don't remember the name) and quoted us a price. It turned out to be somewhat cheaper through our dealer, but I'm not going to fault AAA for a price difference, and the advice as well as the service was spot on.
posted by lhauser at 6:05 PM on February 8, 2023

I've had AAA ever since I started driving. Have used their services many, many times. For me, the peace of mind of a (in my experience) reliable helper at the other end of the phone is worth the annual dues. And (excluding commercial vehicles) your membership covers the driver, not the car. Plenty of times, I've used my card to get a tow or help for another person. Plenty of car-adjacent businesses (repair shops, rentals, motels, etc.) offer AAA discounts, too; it never hurts to ask.
posted by xedrik at 7:40 PM on February 8, 2023

I have GEICO insurance and their roadside assistance. I've only had to use it a couple of times but they have been great both times.
posted by fieldtrip at 9:11 PM on February 8, 2023

We had amazing AAA service in Michigan, but have had less great service in Ohio. They are clearly managed differently so I think your experience could vary based on location quite a bit.
posted by GrimmblyTuna at 8:38 AM on February 9, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks for all the tips. I'll go with AAA, despite their bad politics.
posted by alex1965 at 7:19 AM on February 10, 2023