AAA Auto Insurance Review (2023)

I am dealing with a claim right now. Good luck getting one on the phone. I've only lucked out of reaching a live person 2 out of every 10 calls made, and they NEVER return your call back. I'm sitting on a claim for almost 30 days because they can't reach their insured. They sent a person out to the insured's house and the claim agent doesn't have a status of that. I was told that it will be 2 days before they can get in touch with the person who went to the insured driver's house. How hard should it be to pick up a phone and call the person who went out? They can't get in touch with their insured driver, and they can't tell me what the protocol is if they are unable to get in touch. Their claim adjusters are highly inefficient.

AAA increased my annual premium by $319 a year after just one month on the plan -- and without giving me any notice. I only happened to catch it because I saw the cost of my next bill was significantly higher. I feel like AAA has a pretty stellar reputation, so I was shocked when this happened. When I cancelled my policy, I was hit with a huge fee as well, but I was so discouraged by this customer service experience that I just wanted out -- even if other insurers are going to charge me similar rates.

I have been a AAA member for over 27 years (one way or another). I received a letter saying they no longer could insure my home because the dangers of my house location. I called and asked what Dangers and they could not answer after several attempts (intimidation)? I later received another letter stating I had to have a video review of my home (invasion of privacy). After the video, was contacted by phone stating they wanted to see permits (harassment). In that same phone conversation, I told the person that I wanted to see the renewal amount and then we could talk. I received my renewal and AAA gave me a 40% increase on my policy. Bottom line is after the intimidation, invasion of privacy and the harassment, I will not renew my homeowners, auto and Roadside Service with this terrible company... Just check the reviews on AAA's reputations on paying claims (or lack of). They like "Kicking the Can Down the Road" (a claim), but really kick the policy owners to the curb.

I made my call about 10 am or so today (Sunday 1/24/2021). I was assisted by a AAA member, and I let her know that my mother's car has a dead battery and for them to come and take a look at it. My mother is also a AAA member. The AAA battery was purchased on 2/7/2020 (it is less than a year old) by me on her behalf, and I have told her to limit going out since she is immunocompromised. A Deerfield (company that is contracted by AAA) gentleman [REDACTED NAME] came out and asked me how long the car has been sitting there. I told him about 2 weeks. He flat out refused to replace my battery which is under a 6-year warranty after showing me that it is a bad battery (after he hooked it to his machine; it said BAD battery in RED). I talked to [REDACTED NAME], a AAA customer service employee, who was wonderful and assisted me (on behalf of my mother) in every way while [REDACTED NAME] was rude to [REDACTED NAME] and me. [REDACTED NAME] called his supervisor [REDACTED NAME] who was also rude to me and [REDACTED NAME]. [REDACTED NAME], the Deerfield supervisor, told me and my mother to drive around and if the car goes dead again, to call AAA back. How ethical is it of Deerfield to let my elderly mother drive around on a bad battery waiting for it to fail while putting her in an unsafe position (should she get stalled in a bad place; and what if I was not there to help her since I'm a healthcare worker and can't just leave)? This is just begging for bad things to happen. [REDACTED NAME] connected me with the Resolutions Dept; I talked to [REDACTED NAME] in the Resolutions Dept and [REDACTED NAME] apologized and said he would send someone out to replace the battery since he himself agreed that the battery was under warranty. In about 45 mins or so I got a call from Auto-to-go who said they will NOT replace my mother's battery. So, I called AAA AGAIN. I spoke to [REDACTED NAME] in the Resolutions Department who tried to help and said [REDACTED NAME] (who is her supervisor) would call me as he was a supervisor in the Resolutions Department. 2.5 hours later, no call. So, I called AGAIN and spoke to [REDACTED NAME] who said she couldn't do anything but put in a complaint against Deerfield and the "Service Monitoring Dept" would be calling me in about 5-7 business days. She did end up giving me a complaint #; she did do at least that much for me. But obviously, that didn't help me in my current situation. I and my mother have been loyal PLUS members for 13 years and have never encountered such terrible customer service from AAA or Deerfield. Is the Resolutions Dept in name only because no one has been able to help me/my mother or been able to resolve this? After an hour long wait (I was on hold that whole time), I was finally able to talk to the supervisor in the Resolutions Dept, [REDACTED NAME], who I thought would help me. But my luck - not only was [REDACTED NAME] rude, but she was also of no help. She said I need to get my (mother's) battery recharged myself by driving to Autozone with no offer to tow us there- seems like AAA was putting me and my mother in harm's way (they didn't care if the battery or me and/or my elderly mother was stalled on the road) just so I could get off their back - at least [REDACTED NAME] made it seem like that. She said "we have to follow the battery protocol." I told her all she had to do was offer to tow the car to the nearest AAA and have them charge the battery for us, but she didn't. I had to come up with that idea all on my own. Later, she claimed it to be her idea. Unbelievable. My mother and I are very shocked and terribly disappointed in the customer service shown by the Resolutions Department. It is now almost 4 pm with no resolution and me calling them 4 times, and on hold for an hour each time I called. They must think I have nothing better to do than be on hold. [REDACTED NAME], then, tells me to call again in the morning so they can tow my mother's car to a AAA shop and get the battery recharged. That was all she had to do to help a customer out, but she didn't even do that! [REDACTED NAME] was continuously clacking on the keyboard and who knows what all she was typing/saying about me. She didn't even have the courtesy to answer me when I asked a question; she said "I'm making notes about this." She just continued to type without apologizing as she never answered my question. Unclear why they have people like [REDACTED NAME] as supervisors in a Resolution Department. Maybe I should be a supervisor at AAA because here would have been my response, and the response I was hoping for (that never happened). It would have also been a way to have kept a 13-year loyal member happy. What should have been said was: I'm so sorry this happened to you/your mother's car. Let's fix this by towing you to the nearest AAA location, getting your battery charged; if it's bad, we'll replace it; if it's not, it is charged now and you will not have any further trouble. Once charged, let's tow it back to your house so you don't have to worry about this. Now THAT would be good customer service to a loyal member that would have kept me and my mother a loyal member, and I would give AAA stellar reviews. Now instead I've got to call AAA in the morning, have my mother's car towed, have to worry about missing AAA's call as I'm seeing patients (and murphy's law dictates that's bound to happen), and have to worry about how to get the car back as I'll be at work and will not be able to get to it in time. Being a healthcare worker/essential worker, I do everything in my power to protect my elderly parents, one of whom has cancer, by telling them not to go anywhere unless absolutely necessary. In these covid times, when people are sick, AAA expects us to be on the road and not leave our cars in our driveway (which means we are doing the socially responsible thing in not going out and socially distancing per CDC recommendations). It also means you can't get sick from covid or go out of town or in non-covid times, on a vacation -if you do and your car is sitting there, it hasn't followed "the battery protocol," and AAA will not be able to help you, nor will they replace your battery that is less than a year old and under a 6-year warranty. I mean why do I or my mother even have AAA especially if they can't help me or my elderly mother when we need them the most? Now I have to call AAA AGAIN tomorrow regarding the tow, and I can only hope I am available as I'm a healthcare worker who is actually taking care of covid patients. I will NEVER be buying AAA batteries -they will die on you before the year is up; and I certainly will not be renewing mine and my mother's AAA membership. I currently have a very poor opinion of AAA which I have never before had in the 13 years that I have been with them; this would have been my 14th year had I renewed. They have shown me in more ways than one that this membership, nor I/my mother, as a customer is worth much to them.