Caa?

[raingirl]

Worth it or not?

My mom says yes because you can get one free tow if something happens. I don't know if it's worth it for that.

I know it's good to have "just in case" especially if you travel a lot in rural areas, but since I'm 99% just in the GTA, finding a tow or someone for a battery boost isn't hard or expensive. especially since they have a new law saying that tow drivers can't charge HUGE fees anymore (it's a set rate in all the GTA...$100 or $120 I think).

What do you all think?

I'm just wondering because we are driving to ottawa this weekend, and because it won't be the GTA, if something happened while we were on some rural highway somewhere, I would have no idea who to call.

[gdamadg]

I am a CAA Gold member, and yes it is worth it. Just in the couple times I needed to have my doors unlocked, cause my alarm kicked in and locked me out. And it's much easier to have someone change your tire on the side of the highway than doing it yourself. Plus discounts on hotel, car rental and so on. Free maps and travel advice. And the cost of a year membership, could equal one towing.

That's my opinion though. Check out the website and decide for yourself. www.caa.ca

[mafiaprincess]

I'm also a gold member. I've needed one of my 3 free yearly tows this year, and almost needed a second when my car wouldn't start. I like the piece of mind that if I'm an idiot and lock my keys in the car I'm not screwed, etc.

[cpietra16]

Originally Posted by gdamadg

www.cca.ca

I think you meant [URL="http://www.caa.ca"[/URL]

[gdamadg]

Originally Posted by cpietra16
I think you meant [url="http://www.caa.ca"[/URL]

LOL, thanks.

[dobbie4ever]

I am caa member and i think that it is worth it besides road side assitancethere is other neat things that they will do for you like when i traveled across canada they mapped out my route for me andsent it to me they even had on the map if the road was rough or if there was costuction it was great

[Prin]

Is the coverage different from province to province? I ask because I'm a gold member and I get 4 "helps", meaning either a boost, gas run, towing up to 160kms. I think it's worth it if you have an older car and you might need it towed to your own garage from wherever you may be. If you have a new car, maybe the regular membership (which in Qc gives you towing up to 5kms free) would be enough to get out of jams.

[gdamadg]

Prin,

I think it is pretty generic overall, but coverage may vary depending on the district your in. As for the 5km part, given where she is travelling, getting out of a jam would probably be a lot farther than that. As there is a whole lot of nothing out there, .

[Bushfire2000]

Just a quick comment. Here they tow you to the nearest garage that is affiliated with CAA not to your own garage.
How ever I think it would be worth it myself.

[joeysmama]

I don't know if the coverage is similar to AAA which we have here but if it is I think I'd say it's definitely worth it.

We've got it for ourselves and for our kids and it's come in handy on more than one occasion. I would be uncomfortable if my kids were on the road without it.

[chico2]

Without a question,it's well worth it..
We've been members forever and even used them when we had trouble in the US,great service!!
Last winter,I left the Jeep running,while unloading it(at my sons house)accidentally closed the door,which was in lock mode.
CAA,made it a priority,since the car was running,they were there in 10 min and opened the door
Over the years we've had other incidents,always excellent service!
If you ever need to hire a tow-truck,at least here,it is very expensive.Depending on what card you have,we have Gold Plus and towing is unlimited.
Plus you get all the benifits when you travel,Trip-Tics are lifesavers for us,who are prone to get lost
I believe it costs us $160/year for 2 memberships.Money well spent.

[CyberKitten]

I have mixed feeling about it but I do belong. I do like the maps and the triptiks they make - and it was helpful during the recent moose thing. But thus far, over the yrs for me, it has yet toi pay for itself. But it might one day, lol

My parents are not strong prponents either and tarvel often as retirees. My dad belongs - they once had 2 memberships but felt they were being ripped off so now they are down to one. For them, the triptiks have been helpful - the hotel discounts are never all that great. I guess it is what you use it for and how good a mechanic you have and how much s/he charges and how much you know about cars. My parent are the type to prob buy a new car after an accident - as I did with my own recent accident tho the SUV was totaled to there was not much choice. CAA was not that helpful - the cloest person who was allied with them was too far and while I did give in and let them tow, it prob cost me more than had I had someone closer bring in the car. But that's just my experience. Sounds like others do well.

I still like the maps and books - found the people kind of snooty and not very customer service oriented - like why are you bothering me attitude (the ones in the office I mean - and it was the same in Saint John, Halifax, Baton Rouge,La, Florida - any place that can make Maritimers unfriendly makes me wonder, haha - do thehy give them some sort of course on how to ignore or be unpleasant or just plain not interested. Might be they have a tough time there - I do not want to judge them b=without knowing everything. And I was exceedingly polite. I do have one friend who went to work for them from an agency here to Alberta and she loved Alberta so it was not the place. She hated the attitude, the people, the company melieu - she found work easily in another better agency. So I have to wonder. Maybe their garage affiliates are better - sure sounds like it.

[jiorji]

CAA is the best thing when you have an old car.

gosh I can't remember how many times the CAA has saved me from middle of butt-**** Ontario towns. hehe
and you never know when you'll need them. Personally I'd rather sign up for them than panic and freak out oveer who to call in case I get stuck with a car in a town I don't know.

Plus i've always had good service from them. They're always fast.

[free]

if you have a rogers cellphone they also have a roadside assistance plan that i think is 48.per year or you just have to call a certain number and pay for what ever service you need.

[raingirl]

Hmm...seems like it is good for tows, but that's about it. I prefer to change my own tires (I actually enjoy it), and am able to jimmy the lock on my car if I ever locked the doors with the keys in there. I don't see how it would be worth it to me the either. I don't travel much either, and when I do, I print my own maps off mapquest and research the route myself. plus I have map/search thing on my phone if I got lost. I also have a car full of maps (my step-father was a trucker before, and bought me a large selection of maps for all over Ontairo. He also taught me how to break into any car and change a tire super quick)

I do have rogers too, and heard about the roadside assistance thing. I also have some kind of assistance through my insurance. I think that's fine enough for me.

[Schwinn]

I think auto assistance is definitely worth it. However, I won't use CAA. I found them terrible. One time, it was going to take 3 days for them to come. Another time, when I had a car with a faulty gas gauge, they promised to come in 3 and a half hours. I told them to forget it, I could push the car to a gas station by then. I switched to the Canadian Tire Auto Club, who guarantees a tow in 45 minutes, and was never disappointed (even in bad weather, when CAA promised 3 days). And, I believe they will tow you to a different garage than Canadian Tire.

[shannonRN]

We have AAA gold, and it sounds the same as the CAA version. My inlaws get us the standard AAA as a Christmas gift, then we upgrade to gold. A year ago, there was this Bermuda triangle thing going on with my car where you would be driving along, and it would just die...not stall, but DIE...and having that gold account saved me 3 or 4 times. The longer towing range is also key, so then we can have it towed to OUR mechanic, not just to whatever shop is within reach.

It seems like towing takes forever around here, so I probably would never use AAA for a flat tire or something like that that I can do myself, but for anything else, it's definitely worth the peace of mind if you have extra cash to put into it.

[Bushfire2000]

Ladies changing your own tire is not a smart thing to do.

I did it once and know all my phone calls to HB result in "can't you do it". And I say if you loved me you'd come and do it and besides It's -25 out and I don't have any mitts and it's dark and I don't have a flashlight and there's no spare tire.