I remember driving back from eastern Washington on a blazing hot day and getting a blown out tire in the middle of nowhere with my wife, Kav, and our then-infant daughter in the backseat. Aside from almost swerving into a semi truck when it happened, and the temperature being 90+, it was mostly stress-free. We had AAA roadside assistance back then, and were able to get roadside assistance to take care of the flat, which was a big help.
When we moved to Scotland, we let our AAA membership expire, and since it seems like roadside assistance is offered as a bonus with lots of things these days (car insurance, credit cards, auto manufacturer warranties, etc.), I didn’t think I’d consider enrolling again.
Well, I just signed up. Seems like a random thing to do in this day and age, but I don’t have roadside assistance through my car manufacturer (we have used cars that are both over five years old). I do have assistance through my car insurance, but it doesn’t extend to other cars (like rentals) nor does it extend to other people’s cars I’m riding in. AAA does that. They also have really cheap re-enrollment rates that I’m hoping I can extend to infinity by threatening to cancel each year. This, coupled with the fact that I REALLY don’t want to have to change a flat by myself on the road in 100+ degree heat, like, ever, makes it seem like a good move.
The part of all of this that surprised me, though, is that the sign-up process was, to put it mildly, very clunky. I have a membership number and paid, but I still can’t create an online account yet, and it sounds like I won’t be able to until 24-72 hours have passed. In this day and age, that seems a highly unusual, astronomical amount of time.
This got me wondering why…
So naturally I asked my friends AI and Wikipedia and learned something new:
AAA was founded in 1902 — so it’s over 120 years old. For context, that’s:
- Before the Model T (1908)
- Before most paved roads existed in the US
- Before traffic signals, driver’s licenses in most states, or even standardized road signs
It actually started as a federation of nine existing motor clubs that banded together to advocate for better roads and drivers’ rights at a time when cars were still a novelty and cities were often hostile to them. Some fun historical tidbits:
- AAA lobbied for the creation of the US numbered highway system (Route 66, etc.)
- They published some of the first road maps and travel guides in America — the famous AAA TripTiks date back to the 1930s
- They pushed for driver’s education in schools starting in the 1930s
- They’ve been rating hotels with their Diamond ratings since 1937
So when the website feels a little creaky and your membership takes 72 hours to show up online, just remember you’ve joined an organization that predates the invention of the traffic light. 😄 The federation structure you noticed — all those regional clubs — is a direct holdover from those original nine clubs in 1902. They never fully centralized.
Crazy. They’ve had some not-so-great history too (they refused to allow African Americans to join back in the day, and have fought against mass transit adoption in some cases).
Despite all this, I’m a member of AAA again. This is probably the most stereotypical Dad thing I’ve done in recent memory.
