AAA Fact Sheet
Membership
Established in 1902 by nine motor clubs with fewer than 1,500 members, AAA has 53 million members in the United States and Canada.
Customer Service Offices
AAA, a not-for-profit, fully tax-paying corporation, is a federation of affiliated motor clubs with more than 1,100 offices in the U.S. and Canada. It offers personal service through its network of more than 38,000 full-time employees.
Annual Dues
New Primary Member $38 to $80*
New Associate Member $17 to $48*
*varies from club to club
Emergency Road Service
There is no charge for services that fall within the provisions of the membership, and assistance is available to members no matter what vehicle they are driving or riding in. AAA’s no-charge service applies regardless of distance to the scene of disablement and includes towing for a minimum of three miles in any direction from the point of disablement or back to the responding station. Towing charges beyond the free towing mileage limit are set by AAA clubs and are consistent with local commercial rates. If AAA is contacted but cannot provide service, members may obtain their own service and submit the bills for reimbursement of eligible services at prevailing commercial rates for the region. AAA roadside assistance includes mechanical first aid, such as flat tire service, minor mechanical adjustments, battery boosts, jump-starts, towing, extrication and lockout assistance. While emergency delivery of sufficient fuel to reach the nearest service station is included in basic services, members pay current pump price for the cost of the fuel. AAA clubs will objectively mediate any dispute arising from the emergency repair of a member’s vehicle by AAA-affiliated service providers.
AAA Battery Service
Since 1997, AAA Battery Service has been meeting the needs of today’s busy individuals with a mobile battery testing, boosting, and replacement service that eliminates the hassles and inconveniences linked with battery-related breakdowns. The service includes an assessment of the vehicle charging system as well as boosting, and/or replacement service. With its one-for-one recycling practice, this fast, convenient service is also “green,” resulting in more than 3.6 million batteries being returned to battery recycling centers. A three-year free replacement warranty and exclusive AAA member pricing have made this service a popular roadside solution that is available in nearly all AAA and CAA club territories.
Emergency Check Acceptance
AAA’s emergency road service providers will accept a member’s personal check, up to $250, for payment of emergency service and repairs necessary to put a member’s vehicle in safe operating condition, including emergency road service, mechanical repair, and/or necessary parts. Some AAA clubs offer members check-cashing privileges of up to $100 in the event of an en route emergency.
AAA SUPERNUMBER®
AAA’s SUPERNUMBER® enables members traveling in the U.S. and Canada to receive emergency road service by making just one toll-free phone call to 1-800-AAA-HELP. Hearing impaired members can use the 1-800-955-4833 TDD number.
AAA Approved Auto Repair
The Approved Auto Repair (AAR) program identifies high-quality auto repair facilities staffed with properly trained technicians that are equipped to service modern vehicles, These shops follow business and financial practices that support their long term viability, and maintain customer satisfaction ratings of 90% or better. To ensure the ongoing quality of the network, certified AAA representatives visit and inspect every AAR shop quarterly. There are approximately 8,000 AAA approved repair facilities across the U.S. and Canada, with full-service mechanical repair businesses (Approved Auto Repair) in all areas. AAA clubs also have the option to approve collision repair centers (Approved Auto Body), auto glass specialists (Approved Auto Glass), and other specialty auto repair (Service) facilities. AAA members who use an AAR facility benefit from guaranteed written estimates, return of used parts (on request), free maintenance inspections (mechanical repair facilities only), and a minimum 12-month/12,000-mile parts and labor warranty. The AAR program contract also provides for AAA arbitration should a dispute occur between a member and an AAR facility.
Bail Bond
AAA offers members of participating clubs both a $1,000 Guaranteed Arrest Bond and up to a $5,000 Bail Bond for covered traffic violations. Some exclusions and state specific limitations apply.
