(Un)happy holidays!

Written by Rick DeMeis December 18, 2009 Hits: 342 Favorites

4.5 (2)

The folk at the AAA automobile club anticipate helping nearly 1.3 million stranded motorists during this holiday season. I wonder how they arrived at that number?

Flatbed tow truck

So I called up AAA spokesman John Paul to find out. Statistics and legwork was basically his answer. Starting with the amount of aid calls last year to which are factored in the number of anticipated vehicle trips times the typical percentage of breakdowns, yield an overall number. The number of vehicle trips is based on surveys of travel plans.

With that said, here are this year's holiday season (December 19 to January 3) figures:

77.7 million people be travel by auto. Of those needing help, AAA predicts its roadside problem-solvers can fix things on the spot for more than three out of five—sending them ho-ho-hoing on their way. But about a half million drivers are expected to need a tow truck.
After towing, the second biggest issue anticipated is replacing or jump starting dead batteries. More than 280,000 requests for battery help are expected, with replacement of more than 50,000 batteries on the roadside.
In addition, AAA will change approximately 170,000 tires, and retrieve 170,000 sets of keys locked inside vehicles. (The latter is one number I find hard to believe!)

Finally the auto club highlights preventative, normal maintenance is key to avoiding many driver's woes. Checking tire pressures, belts, hoses, antifreeze, and batteries regularly mitigates problems when traveling. And drivers themselves need always to function without distractions, and in the winter remember skills for driving in snow and bad weather.

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Overall:

4.5

Locked keys

Overall:

4.0

Reviewed by Karl Kretschmer
December 19, 2009

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I locked my keys in the car once when it was raining. I had to wait about an hour for the guy to show up. The bad part is I left my windows down and everything inside got drenched.

AAA IS insurance

Overall:

5.0

Reviewed by Henry Davis
December 18, 2009

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Rick,

What most people don't know is that every service call by AAA is reported as an insurance claim. So that quick call to get into your locked car counts as an insurance claim - which may increase your other premiums.

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Rick DeMeis