CAA membership?

[kingfencer]

are you guys with them? or do you think its a waste of money?

[rfdrfd]

It all depends on:

- how old is your car
- does it break down easily?
- do you drive in town or out of town a lot
- do you want free CAA maps and tourbooks ?

For cars that don't break down a lot, then I'd take the chance and only pay for a tow truck if you need it. I've never needed a tow ever.

Jump starts are pointless. Go buy a $50 Canadian Tire battery booster. Especially during winter, one time i have to wait for 2 HOURS for them to come jump start my friends' car. They used a portable battery booster themselves !!

Only had to change my own tire once. The rest were all not that bad, so could wait till I got to the car shop.

[D-3vil]

It depends on how reliable your car is. I have a CAA gold membership, but that's for 3 cars, all of which are older.

[MP3_SKY]

It worth it for peace of mind. At least you know someone will come help when you car turn down and struck on the road.

You get discount for car rental, hotel...etc...

[saku]

Signup for CAA mastercard (MBNA). The points that u accumulate to fill gas using the above card may make ur next year membership free.

CAA membership also offers $50 discount from belairdirect insurance company.

[EH100501AC]

I have a membership but I don't think it's worth it. I've never used them for anything.

[Pete_Coach]

I have been a member for almost 30 years and even though I have roadside assistance with my car, I find them to be a very good source of lots of other information and services. (I would bet that if you called OEM roadside assistance and CAA, the CAA assistance would be there3 first)Besides the discounts, the trip tics, travel books and maps, the info seems to be more current, better and, more useful than most. They are very current with their destination information and are the only place you can get an international drivers license (CAA members get a discount).
Every year when renewal time comes up I debate the value of the CAA but, I renew because of the "little" stuff they offer. Oh, and their travel insurance is the most economical I could find.

[Audiogenic]

CAA membership is great when you want to get 30% of at Lenscrafters....then cancel it afterwards.

[Gevaltech]

After many years of membership I am planning to drop it at renewal time next month. This is mainly because I replaced both our vehicles with new ones and don't need the roadside service. I will miss picking up the triptiks and books, although they have become pretty well redundant now with gps, gmap, mapPoint, etc.

I never found any of their other services useful over the years. Someone mentioned travel medical insurance...but they are not the cheapest in my experience.

Wait, there is one other thing they are good for. A number of hotel chains and attractions do offer a bit of a discount (rarely more than 5%, but it can add up). So maybe I will renew.:confused:

[eelfliw]

Yes. No.

I don't pay for the membership (since the membership rewards pay for the membership fee). And I don't care for road side assistance. I got it mainly to get free movie tickets (which you can purchase for $8.50 using membership rewards money).

[Audiogenic]

I never found any of their other services useful over the years. Someone mentioned travel medical insurance...but they are not the cheapest in my experience.

They only deal with a couple of insurance companies which is why their life and travel insurance rates are not competitive.

[rubberband]

Worth every cent.

I was doing field work out of the province a while ago. The truck we were driving was old, had a busted fuel gauge. We ran the DIESEL dry by accident. CAA came (even though my membership is an "ontario" gold card and we were in Halifax), ripped open the car (no small feat on a cube van) did a bleed on the fuel lines, and even went to get my enough gas to drive to a station 10k away to refill. No charge. I bought the guy a coffee while I waited, and he smiled, signed a form and took off.

That experience got them a subscriber for life. :)