AAA/CAA Travel Agencies
AAA is the largest leisure travel organization in North America. More than 1,000 accredited, full-service AAA travel agency offices are located in the U.S. and Canada to serve members and the public. AAA Travel services also are accessible via the Internet at AAA.com. Travel services include the sale of domestic and international air and rail tickets; cruise vacations; escorted tours and independent package tour arrangements; hotel and car rental reservations; and a variety of travel insurance programs.
Passport photo services and international driving permits are available at most AAA offices, which also can help members obtain passports and visas.
Disney Alliance
The AAA Disney Alliance provides members with an array of unique benefits, services and special vacation packages for Disneyland® Resort, Walt Disney World® Resort, Disney Cruise Line® and Adventures by Disney. AAA Vacations® packages include getaways by air or car and exclusive AAA Vacations benefits.
AAA Publishing
As one of the world’s largest travel information publishers, AAA provides a variety of vacation planning tools including AAA TourBook® guides, TripTik® Travel Planner routings, AAA Diamond Rating evaluations, printed maps and more. Our print, online and mobile travel information services complement our travel agency services. AAA provides online information and services through 40 million travel related visitor sessions on AAA.com. In addition, more than 56 million copies of printed travel-related materials are distributed to members and consumers annually. Mobile solutions for cell phones, navigation devices and the wireless Web now deliver AAA travel information to travelers on the go.
AAA.com Trip Planning and Travel Information
AAA’s exclusive travel information is fully integrated with AAA’s online travel agency services. Dynamic trip planning resources like interactive maps and destination content areas as well as a robust search feature enable travelers to find and compare prices and options and make reservations. Searchable hotel and restaurant descriptions provide AAA Diamond Rating information, AAA member discount offers and other details from the printed TourBook and CampBook guides.
AAA’s online travel information has been available free to all travelers since 2007. Using TripTik Travel Planner, travelers can get detailed interactive maps for a single location or create complete trip itineraries, with stopovers and driving times. AAA Travel Guides feature detailed destination, attraction and event information online. Written by our team of travel editors, Travel Guides include key points of interest, AAA Picks, 3-day itineraries, walking tours and insider information from our team of hotel and restaurant inspectors. AAATravelViews.com features daily blogs on the travel experiences of AAA writers, inspectors, and club travel counselors, along with travel tips and news. The site gives visitors the opportunity to comment and to submit questions for response from AAA travel professionals. Photos, videos, maps and links to AAA.com travel booking, mapping, and savings are also provided.
AAA Mobile Solutions
AAA travel information is also accessible on the go through the AAA Mobile service for mobile phones and Magellan GPS units. Launched in Spring 2010, the AAA TripTik® Mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch provides a mobile version of the AAA TripTik, with GPS enabled maps and directions to addresses, hotels, restaurants, national parks and more. Launched in 2009, AAA Discounts helps users locate thousands of AAA savings opportunities nationwide and provides the fastest route from the current location. For more information on mobile services, visit AAA.com/mobile.
Printed Travel Guides, Maps and TripTik Routings
AAA publishes 26 regional TourBook guides covering the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean and 11 regional CampBook guides covering the United States and Canada. AAA’s GIS/Cartography department researches and produces more than 90 sheet maps, 900 TourBook and CampBook guide maps as well as nearly 800 different strip maps used for compiling the traditional personalized TripTik routings created for members in AAA and CAA club offices. The TourBook and CampBook guides, sheet maps and strip maps are printed on paper certified by third-party standards for sustainably-managed forestry and production.
AAA Diamond Rating System
AAA has inspected lodgings and restaurants since 1937, launching the AAA Diamond Rating System for lodgings in 1976 and for restaurants in 1988. Today, AAA’s professionally-trained inspectors use published guidelines to evaluate properties as a service to members. AAA rates more properties than any other rating entity and is the only rating system that covers the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. It is one of only two that conduct physical, on-site evaluations. AAA Approved lodgings and restaurants are assigned a rating of One to Five Diamonds. Only one quarter of one percent of AAA Diamond Rated properties receive the prestigious Five Diamond Award designation.
