AAA Automobile Club of So Calif
Categories: Insurance, Automotive, Travel Services [Edit]
4800 Airport Plaza DLong Beach, CA 90815 (562) 496-4130
9 Reviews for AAA Automobile Club of So Calif
FREE MAPS!
They changed my registration to California and it was quick and painless. They handed me my new plates right there and I got to avoid the second-only-to-the-post-office-in-terms-of-awfulne ss-DMV.
FREE MAPS!
My only gripe? They don't take credit/debit and who carries around a checkbook anymore? There is an ATM right outside the office from some unknown crappy bank that charges you for a withdrawal.
FREE MAPS!
My AAA membership is one I'll never let lapse!
FREE MAPS!
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I just love this place. My membership has been payed for over and over again just by being able to go here instead of the freaking DMV.
In the last year we traveled to some places we'd never been (AAA has free road maps for members,) bought and sold cars (which requires multiple forms, title transfers, fee payments, auto insurance changes - which is also through them, and usage of their free notary services,) and changed over our home owners insurance to AAA (requiring meeting with an insurance agent, paperwork, etc.)
Every time I go, I'm seen really quickly by someone who is kind, knowledgeable, helpful and I always learn something when I go. Even when I think I have it all figured out, I've got all the forms I need, one of their kind reps points out something I missed that would have caused me much misery.
I appreciate this service very much, and I figure for $40/year, it's a no-brainer.
*edit*
One of the other reviews mentioned having to wait on the line to speak to an insurance rep for 15+ minutes which is true, and in my opinion, unacceptable. I've avoided this by getting the business card of the dude who sold me my auto and home owners policy and I just ring him up any time I have a change to anything, avoiding the 1-800 line.
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Even strongest most independent women desire to be rescued when they find themselves in distress. Deep down they all daydream that a handsome prince in shining armor will arrive on a white horse and make everything ok.
The rest of us who live in the real world just call AAA.
After completing the City of Angels 5k in downtown LA I returned to my vehicle parked underground at the Walt Disney Music Hall only to discover that I had locked my keys, AAA Card, cell phone, ID and cash inside my vehicle.
Not only was I sweaty, tired and thirsty I was also screwed.
Luckily I was with a friend who had her cell phone and we went above ground to call AAA. The friendly and helpful member services rep informed me that my membership had expired several months ago.
Again, I was screwed.
But wait!! AAA was gracious enough to send a driver to my rescue. A gruff and grumpy young man driving a tow truck arrived in less than 20 minutes and opened my door in a jiffy. It was pretty early on a Sunday morning, I know I wouldn't be too thrilled to be working at that hour.
Once I got back in my vehicle I called AAA back, renewed my membership over the phone and thanked them for the great service.
In addition to emergency roadside assistance, AAA also offers other great benefits like travel discounts, insurance and even their publication Westways offers great suggestions for daytrips and off-the-beaten-path vacation destinations.
I heart AAA. Now I got to do something about my stiff knees.
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This is your OG insurance service. The shit your grandma had. Well, I may not be a grandma yet, but if you've read my reviews then ya know I ain't no spring chicken. I've been with AAA for a few years. FUCK the DMV. You can handle all of your state sponsored driving privileges through triple A. The lines and atmosphere are much better as well. In addition the roadside service is super handy if you drive a hooptie. I still keep it even though I don't have hooptie problems anymore. I may need it for a tire change...but then again.....Heeelloooo! Fix a flat--- in a can! (Whoever thought of it was fucking genius!! )
I've not ever had the misfortune to file a claim. I go and handle things at this office which is nestled among some large office buildings in an office park. The office is nice and clean and the folks who work here have been there for quite some time and are quite the friendly lot.
Wow! Five stars. I'm not a freak and I don't own any stock in these muthafuckas, but I've never had any adverse issues with any of the many services that they provide for which I have utilized.
I'm happy with 'em. Bite me!
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Some people are funny. They write a reviews that long, it almost reads like an essay. You also have to be carefully, one experience does not mean that all of us will have the same experience with the same company. In my case I have been with AAA for the longest time. Their road services are 5 stars , their insurance ? Well each time I wanted to talk to them to upgrade my insurance, they kept me waiting 15 minutes .I mean 15 minutes. I hang up. They are not enough people to answer their phones. So I switched to Geico. Not even 30 seconds wait "This is Geico, how can I help you..."
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AAA rocks. Inexpensive auto insurance plus all the membership benefits. Just make sure you get the Premium membership because when you actually need to tow your car, it's probably going to be quite a distance.
I love that I can take care of so many DMV services at the local AAA. Oh, and free notary comes in handy every once in awhile.
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I would agree with Holly T on AAA's travel and roadside services, but beware of their insurance services. Here's why.
