AAA Tow - thoughts?

[jester3681]

Hey guys - I have a AAA Plus membership. I am picking up a bike on Tuesday and I'd like to not ride it home. It has a crap rear tire, a bad intake pipe and I don't have any gear. Will AAA tow a bike?

[Coyote]

I was told a couple of years ago (as I sat along a country road with a flat--and having an AAA Plus membership) that you must have AAA Plus RV to get a motorcycle towed.

Operator: I can upgrade your membership over the phone right now, but it won't do you any good today.

Me: Can you hear this finger right-here over the phone?

[Scruit]

Definitely need the RV coverage. Oh, and I don't know if they will tow a bike you just bought and planned ahead of time, but they will defintiely tow a bike you just bought that won't start or that broke down.

[jester3681]

Yeah, I figured I'd roll it out of the guys driveway and then call - won't run right. I don't see anything on the AAA website about the RV coverage. Anyone have an idea of what it costs? Cheaper to just rent a UHaul?

[natedogg624]

you're in cbus dude - put a wanted ad on this site for someone with a truck or trailer to come help you out. offer a 6 pack or gas and you're golden.

[MarkB]

AMA Members get towing.. .are you an AMA member?

[madcat6183]

What do you need done? I have my trailer hooked up, empty and am taking it back to storage tomorrow. I can help if you pay for fuel. I drive a huge truck so I dont get the best MPG, but I dont care about $ just fuel.

419-six one zer0- 5666

[mango_sv]

I know if you don't have AAA, they will sign you up over the phone & come tow you, but don't know about upgrading and getting a tow. And you gotta have AAA RV for motorcycle tows.

[Scruit]

RV coverage adds abotu $35/year or somethign really small like that. I have AAA Gold + RV for my wife and I and it's under 200 a year.

[gixxer_joe08]

I also have AAA not sure which membership it is as my parents pay it, but thats good to know they wont tow bikes. Im taking over my memebership when it comes time to renew, so now i know what to do.

[madcat6183]

Bad news, cant help tomorrow night now, picked up a shift at the bar.

[Steve Butters]

yep found this out the hard way when i needed a tow...they wouldnt even upgrade me on the spot and come get the bike....need RV coverage, its 30-35 a year

[Scruit]

yep found this out the hard way when i needed a tow...they wouldnt even upgrade me on the spot and come get the bike....need RV coverage, its 30-35 a year

Worse than that... I re-upped my AAA online one year and had to create a AA online account. Selected RV coverage. 6 months later I break down on the bike and they refuse to tow me because I wasn't paid up. After arguing for an hour I finally had to pay a 3rd party tow company almost $200 to tow me. "Even if you renew now, we won't tow you today."

Got home and checked my bank statements - no AAA payments. Went online, the online AAA account was there but listed as not paid. When I went through the payment option again it again gave me the "welcome to AAA" message at the end but in fine red print at the bottom it said; "Card could not be charged". That's obviously what happened first time too. I called up and went through the same process and the card worked fine when the operator did it.

Although the error was on their website I couldn't get a refund because I couldn't prove it was an error 6 months ago.

Although at the end of the day AAA is losing money on me and my plethora of old beaters, so the best way to piss them off is continue to over-use their services.

[Steve Butters]

i use all 4 of my tows every year

if i get close to my end date i even tow other peoples stuff just to help them out and get my moneys worth

my girls family has bad luck with cars - so i usually tow them 2-3 times a year, havent had to tow my own stuff since i got rid of the mustang

[Helmutt]

I'd sold a bike to a guy few years ago, and he shows up in a car?? I figured right then that he wouldn't be buying it - but we did the deal and afterwards he called AAA to send a rollback to pickup the bike.......once the tow driver showed up, the new owner loaded it up fine.......but it was when they strapped it down that I about threw up........even though I didn't own the bike anymore, just watching the driver strap the rear wheel to the back of his truck - then strap the front wheel to the winch at the cab and he wound it so tight that I feared I was going to see the forks snap in half.........I swear he pulled the wheelbase another inch when he winched it down!! Then they strapped side to side over the seat with the bike on it's stand.........I warned the buyer that he may be putting fork seals in it after this - really bad way to tie down and haul a bike.

If it were mine, I'd be renting a trailer or asking for help - if it's not on 4 wheels, I'd forget AAA

[Scruit]

I'd sold a bike to a guy few years ago, and he shows up in a car?? I figured right then that he wouldn't be buying it - but we did the deal and afterwards he called AAA to send a rollback to pickup the bike.......once the tow driver showed up, the new owner loaded it up fine.......but it was when they strapped it down that I about threw up........even though I didn't own the bike anymore, just watching the driver strap the rear wheel to the back of his truck - then strap the front wheel to the winch at the cab and he wound it so tight that I feared I was going to see the forks snap in half.........I swear he pulled the wheelbase another inch when he winched it down!! Then they strapped side to side over the seat with the bike on it's stand.........I warned the buyer that he may be putting fork seals in it after this - really bad way to tie down and haul a bike.

If it were mine, I'd be renting a trailer or asking for help - if it's not on 4 wheels, I'd forget AAA

When AAA towed my bike they sent a repo truck (the one with the hydraulic arm that can reach under and behind a car's wheels ) with a special attachment for the rear arms that had a channel just wide enough for the tires. Then they put ratchet straps on the top triple that went out a 45deg outwards but went forward in line with the fork tubes so the tubes were compressed in the normal direction. Then he lifted the platform up a bit more to compress the forks and the bike was dead solid.

Edit: Found a pic of the same technique - only the straps on mine were more inline with the forks.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Scruit

[FZRMatt]

Hey guys - I have a AAA Plus membership. I am picking up a bike on Tuesday and I'd like to not ride it home. It has a crap rear tire, a bad intake pipe and I don't have any gear. Will AAA tow a bike?

AAA requires a current registration and plate on the vehicle to tow it. If not, they won't touch it.

[Steve Butters]

^ yea...but they dont check them or anything

when i tow something without plates i just put plates off of another vehicle i own onto it and they never look twice

when i needed my bike towed it didnt have plates and i borrowed them from a friend lol....before i realized they wouldnt cover the tow that is (didnt have RV coverage)

[jester3681]

Yeah, I have a buddy who's going to help - we're just going to rent a Uhaul and pick it up I guess. Not really a big deal. Kind of an adventure - I've done it before with other bikes, not too bad at all. And it will be less that $50 all in, I'm sure.

[Scruit]

Yeah, I have a buddy who's going to help - we're just going to rent a Uhaul and pick it up I guess. Not really a big deal. Kind of an adventure - I've done it before with other bikes, not too bad at all. And it will be less that $50 all in, I'm sure.

After mileage too?

When I picked up my bike from the dealership I just rented a u-haul trailer for the day - $30.

[Wadepenn]

Verizon roadside assistance with my phone had broad and james tow me with a flat tire on my Gixxer (free hook, first 15 miles free). Nothing but props for both. Verizon operator was friendly and helpful, Broad & James guy was there before long, effecient and seemed experienced with being careful with a bike, home without a scratch on it (always heard bad experiiences with tow companies & bike tows). Home within an hour of my initial call.

[swingset]

AMA membership with automatic renewal is $39.95 and includes motorcycle & auto roadside assistance. Coupled with the 10% discount from hotels and Bikebandit, it's almost stupid not to sign up. Pays for itself the first time you order some shit, pretty much.