AAA Retail Publications
AAA publishes various retail travel products that are available for sale at AAA offices and better bookstores nationwide. Popular publications include Traveling With Your Pet: The AAA PetBook® with listings of more than 13,000 pet-friendly, AAA-Rated® lodgings and campgrounds, and the AAA Road Atlas with coverage of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Other retail titles include AAA Essential Guides, AAA Spiral Guides and AAA TravelBookTM guides for international destinations.
Show Your Card & Save
AAA and CAA members receive discounts and benefits at more than 164,000 partner locations around the world. More than 5,000 local partners and 100 national brand partners participate in the savings program in the United States and Canada at more than 130,000 locations. AAA member savings topped $2 billion in 2009. Members receive special discounts off of the best available rate for the dates of stay at Best Western®, Hampton Inn®, Hilton Hotels®, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts®, Marriot® Hotels & Resorts; including JW Marriott®, Renaissance® Hotels, Autograph Collection®, Courtyard® Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, Springhill Suites®, Residence Inn®, Towne Place Suites®, Execustay®, and Marriott Vacation Club® and Starwood Hotels & Resorts including Westin® and Starwood® Hotels & Resorts; including aloft®, element by Westin, Four Points Sheraton, Le Meridien, The Luxury Collection® Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton® Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis, Westin Hotels® & Resorts and W Hotels. Members receive discounts or exclusive rates at Hertz Car Rental, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, Adventure Island, AMTRAK®, Aquatica, Banana Republic Factory Store, Barnes & Noble.com®, Blue Nile, Broadview Security®, Busch Gardens®, Chart House Restaurant, Consumer Reports, Cookies by Design, The Crab House, Dell®, DIRECTV®, EagleRider®, Extra Space Storage®, Fetch Pet Care, Formula One, FTD.COM®, Gap Outlet, Geek Squad® Services, GNC, Golf Digest Tee Times.com, Grand Canyon Railway, Gray Line® Tours, Hard Rock Cafe®, Harland Clarke, Islands of Adventure, Kmart.com, Kohls.com, Jos. A. Bank, Landry’s Seafood House, LensCrafters®, Line-X, Magellan®, Muer Seafood Restaurants, NAPA®, NBA Store, Newport Audiology Centers, New York & Company®, NFL Shop, Payless ShoeSource®, Pearle Vision®, Penske Truck Rental, Planetfone, Professional Drivers Incorporated, Reebok® Outlet Stores, Rockport® Outlet Stores, Saltgrass Steak House, Sears.com, Sears Optical®, SeaWorld®, Sesame Place®, Shoes.com, Shop.NHL.com, Sirius|XM® Satellite Radio, Six Flags®, Stars on Ice, Sunglass Hut, Tanger Outlet Centers®, Target.com®, Target Optical, The UPS Store, Universal Orlando® Resort, Universal Studios Hollywoodsm. Members save at more than 59,000 pharmacies nationwide through the AAA Prescription Savings program. An assortment of online shopping values is available through AAA.com/discounts.
Travelers Checks
Travelers’ checks, prepaid travel money cards, and foreign currency are available to AAA and CAA members at participating offices, on the Web, and by phone. Also, members save 25 percent on service fees at participating Travelex Worldwide Exchange locations.
AAA Credit Card
AAA Credit Card with WorldPoints® Rewards
Members can use the AAA Credit Card with WorldPoints® Rewards to earn points redeemable for cash, travel, merchandise and unique adventures as well as around-the-clock fraud protection, online access to account information, supplemental auto rental collision damage deductible insurance and much more.
AAA Cash Rewards Credit Card
AAA Cash Rewards offers AAA members the ability to earn 1% cash back on all net retail purchases. Member redemption is “On Demand”, whereby the member requests a cash back check in $25 increments. Every time the member spends $2,500, they will be eligible to redeem $25, however, members may accumulate with no ceiling for any cash back amount.
