AAA to tow projects?

You still had the tape on!
Hard to say you were just a spectator who's oil line broke while there.
I think that clearly goes against the advise here of make the car and the situation appear as normal and easy for the driver as possible.
You got charged $100 but as we learned above, the tow truck company was only going to get paid $85 by AAA. The driver was a hero in his employeer's eyes.

AAA towed the MR2 home when I first bought it. It had an inch of dust on the windshield, no plates, and had obviously been sitting a while. I said, with a straight face, "I was visiting a friend, and she just died on me." I had pushed it into the street to make it rally easy to hok up to, and the driver never batted an eye. I still tipped him a $20 just in case.

I bought a nonrunning LS400; dead battery, ECU that would die after ~8miles according to seller. Unhooked the ECU and pushed it out from behind the apt complex it was parked at, called AAA told them I just bought a car, they said they don't do that. Cancelled that request. Called back and said my car died. Tow truck guy came, tried to jump it, battery completely dead, wouldn't have started anyway without the ECU.

He doesn't seem to be buying that I was just driving it earlier that day and it died on me. Makes no mention but the tags were either expiring that month or the month prior. Asks me where I want it towed, told him my house, 50 miles or so away. Hooked it up to his rig and drove it a few miles, pulls off before he gets to the fwy, informs me they're going to call a flatbed for me instead. Sweating bricks I don't get busted (hey I felt bad lying) we continued home. Hour and some change later the car shows up, guy tells me it's no big, they were doing some swap and he was going to pick up a car on the way back, I tip the guy $40 and let out a sigh of relief and wondered if they put it in my AAA permanent records.

Had another tow where my cousin broke down on his way to visit us, about 9 miles away. Told him to call AAA and tell them he's me, they show up, show the tow guy my card, it's expired because I had just renewed, tow guy was being a bit difficult but a call to AAA set him straight.

And then there was the time I locked my keys in the trunk at the junk yard. That was embarrassing.

It also helps to have cars that the drivers find interesting. The few times I had to have the DeLorean towed before I got it running, the tow truck drivers were far more interested in looking at and talking about the car than giving me crap about whether it should be a valid AAA tow.

AAA towed my car away from a race track before. He even picked it up from the paddock. I have vinyl numbers on the car and everything. Driver could've cared less and the AAA operator didn't hesitate when I told them where I was.

miatame wrote: Spun my very clean, very streetable M3 at an autoX and dropped the oil pump nut (no oil pressure). Didn't think for a second I would have a problem calling AAA to tow it home. As they are pulling the car into the flat bed the guy says "you know AAA won't pay for this because you are at a race track". He takes pictures of my blue tape numbers and calls into dispatch that I'm at an "race course" (abondoned airport). Then proceeds to charge me $100 to tow it home. THANKS AAA!

I spun a bearing at an AX a couple months ago. My Camaro has numbers and class markings in permanent vinyl, the interior was full of my slicks/tools, and it was parked in paddock next to all the other racecars. The AAA driver asked what was wrong, and I said "No oil pressure," which was absolutely true. He never made any indication he wouldn't take it.

I had AAA tow a Festiva home, that a friend of mine bought, using another friends AAA. The Festiva trans was in the trunk. Not sure if the tow guy knew it, but it was hilarious to watch that thing go up on a flatbed designed for big stuff, like other tow trucks.

My info is about 30 years old...

But when I was a kid, my dad had a buddy who owned a shop and ran a tow truck. AAA was his best client. They paid better than he could charge himself. If they dispatched him, he knew the bill was going to get paid. Can't imagine why they'd turn you down after driving all the way out to see the car.

Huh. AAA towed the MR2 home from PPIR. We drove it out to the front gate and that's where he picked it up. Valve stem failed and I didn't have a spare. It doesn't get a lot more "race track" than a race track. Guy didn't seem to care a lick. We told the person on the phone we were at PPIR - "the race track right off 25".

docwyte wrote: AAA towed my car away from a race track before. He even picked it up from the paddock. I have vinyl numbers on the car and everything. Driver could've cared less and the AAA operator didn't hesitate when I told them where I was.

Same here, a few years ago they towed my Miata home from Laguna Seca after a failed hose dumped all the coolant and it was showing signs of a blown headgasket. Numbers on the side, RA-1s on the car, picked up from the paddock. The tow truck driver had clearly been there, done this many, many times before. :)

I had a AAA operator lead me through the conversation once about getting a recently purchased car home. That was interesting. I think in the 13 years I've had AAA Plus I have had more projects towed than actual emergencies. Only once was there any question but it got towed anyway.

they wont tow a commercial plate (H1) or anything with a logo, etc

I've had friends who say they will tow a couch as long as you put a license plate on it. I don't know from 1st hand experience as I'm too cheap for the membership, but that's what they've told me... Apparently, the trick is just getting them to come out, once they get there they want to tow something so they get paid.

sleutho wrote: Bringing back an old thread because I'm thinking about doing this too. There is a car with a blown head gasket and probably a few other problems too 225 miles away from me. I was thinking about getting the AAA RV membership and then paying for the extra 25 miles. Will they let a new member do something like this? The car looks pretty road worthy

I'm not sure how it works with the RV membership, but here is my experience with the regular and plus membership.

Last time I had AAA it was only the basic membership. I had wanted the + for the longer towing allowance, but at the time I was told I needed to be a member for a certain period of time (I forget the exact length) before I could upgrade.