We have had AAA auto insurance for 13 years. My wife was in an accident two years ago where another AAA insured driver plowed into the back of my wife at 45 miles per hour while she was stopped at a red light. She was pretty messed up. She couldn't work for 6 months, ran up 10's of thousands of dollars in doctor bills, totaled a Volvo station wagon (let's you know how hard she was hit to total a Volvo). Police report taken, stupid kid driver on cell phone cited, a no brainier right? Wrong. We were expecting to be made whole as a result of the accident. Payment for my wife's lost wages, having to buy a new car (the Volvo was paid off), payment of doctor bills, etc. AAA makes an offer to settle that would have resulted in a $30,000 loss to us. They contested every aspect of our actual losses from my wife's lost wages to the medical bills to the value of the totaled Volvo.
Final result was we had to take them to court where they spent an estimated $75,000 to settle the case at 1/3 of our actual losses. Because of this experience, we no longer have insurance with AAA. Our Attorney said that insurance companies are now spending more money fighting cases than paying an obvious claim for the appropriate amount. We were not seeking a "Chateaux in France" settlement. We were seeking to be made whole of our actual monetary losses. No go.
After being on the receiving end of how they treat someone when one of their insured is 100% at fault, we in good conscious could not continue to give our money to this organization.
Hope this helps someone when shopping for your next insurance company.
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This is my local Auto Club, but my review will apply to the Auto Club of Southern California (ACSC) in general.
When most people think of AAA, they think of one of two things: roadside service, or discounts on hotel/travel/restaurants etc. But AAA is much more than that!
Something I take advantage of all the time is free maps. Go to any AAA office, show your card, and you can get free maps of anywhere you want to go. Say you're doing a road trip from LA to Portland, as I did last year. I went to my AAA office, and got the following stash: CA map, OR-WA map, Portland city map, CA tourbook (includes hotel listings, etc.), OR-WA tourbook, and a Northern Califoria wine map (as I hit Napa-Sonoma on the way back).
AAA also offers a full suite of insurance. I've been very happy with my AAA auto insurance for many years, after sketchy experiences with other auto insurance companies prior to that. When I had an accident, everything was taken care of smoothly and efficiently. In the past I've also had their renter's insurance, which was very reasonable.
Another AAA service that few people take advantage of is their travel agency. Now with the internet it's so easy to make your own travel arrangements, but there are times when you might want some expert assistance or advice. AAA travel agency is free to members and is really great for vacation planning, not to mention that they have all kinds of special deals on travel packages, etc. If you like road trips, they have lots of pre-planned road trip ideas (Route 66, etc.), complete with the above-mentioned maps. (FREE!) And you can also get your passport here, as well as traveler's cheques, etc.
In addition to roadside assistance, AAA also offers other automotive-related services, such as car buying research, etc. The roadside service is indispensable for all the times you run out of gas, break down, or simply lock your keys in your car (doh! Did this 2 weeks ago!). They also have some DMV services in the office; I've never used these, but I am pretty sure you can take care of some basic DMV needs (license/registration renewal) here at the AAA office instead of going to the DMV.
Last, but not least, there is a good reason to be a member of the Auto Club of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA as opposed to anywhere else in the country, and that reason is the magazine Westways, which is mailed to you free with membership. This is a really good magazine, full of interesting SoCal restaurant reviews, road trip ideas and travel articles, and automotive information (reviews of new cars, etc., and a rundown of any changes in California automotive laws). If you moved here and still have your AAA membership in another state or in NorCal, change it to ACSC immediately! My dad lives in Arizona but maintains is AAA membership here so he can still get Westways.
Oh yeah, and you know they offer a lot of discounts! Hotels, rental cars, dining, entertainment, etc. But you knew that.
When you stop to think about it, it's really funny that we belong to an automotive "club." It implies that we are car hobbyists or something. Actually, that's exactly how ACSC started out. Did you know that ACSC is older than AAA? The Southern California auto club has a long history, going back to 1900, preceding its affiliation with the national AAA. SoCal has always been home to a lot of car drivers, so it fits that we have this century-long obsession with cars, roads, highways, traffic, etc. If you drive a car, you need roads, you need maps, you need travel info, you need insurance and safety precautions, and so it goes from there. Makes sense. The ACSC did a lot for California in its early days in terms of improving roads, creating maps, and creating uniform signage throughout the state. There's an interesting wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.or...) that has more ACSC history if you're interested.
Nowdays a lot of new cars come with free roadside assistance from the dealer. That's cool, but I hope that I've shown that there are a lot of good reasons to keep your AAA membership other than just the roadside assistance!
(For some info specific to this location in Long Beach, it can get a little busy, but for the most part I've found the service to be fine, including at the reception desk, the travel agency, and the insurance department. In fact the travel and insurance agents were all outstanding.)
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love those free maps!!!
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