AAA Services Abroad
AAA members enjoy the savings at more than 150,000 partner locations throughout the world. These include the Show Your Card & Save® program in North America, 32 countries under the Europe Show Your Card® Programme and the Show Your Card & Save® reciprocal partnership with AMA of Mexico, KAA of South Korea, JAF of Japan, AASA of South Africa, ACC of Colombia, JAA of Jamaica, AAC of Sri Lanka, and the seven auto/touring clubs that cover Australia.Through our mutual affiliations with all other international clubs in the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Federacion Interamericana de Touring y Automovil-Clubes (FITAC), emergency roadside assistance and publication services are offered to AAA members in accordance with club practices in each country. If members of that club are charged for services rendered, AAA members are charged the same fee.
Car Rentals
Hertz is AAA’s exclusive car rental partner. AAA members receive exclusive discounts and benefits on Hertz car rentals worldwide.
Child Passenger Safety
Motor vehicle crashes are the number-one killer of children over the age of two. In 2008, motor vehicle crashes accounted for more than 1,300 deaths and almost 200,000 injuries of children age 14 and under. AAA has a long-term commitment to reducing injuries and deaths through its Seated, Safe & Secure campaign, initiated in 2002. Through the initiative, AAA has worked to close loopholes in child restraint laws across the nation and educate the public about proper use of child restraints – two key components in preventing child passenger injuries and deaths. AAA has been active at the national level and in local communities promoting child passenger safety. AAA also trains caretakers in the proper use and installation of child safety seats.
School and Pedestrian Safety
For more than 90 years, AAA has sponsored the School Safety Patrol™ Program, which works to instill in students a sense of responsibility and leadership as they protect classmates going to and from school. The AAA School Safety Patrol program involves more than 585,000 safety patrol members working in more than 30,000 schools nationally, providing training and materials to support the program. Annually, AAA awards a School Safety Patrol Lifesaving Medal to exemplary students who risked their lives in the line of duty to save a fellow student. This program was awarded the Presidential Citation for Private Sector Initiatives in 1985.AAA’s School’s Open, Drive Carefully public awareness campaign reminds motorists to watch out for students walking to or from school or waiting for buses. AAA distributes posters, envelope stuffers and bookmarks to U.S. and Canadian schools.
Teen Driver Safety
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, killing about 5,000 teens every year and injuring nearly a quarter million others. Teens have the highest crash fatality rates of any age group.
Public Policy and Research
Research shows that Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) and parent involvement can play key roles in reducing the toll of crashes on teens. AAA has led the state-by-state push to expand GDL systems from 8 in 1997 to 45 in 2002. Now, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of GDL program.
Data show GDL systems work in preventing crashes, reducing injuries, and saving lives. The positive effects of strong GDL systems have been extensively measured. States with comprehensive GDL systems (5 or more GDL components) have experienced a 38% decrease in fatal crash involvement for 16-year olds and a 40% reduction in injury crashes. States with fewer components saw smaller reductions. The messages from the research are clear: Greater injury and fatality reductions are achieved by adding GDL components. Improving a state’s GDL improves safety.
The focus has shifted to improving deficient licensing systems. Nearly every state GDL system needs strengthening by adding or improving safety measures. Specifically, AAA’s GDL guidelines call for teens to accrue at least 50 hours of driving practice and, for a hold on a learner’s permit for at least six months before being allowed to drive by themselves. They are then limited to no more than one teen passenger and no driving after 10 p.m.
Education and Outreach
AAA’s history in driver training goes back decades. Its present and future still includes driver training, but also includes an array of other efforts to help parents turn their teens into safe drivers.
Key among these efforts is AAA’s StartSmart, a robust online parent-teen driver involvement curriculum developed by traffic safety experts and based on the National Institutes of Health’s Checkpoints program. Through StartSmart, parents manage their teen’s gradual progression toward becoming a safe driver, through interactive lessons on safe driving for both parent and teen and an evolving parent-teen driver agreement. AAA and the NIH will evaluate the program to gauge its impact on teens and their parents.
