AAA - Is it worth having?

My parents are AAA Platinum Road Service members. Pretty much for $50 a year (my mom got added for free) their membership includes up to 4 calls, which includes towing (I think within a max of a 50 mile radius) , jump starts, etc. About a week and a half ago there was a snow/ice storm around where I live. I normally drive my older car, which is my daily commuter/beater car. When the roads are slick or when they are covered with salt I avoid driving my newer car, just because I guess I am obsessed with keeping my car clean. A haven't driven or even turned the car on for the past 9 days. Last Thursday I was about to take my newer car out for a drive to my parent's place. I went to disarm the alarm via the remote and I didn't hear the normal beeps that I usually hear when arming/disarming the alarm. The doors didn't unlock, so I went to manually unlock the door, which is when I was thinking man not the battery! I went to start the car and it didn't have enough juice to even start the car. I ended up calling AAA and they sent over this guy to jump start my car. This tow truck driver was very young, maybe my age or even younger. I was surprised to even see that he could drive a fairly large tow truck. Anyways though he got out his cable to jump start my car. He connected the cable to my vehicle, but then I saw him fumbling with the cables when he was connecting them to this box on the side of his truck. What do you know? This guy mixed up the positive and negative cables, and when he went to start my car it blew the fuse for the alternator. The driver did not have any fuses with him, nor did any of the spare fuses that came with the vehicle match the blown fuse. It was around 10pm, thus no shops or stores that sell a fuse would even be open. The driver gave me his cell phone number and said he could stop by the next day whenever I was free. On Friday morning I called the driver and told him that I would be free around 4pm. I went home and waited till 4:30. Since by this time I have not heard back from the driver I called him and asked about his whereabouts. He said he was at a sop picking up the fuse and will be on his way. I waited till 5:55 and have not heard back from the driver, so I call him but got his voice mail. At that time I left a message for him. Around 6:00 the driver calls me back and says he will be over around 7. I had some errands to run, so I went out to do those but was back around 6:45. It was now 7:20 and yet the driver was not here nor did he call me. I then started calling him, but he would not answer his cell phone. I repeatedly tried to call him and could not get through. By now I was fed up and I called AAA. I spoke to a rep named Pat, who was very helpful. I explained to her what has happened and that I am not happy with their service. She was willing to send out another truck, but I had other plans that evening, so I told her I would call back on Saturday. I also asked if I could get a credit for the first call from Thursday, so it won't effect my 4 free allowed calls. Pat put the request through. I woke up early Saturday morning and figured I would try replacing the fuse myself, thus I would not need the car to be towed to my local mechanic. I went to my local Toyota dealer and they did have the fuse, which was for $10.49 after taxes. I asked the rep at the parts counter if he knew how to replace the fuse. I could not get the blown fuse out, thus I had to ask. The rep said that supposedly the fuse is held down by a bolt. He was friendly enough to print out some schematics, which I tried to use to assist me. The funny thing is a guy at the parts counter who gave the rep the fuse, sarcastically said "did he mix the cable when jump starting his car". I told the rep at the counter what happened and they surely guessed right. I went back to the service area to ask a mechanic if such a job was easy. The first young mechanic, who was probably also in his early 20's said it shouldn't be anything too hard, but he is not too sure since these fuses hardly blow, thus he has never had to replace one. This mechanic took my to talk to another mechanic, but this mechanic wasn't helpful at all. He was like if you have skills you can change the fuse. I went home and went to try to change the fuse. I got the covers around the fuse holder off and was able to see where the bolt holding in the fuse is. Unfortunately I could not pull the fuse cover out much, thus I could not get to the bolt. I tried tugging for a bit, but did not want to continue this, since I didn't want to accidentally damage or loosen a wire. I gave in and called AAA for a tow truck. This driver was wonderful. He was very nice and he surely knew what he was doing. He transported my car safely on his flat bed tow truck and dropped it off at the mechanic who I go to. I told my girlfriend about what happened and she told me that I should complain to AAA and ask them to cover the bill for fixing the fuse problem. She is a law student, so she is very upfront with a lot of things, which is great. I took her advice and contacted AAA. Melody, the rep who I spoke with added this request to my original complaint and asked for my mechanics address and phone number, which I provided. She said that most likely AAA will cover the bill in such a case, since the blown fuse was caused at their fault. The car is in the shop and hopefully AAA will call me today or tomorrow. If not, I will surely call them.


Previously I had a problem where my sister's car, which was parked in the student lot of the university she attends, was having a problem where the check engine light was on and the speedometer was not working properly. She drives a Honda Civic. My dad and I went check the car out and then we called AAA. It took AAA about 5 hours before they came on site. This driver and his assistant were total idiots. They looked as if they were 2 of The Three Stooges. My dad and I followed the tow truck on the beltway. The truck was probably driving at 40mph and was emitting strong exhaust fumes. With traffic and the storm, we lost site of the tow truck. My dad and I continued and we reached the mechanic's shop where the car to be dropped off. We get there waited about 30 mins and the tow truck still had not arrived. I called AAA, the located the driver and told us he ran out of gas about 8 miles down the road from the shop. By this time it is nearly midnight and I was frustrated. AAA sent out another tow truck to pick up the car. This tow truck driver who came for the 2nd time, was great and got our car to the shop without any problems.

Overall these have been my past two experiences with AAA during the past 6 months. Now I have been starting to wonder if the membership is even worth having? It came in handy once about 3 years ago when my sister's car's muffler fell off and was dragging on the road. AAA came out to DC and towed the vehicle to our mechanic's shop. One out three calls has gone well. Our insurance (Erie) does offer road side assistance reimbursement, so I am going to get more info on it and see if that would be a better option. Supposedly though their service will reimburse you for any towing related expenses. I'm not too sure if that includes if I need to call a tow truck to have a flat tire changed (for when I am lazy/tired) or for a jump start. What do others do when they are in a similar situation? Do you guys belong to AAA or have any roadside assistance plan through your insurance company? I know more expensive cars such as Lexus, BMW, Acura, etc offer road side assistance for free during the first few years of vehicle ownership, but being cheap I doubt I would buy any of those cars at the moment, plus a $30k will cost more than a $50 annual membership.