American Automobile Association

I joined AAA to have extra security– did the «Plus» membership.
I cancelled it and here’s why.
I called AAA when my almost new car wouldn’t start.
They connected me to New York City Tire and Auto Care.
(This is their go-​to place in NYC. I didn’t see all of the other complaints lodged on their Unilocal page by AAA members until it was too late.)
This should be a bad review for AAA and NYC Tire and Auto.
Anyway– I had no choice but to use them.
They had to come back 3 times on 3 different days — each with at least an hour waiting time–
for the same problem.
1. First time, didn’t bring the equipment I said they needed. They had to come back another day and never started my car.
2. The second time they brought a new battery, replaced my factory original battery with a cheap one, charged me for it, installed it and I was on my way.
3. Third time the car was dead because the battery he installed was the wrong one. I had to get it jumped again by him and drive it to a mechanic who replaced the battery with a DieHard and said the battery they installed was the wrong one for the car and could have done damage.
So I had to pay for 2 batteries, waste 3 days and hope the battery didn’t damage the car.
Tried to cancel my AAA membership as a result– AAA wanted to charge me $ 10 to cancel my membership.
Also AAA wouldn’t deal with the garage and towing service they sent me to– wouldn’t deal with or any of these issues and said I had to take it up with the garage. Now I see all of these bad reviews — I would never use AAA in NYC. Totally pathetic. I feel bad for the guy at this garage because he’s really sweet and kind — and the AAA people were nice too but they didn’t do the job– made me buy two batteries, made me lose days of work. I’m really mad at AAA for connecting me to these people and forcing me to use them when I was in an emergency and never dealing with the fall out.

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you!!! We are visiting NYC from Canada and we were planning on driving home tomorrow. Went out this morning to discover a flat tire on our car! Yikes! Called AAA, and under reciprocal agreement with CAA, were able to get someone to come out. We thought we would have to have the tire pulled off, the donut put on, and then drive around looking for someone to fix the flat. Not so! The AAA guy pulled off the flat, saw it was a nail that caused the problem, and was able to fix the flat at the roadside for us (at a small additional cost as this is not part of AAA plan). He arrived within 30 minutes and had the repair done and tire back on the car in another 30 minutes. We were expecting our whole last day in NY to be consumed with getting this dealt with. Not even close. Oh, and he added air to the temporary spare as it was low too. Thank Gawd!!! Amazing service and a blessing on this long weekend.

Came in for an international driving permit and was done 15 minutes. Permit is $ 15 and the photo is $ 10 if you don’t have them already.
The staff is efficient and provided excellent customer service.

The staff here is very very helpful. I had to come in for an International Drivers Permit. It was all done in minutes including the passport photo.

Wow. I’m using pretty cynical about the advantages of joining organizations like AAA. But I was just in and out in 10 minutes for an international driver’s license and I’ve already saved enough money in AAA discounts this year to pay for my membership.
Highly recommended — this office is clean, fast, and efficient.

Like other reviewers, I had a GREAT experience at this AAA location. I went to get my international driver’s license and was in and out within 10 minutes. The process was quick and easy, everyone was friendly, and I have ZERO complaints!

I had a problem with an unscrupulous AAA-​affiliated auto repair shop. The problem concerned a parking ticket that was issued to my car while it was in the custody of this company. [See my review of NYC Tire and Auto Care].
I sent AAA an email describing the situation. An AAA representative contacted me immediately, AAA investigated before you could blink an eye, it found in my favor and a reimbursement check was issued. Wow, my head is still spinning.
Hopefully, AAA will conduct further investigation and disaffiliate from this business. Especially when you are at your most vulnerable — stuck in your car with everyone honking at you, wondering if it is time to stop throwing good money after bad and get a new car … that is when you want a tow and car repair company you can (sort of) trust.
So my hat is off to AAA for its swift response to this member’s problem.
[If they disaffiliate this company in the future — and I find out about it – I will award a fifth star. As it stands, AAA was responsible for my relying on this company in the first place, which warrants one demerit.]

Wow, nobody has reviewed AAA of Greater, New York? Well let me be the first. I know that traditionally many New Yorkers did not have cars due to the cost of parking them and having a great 24 hour public transportation system. But traffic and perpetual gridlock would indicate that somebody is driving those cars! According to Wikipedia 40% of New Yorkers own cars. en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​r​a​n​s​p​o​r​t​a​t​i​o​n​_​i​n​_​N​e​w​_​Y​o​r​k​_City
Fewer than 30% use their cars to go to work according to Wikipedia.
If you do own a car I highly recommend joining AAA!
Many might not know if you are a member of AAA you can get discounts on theme parks, movies, hotels, cruises, vacations, sight seeing and flights. We are members of AAA and use it to book most hotels and vacations.
But we originally joined AAA because of the road side assistance
is Nation wide so once you join you get benefits wherever you are! We were at the Jersey shore and our car broke down. My husband called the 800 number and within 5 minutes AAA was there! I went into Starbucks prepared to wait for hours. He just appeared like he was waiting for us within less than 5 minutes! Really great service and if we did not have AAA we would have had to pay out of pocket. But the service is free to members!