Other AAA programs — like Dare to Prepare and Teaching Your Teen to Drive — also help engage parents and prepare them for various parts of their teen’s driving development. Parents need to know what they should be doing with their teens to help them stay safe behind the wheel. AAA helps them do that.
In summer 2010, AAA launched teendriving.aaa.com to connect parents of teen drivers with the practical knowledge and tools they need to help guide them through every phase of their teen’s learning to drive process — from pre-licensure all the way through driving solo. The Web site includes enhanced online versions of AAA’s StartSmart program and Dare to Prepare workshop, as well as information about driver training, graduated driver licensing, and more.
Senior Driver Safety
By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 years of age or older and the majority will be licensed to drive. Recognizing the changing demographics, AAA launched the Lifelong Safe Mobility initiative in 2003, to help seniors drive as long as safely possible, and remain mobile thereafter. Lifelong Safe Mobility takes a comprehensive approach to senior driver safety by addressing the road, vehicle and driver. In 2005, AAA released its critically acclaimed computer-based screening tool that allows seniors to measure the functional abilities related to safe driving—in the privacy of their own home. AAA Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer is a scientifically-validated program that informs users of potential problems in their “driving health,” and identifies ways in which drivers may improve declining abilities. In 2007, AAA launched a new educational program designed in collaboration with the American Society on Aging, AARP, and the American Occupational Therapy Association. CarFit helps mature drivers assess how well they and their cars “fit” together, and what actions they might be able to take to improve the fit. CarFit also provides older participants with community-specific resources to help them drive for as long as safely possible.
Launched in 2008, AAA’s Smart Features for Mature Drivers identifies vehicle features that can assist drivers with visual, physical and mental changes that are frequently encountered as they age. Muscle strength, reaction times, range of motion and visual acuity tend to diminish as part of the natural aging process. Arthritis, hip and knee joint pain and osteoporosis can also reduce the ability to safely execute the complex task of driving. Smart Features for Mature Drivers highlights features that best address each condition and provides examples of vehicles exemplifying those features.
AAA launched AAASeniors.com in 2009, which was designed to assist the families of senior drivers in planning for their transition from older driver to passenger. These families and adult children of senior drivers often have children of their own and have parents over 65. AAASeniors.com provides expert advice about how aging affects one’s ability to drive safely and serves as a gateway for all of AAA’s tools and resources on senior drivers, from educational brochures and driver improvement courses, to skills assessment tools and free community-based programs.
Additionally, AAA is committed to promoting viable transportation options for seniors when driving is no longer safe or practical.
Maintaining Safe & Efficient Mobility in the 21st Century
AAA was among the prominent interest groups in 1956 that built support for creating the Interstate highway system, and we maintain a constant commitment to ensuring adequate funding for a safe and reliable transportation network. Our challenge for the 21st Century is to develop a new transportation vision and funding sources that will meet the nation’s future transportation needs. AAA will play an active role in the debate on the future of our transportation system to ensure that the interests of motorists – those who pay for and benefit from the system – are protected.
Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills – Automotive Technology Competition
Annually, more than 6,000 high school juniors and seniors enrolled in automotive technology programs from all 50 states compete for millions in prizes and scholarships in the FORD/AAA Student Auto Skills competition. The best two-student teams—determined by a written exam—advance to state finals events, where they race to correctly diagnose and repair a deliberately “bugged” Ford vehicle. A combination of the written and hands-on scores determines a championship team from each state. The 50 state championship teams meet in June at the National Finals. After taking a second written exam, the teams service identical vehicles in a quest to deliver a “perfect” vehicle to contest judges and win the title of national champions.
The contest has been held annually since 1949, sponsored by various organizations dedicated to quality auto service. AAA has co-sponsored the competition since 1984.
Legislative Programs
AAA and affiliated clubs work with government at all levels to ensure the public’s interests are represented in highway and automobile safety, infrastructure, travel and tourism, energy and environmental policies.
