Free tows! Time to set your Marketplace radius to 10 miles...

I just got this email, and have to admit my first impulse was to abuse the system to drag new project cars home.... In theory they'll bring your new car home for free as long as you manage to get drunk between purchasing and calling, right?

NEWS RELEASE

AAA Activates 'Tow to Go' for Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend

Don’t Drive Impaired; Call (855) 2-TOW-2-GO for a Safe Ride

AAA Tow to Go Sound Bites

TAMPA, Fla., (November 20, 2023) — As AAA prepares to rescue more than 360,000 drivers with car trouble this holiday weekend, it will also work to keep impaired drivers off the road. Wednesday night, the Auto Club Group will activate its Tow to Go campaign.

The program is available in Florida and other select states (see below), offering a safe ride for would-be impaired drivers and their vehicles. AAA requests that the program be used as a last resort, yet it is free to those who need it.

• Tow to Go is active from 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 22nd to 6 a.m. Monday, November 27th.
• Available in FL, GA, IA, MI, ND, NE, TN, WI, CO (Denver), NC (Charlotte), IN (Fort Wayne/South Bend).

Nationwide, AAA projects the third-busiest Thanksgiving on record, with an estimated 49.1 million Americans forecast to take a road trip. Combining cocktails with crowded roads can be deadly. During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, from 2017-2021, more than 830 people died in crashes involving a drunk driver (NHTSA).

“Tow to Go serves as that last line of defense in keeping impaired drivers off the road,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “If you plan to consume alcohol or drugs this weekend, make plans for a safe ride home first. If your plans fall through, you can call AAA and we’ll get you to a safe place.”

This is the 25th year The Auto Club Group has provided the Tow to Go program. When called upon, The Auto Club Group dispatches a tow truck to transport the impaired person and their vehicle to a safe location within a 10-mile radius for free. Since its inception, Tow to Go has removed more than 25,000 impaired drivers from the road.

TOW TO GO GUIDELINES

• Free and available to AAA members and non-members.
• Confidential local ride for one person and their vehicle to a safe location within a 10-mile radius.
• Appointments cannot be scheduled in advance to use Tow to Go. It is designed as a safety net for those that did not plan ahead. Always choose a designated driver before celebrating.
• In some situations, AAA may need to make other arrangements to get an impaired individual a safe ride home.
• Tow to Go may not be available in rural areas or during severe weather conditions.

SERVICE AREAS

• FL, GA, IA, MI, ND, NE, TN, WI, CO (Denver), NC (Charlotte), IN (Fort Wayne/South Bend)

PHONE NUMBER

• (855) 2-TOW-2-GO or (855) 286-9246

 

About AAA - The Auto Club Group

The Auto Club Group (ACG) is the second largest AAA club in North America with more than 13 million members across 14 U.S. states, the province of Quebec and two U.S. territories. ACG and its affiliates provide members with roadside assistance, insurance products, banking and financial services, travel offerings and more. ACG belongs to the national AAA federation with more than 64 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA’s mission is to protect and advance freedom of mobility and improve traffic safety. For more information, get the AAA Mobile app, visit AAA.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

i like the way you think!

I'm too rural for AAA... even though I'm only 20 minutes from the major city.

FYI AAA system is garbage, its 1 directional.

for example...

If you call for a tow, they solicit it to shops who bid and take on the job, but if the shop drops the bid after acceptance of it the AAA system. The system itself is unable to trace that back and solicit another bid, once its accepted its gone. so if the bid gets dropped you gotta start the process all over again and get back in que. 

I waited 3 days for a tow once, luckily the car was in my driveway and each day I started the process at 10am and gave up around 11pm. 

I belong to AAA and have for quite a few years.   A couple of years ago I used my son's shop to yank the engine from my TR6 for a rebuild.  After a few weeks of having the engineless car sort of clogging up the shop, he said "We need to get this out of here".  I couldn't think of any reason that AAA would refuse this task, so I called.  I'm pretty sure that I did describe the car as having no engine, but it wasn't an issue.  They put the car with no engine on the flatbed, and delivered it to my home garage with no questions asked.  

Had AAA for many years.  AAA really sucks for rural areas, and in AZ at least, will not send a tow down a dirt/gravel road.

Switched to Good Sam a few years ago, and have better coverage for less $$$.  Only had to use it once so far, and it was fine, once the call center figured out our location.  Again the curse of the rural (we were on the highway south of Telluride, CO)... their system wanted an address (which we didn't have), and even with a detailed description, highway and mile marker, AND GPS coords it took them an hour to figure out where we were.  Once they called the tow it was there in 15 minutes.

This is less than 10 miles from my house... does the cost of a six-pack to get drunk count in my $2000 Challenge budget?