Is AAA coverage needed with new M3?

[AZjohnInCA]

Sorry but have another question as my wife and I are reviewing cost of ownership.

With our new Tesla's M3's (two of them) I am reading that they come with 4 years roadside service.
With this nice added feature, is there a reason we should keep our AAA coverage we have had for years with our other cars?
I know AAA offers a lot of other services besides roadside assistance but, we never had a reason to use them.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated?

Thanks again,
John

 

[PowerBankT]

Sorry but have another question as my wife and I are reviewing cost of ownership.

With our new Tesla's M3's (two of them) I am reading that they come with 4 years roadside service.
With this nice added feature, is there a reason we should keep our AAA coverage we have had for years with our other cars?
I know AAA offers a lot of other services besides roadside assistance but, we never had a reason to use them.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated?

Thanks again,
John

No reason at all. While probably slightly slower than AAA, Tesla Roadside is great and will cover your needs.

I had an unrepairable blown tire on my S. Tesla brought out a replacement wheel, and took my wheel to the SC for repair. I just had to return to exchange the loaner wheel with mine later that week. Wonderful experience.

(Worth noting, however, they will tow to the nearest Service Center within 50 miles only. So if AAA offers longer towing ranges and you're a good distance from a SC, that would be the deciding factor for me.)

 

[jkoya]

We kept our AAA membership because we have 200 miles of free towing and the DMV services they offer....

 

[AZjohnInCA]

Thank you very much for your replies!

 

[jjrandorin]

We kept our AAA membership because we have 200 miles of free towing and the DMV services they offer....

Same here, thats why I kept my AAA membership (had it like 23 years so far as well). When I had the flat in the tesla recently, I did not call AAA, I called tesla roadside (decent experience as well).

 

[huangm777]

I highly recommend that you keep AAA and see how Tesla roadside service does the first few times. I have had nothing but bad luck with manufacturer roadside assistance like Toyota’s, and there was a long thread on Reddit about the woes someone went through for Tesla’s. I think AAA has better quality control over their approved mechanics than the others.

Here’s the Reddit thread; it’s one anecdote but it was eerily similar to my own experience with Toyota. I bet there’s like one company that’s subcontracting all these roadside assistance programs....

M3 suddenly died while driving. Terrible 1st experience with roadside assistance. : teslamotors

 

[ewoodrick]

AAA is seldom needed. Many insurance policies or credit cards often provide similar coverage.
But the Tesla roadside supposedly does a good job.

What are you expecting to use it for?

 

[Tam]

...other services besides roadside assistance but, we never had a reason to use them...

Tesla does not cover the towing cost for:

1) Collisions
2) Battery depletion due to insufficient charge

AAA would tow with no questions asked and without those 2 above exclusions.

 

[AZjohnInCA]

What are you expecting to use it for?

Well, we only used AAA the past 25 years for just flat tires and dead battery. Of course AAA mechanic would show up but they made us buy replacements at average prices. Never needed to use roadside service while in the middle of road trip (knock on wood).
Thanks

 

[ewoodrick]

Well, we only used AAA the past 25 years for just flat tires and dead battery. Of course AAA mechanic would show up but they made us buy replacements at average prices. Never needed to use roadside service while in the middle of road trip (knock on wood).
Thanks

Tesla should be able to handle it while it is available.

 

[jjrandorin]

I need to qualify my response to say that I also use AAA for my auto / home insurance (although there is no discount on home / auto for having AAA). I have the 200 mile towing as I mentioned. When I was much much younger, (and much much more "broke" lol), I had AAA but only the basic 7 mile towing. I drove only old cars as thats all I could afford. I got stuck by the side of the road a few different times in various cars and had to pay additional for towing to the mechanic.

I also got stuck once on the way from San Diego to Vegas on a road trip with a car breakdown, and had to pay "middle of nowhere" mechanic pricing to get back on the road.

I swore I would upgrade to the maximum towing back then, and AAA made you have a period of time to upgrade to 200 mile towing. I think it was a year but I dont remember, it was a long time ago.

AAA insurance for my tesla is super (super) expensive, but I havent taken the time to get competitive quotes.

 

[jonquiljo]

AAA is only about $90 per year in California for two people. Given the cost of buying and owning a Tesla, that's a drop in the bucket. AAA could really come in handy as a back-up tow insurance, etc. You never know if you will miscalculate and run out of a charge. It will help you sweat the "range anxiety" much better.

 

[holmgang]

Always good to have a backup assistance service, be it from your insurance coverage or from 3rd party provider like AAA.

 

[OCR1]

We decided to keep AAA. It’s only $90/year and Tesla roadside assistance is not consistent. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they take several hours to respond. We keep two spare tires and wheels in the garage as well so that if Tesla is out of spare tires (which has happened) we have our own and can just use AAA to tow the car to our house and then swap out the tires.

 

[Robotpedlr]

Plus AAA covers you for any car you are in, friends, loaner, rental, etc. For the times you have issues in other rides.

 

[Tam]

...AAA insurance for my tesla is super (super) expensive, but I havent taken the time to get competitive quotes.

You are in the town where there's an office of Wawanesa. Get a quote online, It might save you a few bucks.

 

[jkoya]

Since we still have 2 cars that are not a Tesla, we never considered cancelling our AAA membership.....

 

[SMAlset]

You never know when you are going to do something stupid like this while running errands and need an extraction....don’t ask ... happened beginning of this month



AAA had a truck in the area so didn’t wait long and he used wood blocks along with floor jack, paying attention to jack points (made sure driver was familiar with Teslas when on call with them). Was able to drive off raised wood and to freedom in pretty short order without damaging anything. AAA guy said about 70-80% of calls were for extractions of all kinds and this situation was more typical than one would think. Assume running off road for what ever reason and needing to be pulled back to road is another likely scenario. See plenty of cars off highway every so often.

First time using our AAA Plus service since getting our Teslas, kept mainly for the towing distance compared to Tesla’s Roadside Service tow coverage. Longer distance towing can be in the hundreds $ as others have reported on TMC under other threads about AAA.

In the past we used them for our ICE cars with replacing a battery that died, flat tires, once I got locked out of my car with no key (when cars had real keys). AAA did have in certain cities charging capabilities for EVs running out of charge. Not wide spread and discontinued just this year as they weren’t seeing enough calls to justify. With more EVs on the road in the future might be something that will be brought back. All I can say is my membership was worth it to me that day. Showed my card and that was all I needed to do. Very professional, even called to say when guy was about five minutes out. I don’t know if this situation would have qualified for Tesla’s Roadside Service.

When taking overnight roadtrips we have used our AAA membership for a better discount on hotel stays in the last few years while being Tesla owners.

 

[AZjohnInCA]

Thanks for sharing that story SMAlset.
You never know what life throws at you. I could see me doing the same "Stuck/Extract" move you did. I'm glad it didn't appear to be any physical damage to your car.
Cheers,
John

 

[SMAlset]

I still don't know how I did it but was willing to share my oh crap moment to maybe help someone out down the road. I had no idea how I was going to free my car without damaging the front bumper or something else. The car wouldn't back over the stop and I didn't want to catch my bumper and rip it off. Very thankful AAA guy knew exactly what to do and had what the job needed.