Is a AAA membership worth it?

[SarahKate]

It's worth it for us. Pretty much every year we end up needing roadside assistance and the membership more than pays for itself. We always book our trips with them for the savings. For our upcoming trip, we got free dining so no AAA discount BUT if we pay our balance a little earlier, we will get a $50 rebate for every $1000 our pkg costs. So we will get a check from them for $100 after we pay it off! We also love the parking pass and this is actually our main reason for booking thru them. We haven't taken advantage of some of the other perks but maybe we should!

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

We use our AAA card for only 2 things movie tickets and hotel rooms. I always forget to ask who takes it. Friendlies now takes it for discounts on sundaes. They are worth it for the hotel discounts. One thing I found with Disney and other hotels is there is a limited number of AAA discounts per night per hotel per room category. You many not be able to get a "standard" room and might have to get an upgrade. Sometimes this gets you a better room at the standard rate and sometimes you get nothing. We are using it for two upcoming trips savings per night is $30.

 

[Happiest mommy]

we love having it have used it for towing, keys locked in cars, theme parks, shoes, luggage and always for hotels best money spent

 

[musicmama]

Have used AAA for lots of hotel discounts, many times it beats waiting out Priceline and Hotwire! Have also used a terrific AAA agent to get Disney dining package with the AAA vacation package (only way you can do this). Love the Diamond card and Diamond parking lots (especially in crowded holiday seasons).
It's also recently been invaluable when my car decided to kill a couple of batteries - guy came out and jumpstarted my car after pushing it out of my garage for me!
We also have RV coverage so that if the RV ever has an issue, we are covered.
It's expensive but has definitely been worth it.

 

[TaraPA]

Each AAA office offers different rates. We just booked WL for October & got a whopping 3.5% discount. That's not thirty-five percent, that's THREE point FIVE. So definitely not worth the $60 AAA membership just for that. But we've always had AAA for roadside assistance, not really for the ther perks.

 

[Dismom55]

I use my AAA for hotel discounts for my travel to and from Disney, some restaurants for meals to and from Disney and tows if needed during the year, which have been needed to my surprise. I have not used it for at Disney as I have a non AAA travel agent that I trust. I also get a rental car for the drive to Disney and the savings for that alone pays for the AAA, so for me so far it has been worth it to have AAA.

I do not like putting those miles on my own car, and if the car has a break down I feel it is a slight interuption of my trip while I wait for a replacement, not a repair, so I rent a car. Also we like the rather long drive rather not fly.

 

[castleview]

Yes. Especially as your cars get older. We've used it for hotels also and it works out…that's just an added perk. The piece of mind and assistance for the cars are totally worth it alone.

 

[jgates]

We have gone years without having to use it for anything car related and then had to use it 3x in one year!! Fuel pump went out in June - that created a tow situation.

Every hotel that I book that isn't comped is using a AAA discount unless I find something better. Our Disney marathon trip for January even came out about $160 less with AAA, even over marathon weekend.

 

[mountdew1]

AAA discounts tend to be 10-15% across the board. Go to aaa.com, put in your zip code and see what discounts your local branch offers. AAA is really an umbrella for all the various state/regional AAs.

At WDW AAA discounts are normally offered year round, even during busy times when they may not offer other discounts. However, they tend to still be in that 10% range. So definitely better than paying rack rates, but a fair bit less than the 25-40% that WDW may offer via PIN or GP discounts (or free dining if you like that).

Is it worth it for the discounts alone? Nope. Not really. Unless you travel on your own dime alot or frequent alot of national chains (lodging and restaurants). They are nice discounts, but if you are planning ahead, may or may not be better than other discounts offered by the chain itself, or through travel sites.

It AAA itself worth it? Heck yes. At least once a year I have had to call them for a jump, a tow, flat repair, something. After being quoted $275 for a 20 mi tow a few months ago, was very happy AAA would reimburse me for it since they weren't first there. (Strange highway rules)

 

[Sagginit]

can someone explain the pros/cons of different membership levels? my mother has an AARP membership that already gets her lots of discounts but we were thinking about signing up together and splitting a membership. im not sure which level would be sufficient.

 

[DVC-Don]

I use it strictly for hotel discounts as I've never had to call AAA for anything related to my vehicles.